Hit The Road, Jack! : Hit Carlos!

Joe and Kin already expected this much. The three of them (Joe Dew, Kin Katagary and Carlos Marcio) could be said to be the Lion Backbone of Squeam.

Of course, Squeam wasn't a human being, but, rather, a company… other teams formed the Tech (Human) Backbone and the Ox Backbone. Politics, Science and Finance. As long as Squeam wasn't into religion and, therefore, couldn't be said to have an Eagle Backbone, but it still had some dealings in this matter, specially with some secret societies.

Thirty minutes later, Carlos arrived in front of Shabe.

His clothes were a mix of saharan desert camouflage and covet-ops gear. Didn't one know better, they would though Carlos was the one in charge of Squeams' "behind-the-scenes" moves, and not Kin.

And that was good.

- You brought sand into my office. - Shabe wasn't pleased. He was extremely aggravated. During the thirty minutes he, Joe and Kin waited for Carlos to come, the situation had worsened. A lot.

- I'm sorry boss. Samanta briefed me on the way. Is it time?

Shabe calmed himself a bit. Once the four of them had been reunited and decided to start their plan, the future of Squeam would change forever.

- How much can you change things now, without depending on it? - Shabe sat on his chair again, his fingers crossing through the touchpad in his table.

Carlos breathed in - Not much, sir. I have just finished meeting with Donning and Sutra. They don't have good news for us.

- Dòlccy ? - Shabe asked.

- Yes. He made contact with some of our cooperatives. Around forty of them. However, the worst part is that he managed to convince around thirty.

- Is there really no other option now?

Shabe looked at his table, dejected. The other three man had complicated and dejected looks on their faces as well.

Doing this at this point in time would put all of Squeams' coins in the table, revealing their trump cards in its entirety. At least as much of them as Kin, Joe and Carlos were aware of.

- We can still try to coax our allied base. They might be able to do something about it.

Joe proposed, in a hopeless tone.

- Can't be done. - Carlos immediately denied - our people have ben brought with money so far - we can't have them change things this fast.

Shabes' phone rang.

- What's it, Samanta?

- Sir, Resolution C1 has been decided to be voted in 24 hours.

- Thank you.

Shabe rose from his chair.

- There's no point in muzzling over it anymore. You guys can start the operation. Be sure to conceal as much as you can.

- Yes sir!

All three man left Shabes' office. As for the big man himself, well, his looks were lost in the horizon.