Lethal Politics

by Bob Blink

"Let's hope," Jason said, knowing that Abe perversely hoped he'd be able to overcome anything Jason attempted, even if that weakened their chances of a successful operation.

  The custom program on his laptop had crude controls for the key systems of the aging auto, and the day before they'd verified while the Jeep idled in the driveway that Jason was able to access each system successfully. Today would be the real test, with Abe driving the Jeep along the back road while Jason attempted to take over and force Abe into the open field down the hill. Abe was convinced he'd be able to overpower any commands that Jason sent remotely to control the vehicle.

  "When can we test it?" Abe asked eagerly.

  "How about now?" Jason asked, stepping back and slamming the hood down. "Let's drive down to the service road, then I'll follow you in and try and force you into our simulated accident."

  Abe smiled eagerly, his usual stubble now grown into the beginnings of a thick black beard. Finally they were going to do something. No more sitting around.

  "Try and stop me," he said as he revved the motor of the tired Jeep and sped ahead, making a dusty U-turn in the flat area in front of the cabin and heading down the dirt trail that served as the entrance road. It was four miles to the country road where the turn off to the secluded cabin joined into the main traffic routes through this area. They had agreed to start a mile this side of the intersection where they'd remain hidden, then speed back toward where Jason still stood. About two miles in, at the base of the steep hill they crossed over and wound down to get into the small valley where the cabin was located, was the flat field where Jason was supposed to take control and attempt to force the Jeep into the brush. He had decided he would stop at the top of the hill, and attempt the control from there. He knew he could access the other vehicle when he was close, but he wanted to see if he could actually accomplish the task from more than a quarter of a mile away.

  Abe was anxiously waiting when Jason arrived in the rental car that they used to commute into the area, their own vehicles still gathering dust where they were parked in the thick trees behind the building.

  "You've got the lead," he shouted through the open window to Abe. "See if you can get all the way to the cabin."

  Abe required no further encouragement, and with a rooster-tail of dirt and dust, he screamed off, heading back up the rutted road he'd come down a short time before. Jason grinned, checked his laptop that was secured in place so he could reach it as he drove, and started after the other. The actual attack would be run with someone else driving, and his full attention on his computer and the connection to the Craig vehicle, but this would work for today, especially since he planned to be stationary when he attempted to take control of the other vehicle.

  As fast as they were moving, it only took a couple of minutes to reach the point where Jason pulled over and stopped, watching as Abe spun through the switchback turns as he hurried down the hill. Then Abe was on the flat, headed toward the spot where Jason intended to take control. He scanned the screen display, noting the readouts of speed and heading. with the flick of a finger, he disabled the brakes on the speeding car, something the driver shouldn't realize, since he wasn't using them at the moment. Then, as the crucial moment approached, he commanded the accelerator to speed up until the car was speeding along at more than seventy-five miles an hour. He grinned as he thought about the violent shaking Abe must be getting about now. Then, he spun the software control that commanded the steering wheel to turn the car almost thirty degrees to the right, sending it off the road into the brush. He could just see Abe fighting the wheel, attempting to keep the car on the road, but to no avail. The car bucked and bounced, and after it had gone a dozen yards into the bushy field, Jason hit the switch that killed the Jeep's engine, before the erratic path could cause Abe to be seriously hurt. Smiling in satisfaction, he set the laptop down and drove down to where his friend was climbing out of the vehicle.

  "Damn it, are you trying to kill me?" Abe asked.

  "Thought you said you'd be able to overcome the commands I sent?" Jason asked.

  "Not a chance," Abe admitted. "No amount of pressure would get that wheel to turn back. It was intent on staying on the course you set."

  "Are you convinced now that it will work?" Jason asked.

  "They won't have a chance if you can get them in that car somewhere you can run them into a bridge abutment or the like."

  "I think so too. Let's jet the Jeep out of the field and get it back to the cabin. We need to get cleaned up and head into town so we can make our flight to California." The last part of the test that Jason insisted was imperative before the fateful day they'd make the hit, was to be sure they could link to the Craig's specific car. To do that they needed to wait near the house and verify the software connection at some point when Eric Craig was driving. Jason wouldn't do anything to give away the connection, but once he had a green light on the hookup, he'd be absolutely certain their plan would work. Then they could hop a plane to San Francisco and meet up with Earl and Bo.

  Bo couldn't believe this place. They were staying at the Clement Hotel on El Camino Real, located less than a mile from the Stanford campus. It made sense, because this is where Nancy Craig would be staying once she arrived. They wanted ready access to her coming and going in case there was an opportunity to implement the plan that was now their only real hope of taking the woman down. But man, the cost! The normal thousand dollars plus a night was almost double that with the debate coming up in a couple of days since all of the candidates and a great many of the special guests wanted to stay here. Of course Earl could afford it, but still it was a bit of a shocker.

  Bo was currently bunking with Abe, probably because Earl wanted to give Jason a rest from the man after a couple of weeks around him full time. Earl also clearly wanted a detailed rundown on what Jason had accomplished and anything else he might have learned.

