“No, you have not been poisoned, but I’m beginning to wonder about the numbness,” Tim said, half joking.
Sebastian picked up the fork and looked for the two small needles. “I just don’t see them,” he commented.
“They are actually bigger than you think, but the lacquer does a good job of obscuring them,” Tim remarked.
“Well, I’m impressed,” Sebastian proclaimed. “Pam?”
“I’m impressed as well, Sebastian. I believe it’s time to call Bob Ajacks.”
The name Bob Ajacks was a pseudonym the three had used over the years for the man or woman in charge of the operation. This was the person who made the major decisions. Most of these individuals held a public position with the Agency, which meant that everyone in Congress and the news media knew that they worked for the CIA, so it was important not to casually mention their names when discussing any operation. Usually, only the case officer knew the real identity of Mr. Ajacks.
“That’s great, guys, and I hope it all works out for you. In the meantime, I would like to get home.” Tim knew that this was probably a little too much to expect, of course, since Toby had gone off somewhere and he doubted that Pam would give him a ride to Baltimore. Tim typically liked living without the expense of owning a vehicle—but he sure wished he had one now.
“Tim, why don’t you plan on spending a couple more nights here with Pam?” was Sebastian’s very nice way of telling Tim that he was not going anywhere. “Toby may not be back for a day or so.”
Tim was beginning to think that all three of them would be hanging out together for an undetermined amount of time. Just like back in the old days, he thought.
Pam began to speak. “Tim, I feel that it is important that you hear the entire purpose of the operation, and then perhaps everything will begin to make more sense. Ajacks will tell you about that tonight.”
Wow, what a big-time spy operation, Tim thought.
Well, at least it didn’t seem like Pam or Sebastian were planning to kill him anytime soon. But Tim did firmly believe that one or two of the three would be dead by the time this was all over, and he had no intention of being the dead guy.
Mr. Ajacks was scheduled to make an appearance after sunset, which figured to be between 7 and 8 p.m. These types of managers almost never came over to your house or office in the daytime. “Democracy Dies in the Darkness” was the new slogan of the Washington Post. He’d originally thought it was silly, but it was beginning to make sense, at least in a literal kind of way. Everything decided in Washington seemed to occur in the dark of night, and it certainly was not a democratic process. In addition, the concept was not limited to the confines of Washington, D.C. Geographically speaking, it included the entire state of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and everything in Virginia north of the Rappahannock River. Within this area, you had (in no particular order): the NSA, the US Naval Academy, Camp David, the CIA, the FBI Training Academy and Laboratory, the DEA, the Quantico Marine Base, Fort Detrick, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meyer, the Pentagon, and Mount Weather.
The list of facilities went on and on, as did the secret deals made there. Deals that affected US policy worldwide, all occurring within a 50-mile radius of where Tim was developing his killer fork. And no one voted on any of this, he thought.
Tim had returned to the basement to continue his work on the fork and gain some distance from Pam and Sebastian. He had not been around other spies for five years now, and he was finding that he really did enjoy his new life.
The basement television was turned on, muted, and Tim looked up to see the President in a photo op with the leader of North Korea. It seemed like just months ago that the New York Times had reported that North Korea had developed an ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the US continent, or at least to the west coast, yet here were these two leaders sitting side by side, smiling. Tim certainly did not have any new trust for North Korea, but at least the two sides were talking with one another, which was a vast improvement...yet, to many in the media, something was wrong. Although the media had a hard time explaining exactly what was wrong with the President having a summit, it did not stop them from criticizing it. However, no one seemed to be too worried about North Korea at this point.
Tim had no problem with the media, although it did appear that most outlets had become rather one-sided. The current President was certainly different than the usual politician, and he could understand why many found him so objectionable. He seemed to lack the usual filter of professional politicians. It was not that the other politicians did not have similar views as the current President, but they knew when to shut up. What made that even worse to many in the press was that the President did not seem to care about their opinions. In fact, he seemed to relish their condemnation and disapproval. That in itself was somewhat history-making, but also dangerous. Each time the President disregarded some new media outrage, the press would up the ante. To Tim, this made Nixon and the sixties seem like a picnic.
At 6 p.m., Darrel came down to the basement and opened the gun safe. “Hey Darrel, what’s going on?” Tim asked.
“Hi, Mr. Hall. Nothing much,” Darrel answered. He pulled out two M16 rifles and four clips, and Tim heard the familiar sound of the bolts being pulled back to make sure they were operational.
“Extra help coming over tonight?” Tim asked.
“No big deal,” was Darrel’s response.
The fact that Darrel was a man of few words was not surprising to Tim. Most good security guys didn’t say a lot, which was really what you wanted. Talkative people were easily distracted.
Darrel grabbed the two rifles and headed back upstairs as Pam yelled, “Tim? Ajacks will be here soon, so you need to get ready.”
“Okay, be right up,” Tim answered.
He’d almost said “Be right up, honey”—but he’d caught himself just in time. It amazed him how easy it was to fall back into married life.
