The Hunt for the President’s Wife: Shadows of Justice Book Ii

By Richard Lee Orey

In The Hunt for the President´s Wife, a dazzling young nun takes on an urgent and daring political mission for the CIA.

In the midst of its human trafficking operations, an American crime family unknowingly seizes at the international border the incognito wife of the Presidente of the Republic of Mexico,creating a catastrophic political crisis.

Sister Maria Camarillo--a beautiful young nun with unique and highly developed investigative skills--is swiftly appointed a CIA Special Agent charged with finding and rescuing the missing Senora Ruiz.

The Hunt for the President´s Wife takes you where you´ve never been in electrifying scenes of Sister Maria facing off with the lecherous whoremaster of the Maids Club prostitution network and boldly confronting the scheming Presidente Felipe de Ruiz as she fights to preserve her sexual innocence, rescue Senora Ruiz and save America from a tidal wave of panic-stricken border-crashing refugees fleeing a bloody Mexican Civil War.

A SIZZLING POLITICAL THRILLER! ARE YOU GAME?

A provocative read for you and your friends.

Visit the author at www.Authorsden.com/richardleeorey

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 17, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456832483

Richard Lee Orey

RICHARD LEE OREY is a Gold Member of the on-line literary site Authorsden.com where more than 2,400,000 internet visitors have viewed and critiqued his original writings. Richard is a former Official Court Reporter of the United States District Court and the California Superior Court with 38 years of courtroom trial experience. Also educated in Law, he holds a Letter of Commendation from the Mayor of the City of San Diego for Outstanding Community Leadership and is a recipient of the Bancroft-Whitney Publishing Company’s American Jurisprudence Award. Readers may write to him through his Author’s Website www.RichardLeeOrey.com

Book preview

Chapter 1

Listen up while I explain Mexican politics, Eduardo, Presidente Ruiz lectured.

Harvard educated Ambassador Eduardo Mateos winced with pain as the acids of diplomatic insult ate his stomach lining. Explain to me? Who the hell does this peasant think he’s talking to?"

Voice ringing with authority in his National Palace office of posh carpeting and velvet draperies, the Presidente continued. Consider this: Mexican army rebels are claiming they have abducted my wife, and they’re demanding major political concessions for her safe return. But the rebels don’t have her, Eduardo. Fearing for her safety in our present political instability, I had her smuggled into your country. Here, this is a videotape of her border crossing where your own Border Patrol apprehended her.

Ambassador Mateos stared at the videotape, speechless and coughing weakly to buy time to think as Presidente Ruiz pleaded his cause.

Agents of your country tell my office they are unable to develop any evidence of her present whereabouts, Eduardo. But the videotape clearly shows that Senora Ruiz is, in fact, in your country’s custody, just as I arranged.

Mr. Presidente, Mateos said, finally finding a voice, I assure you that my government will exert every effort to locate Senora Ruiz.

That may be, Eduardo, Presidente Ruiz responded. But know this: Senora Ruiz is a popular figure in my country. The public report of her abduction by army rebels is seen by Mexican families as a weakness and a loss of governmental control by my party. Now, the rebels are announcing they won’t free her unless I resign as presidente. And if I don’t resign, the rebels threaten to instigate an armed conflict.

Mateos felt his face paling with uncertainty as the political pressure mounted.

Mr. Ambassador, Ruiz continued, to nullify the demands of the warring rebels and as a show of American support for my administration, I call upon your President Stevenson to publicly announce that Senora Talita Ruiz is in American protective custody.

Mateos hesitated. Sir, I’m not certain my government can make such an announcement—

Let me be clear about the urgency, Presidente Ruiz interrupted. "If Senora Ruiz is not found and announced in American protective custody, then at dawn on Cinco de Mayo—barely three weeks from today—my advisors predict a mass exodus of more than a hundred thousand terrified, panic-stricken Mexican refugees will crash your sovereign border to escape a bloody civil war in our streets and villages. The United States must not let this happen.

