Paris

by A. C. Fuller

  “I did ask the bartender what kind of wine it was, like... six times.”

  “Think we annoyed him?”

  “Two loud Americans getting hammered at his elegant bar? Of course not.”

  She laughed. “I’ll tip him well when I pay the bill.”

  The elevator door opened and they poured out, Cole leading the way.

  In the room, she opened the curtains and cracked a window. The cool air felt good and she reached out her hand. Something hit it. Cold and wet.

  “Rob. Snow. Turn off the lights.”

  He flicked the lights off and joined her at the window. Outside, streetlights illuminated a few flakes drifting down from the black sky. They stood, watching in silence for a long minute.

  Without a word, she reached out and squeezed his hand. “I’m happy we’re doing this.”

  “Doing what?”

  Her head swam. “Just, this. I don’t know.”

  “You’re drunk.”

  After another silence, she said, “You’re not gonna get back into booze, right? I don’t want it to be my fault.”

  “One time thing. Paris. Rough day. That’s all.”

  It didn’t sound right, but she was in no position to argue. She took him by the bicep, pressed herself up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

  He looked down at her, then out the window, then back at her. “You want this?”

  His words were wet and deep, like he was speaking through muddy water.

  She took his hand. “I do.”

  He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. She pulled him toward her, and they tumbled backwards onto the bed.

  15

  Friday

  The Boeing 787 9 Dreamliner was over the Atlantic Ocean when Ibo Kane logged on. Through the anonymous Tor browser, he found DogLoverSupplies.Com, then navigated to the site’s invisible backend. It was one in the morning, GMT. Christmas Day. Time to roll out the final phase of the plan.

  Dorian Boucher sat in the large leather recliner facing him, drinking coffee and watching his every move.

  General_Ki: My brothers, we have reached the final phase of our great plan. An international brotherhood, united by General Ki for a singular mission: to end the great replacement, to restore the sovereignty of nations, to birth a new era of freedom. Are we all here?

  Kokutai-Goji: Here.

  Gunner_Vision: Here.

  Tread_on_This!: Here.

  It’s_Our_Country: Here.

  8/15/47: Here.

  General Ki: Good. All are accounted for.

  Tread_on_This!: Rest in peace to our friend Freedom_2019. May I say a few words?

  General_Ki: Please.

  Tread_on_This!: We knew him as Freedom_2019, but some of us also called him by the name, The Shepherd. He was a religious man. I knew that about him, though I didn’t know much more. I guess we all now know his name was Augustin Gustave Berger, French patriot. He did what he had to do and all of France will honor him for fighting for their freedom. I believe he would be happy to know that we are carrying on without him.

  8/15/47: Rest in peace.

  Kokutai-Goji: And we thank him for his service. Just as we thanked T-Paine, both for doing his part in New York, and for destroying himself before the pigs could get to him.

  Tread_on_This!: RIP, T-Paine.

  It’s_Our_Country: And thank you for your service.

  General_Ki: Thank you, T-Paine, and thank you, Shepherd. Now, I have something important to tell you.

  Gunner_Vision: Wait, where is our Parisian brother, End_the_Great_Replacement. Do we know if he made it back?

  General_Ki: He is with me. I was in Paris and collected him after the cleanup.

  8/15/47: What?

  Kokutai-Goji: What?

  Kane looked up from his laptop screen and met Dorian’s eyes. He looked nervous and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He’d had four cups of coffee and the flight was only three hours old. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

  Kane understood. To Dorian, watching the scene must have felt like seeing the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. For months, he’d corresponded with a mysterious General Ki, a man of brilliance with seemingly unlimited access to information. Four hours ago, in a helicopter on the way out of Paris, he’d learned that General Ki was in fact Ibo Kane.

  Luckily for Kane, Boucher had believed his explanation. Now he had to make the rest believe it as well. He returned to the keyboard.