Tim grabbed a can of aerosol fingerprint powder that he’d found while he was rooting around in the chemical cabinets the day before. He walked over to the gun safe and sprayed the powder on the combination keys. It was apparent that only the keys 4 and 5 had been entered, which meant that any combination of those two numbers could be pressed. He knew that typically you had only three tries to get in. A fourth try would lock you out. To make matters worse, one or two wrong passcode attempts would alert Pam that someone was screwing around with the safe. Therefore, Tim figured that he had one try. If that was wrong, then he could just confess that he was playing around with the safe. Pam would probably accept that explanation, but she would become suspicious if it happened more than once.
His best guess was that Pam was using 5454 since that would be the easiest for her to remember. He was correct. The safe beeped, and the door opened. Tim took a quick look at the guns, closed the safe, and headed upstairs to meet Mr. Ajacks.
Chapter 18
Although Tim was officially retired and no longer employed by the CIA, an Agency head coming over to visit was an occasion. Tim wondered if he should wear a tie but decided instead on a suit without a tie. He found one of his old suits in his closet along with a pair of black shoes and a belt. He took a quick shower, shaved, and dressed. He stood in front of the full-length mirror and decided that, considering everything, he didn’t look too bad.
Tim descended the stairs and headed to the library.
Pam looked immaculate as always, although she’d chosen to wear a red dress. Tim thought that Pam’s outfit was a little too showy, but he figured she had her reasons. Pam usually did. Anyway, it was certainly a very sexy dress.
Pam had laid out some hors d’oeuvres on the coffee table and also on a small table in the corner to the right of the bay window. Tim assumed that this was for Mr. Ajacks. The unspoken rule was that Mr. Ajacks was not to be looked at. He would come into the room and watch the presentation shown by Sebastian and then either give a go ahead or an order to kill the operation. Tim was actually pleased that
Mr. Ajacks would at least be aware that he was part of the operation. If he were an unknown contributor, the more likely it was that Sebastian or Pam would get rid of him after he’d served his purpose.
Tim really did not know why he was so sure that the other two might want him dead. After all, they were all old friends, and old friends didn’t kill you...did they? For a minute, Tim almost convinced himself that he was just being paranoid; but then he reminded himself of the subterfuge he’d experienced in the last two months. It just did not add up that Sebastian and Pam needed him and only him to develop a killing apparatus. The Agency was full of people who could do a much better job, so why find a guy like Tim who everyone had forgotten about?
Tim saw a pair of headlights shine against one of the bookcases, which indicated that a car was coming up the driveway.
Pam turned to him. “What can I get you to drink, dear?”
Wow, she was really laying it on, Tim thought. Maybe Ajacks believed they were still together. That could be a reason the two needed him...but it was unlikely to be the only reason.
“Vodka tonic, honey,” Tim answered casually. He was trying very hard to play the game. “Do you have any idea who this Mr. Ajacks really is?” he added.
“No, only Sebastian knows. But I have a couple of guesses,” Pam said as she bent over to fill Tim’s glass from the ice bucket.
This did not go unnoticed. “By the way,” Tim remarked, “that’s a beautiful dress you’re wearing.”
“Why thank you, Timothy,” Pam replied, giving him a kiss while handing Tim his cocktail.
Pam only called him Timothy at special moments, and she did seem pleased that he’d commented on her dress. Tim wondered if this would result in another midnight visit.
Sebastian had gone out of the house to meet Ajacks. Pam dimmed the lights, then sat on the couch with her back turned and indicated that Tim should sit next to her. Tim heard voices from outside and two car doors closing. Mr. Ajacks had either brought a friend, or his driver was getting out to stretch his legs. Pam picked up a small remote control from the coffee table and pressed one of the buttons. A movie screen began to descend from the ceiling.
“Honey, I wish you would tell me when you spend this kind of money,” Tim joked, trying to ease the tension. Pam slapped his knee and told him to behave. Tim heard Mr. Ajacks and Sebastian enter the room.
Sebastian first made the big boss a gin and tonic, then returned to the back of the room. Next, Sebastian turned on his laptop, and a PowerPoint presentation appeared on the screen entitled The Adults in the Room. There was no discussion.
Sebastian’s presentation began with a picture of the White House and a picture of the President conferring with various members of the House and Senate. Sebastian began to speak.
“Since the inauguration in 2017, most agree that the Executive Branch of our government has not operated in a professional manner.” The next slide is a picture of a White House Press Conference that shows a number of reporters with their hands raised. Sebastian continued.
“Although the media has portrayed the President as not very intelligent, our analysis tells us just the opposite.” Next, there is a picture of the President looking out of his office window.
“In reality, the President is a very intelligent man with many unique ideas. However, most members of the House and Senate simply do not take the President very seriously.”
Sebastian next displayed a slide of the Vice President speaking with the President. “Now, the Vice President has for the last two years encouraged the President to govern in a more traditional manner. As a matter of fact, we have made a number of suggestions through the Vice President on how the President could better handle his critics in the Democratic Party as well as his own party, but to no avail.”
We, meaning the Agency, have made a number of suggestions? Tim thought. Well, so much for staying out of domestic issues.