Even as I speak, villagers throughout my country are migrating northward. Once the border-crashing begins, Eduardo, there may be no way to control the human tidal wave short of armed interdiction by the United States military.

Presidente Felipe de Ruiz of the Republic of Mexico drew himself up to full height, eyes blazing and clenched fist shaking as he spoke. I need your help, Eduardo. The future of our two great countries is at stake. You must locate Senora Ruiz. Your United States Government must announce her protective custody to avoid an international catastrophe. Find her, Eduardo. Find her!

Chapter 2

Ambassador Eduardo Mateos sat alone as the only passenger on the screaming military jet streaking eastward toward the White House, mentally preparing himself for his upcoming briefing of the President by replaying in his mind his extraordinary conversation only hours before at the National Palace in Mexico City.

Visibly shaken, the ambassador looked down. The mere recollection of the conversation left his hands trembling and clammy with cold sweat. His vaunted Harvard education little prepared him for such an unprecedented, mind-boggling state of affairs. Alone, now, gut instinct stood as his only companion.

The ambassador’s telephone voice sounded urgent yet controlled as he briefed the National Security Advisor on the explosive political situation with Mexico. It’s imperative we act and act swiftly.

Immediately thereafter in Washington, D.C., the best brains of the National Security Council and the State Department scrambled to formulate a proposed course of action for the United States.

Not since the Soviet Union’s attempt to place atomic warhead ballistic missiles in Cuba in the Cold War days of President John F. Kennedy had there been such a direct threat to the national security of the United States. This crisis loomed unique. Its resolution called for imagination and creative thinking. They needed a plan.

Chapter 3

In the Oval Office, President Jennifer Sage Stevenson listened with marked attention as National Security Advisor Alexander Troust briefed her on the border crisis.

Madam President, we’re facing a border breach by more than a hundred thousand frenzied Mexican citizens. If we locate Senora Ruiz and you make an announcement regarding her protective custody by the United States, I believe we can forestall a catastrophic event. But just as Ambassador Mateos urged, it’s imperative we act and act swiftly.

President Stevenson leaned forward across her desk, eyebrows furrowed in concern. She knew the answer to her question before she posed it. Your staff has prepared a plan, Mr. Troust? A proposed course of action?

"We have, Madam President. We’ve code named it Operation Truth after the special agent that will be leading our effort, a young woman of uncommon background who possesses a bizarre and almost unbelievable talent for ferreting out truth.

"Senora Ruiz disappeared while in our custody after having been smuggled across our border by Presidente Ruiz’s own operatives. He says the crossing was effected for her own safety. Our Think Tank people suggest it might be an extortion scheme by politically embattled Ruiz forces to leverage support from the United States for his unpopular administration.

"They further state that while the videotape from our surveillance camera clearly shows a slight young woman sneaking across our Southern border—just as Presidente Ruiz’s representatives contend—our people are unable to say with certainty that the person in question is, in fact, Senora Talita Ruiz. To this moment, Madam President, our staff investigators have been unable to develop any evidence of her whereabouts.

However, make no mistake about it, finding Senora Ruiz is essential to a resolution of this crisis. If anyone can pick up her trail, uncover the truth and solve her mysterious disappearance, it will be our proposed operative, Sister Maria Camarillo.

President Stevenson’s jaw dropped open, her tone hesitant. Sister Maria, Alex? We’re talking sister as in a nun of a religious order?"

Yes, Madam President. She’s an American citizen presently serving as a Novitiate nun in a Mexican convent. I’ve been briefed on the whole story by the CIA. It seems she’s a veritable walking lie detector. Amazing as it may be, if there’s anyone in this country that can discover the truth, find Senora Ruiz and save us from political embarrassment and a border crisis of monumental proportions, it’s a special agent like Sister Maria.

Security Advisor Troust held out a manila folder labeled Operation Truth/Sister Maria. This is a dossier detailing Sister Maria’s background and expertise and her extraordinary match for this particular mission. We’ve detailed the situation to her. She stands ready to undertake the mission.

Several moments of silence ensued as President Stevenson studied the dossier on Sister Maria page by page, a show of curious interest growing across her face.

