by David Archer
"Ah, ah, ah. Nope, it's not that simple. Think about who the queen is, and then think about who the factions are. We're talking about groups within the CIA who should be supporting the king—the American government—but instead, are building power bases of their own in lending their support to other entities. Some of those entities are within the CIA itself, but some are not. Some of them are parts of foreign powers, other countries who may or may not be our allies. Would you care to speculate on why they would be acting this way?"
Sam shook his head, trying to focus on all the different images that were running around inside it. Long was trying to tell him something, he was sure of it, but he couldn't quite figure out just what it was. "The only thing I can think of is treason. Are you saying that parts of the CIA are actively working against the interests of the United States of America?"
"Ding, ding, ding, ding! Give that man a cigar! Good job, Prichard, you just proved you have a brain. Now, tell me this: assuming you're one of those factions, what are you going to do about a pawn who refuses to support any action of the queen that is treasonous to the king?"
Sam nodded, suddenly beginning to understand where Long was going. "You eliminate that pawn," he said. "Is that what you're trying to tell me? Are they out to eliminate you?"
"Well, you might say it's a mutual desire for elimination. There are those who think their plans will work better if I'm not around, and I think that America will last longer if they're not around. Needless to say, I'm working on my plans and they're working on their own. Normally, this isn't a big issue for me, but apparently I got sloppy by coming to visit mom. On the other hand, who would have guessed that my daughter would hire the one private eye in the whole state of Colorado who has national security connections? Go figure, what are the odds? You learned enough about me and my disappearance to ask questions of your superiors, which sent up red flags all over the intelligence community, and let the people who want me to find out I'm in town. Of course they're going to try to use every asset possible, namely yourself, to get me out of the picture."
"Okay, now wait a minute," Sam said. "If you’ve honestly got evidence of treason within the CIA, why haven't you come forward with it? Is it some sort of pride thing? You have to take them down or they take you down?"
Long laughed, a deep and hearty laugh. "Oh, my goodness, I needed that! Thank you, Prichard, I haven't laughed like that in years. No, it's got nothing to do with pride. It has to do with the fact that we’re dealing with people so deeply entrenched that any evidence I might be able to point to would be destroyed before you can turn your head to look at it. Can I prove what I'm trying to say? No. Do I know it to the very depths of my being? You bet your ass I do! I've seen good men killed to keep their secrets. Hell, I've killed a few of them myself. That was before I understood what was really going on, but now that I do, I'm determined to do all I can to save my country. I'll probably die trying, but that was something I agreed to long ago, to give my life doing all I can to protect and serve my country."
"But if you can prove what you're saying," Sam said, "then maybe I can help you. I do have connections, you know."
"Yes, you do," Long said. "Harry Winslow is a good man, one of the best. I don't know him personally, but I know who he is, and I know you can trust him. Like me, he has stuck his neck out for his country more than once. Unfortunately, there's not a lot he can do to help me in this situation. The people involved are far more powerful than he is, and he isn't even part of the company anymore. HS has its place, but the company looks down on it as if it were a redheaded stepchild. No, I've got to ride this one out on my own."
"Well, where does that leave me? What am I supposed to do about the pressure to bring you in? If you're for real, then what I want to do is let you do your thing, let you do whatever it is you're trying to do to protect my country, too. On the other hand, if you're lying to me, then what I really want to do is break you into a few hundred little pieces. Now, from what I understand, that wouldn't be so easy to do; however, as you pointed out, I'm not a man who gives up easily. So tell me, Mr. Long, where do we go from here?"
There was silence for about ten seconds, and then Long said, "I'll call you back in a bit." The phone went dead.
Sam looked at the phone in his hand, wondering just what it was he was supposed to do. He knew that Harry's people wanted him to bring Long in, which could mean anything from arresting the guy to putting a bullet through his head. If Long was telling the truth, then no matter what Sam did, he'd be helping those who were a threat to the USA.
He wanted to call Harry, but he wasn't sure if that would be a good idea at the moment. It was quite possible that Long had ways of knowing what he was doing, even who he was calling. A call to Harry could set things in motion that should be avoided. It would be better to wait for Long to call him back, and see if there was anything else he could add to help Sam figure out his next move.
He waited. A half hour passed, and Sam began to wonder if he were being played, if Long was using this time to make a getaway. He thought about trying to call the man back, but decided to wait it out. He was playing a hunch, that there was something about Long he could trust. He didn't know why, he didn't know what, but something told him that Long was not the enemy.
The phone rang, and Sam jumped almost out of his chair. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Long's number.
"Yeah?"
"Sorry about that," Long said. "You're not the only one they got hunting me down, and it was time to move in order to avoid a trap. Now, where were we?”
Sam smiled into the phone. “We were at the point of trying to figure out why I should believe you, and what I can do to help you if I do. Got any suggestions on either one?”