  They had new clothes as well. One of the first things Earl had made them do when he arrived was visit a high end tailor, who outfitted them with a wardrobe that allowed them to move freely through the hotel without looking out of place.

  Bo checked his watch. Based on the information they had, Mrs. Craig should be arriving within the next half hour. The four of them were dispersed around the lobby, watching to see if there was anything to learn, and staying separate so as not to draw attention as a group. The husband hadn't arrived as yet, and while Jason's hacking of the hotel records indicated the son would be staying in her suite, he wasn't present as yet either.

  He was about to wander out a side door and check the evening weather, when a small caravan of government SUVs pulled up in front of the entrance. Only one of the other candidates had Secret Service protection at the moment, and he was already in the hotel, up in his rooms, so this almost had to be Mrs. Craig, earlier than expected, probably because the private plane on which she was traveling received special treatment.

  As usual, the Secret Service team was first out, scanning the area for potential threats, however unlikely given the location. Bo was stunned momentarily when a pair of eyes seemed to linger on him for a moment. Bo realized belatedly that he knew those eyes and the person who they belonged to. What in hell was CC doing here? He was supposed to be assigned to the President's team. Quickly, but without looking obvious, Bo turned away, then made his way into one of the hallways, glancing in a conveniently located mirror to see that CC was busy focused on Mrs. Craig's entrance. Had CC seen him? Bo scanned the area, spotting Earl across the way, and made his way in that direction, intent on warning him that his son was in the hotel. This could be a serious complication.

  "He saw you?" Earl asked incredulously when Bo caught up to him. They were both hurrying out of the public area after flagging down Jason and Abe. They decided Abe could hang out, since CC had never met him before.

  "Do you think he recognized you?" Earl asked.

  "I honestly don't know. He clearly gave me more than a glance, but maybe I looked familiar and he was unable to pla
ce me. You know how that is. Unlike Jason, he only saw me a couple of times in the oil fields. We weren't close like the two of them."

  "This is going to restrict our operation," Earl said, thinking about the fact his son was the one who had brought the special phone to the President. If he spotted Earl or Jason, and something happened to Nancy Craig, he might get to thinking on lines that weren't healthy. He was really glad none of them were registered under their real names. If CC thought he recognized Bo, he'd be checking the hotel registry before long.

  Earl considered the situation. "Jason, you and Bo go outside and keep an eye out for Mr. Craig. We want to know when he arrives and to verify he came in the Jeep. I'm going to the room, and think about what my role in this is going to be given the risk of CC spotting me."

  Jason nodded, and he and Bo headed toward one of the side doors way from the crush of people crowding around the lobby entrance. Earl hurried toward the open elevator door, then changed his mind and headed out a small exit near the back of the lobby which would take him into the parking structure and beyond. Once he was well away from the hotel, he pulled out the special phone and initiated a call to the White House.

  "You've managed to activate the plan already," the President asked, his voice unrecognizable through the odd scrambling of the device. "I wasn't expecting a call this soon."

  "Something has come up," Earl replied going right to the heart of the matter. "My son is here," he added without using names despite the security the phone provided.

  "What?" the President asked, clearly not expecting this news. "He indicated he was going to be away for a bit on a special assignment, but he didn't say what. Has he seen you?"

  "Not me, but possibly one of my party that he could have recognized."

  "That's not good!"

  "We will see if there is any immediate fallout, but I thought you should know and potentially be prepared for any questions he might ask."

  "You may want to delay any activity to alleviate the chances of linking events," the President suggested.

  "That will be considered, but opportunities are limited."

  "Keep me informed," the President ordered.

  "Of course. Oh, and go to the next chip after this call," Earl added just before terminating the connection. The chip would change the encryption key and make their phones appear as different units on the cellular network should anyone elect to check. This was the fourth time they had done this since they started using the covert phones.

  Earl headed back to the hotel and used the back elevator to get up to his room. He was surprised to discover that Jason was in the room waiting for him. He immediately knew that something was wrong.

  "What?" he asked, fearful they'd been unmasked.

  "The husband is here," Jason replied. "Arrived a few minutes ago. And guess what?" He drove here in a brand new car, an Audi A8. It appears he ditched the Jeep for something more upscale given how the campaign is going."

  "Can you control it the same way as the other?" Earl asked.

  Jason shook his head. "Not an Audi. They are rated the most difficult make of car to hack. I think all our planning has just gone out the window."

  Chapter 12

  Stanford, California

  The crippling news should have ended their stay at the Clement there and then, especially when Jason verified the new car purchase online, ending any doubt that the Jeep was gone. Jason had seen the dimness and despair in Earl's eyes, but to his surprise the older man simply nodded.

  Abe looked deflated. Jason believed he'd been looking forward to the crash of the Craig's car, and now he was going to be denied that pleasure. He'd also suffered through two weeks of boredom while Jason had perfected the interface which they no longer could use. Bo simply looked resigned. He was probably seeing the second half of his lucrative fee for this job getting ever further away. Neither Bo nor Abe were aware that Jason had gotten his full fee, a half million larger than theirs, upfront and with no restrictions such as a successful completion of the job. He made out whether they killed Nancy Craig or not.