Shortly, she looked up. Well, Alex, I don’t know how you found this remarkable young woman, but I agree she just might be the right person for this job.

Meanwhile, Troust added, "Senora Ruiz is now one person mingling somewhere among the three hundred million of us. Admittedly, it’s a long shot, but it’s the best we have. At this point, it’s the only shot we have. We simply must empower a special operations agent to undertake the hunt for the presidente’s wife.

In the meantime, Madam President, I urge that we bring our border protection forces and our military to Red Alert status.

Jennifer Stevenson rocked back and forth in her high-backed chair, considering the facts and recommendation before her. Being America’s first woman president was turning out to be somewhat more than she had bargained for. Her mind flashed with the memory of Harry Truman’s atomic bomb decision during World War II and his The-buck-stops-here philosophy. Plainly, it seemed at this moment that the buck stood at her door.

All right, Alex, the President said with a resigned nod of the head. Let’s do it. A do-nothing posture will only dig us in deeper. Say a prayer for this Sister Maria, will you? She’s going to need a miracle to pull this off.

Chapter 4

Maria Camarillo—a dark-haired petite young woman with smoke-gray eyes and dressed in commonplace civilian clothing—walked up to the Broadway entrance of the United States Courthouse in San Diego accompanied by her godfather, McKinley Clearwater, a middle-aged Native American of enormous proportions.

As they approached the uniformed security officers at the entrance, a nondescript official with an identification card clipped to his lapel stepped out of nowhere to greet her and her godfather. Sister Maria Camarillo?

Yes.

The official nodded to the uniformed security men, who stepped aside. Follow me, please.

Moments later on the fifth floor of the courthouse, the official escorted her through a locked doorway into a private waiting room with an inside door labeled Chambers. "Sister, please wait here for the judge to buzz you, then walk right into the judge’s private chambers. She and the others will be waiting for you.

Mr. Clearwater, come with me, please, he said, leading her godfather down the hallway and through the entrance into an adjoining room where moments later Sister Maria Camarillo would be introduced to her country’s leading national security officials as the President’s Special Agent charged with undertaking an urgent mission to save America from a catastrophic disaster with Mexico.

Maria sat comfortably yet amazed at the extraordinary events unfolding in her life that brought her to this courthouse and to this very room from which she was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, all according to God’s plan for her.

It began at her birth twenty-four years ago. Her dazzling good looks, her faith in God and her interest in Mexican culture were gifts from her mother, Josefina. But the extraordinary ability that the United States Government now wanted to capitalize on apparently had been genetically passed on to her through her prosecutor father, Shyler, whose mother Lonnie Lanier possessed the clairvoyant, truth-telling power of a psychic medium.

Maria’s talent as a truth-revealer came to light quite by accident. She was a five-year-old kindergarten student playing a True-or-False storytelling game with her classmates. Her teacher was astonished and her classmates thought she was cheating when it became apparent no one could fool her as to whether their story was true or false.

One day Maria’s teacher discussed her talent with her fellow teachers during lunch in the teachers’ lounge, saying, This young girl’s ability to tell the truth from a lie is off-the-wall unbelievable. A second-grade teacher’s husband worked as a polygraph examiner for the Sheriff’s Department.

Curiosity piqued, the teacher’s husband paid a visit to Maria’s class to observe for himself the True-or-False game the class played, bringing with him his polygraph examiner’s knowledge and expertise. He soon concluded that young Maria Camarillo possessed an innate ability to detect her classmates’ changes in skin temperature, respirations, blood pressure, pulse rate and perspiration, all factors his training told him were relevant in the human physiology of one speaking a falsehood and attempting to hide the truth. Watching her closely, he noted that she also unconsciously observed the eyes of the student and the constriction and dilation of the person’s pupils as the liar struggled to appear truthful.

The expert had never seen anything like it in his long career as a law enforcement polygraph examiner. Convinced that Maria was some kind of human lie detector, he drafted a written report citing her phenomenal ability and forwarded it on up the chain-of-command in his Sheriff’s Department.

