One of the team leaders raised his hand and asked, “Sir, you mentioned there was some danger to us?”
“Oh, yes,” said the Director. “It is not finally decided, but until I have given it a lot more thought, my inclination is to bring the Deputy Assistant Director and go see the President within a day or two after tomorrow night’s activities. That is anticipated to be a very unpleasant meeting. Doing so will allow me to better protect each of you from being identified as knowledgeable in what amounts to the former Vice President’s treasonous behavior.” The silence in the room was only broken by the soft hum of the computers.
“Now, I’m not big on conspiracy theories,” the Director continued, “but it cannot be discounted that enemies of the Fontaine machine have seemed to die with unusual regularity. I am aware the safest way to handle this would be to call a highly classified briefing of multiple intelligence agency heads and as many of their people as could be gathered. This is under the theory that the more people that know a secret, the less likely someone in power will try to, shall we say, kill the messenger. Although this decision has not yet been made, I must also consider what is best for our country. Wide dissemination of this information would surely come out in the press and would likely bring down the Fontaine administration abruptly. In the country’s current economic state, that could be disastrous.”
“What I am going to ask of all of you is that after tomorrow evening, I want you to fade back into your former assignment before it was turned upside down by this one. In addition, you will need to remain completely silent about this operation. I’m also going to ask you to trust me.”
Chuckling, the Director continued, “Yeah, I know, trust me is mob speak for F-you, but in this case I mean it. And if she presses too far in trying to identify you, I’ll be out in front of the TV cameras.”
Director Kidd fielded several questions from the Special Agents on the surveillance teams, many of which he didn’t know the answer. When the questions dried up, he took his leave and asked Hugh to come with him.
In the car, the Director said, “Hugh, when she’s done tomorrow night, I want you to take the Chinese girl and drop out of sight. Take her somewhere safe and debrief her for everything you can get on the Charm School program. You know operations security better than I, so do whatever you need to, to ensure you can’t be found, even by our own people. Use the Deputy Assistant Director as a covert contact point. I will be in touch with you, through the DAD, within three days after you pick her up. Here’s a personal burner phone number for one I will have available to receive your call tomorrow night. After the call, I’ll turn it off and remove the battery, only to turn it on for ten minutes at 11:11 p.m. each night. Have you arranged for a place to take the girl after the interrogation?”
“Sir, yes I have, but I won’t need to interrogate her. I’ll literally have her write up everything she knows on a laptop that can’t connect to the Internet. It is truly amazing how incredibly astute and intelligent she is. Puts Mensa’s to shame. Oh, and what can be done to help her parents in China?”
The Director looked Hugh in the eye and said slowly, “I will, ah, make sure to ask the CIA Director when I speak with him tomorrow about what could be done on short notice if I were to come to him with a personal request along those lines. I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
With that, the Director looked away, making it obvious he didn’t think there was any chance at all to help Su’s parents.
Chapter 15
The New Year - Plus Six Days
The White House
1300 Hours EST
Katherine rubbed her temples as she fought another head pounding migraine though her pain threshold had increased to almost tolerate them. Thinking coherently was painful, but necessary. When Susan knocked softly at the door and entered from her office side entrance, she saw the pain etched on the President’s face and immediately walked over to take up a position behind her. Susan’s firm fingers began to rub deeply into the President’s temples while she softly sang a soothing children’s song her mother used to sing to her when she was sick.
After a few minutes, Susan said, “Madam President, I’ve rescheduled your appointments for the next ninety minutes. Would you like to relax for a while?”
“Thank you, my dear.” The President said the words in a dreamlike voice, although they did sound like unfamiliar words coming from Katherine’s lips.
After a few moments, Katherine continued, “That’s good, my dear. Please take a break yourself and come back in an hour.”
Susan left to find coffee and possibly Marc Baxter in the White House canteen.
Katherine barely heard the door close behind Susan. Over the Christmas holiday and the first few days of the New Year, the U.S. economy continued to spiral downward unabated. Unemployment had spiked upward dramatically, even though her Labor Department had followed instructions to report only a twenty-five percent rate. The mainstream press refrained from asking too many questions, but the conservative press unsuccessfully tried to press the issue.
The energy sector had also plummeted resulting in over half of the government–financed green energy companies shutting their doors. Not before company management and many of her donors had escaped with a healthy profit. The conservative media also hammered daily on those former CEO’s and their connections to the Fontaine Foundation. FBI investigations had been announced targeting the offices of the Secretary of Energy, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense.