  "Take the night off," Earl had said. "There's nothing we are going to learn tonight about Mrs. Craig that we don't already know. I'm going to get a drink," he added as he reached for a light jacket before making for the door. Abe followed after him, never one to miss a chance to get snockered, especially if someone else could be counted on to pay for his pleasure.

  Jason looked at Bo, who shook his head. "I think I'll find some place to get laid," he said with a surprising lack of enthusiasm. "You?"

  "I'm going to stick around," Jason replied. "I think I'll try and see what I can learn about their plans."

  "You never give up, do you?" Bo asked, but didn't wait for an answer as he follow the other two out the door, but instead of heading for the elevators, he made for his room across the hall.

  Alone in the room, Jason powered up his computer, and with a resigned sigh started scanning to see if any of the group were using their phones. Over the course of the next couple of hours Mrs. Craig made only a single call, and that to her son telling him that his father along with a pair of Secret Service agents would be picking him up and bringing him to the hotel. Karen Parker, Craig's Campaign Manager spent a little time verifying all the schedules and preparations, before heading out to dinner. It was Craig's Personal Secretary's phone that was busy, and the conversations he overhead gave him the beginnings of a possible idea. He spent over four hours chasing down information that all suggested his plan might just work. By then he was spent, and he crawled into bed, the others apparently still out carousing. He never heard Earl come in around two that morning.

  Jason was awake a little after seven the next morning, but still resting, when he was surprised to hear Earl's voice.

  "Call the others," Earl said. "There's not much point in sticking around here. Let's head home to Texas and see what we can salvage. More than half our time is spent, and we are basically back to no plan."

  "How about we go for a walk?" Jason suggested.

  "I'm okay," Earl said, peering at his roommate over the covers, looking more wrung out than Jason had seen him since they'd brought in one of their biggest wells many years before. "I don't need to get fresh air."

  "I want to talk about something," Jason said.

  No one could call Earl slow. It took the barest of moments before he nodded his head.

  "Call the others and tell them our plans," he said.

  '"Why Stanford?" Bo asked after they paid the two taxis and stepped onto the campus grounds.

  "Lots of open spaces, very few people around this time of morning," Jason explained. "And it's virtually impossible to imagine anyone listening in on what we will be discussing."

  "Which is what?" Earl asked.

  "I want to talk about Plan B," Jason said.

  "You mean the one where we simple shoot this dame and be done with it?" Abe asked hopefully.

  "Yeah, sort of," Jason said.

  "We talked about why that isn't desirable at the very beginning," Earl said, glancing at the stunning architecture all around him.

  "Hear me out," Jason said. "I might have an idea, but I need to run by all of you to see if there are holes I might have overlooked. "I've been listening to some of the conversations that Mrs. Craig and her key people have been having, Carol Marshall in particular."

  "Craig's personal secretary?" Earl asked.

  Jason nodded.

  "She's in the midst of a rather messy and hostile divorce. Her husband is a real basket case."

  "How does that help us?" Bo asked.

  "Give me a bit," Jason said. "First of all, Carol and her husband live in the Los Angeles area, which has some advantages. Also, she and Nancy Craig are close, apparently they have been friends for many years, and they spend considerable time together. That's true while they are on the campaign trail, and from what I have overheard, also when they are back in California."

  "Now suppose, one fine day when they are back home taki
ng a break from the rigors of trying to get Nancy elected, and they are relaxing in the large patio at the back of Nancy's house without the benefit of the ever present Secret service guys, Bo here takes a long range shot and nails Mrs. Craig, eliminating our target while Carol is standing right there next to her."

  "That's exactly what we decided we couldn't do at the first meeting," Bo objected, mirroring Earl's complaint.

  Jason held up a hand. "You are right, and the media, the Secret Service, FBI, Police, along with every other investigative agency will go wild knowing that someone plotted and killed the most likely winner of this year's Presidential election."

  "They will start looking for who did it," Earl pointed out, wondering why Jason was going down this path that they had rejected from the beginning of their planning.

  "Sure would," Jason agreed smiling. "But, now let us suppose that the next day the police are called to another killing, and they find Carol Marshall dead in her rented apartment, shot several times with a handgun. The police would recognize the connection, but would also start to wonder who killed Mrs. Craig's personal secretary, and one of the possible suspects would of course be her estranged husband."

  Earl was slowly nodding, sensing where Jason was going.

  "When the police visit Bud Marshall at the home he and Carol had shared, suppose they find him dead by suicide, from the exact same gun that was used to kill Carol, and after a search they find a recently fired rifle that proves to be the rifle that was used to kill Nancy Craig. Recall that Bud is somewhat of a hunter, with a number of weapons registered to him. I know. I checked. He has several which would serve the purpose nicely."

  "A lot of bodies," Earl said softly.

  Abe was on-board now. "You are saying we bust in on this Bud fellow, grab his guns and him, then kill Craig using his rifle, but doing it in such a way that when they later find Carol Marshall, who we also kill, it now looks like Bud was trying to get her and took out the Presidential candidate by mistake. Then he followed his wife to her apartment, killed her, and then later committed suicide."