Over the years in grade school and later in high school, Maria’s godfather

McKinley Clearwater worked with Maria to develop her unique talent. He became so convinced that her special ability could be useful to the government that he persuaded his long time friend Charlene Thurston—now a federal court judge—to ask an appropriate agency to check it out. The appropriate agency was the local office of the FBI, which still retained in its files today a courtesy copy of the original Sheriff’s Department report.

Three months later, Maria Camarillo got an unexpected telephone call from the Agent-in-Charge of the San Diego FBI office who tried to downplay his intense interest in interviewing her, stating calmly, We’d really like you to come in so we can speak with you.

The speaking turned out to be a week and a half of extensive personal testing of teenager Maria Camarillo: the Rorschach inkblot test, the MMPI, the Thematic Apperception Test, two forms of I.Q. testing, the Strong Vocational Guidance Inventory, to name a few. In the Auditory Acuity Test, her threshold hearing proved to be routinely normal, although in the Seashore Test her tone, frequency and pitch discrimination registered at remarkably high levels.

While Maria tested in the above-average intelligence grouping, nothing seemed to explain her incredible ability to ferret out the truth except that she possessed an extraordinary biosensory awareness system—somewhat akin to Women’s Intuition but a hundred times more amplified—that allowed her to discern when a person was lying to her with an astounding 99.4 percent accuracy rating, a result which the examiners termed phenomenal.

Because of her trained ability to detect subtle variations in an individual’s vocal, facial, ocular and physiological response system while speaking in her presence and because of her years of working with her godfather focusing on harnessing her inherited clairvoyant psychic powers in a occupationally useful way, Maria Camarillo had morphed into an indescribably accurate human lie detector.

Following completion of college studies, no government agency expressed an interest in employing her specialized lie detection talent in the law enforcement career she had long dreamed about, so Maria chose to enrich her lifelong religious faith and a closer connection with her mother’s Mexican heritage and culture. Three years later, she had established herself as a Novitiate nun in a Roman Catholic convent in Northern Mexico.

This small Mexican convent is where she was unexpectedly contacted by two American CIA agents who appeared early one morning in Mother Superior’s office with an urgent request from our State Department, pleading a desperate and immediate need for the services of Sister Maria Camarillo, citing the critical national interests of both the United States and the Republic of Mexico. The very next day, Sister Maria Camarillo surfaced at the agency’s Southern California office where she quickly received a top-level briefing on the secret and urgent mission she agreed to undertake for her United States Government.

Now, here today she found herself seated in a waiting room next to the chambers of a federal judge who at this very moment was conferring about her with top-level security officers of the United States.

Perhaps it was the past three years she had spent at the Sisters of Mercy Convent committing herself to devotional prayers and deep meditation for hours on end day after day, but there arose no question in Sister Maria’s mind that her psychic powers had blossomed into an even more heightened sensitivity to other persons. Her gift for detecting the truth in others was most apparent when she disclosed what someone had done in the past or what someone intended to do.

One evening Mother Superior paid an unannounced visit to the free-time evening gathering enjoyed by the sisters as they lounged about playing Scrabble and talking, noting with silent approval everyone retained their head veil even while wearing their pajamas and bathrobes.

After Mother Superior departed the room, Sister Maria announced to everyone, Mother Superior is going to increase our evening leisure time by thirty minutes.

They all giggled their disbelief, one voicing the comment, Oh, sure!

Two days later, Mother Superior announced that the evening leisure time of all Postulants and Novitiates would henceforth be expanded by thirty minutes.

Every sister was stunned and now totally convinced that Sister Maria did indeed possess the clairvoyant power of a psychic medium, while Sister Maria continued to describe her gift as God-empowered soul reading.

Maria was equally aware that this mysterious sensitivity and extraordinary capacity to read the souls of others flowed from God. In her heart and conscious mind, she felt the fulfillment of the scriptures as declared by the prophet Micah, I have become full of power with the spirit of Jehovah and the promise of Jesus to his disciples, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit arrives upon you.