“Just one that I can think of at the moment,” Long said. “Ask yourself this: if I'm lying, why haven't I already come and killed you? We both know I could, and that you can't stop me. Now, there's not really anything you can do to help me, so if I'm not being honest, why are you still alive?”
“That leads to another question, though,” Sam shot back. “Why are you even bothering to talk to me at all? I mean, assuming you're telling the truth, and assuming that I can't be of any help to you, what's the point in explaining any of this to me?"
"That is a good question. Maybe I just jumped at the chance to have someone listen, someone who wasn't automatically assuming that I was the enemy. That's not something I get very often. However, the truth is a little less altruistic than that. Just the fact that you have been asked to bring me in tells me that at least someone believes you're capable of it. If you are, then I'm hoping to turn you to my side. I've at least got a chance of living longer that way, wouldn't you think?"
"I'm not planning to try to kill you, Mr. Long. At this point, I don't see any reason to think of you as my enemy, and that's the truth. On the other hand, if what you're telling me is true, then you definitely need all the help you can get. It sounds like you're dealing with some pretty heavy corruption on a grand scale, and I just don't see how in the world you intend to do anything about it on your own. I'd love to help, but you gotta give me something to work with."
"Sam—may I call you Sam? Sam, I wish I knew what to give you. I can give you names, but they would mean nothing to you. Even your friend Harry wouldn't know most of them, and wouldn't have any way to deal with them if he did. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of true interagency cooperation in DC, so it's highly unlikely that he would have enough clout to do much good."
"You might be surprised," Sam said. "I can tell you that Harry has surprised me and a lot of others at times. He can be a pretty wicked old fellow, when he needs to be."
"Oh, I don't doubt that at all. As I said, I don't know him personally, but I've known his reputation for more than thirty years. Your old friend there has done more wet work than any fictional assassin you would care to name. He's a very dangerous man, make no mistake about it. Even as old as he is, I'm not in any rush to tangle with him. Th
at ought to tell you something."
Sam left. "Well, it just proves you have a brain. I don't know about all the wet work, but I fought side-by-side with him a while back, and there are very few people I would trust more to have at my side in a firefight."
"Hey, you're preaching to the choir; you don't have to sell me on Harry Winslow. As I said, I've known his reputation for a long time. The thing is, that still doesn't mean he can help."
Sam sat forward in his chair, the urgency of the situation beginning to get to him. "Isn't it worth a try? Look, from what you're telling me, we’re dealing with a threat to national security. If factions within the CIA are working with foreign powers against the interests of our country, then something definitely has to be done about it. Apparently you have decided to take it upon yourself to see that that something gets done, but you're just one man. So, okay, maybe you're like Rambo, one man who’s as tough as an entire platoon of regular soldiers, but even a one-man platoon can't take on an entire battalion. The people you're going up against, who obviously know who you are and what you're capable of, are going to sit back and prepare. They're going to fortify themselves in every way they can, so that no matter what you do you can't reach them."
"You're right, you're absolutely right. They’re ready for me, so the only hope I've got is to find a chink in their armor, a loophole I can exploit and use against them. Now, unless you've got some suggestions along that line, I'm beginning to think there's not a lot of point to this conversation. Got anything more to add?"
Sam rubbed his temples. "Look, Ken—I can call you Ken, right? What have you got to lose by talking to Harry? You don't even have to talk to him in person, we can do it over the phone or you can relay through me. Trust me, I know Harry well enough to know that if you're telling it straight, he'll think of a way to help. What have you got to lose?"
Long was quiet again for a few seconds, and then Sam heard him sigh once more. "The only thing I've got to lose is my life," he said, "but that's been on the line longer than you've been alive. Okay, let me give you the basics, and you can approach Harry. If he thinks he can help, then we'll see about a meeting. Deal?"
"Deal," Sam said. "Fill me in."
"Okay, here it is without all the mysterious stuff," Long said. "There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, you know that, right? Well, not all of them are bogus. One of the reasons that I used Kings and Queens and chess in my earlier analogy was to set the stage for this explanation. There are many different factions in the CIA. Each of them is led by someone who has some sort of powerbase within the organization. Each of those leaders has formed an alliance with someone in our government, someone they expect to rise to the highest levels. Get where I'm going?"
"I think so," Sam said. "These people tie themselves to the coattails of whoever they expect to eventually occupy the White House, right?"
"Bingo. Now, some of them, back in the late eighties, hooked onto a former CIA director named Bush, and that paid off pretty well for them, wouldn't you say? Quite a few of them rose to power in various areas of the government, and some of them are still there. A few others, particularly in the last few years, have chosen other people in the government to support. More than one have thrown their backing behind a senator or congressman, but a few are interested in a certain former First Lady, who later became Secretary of State. She managed to pull off a few amazing feats during her term at the State Department, even though she had a few fiascoes during her tenure as well, and there are some powerful people in other countries that would love to see her in the presidency. Some of those factions have decided that helping her achieve that goal is the best way to make sure they maintain the power they got, and increase it as time goes on. Now, what that boils down to is that those factions will take whatever action they believe is beneficial to her run for the White House, whenever it happens. In short, whatever she wants to happen, in this country or others, they'll do all in their power to bring about."