  General_Ki: Please, brothers, let me explain. I was in Paris on business. You see, from the beginning, I have kept my true identity private, both to protect myself and to protect you. To protect the integrity of our mission. We are a band of brothers, of patriots who love our countries and our freedoms. Despite racial and religious differences, we united behind a singular mission, and that mission is almost complete. You may have seen speculation in the news that I am a businessman named Ibo Kane. That speculation is correct, but almost everything else you have read is incorrect. My name is Ibo Kane and I am one of the richest men in the world. I am a man who, if you met me on the street, you might want to kill. According to the lying news, I hatched this plan to win control over business and politics. That is false. I hatched this plan for the exact reason we all know: To end the great replacement, to restore the sovereignty of nations, to birth a new era of freedom. We are well on our way to doing that, and we must not let anyone distract us from that mission. As I said, I was in Paris. When The Shepherd’s original plan broke down, he improvised at my direction, and carried out his mission. Our other Parisian brother, End_the_Great_Replacement, stepped in to clean up the mess. I am taking him with me to Los Angeles. I will need him to help with the final phase. As you know, The Shepherd was scheduled to make the trip on his own, but because of his sacrifice he cannot. Now, I will answer questions until you are satisfied.

  Kane took a deep breath and stared at the screen. He wasn’t anxious, not exactly. He was utterly confident in his ability to keep them in the fold. Getting men to kill for you is easy if you have enough money. And getting men to love and trust you is easy if you have enough information about them and their enemies. Getting men to do both took a special set of skills and circumstance, but he had both. He hadn’t expected to be identified publicly, but now that he had… well, he had to turn it in his favor. So he wasn’t anxious, just eager to see how these men convinced themselves to believe.

  Tread_on_This!: I saw the article when it came out and dismissed it. I have to admit, it’s surprising.

  It’s_Our_Country: I for one do not care. The mission is the mission. The dead men and women were parasites. That’s all.

  Gunner_Vision: I have questions.

  General_Ki: Please.

  Gunner_Vision: I had heard of Ibo Kane, heard of you, long before now. When I was brainstorming targets, your name made my list. I think you can understand that. The companies you founded are a great part of the problem. Social media, world currencies, the digital products made by China that may soon run our lives. One simple question: why? Why did you do all this? Why have you built these evil companies?

  Kane snapped for the flight attendant, who brought a large can of Red Bull and refilled his glass. “Ice spheres, three.”

  She returned to the galley and reappeared a moment later with three perfectly spherical balls of ice in a black bowl. She placed them in the glass with silver tongs, causing the Red Bull to fizz.

  Kane took a sip and returned to the keyboard.

  General_Ki: It’s a fair question, one you must all share. And there’s a simple answer. I have amassed all this power so I can walk away from it when it will do the most damage to the system. In addition to the killings we’ve all taken part in, I have been planning to cripple the world’s business systems, it’s technological systems. But one can’t do that with assassinations alone. I’ve taken control of world powers so I could walk away from them. This, along with our other actions, will truly fulfill our mission. Do you understand?

  Kane was glad
he’d had a chance to test his lie on a shocked Dorian in the helicopter. The story had worked then, and he’d done an even better job spinning it the second time.

  Gunner_Vision: I believe I understand, but I have another question. How can we be sure you will relinquish power? I understand your need to deceive us, and I do not question your wisdom. Now that I know, I see that you had to be a hugely influential man in order to gain the travel plans, security plans, building schematics, and so on. Everything we have used. But how can we be sure you will not grab power when this is all over?

  General_Ki: It’s a good question. Other than my word, which is gold, here is what I can offer you.

  Kane scrolled to a document, then cut and paste a large section of text and numbers. He pasted it into their chat box.

  General_Ki: Kokutai-Goji (#3448791), Gunner_Vision (#3448792), Tread_on_This! (#3448793), It’s_Our_Country (#3448794), 8/15/47 (#3448795). These are accounts in the Cayman Islands Bank of the Caribbean. Each account has ten million dollars in it. I ask Kokutai-Goji to access the system to verify this. I had similar accounts set up for T-Paine and The Shepherd, and End_the_Great_Replacement will receive his from me in person.