Today, Sister Maria felt humbled with fulfillment of purpose in the opportunity to undertake an unbelievably important mission for her home country. It was an urgent mission with unknown risks. But Sister Maria knew the truth: God had prepared her for this very challenge.

What had her security escort said to her a few minutes ago? Wait for the judge to buzz you, then walk right into the judge’s private chambers.

Confident and eager for her special mission, Sister Maria Camarillo heard the buzzer and rose to begin the adventure of a lifetime.

Chapter 5

Under a bonnet of puffy, bleached-white hair, United States District Court Judge Charlene Thurston’s icy blue eyes surveyed her large judicial office space and the government officials present and seated: National Security Advisor Alexander Troust and top representatives from the Department of State, the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Attorney General’s office, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the United States Border Patrol, and the Agent-in-Charge of the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as General Omar Hensley of the United States Army.

Judge Thurston stood to greet the giant of a man entering her private chambers, opening her arms to welcome her dear friend with a warm embrace.

Turning to address the country’s leading national security officials, she said, Gentlemen, I have the honor of introducing my dear and trusted friend, McKinley Clearwater. Mac will be the primary backup agent in the mission that we are engaged in today.

Judge Thurston’s only personal acquaintance in the room was Native American McKinley Clearwater, the man whom she had just introduced and who was now seated and observing everything with black, hawk-like eyes.

An honored member of the Kumeyaay Nation, McKinley Clearwater had been Judge Thurston’s confidant and close friend for over twenty years.

Let me share this item of interest, she said. "Some years ago, Mac was intimately involved in exposing and bringing to justice a human slavery and prostitution ring headed by a crime family operating out of our own local courthouse.

"As a county prosecutor at that time, I became personally aware of the breadth and scope of the courthouse crime family’s activities and, also, learned of Mac’s indispensable input in closing down and bringing to a successful conclusion that statewide crime operation.

"Mac is also the godfather and mentor of our President’s appointed special agent—whom we are all about to meet at this time—who has been charged with spearheading this entire operation.

Gentlemen, Judge Thurston continued, our mission is singular: Find and rescue Senora Talita Ruiz, the missing wife of the Presidente of the Republic of Mexico. Secrecy is our watchword. It’s imperative that all of us share our knowledge of this mission only with those who have a critical need to know and no others

Turning to her immediate left, Judge Thurston’s attention focused on the tall lanky man with blond fuzzy hair. Mr. Troust, as President Stevenson’s National Security Advisor, would you share with us your information on how this border crisis developed?

Troust wasted no time with pleasantries. "Gentlemen, Presidente Felipe de Ruiz of the Republic of Mexico has presented our country with a nightmare predicament. Through our Ambassador to Mexico, Eduardo Mateos, Presidente Ruiz informs us that in his attempt to safeguard his wife, Senora Talita Ruiz, from hostile and rebel army forces within his country, he recently had her secretly smuggled into the United States. He’s presented us with a videotape of her border crossing and of her being taken into custody by members of our Border Patrol, a fact which our own surveillance cameras corroborate.

"Official records show that Senora Ruiz was then transported to our immigrant detention facility here in San Diego to be held in custody until her prosecution in this federal court as an illegal entrant into our country. What happened to her next is a mystery. She simply disappeared. There’s no official record of her ever leaving that facility. Everyone’s been questioned, every record double-checked. Despite our best trace efforts with established staff personnel, she’s nowhere to be found.

"Because of the unique circumstances leading up to her disappearance and our apparent breach of procedural regulations, we’re almost certainly looking at a politically motivated abduction carried out by or with the assistance of our own detention, prosecution or court officials.

We’ve been assigned one job: Find Senora Talita Ruiz. If we don’t, then it’s predicted that at dawn on the fifth of May—twenty-one days from today—at least a hundred thousand Mexican refugees are going to come crashing across our border to escape the almost inevitable bloody civil war that is brewing in Mexico and being triggered by the false claims of rebel army forces that they have abducted Senora Ruiz and are holding her as a political hostage to force the resignation of Presidente Ruiz.