Sebastian now displayed a slide of the United States Capital Building and the Supreme Court. “Both the Legislative and Judicial branches have essentially stopped operating. Any legislation which does make it to the President’s desk is vetoed and, to date, Congress has failed to override any of these vetoes. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to decide any new cases. The nine justices are essentially on strike.”
All true, Tim agreed, but so what? Just wait for the next elections. But Sebastian’s presentation had an answer for that. The next slide was a picture of a woman voting.
“Despite predictions to the contrary by the media, our internal polling indicates that the current administration has a better than 80% chance of being reelected. Here are the data points that indicate this to be true.” Sebastian then began to review five different charts on how the Agency had determined that the President would be reelected.
At this point, Tim began to zone out and look over to Pam to see how she was taking in Sebastian’s data points. Pam appeared to be hanging onto his every word. Tim, on the other hand, might have ended up tuning the entire presentation out if Sebastian did not begin to speak of the 2016 election.
“Now, although we were successful in the last general election, the general feeling is that the pendulum has swung too far the other way.”
What? Tim almost said it out loud. What the hell did the Agency have to do with the last election? Tim elbowed Pam and mouthed this question, but Pam just held her finger to her lips for him to be quiet.
“Now for the X, Y, and Z factors,” Sebastian said. “The movements by the groups we refer to as X, Y, and Z are predicted to gain momentum if the President is reelected. If these movements are successful, then the United States of America will divide into three separate and independent nation states.”
To Tim, this had about as much chance of happening as California had of becoming their own country, but apparently the Agency had a different opinion. Tim was aware of these so-called movements, but he never took them very seriously. The X, Y, and Z movements were started in order to give ethnic groups better representation. This effort, which was supported by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, was intended to make up for years of past discrimination. However, Tim mostly considered it to be a power grab.
The next slide indicated where the borders of these three new nation states might be. For the most part, the East and West coasts would become two separate nations, with the Midwest making the third. Tim wanted to ask if the citizens of the new Midwest nation state would take the name “The United Flyover States,” but he did not think the joke would be appreciated.
“In addition, a number of southern states led by Texas are in discussions for creating their own fourth nation state,” Sebastian reported, and he spent some more time discussing the possibility of a fourth group of states breaking away. Although Tim was sure that many would be interested in the subject, he still did not understand how it related to them and the Agency. Tim reminded himself once again that the Agency was not concerned with domestic issues or policies—unless Sebastian was planning on taking out the governor of Texas. Perhaps the target was in Mexico, Tim thought.
Sebastian continued. “Although these new nation states would still act in concert with one another, it is our analysis that the entire arrangement would be an unmitigated disaster and quite frankly would result in the breakup of the United States of America, which would threaten the stability of the world. Countries such as China and Russia would make serious attempts to take control of the west and east coast nations, and their economies could experience collapses like that of the country of Venezuela. This would result in a vast migration of citizens from both coasts to the Midwestern states. It is certainly possible that the entire situation could result in World War III...but, in the short run, the United States of America would cease to exist as we know it.”
Sebastian clicked on the next slide, which simply said in bold letters,
It’s time to take the country back.
Under that came the words,
It’s time to bri
ng the adults back into the room!
If there had been a group of likeminded people in Pam’s library, then perhaps the room would have burst into applause at Sebastian’s proclamation—but it certainly left Tim Hall feeling speechless and underwhelmed.
Tim looked over at Pam to see that she was nodding in agreement. Well, she was certainly on board.
The picture on the screen now showed the Vice President and many current and former cabinet members. There were also a good number of women and a few African Americans, the usual number of African Americans that the Republicans attracted to their events. There was no picture or mention of the current President. What were their plans for him?
Tim did not have to wait long find out.
“The President needs to become sick, incapacitated, and die,” said the voice belonging to Mr. Ajacks, who was speaking from a darkened corner of Pam’s library. Tim smelled smoke and turned to see a glowing cigarette tip in the corner. Agency heads apparently did not need permission to smoke.
“Of course, becoming sick and then dying too quickly will arouse a great amount of suspicion, especially with the President’s base and the media,” Mr. Ajacks continued, “so it is critical that the President does not pass away too quickly.”
“How long should the President live after he’s poisoned, sir?” Sebastian asked respectfully.
“I would say that the President should not live for any longer than six to eight weeks,” Ajacks replied.
Tim was now in a state of disbelief. They can’t be serious, he thought; yet no one seemed to be laughing.
“So, just to be clear...” Tim interrupted. “...we are planning on assassinating the President because we do not feel that he is acting like an adult?”
Tim could feel the stares of Pam and Sebastian burning into him. Speaking directly to Mr. Ajacks was not allowed.
Ajacks stepped a little to his left so his line of sight was directly focused on Tim. “Well, we can’t just blow his brains out like JFK. That would start a constitutional crisis. We could end up in worse shape than we are right now. We have considered other methods to speed up his demise. The President is a 78-year-old man, after all, but he does have his fans, and we need them to be on our side. This is why we feel that he deserves a slow, painless death which will go unnoticed by the public—at least at first.”
The Adults in the Room Page 11