Katherine was heartened by a respite from media scrutiny caused by the death of the most conservative member of the Supreme Court. He died while he was alone, on vacation. Curiously, once the local coroner determined the death was from “natural causes,” the Justice’s family had demanded that no autopsy be performed. It lessened the pain in her head to think the Court was now evenly split between conservatives and liberals. His replacement would be loyal to her. How the man had died at such a fortuitous time never entered her mind. She had others that took care of that sort of thing.
Turning her thoughts toward Eli Fredericks, she saw the country continue to devolve toward collapse, as he had predicted. When she chose to declare a State of Emergency, she would be in position to assert complete dominance over the country. Eli had told her this would be the case, and so it was playing out.
“When I make the declaration,” she thought with a clarity not always present in her mind, “I need to arrange for the removal of Eli and his whole organization. But how?”
This would definitely require further thought, she knew, and would not be an easy task. She also needed to find the right minion, or, ah, she mentally corrected herself, the right tool for the job. Several options are available.
Out loud, Katherine whispered to herself, “Yes, that will require quite a lot more thought.”
. . .
Frankfort, Kentucky
1830 Hours EST
The political rally was held in the downtown Frankfort hotel instead of the Pen and Ink Saloon. The hotel would both accommodate the greater numbers and be removed from the obvious influence of Tank Monahan, even though he was paying for it. All of the liberal movers and shakers in Kentucky were invited, along with a few people of influence in state government including General Steven Thompson of the Army National Guard, who arrived quite late.
Throughout the evening, alcohol and illegal prescription pills flowed freely through many of the revelers as they discussed the tough times and how the conservative state government had destroyed the state’s economy. Never mind that the entire country was in an economic tailspin.
When General Thompson arrived, his brother-in-law John Chapman had asked Kerry DuBois to escort him around the room and introduce him to people Kerry felt we
re important. For his part, the General was the consummate professional, showing no indication of his contempt for Kerry and instead took his introductions as an opportunity to identify those in government who appeared to share Kerry’s mindset.
“General, if you don’t mind, we’re holding a very special meeting at a suite just upstairs. Everyone is dying to hear how things are going in Washington.”
Kerry’s statements had been delivered with the intent of complimenting the General’s importance and to further stroke him into sharing what he had learned during his trip to the Pentagon. For his part, the General resisted the inclination to tell Kerry and his cronies to buzz off. Curiosity kept him quiet as he followed Kerry to the elevator.
The suite featured a bar setup far superior to that offered in the party room downstairs. Five men were present as Kerry and the General walked in. Upon their arrival, Tank Monahan shooed the buxom bartender and waitress out of the room and gave his own booming welcome to them both.
John Chapman got up from the couch and walked to shake the General’s hand. “Steven, I’m very happy you could join us tonight. I was delighted when my sister let me know you could attend. I think you know Mr. Monahan and of course, Kerry. You may even know Blondie here, but rest assured everything happening this evening is strictly off the record.”
John’s smile, as he said this, made the General want to reach to insure his wallet was still in his pocket.
“Freddie Dobson, there, is a prominent businessman and good friend of the party,” John said.
Turning toward a man standing off by himself, John made the grand introduction with a flourish, with a short, grizzled man with longer gray hair. “Now, this man is someone you definitely want to meet. General, let me introduce you to our state party Chairman, Coyote Collins.”
Coyote stood up and shook the General’s hand while looking down at the handshake instead of looking the General in the eyes. “Good to meet you, General. Looks like we may be working together pretty soon.”
“Oh, ah, Coyote, is it? How is that?” The General’s question showed more surprise than he had intended.
“Well, General. Like you, I’ve been in contact with some people in Washington. In particular, I’ve been talking to folks with the Fontaine administration and with Homeland Security. For whatever reason, they have decided I’m the man to govern the three state region including Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky if a State of Emergency is declared. The President seems to think these tough times are only going to get worse, and emergency measures may well be necessary. But then I understand you’ve already been briefed on all of that, haven’t you?”
The General recalled his briefings had all been classified TOP SECRET. “Gentlemen, I’m not sure what you have heard, but anything I learned in Washington, D.C. is classified and not for public discussion.”
Kerry couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “Awww, c’mon General. These are all trusted friends here.”
The General ignored him and looked directly at Coyote. “I’m not sure what instructions or clearances you have, but we can discuss that some other time in a different environment.”
The General turned and marched purposefully from the room.
When the door closed, Tank nearly shouted, “Why that arrogant cock su…” only to be cut off by Coyote.
“Now, Tank, we’ve all worked with people that didn’t see the light right away. Like them, the General can be, as we say, edjumicated.” Coyote said that with a smile spreading across his lips as he continued, “And by the way, I’m going to have authority to hire potentially thousands of security folks to enforce necessary directives. Might you happen to know some folks who will do what they are told without getting stupid about it?”