Gentlemen, this is a critical, must-do assignment. We must find and rescue Senora Ruiz, and we must do it quickly.

Judge Thurston picked it up from there. Mac, as her godfather, mentor and trainer, would you share with us your insight about the person our government has chosen to lead us in this mission?

McKinley Clearwater’s voice, deep and mellifluous, captured the attention of all as he spoke. "Gentlemen, Maria Camarillo is a native-born American citizen who joins us fresh from the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Mexico where she is a Novitiate nun of the Roman Catholic Church. I’ve known Sister Maria since the day she was born, and I’ve worked and trained with her since she was five years old.

"I tell you this as a fact: Sister Maria can look you in the eye and know if you’re telling the truth or lying. For such a gentle young woman, she can be a bit intimidating. The only way to really describe her is in how she describes herself: A God-empowered soul reader."

For long moments, everything hung in deathly silence, leading security officials of the United States staring blankly, one pondering, Is he serious? Another thinking, Is this some kind of joke? Everyone was of the same mind: What this man is suggesting borders on the preposterous. Religious quacks over the years have claimed such power. But they’ve all been proven fakes. No one can read the souls of men.

National Security Advisor Troust broke the spell. Judge, will you bring in our special agent, please?

Judge Thurston pressed a small black button beside her telephone. Gentlemen, I want you to meet the person our government has chosen to lead us in pursuit of the mission to find and rescue the missing Senora Ruiz.

As Judge Thurston spoke, her chambers door opened and a small, dark-haired young woman entered and strode briskly across the room. Surprisingly dressed in commonplace blue jeans and a blue-and-red plaid blouse, she paused next to Judge Thurston and nodded to the dignitaries assembled. Her direct manner, stunning beauty and incredible smoke-gray eyes seized everyone’s attention.

Gentlemen, Judge Thurston announced, "may I present Sister Maria Camarillo, who has been designated a special operations agent by President Stevenson, personally, to lead our mission to locate Senora Ruiz.

And while you’re mumbling to yourselves with your mental wheels spinning, let me ask you three gentlemen to stand, please, and greet Sister Maria. I assure you all there’s a reason for this.

Amid the gawking and bewildered others, the three designated men rose and individually shook hands and shared a few words of greeting with the petite young mission leader.

Judge Thurston continued. "Thank you. You may be seated.

"Gentlemen, for the success of our assigned mission, it’s important we all have the utmost confidence in our planned operations and in the agent assigned to spearhead and carry out those operations.

General Hensley, before you came into this room, I asked you and your two colleagues to each write down a short factual statement of your actions today and to possibly misstate a material fact or not, as you would choose. Your choice, remember? Well, General, starting with you, will you please read your statement aloud for us?

Displaying a chest covered with seven rows of military service ribbons, General Hensley stood rigidly upright, eyes straight ahead, and read: Today, I called my dear mother in Virginia and told her I would be home tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you, General, Judge Thurston said. Sister Maria, may I ask you to comment on the General’s statement for us, please?

Sister Maria Camarillo locked eyes with the high-ranking military officer, her voice clear and confident. "General Hensley, you spoke truthfully when you referred to your dear mother for the softness in your eyes and your reverent tones of voice tell me you hold great love in your heart for her. However, your mother is not in the state of Virginia. A subtle hardening of tone and clipped enunciation when you spoke the word Virginia revealed the truth to me. With that one exception, your statement is an accurate statement of your belief. But you lied to us about Virginia, General."

Is that correct, General? Judge Thurston inquired.

General Hensley stared at Sister Maria, shaking his head in disbelief. Young woman, I don’t know how you would know that. But you’re absolutely correct. As I stated, I did call my mother today, but—you’re right—I called her at her home in Maryland not Virginia.

Without skipping a beat, Judge Thurston turned to the CIA representative, nodding for him to read his statement of fact.

For today’s meeting, the CIA man read with an air of certainty, I parked my car in the parking lot across the street, walked directly into this courthouse and took the elevator to the fifth floor.

Judge Thurston nodded