Quezon City, Republic of the Philippines
The direct approach was failing miserably. The brigadier general who’d ushered him past a spit-shined honor guard and into his private conference room claimed he was honored to welcome a holder of the Ancient Order of Sikatuna, and would do all he could to help, but he’d never heard of a Lieut-enant Colonel Ignacio Felodon. Shake was quickly and cordially passed up the convoluted chain of command at Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters of the Philippine armed forces, but the glad-handing cooled considerably every time he mentioned Ignacio Felodon and he quickly found himself bundled off to another suite of offices.
By the time he finally reached the inner sanctum and met the chief of staff, he’d decided to make a more circuitous approach. After an obligat