Effectively sidetracked, Tank asked, “Now how much will you be paying these security folks?” He was genuinely interested with the prospect of getting a cut of whatever they would be making.
“Oh, it’ll be the federal government scale, somewhere around a GS 8 or 9 pay grade, probably. Hell, with no jobs available, anything with benefits should be enough.”
Tank thought about this for a moment before asking, “How about a contract to supply X number of trained security personnel? And how about weapons and equipment. Is that included, too? They’ll need vehicles, unlimited fuel vouchers, that sort of thing.”
“Yeah,” Coyote said with some resignation, “that should be no problem. Especially the weapons and ammo. Homeland has been stockpiling those for quite a while now and can get priority to buy whatever they need. But I want these men trained and reliable. Emphasis on reliability. They have to be willing to follow orders, period.”
Coyote looked around the room. Everyone but Freddy nodded slowly, the wheels in their heads turning at a tremendous pace.
. . .
Frankfort, Kentucky
2000 Hours EST
General Thompson was internally fuming as he walked away from the meeting with Kerry and his cronies. After a quick look around to ensure he was not being followed, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
“Yeah, David? I’m sorry to call so late, but it’s important. Is the Governor in his residence? Yes, I know I’m scheduled to meet with him in the morning, but something else has come up. Think he could spare me a few minutes? Okay, I can be there in twenty. And a quiet entrance would be best. And I need a completely private conversation. Is that doable? Thanks.”
After disconnecting the phone, the General quickly drove to his home where he dropped his official government vehicle and jumped into his old beater pickup truck. He drove to the Governor’s mansion where he was checked in before being directed to the back door.
The Governor’s state police security detail head met General Thompson at the door. “David, thanks for setting this up. If you would, please stay close while I’m meeting with him. He may want to bring you in on this.” David remained attentive, but expressionless.
The Governor received the General in a special room just off of his mansion office. The room was cramped and had the feel of a closet interrogation room.
“General, I was looking forward to hearing about your Washington trip in the morning. Is this about something else?”
“Governor, I’ve been trying to figure out how to brief you efficiently. Unfortunately, this just may take a little while to be able to give you a full picture. If you’ll bear with me, I think the urgency will be apparent when I get toward the end.”
The General gave a description of the Fontaine administration plan for a declared State of Emergency. It was a testament to the Governor’s personal control that he contained the obvious outrage he felt. Decades of emergency response plans were going to be thrown out the window. All National Guard troops were to be nationalized and given orders to fully support the Department of Homeland Security and federally appointed infrastructure. State rule would effectively be subordinated to Regional Governors, who would be appointed by the President to maintain order and see to the needs of the people.
“They plan to convert the National Guard into the goons for Homeland Security, ignoring state and local government officials except to use them to pacify the populous. The Bitch has gone off the deep end, and her so-called right-thinking people want the military to enforce their agenda.” The General paused to catch his breath.
“General, where do you stand on all of this?”
“If I defy the President’s order, they’ll simply replace me. The press has been in her pocket from the beginning, and I presume she’ll use the emergency powers to muzzle conservative outlets and even social media, you know, ‘for the duration of the emergency.’ I think stall tactics would be best here, but, what I really want to know is what you would want. Only you need to
hear the rest of it.”
After a short pause to think, the General said, “This evening my brother-in-law, John Chapman, made a big deal of inviting me to a liberal party gathering. That split off into a private meeting with a few men including Kerry DuBois and Coyote Collins. Coyote told me he looked forward to working with me because the Fontaine administration would be appointing him Rgional Governor over a three state region to include Kentucky. His Homeland Security contacts expected the State of Emergency to be declared sometime soon. The worst part is that none of this is legal or even constitutional. But, with the Supreme Court divided and Fontaine’s party holding half of Congress, she seems to be willing to go ahead with it anyway. Hell, it’s like there are no adults to tell these idiots that what they’re doing is wrong.”
“General, give me a minute to process all of this.” The Governor bowed his head and began to pray. After a few minutes he looked at the General with a nod of his head as if he had just received divine inspiration.
“General, at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, please gather all of your senior people that you believe you can absolutely trust in a secure location. Just let David know where, and he’ll see that I and possibly two to three more people will meet you there.”
“Yes, Sir.” The General felt relieved to have shared the burden.
“And, Governor? I’ll mention this to David, but please understand that with what seems to be coming, you might be viewed as a liability around here. Under a declared emergency, they could do anything from authorizing your arrest to making you disappear, should they think you threaten their power. Please take precautions.”
The Governor gave the General a thoughtful nod as he left the room.
Chapter 16
The Final Proclamation (An America Reborn Thriller Book 2) Page 9