  Gunner_Vision: You’re bribing us? You think this is about money?

  General_Ki: Not at all. When this ends, you will need money to hide out. Access your funds and do so. Then, one month after Los Angeles, we will reconvene in this chat, where I will announce phase two of our mission. Phase one will cripple the world’s power apparatus. Phase two will ensure that it stays crippled. If this is not enough, then I’m sorry. I need to hear from all of you. Are you satisfied?

  There was no phase two and there never would be. But Kane hoped that the promise, along with the money, would convince any holdouts to continue with the plan.

  Kokutai-Goji: Yes.

  Tread_on_This!: I am surprised, but satisfied.

  It’s_Our_Country: Honestly, I just can’t wait to hear about phase two.

  8/15/47: I’m in.

  Kane was worried about Gunner_Vision. He didn’t know his entire backstory, but the man was a former Navy officer, dishonorably discharged for breaking the arm of a superior officer. Younger than most of the men in the chat, he was more likely to show spirit when being manipulated. Kane had expected them to fall in line when money was dangled in front of them. Most people—whether political ideologues, religious zealots, or any other kind of fanatic—were quick to abandon principles when ten million dollars was on the line.

  Gunner_Vision: I’ll ask Kokutai-Goji, have you confirmed the money?

  Kokutai-Goji: Doing so now.

  Kane had made sure that the bank he stashed the money in would be easy to hack. For someone with Kokutai-Goji’s skills, it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes. He glanced at Dorian, who sipped a French beer, which seemed to calm him. “I’m telling them about the money, and phase two. Would you like to look over my shoulder?”

  Dorian walked behind his chair and read through the chat thread. “Excellent.”

  “Yes,” Kane said. “Like you, they see the necessity of my deception, which, again, I do apologize for.”

  “Couldn’t be helped.” He sat again across from Kane. “When will we arrive in Los Angeles?”

  “Five or six more hours.”

  A new message popped up in the chat.

  Kokutai-Goji: I have confirmed the money is there. Easy bank to transfer money in and out of, or to cash out.

  Gunner_Vision: Then I’m in, but not because of the money. We all need to stay alive and out of jail to finish this and get to phase two. The money will help us.

  General_Ki: Then it’s settled. I must rest now, but there’s one more thing. The woman who wrote the article, Jane Cole. She’s in Paris with Robert Warren. They are the two who tracked down T_Paine and forced him to jump. They’ve been on us since the beginning. I’ve had to take actions to keep them at bay. Interpol is helping, but it may not last. Now, I need your help. Find them and kill them.

  8/15/47: Where are they, exactly?

  General_Ki: Hotel in Paris. But we have no men in Paris. Not anymore. If they are extradited to China, as I’ve tried to arrange, all will be well. If not, my guess is they’ll travel to Tokyo after the events of Christmas Day.

  Kokutai-Goji: My turf. I’m on it.

  General_Ki: Then it’s settled.

  —The End—

  —Find the Next Episode on Amazon——

  The Crime Beat: Complete Series List

  Click the image to reach the series page, or find individual titles below. Prior to the spring of 2020, later episodes may be on pre-order.

  Episode 1: New York

  Episode 2: Washington, D.C

  Episode 3: Miami

  Episode 4: Las Vegas

  Episode 5: London

  Episode 6: Paris

  Episode 7: Tokyo

  Episode 8: San Francisco

  Episode 9: Los Angeles

  Author Notes, December 2019

  Thanks for reading Episode 6 of The Crime Beat!

  I'm sorry for putting Jane Cole and Robert Warren through hell in this one, but it had to be done.