"But what does that have to do with working against the interests of our country? Okay, I can see where those factions might try to accomplish things that will help put their candidate in that office, but isn't that just politics? How does any of that constitute treason?"
"There you go, now you're thinking! Those simple things don't constitute treason; however, it's quite possible to put together several different actions, none of which on their own cause any real problem, and have a cumulative effect that can cause problems in other countries that will almost invisibly undermine the candidacy of any opposition she might have. And before you go jumping to conclusions, don't assume that she's aware of what's going on behind the scenes to put her in office. You'd be amazed at how many presidents, senators, congressmen, governors, even mayors get elected not because of their own merits or actions, but simply because someone else sees the potential in personal or political gain for themselves in having that candidate win a particular race. The candidate may think that his or her victory is some great mandate from the people to do whatever was promised during the campaign, but the truth is that someone else simply figured, hey, if he wins, then it pays off for me in the long run. It's really that simple, but you'd be amazed how many politicians never understand it."
Sam's mind was reeling with all of the information that was being crammed into it. "So, basically, what you're saying is that this candidate, this former First Lady, may think she's manipulating things to help her win the election, but the truth is that she's just as manipulated as everyone else. Her candidacy means more to these factions than it does to her, am I right?"
"Dead on the money. The truth about politics is that it's like an iceberg. That little bit on top that you can see? That's nothing; the real power, the real impact, is hidden underneath, and there's so much of it that can't be seen that it's essentially an unstoppable force. Now, when you got a candidate—that's the little part on top you can see—who has a highly visible profile but is easily manipulated, then you have a winning formula for some invisible, unstoppable force to come into power behind that candidate. The candidate, once elected, will either play ball with the force behind it or be eliminated. Remember Kennedy? He thought he could wield the power once he had it, but the truth was that it was never his to begin with. It belonged to the force behind him, and when he refused to do what that force wanted, he was eliminated."
"So then, there really is a shadow government? An organization within the government that pulls the strings on everything else?"
"Well, of course there is! But you're still not seeing all of it. Sam, if things worked the way they were supposed to, the government would consist of those elected officials that the people voted into office, right? Well, in reality, the government is itself nothing but a collection of shadow governments. Those shadow governments change, because what they're made up of is the factions behind the candidates. The more powerful the faction, the higher their candidates, their iceberg tips, will go. But like everything else, factions gain and lose power over time. One faction may be strong enough to take over a large part of the government this year, but two years from now, unless that faction is very cautious in maintaining its position and power, someone else will be ready to tip that iceberg."
"Then what's changing? If this is the way politics works, why are you opposing the system now?"
"Because there's one faction that's been at work for the last ten years or so, and it's thrown its support behind the former First Lady. Understand, this faction doesn't care if she wins the election; even without a win, she'll be positioned right where they want her, in order for them to gain the most power out of her candidacy. Frankly, they don't even care whether she wins the nomination for her party, because the biggest impact she has for them is simply the fact that she's running. Her desire to hold the office of President of the United States is the fuel this faction needs to accomplish his goals. Sam, can you figure out just what those goals might be?"
Sam thought through everything he'd been hearing, trying to
find the thread that would tie it all together. Everything he knew about politics, everything that Long had been explaining, all of it was swirling together in his brain and he was trying to make sense of the mixture. Something about the former First Lady running for president was what this faction was using to build its power, but if they didn't care whether she won the election or not, how much power could they gain? But Long had said it wasn't about the election, and certainly not about a victory, but just about her desire to hold the office…
"There's only one thing I can think of," Sam said, "that can make any sense of the things you're telling me. Are you trying to say that there are factions within the CIA that want to see an escalation in Islamic terrorism against the United States?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying, and I'm really surprised you figured it out. Certain conservative Islamic nations do not believe that women are fit to hold office, at least as far as the extremists and jihadists go, and I’m talking about the places where they’re the ones in power. Her candidacy for president infuriates some of them, and those factions are manipulating them into stepping up their actual acts of terror. That Hoover Dam thing you dealt with not long ago? I'll bet that if we dug deep enough, the nuclear material in those suitcases passes through the hands of CIA operatives somewhere along the line."
"But, dear God, what's the point? Are they simply out to destroy America?"
"Sam, Sam, if only it were that simple. It's all about globalization, Sam. One world, one government. Do you want to know what is standing in the way of the New World order? It's the one thing that America is most identified with, and the one thing that those jihadists hate as much as they hate Israel. You know what that is, Sam?"
6
Sam's eyes suddenly wide open. "Oh my—it's Christianity. What you're saying is that these factions are out to destroy the Christian religion, which was the very foundation of the United States of America."