  We’re in the home stretch now, and I’m working like mad to get the rest of the series out to you. You can check the series page on Amazon for pre-orders and release dates, but I’m planning to release episodes 7-8 on time and episode 9 before the scheduled release date.

  I’ve been floored by the response to this series. Readers seem to love the story, and that means everything to me. If you’re enjoying it so far, can you do me a favor? Leave a short, honest review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews help new readers discover a series, which helps pay the bills so I can keep writing at lightning speed.

  Now, some notes and thanks:

  I’m working with a consultant on this series, a man named Gary Collins. I met Gary at the 20Books Writing Conference in November of 2018, and we hit it off right away. For The Crime Beat, Gary is providing important insights into weaponry, military life, and police work. He’s also a consistent sounding board and story fixer. Many of the coolest little nuggets in this series were his idea. In addition to having a military and law enforcement background I don’t have, Gary is the author of seven non-fiction books. Find out more about them, and about Gary, by flipping a few pages.

  Special thanks to everyone in the A.C. Fuller Fiction Fans Group on Facebook. Your interest in my work—plus your constant support and encouragement—keeps me going.

  Thanks to Diane Naab for sending me lovely photographs of Paris and sharing details of a recent trip.

  Thanks to the good people at Rocking Book Covers, who designed the art for all the books in The Crime Beat series.

  Thanks to Chet Sandberg, who edited this book.

  Thanks to my wife Amanda, who read multiple versions of this book and improved it in so many ways.

  And to the readers who enjoy my books, thank you so much!

  -A.C. Fuller

  About the Author

  Once a journalist in New York, A.C. Fuller now writes stories at the intersection of media, politics, and technology. He also teaches writing workshops around the country and internationally.

  Before he began writing full time, he was an adjunct professor of journalism at NYU and an English teacher at Northwest Indian College.

  He now lives with his wife, two children, and two dogs near Seattle. For a free copy of one of A.C.'s books, check out: www.acfuller.com/readerclub.

  And he loves hearing from readers.

  www.acfuller.com

  ac@acfuller.com

  Other Books By A.C. Fuller

  THE ALEX VANE MEDIA THRILLERS

  Follow journalist Alex Vane from 9/11 into the social media age in the breakout thriller series from A.C. Fuller.

  The Cutline

  (An Alex Vane Prequel Novella)—Available free, and only though my website

  The Anonymous Source

  (An Alex Vane Media Thriller, Book 1)

&n
bsp; The Inverted Pyramid

  (An Alex Vane Media Thriller, Book 2)

  The Mockingbird Drive

  (An Alex Vane Media Thriller, Book 3)

  The Shadow File

  (An Alex Vane Media Thriller, Book 4)

  The Last Journalist

  (An Alex Vane Media Thriller, Book 5)

  AMERITOCRACY

  The two-party system was broken, so Mia Rhodes created an alternative. Welcome to Ameritocracy, the new political series readers are calling ”The West Wing meets Survivor” and ”Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the social media age.”

  Open Primary

  (Ameritocracy, Book 1)

  Off Message

  (Ameritocracy, Book 2)

  Echo Chamber

  (Ameritocracy, Book 3)

  PRAISE FOR A.C. FULLER’S BOOKS:

  ”A talented new writer sure to do damage to the best-seller lists.”

  -Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon and New York Times Bestselling Author of My Sister's Grave

  ”Elite Indie Reads anticipates that Fuller will soon be a household name.”

  -Elite Indie Reads

  ”An ode to American news served just the way I like it--fast, bloody, and utterly righteous.”

  -Roger Hobbs, New York Times Bestselling Author of Ghostman

  About Gary Collins, Consultant on THE CRIME BEAT

  Gary Collins has a unique background that includes military intelligence, Special Agent for the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Gary’s background and expertise bring a much-needed perspective to the topics of simple living, health, nutrition, entrepreneurship, self-help and self-reliance. He holds an AS degree in Exercise Science, a BS in Criminal Justice, and an MS in Forensic Science.