“We know about the meeting in Starvary and Goldera along with the meeting at the Rose Ridge Club. The one that you were supposed to be the Honored Guest at. Such a shame you couldn’t make it.”
The President rubbed his eyebrows and took a deep breath. He looked around the room and leaned over on the table.
He said, “It wasn’t me. They asked me to get involved early on and I told them no and that they needed to be careful.”
Trent asked, “When you say they, who are you referring to?”
The President said, “People involved with the campaign. They started coming to me with all kinds of cockamamie stories about how we could get help to win the election by using some sort of crazy computer from another country. They kept saying that we could all get rich off the process. I said I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
“But you didn’t tell them not to do it or that they weren’t allowed to do it?”
A strange smile came over Alan Gergen’s face, “These are grown men. Alpha males. I can’t control these animals. If they want to do something, how am I to stop them?”
“So, you didn’t tell them that it would be inappropriate, and they were making these deals in your name. In the name of Adoxia.”
The President said, “I didn’t know that. I never signed off on any of those shady deals. I stayed completely out of it until we won.”
Trent said, “Wait, so what changed after you won?”
A troubled look came over the President. “They turned on me. It’s hard to confess this, but I was used by my party to push all their policies. When I made it clear that I would never lift the embargo or sanctions on Goldera, they came at me with the pictures.”
“What pictures?”
The President took a drink of water. “My wife and I are doing wonderful now, probably the happiest we’ve ever been. There were a few years in the past that I needed something all men need. When you work in government, the days can be long and frustrating. I’ve been involved in fourteen-hour filibusters before, not to mention all the rest.”
“Let’s get to the point please.”
The President stared at Whitney. “The point is that I participated in two extra-marital adventures and the Vice President and leaders of the party had the pictures. I wouldn’t take part in the deals, but I swore to turn a blind eye toward their indiscretions. I wish it would have stopped there, but then they forced all my high appointments. I was the President of Adoxia and I was powerless. I just wanted to protect my wife and kids. Youngest is going to be a senior in high school this year and I didn’t want him to suffer from my mistakes.”
Trent said, “That is sad, but you do realize you are an accessory and you are guilty of obstruction of justice with all of your appointees?”
The President said sharply, “I do, but I want to make sure you realize that I’m not guilty of any high crimes. I didn’t sell out my country. I just wanted to protect my family, that’s all.”
“This isn’t to say that I don’t believe you, but we will need to question some other people about this for veracity. It’s just hard for me to believe that a President would do what you just confessed to. With that precedent, it’s hard for me to say where you would draw the line.”
Trent said, “I want to let you know that we won’t be leaking any of that information about your past. You will be asked about it in court and from there, it will likely get out. You are going to have to tell your family about your mistakes. I suggest you do it before they see it on TV.”
The President said, “I know. I need to do it as soon as I see them tonight. Those vultures are going to release everything once I am no longer of use to them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it before I got home. They know I am talking to you right now and they know I have a slight sense of honor, not much, but some.”
“Did you ever think about just being honest about it? If it happened in the past, before you were President, you wouldn’t have been impeached for it.”
The President said, “As I sit here and think about it, everything sounds so easy. It’s like I’ve been in a race going around a track at 110 miles per hour ever since we started campaigning. I’ve had some days with twenty meetings and forty phone calls. I guess when you’re in the middle of it all, that bad stuff just seems like a really small part, at least that’s how I rationalized it to myself. But now that I am out of the race and standing on the sidelines, I can see clearly. I can see how big one thing out of a million can be. Maybe I should have stood up and been stronger.”
Trent asked, “Do you know anything about the details of any of the deals?”
The President shifted around in his seat. “I really don’t. I walked into many conversations that soon became hushed when the people noticed me. There was a huge disconnect between the few of us that were trying to do great work for Adoxia and the majority that only cared about enriching themselves. So I heard a thing here and there, but nothing in detail. They seem to have gone out of their way to keep me out of it. Probably a smart move.”
“Why should we believe you?”
Alan Gergen said, “As I said, since this entire process to become the President of Adoxia, I’ve been moving farther away from the party I once held dear to my heart. My only solace became my wife, Ethel, and my kids. I would talk to her ten times on the phone before I got home and then we would spend every evening together. Then they came at me with the pictures.”
“You’ve already explained this.”
The President held up his finger and said, “I’m getting to the point, which is, my wife and kids were the greatest things in my life. Why would I confess to what I just did? Why would I risk doing that to my family?”
Trent answered, “To avoid jail for one thing. I don’t want to sound cynical, but I’ve never really trusted politicians. What do you plan to do from here?”
The President took a drink and waited a moment. “The dream is over, obviously. I dreamed ever since I was a little boy about becoming the President of Adoxia. As I previously stated, with all the hoopla going on the entire time, I overlooked the workings of some very crooked people. You’ll probably say I even abetted them, but I never profited off any of my decisions as President. I will take responsibility for the appointees. I shouldn’t have let them strong-arm me on that.”
“You keep talking about the past. What do you plan to do moving forward?”
The President said, “Considering this process has just started, I’m not quite sure.”
Trent asked, “Did you really think that you were going to get away with it? I mean, how did you all sit around and pretend like nothing had ever happened?”
Alan Gergen exhaled audibly and said, “The business during the campaign that I managed to stay out of never really bothered me because I wasn’t sure of what exactly they were doing. After the blackmail and everything that followed, I’ve been riddled with guilt every day. And the one person I want to talk to about it, I can’t. I can’t tell Ethel about the biggest concern on my mind. And she knows, believe me, she knows. I don’t know how the others are handling it, but I’ve felt the walls closing in. After the Daryl Hopkins interview, I knew our time was limited. Mooney told me to hold it together.”
“So you expressed worry about the situation to your Vice President?”
The President slowly nodded his head, “Yes. I told him that if there was intelligence out there, he couldn’t make it all disappear. He said we own the investigative and justice departments of this country and we would never get caught. I think his exact words were, ‘stop being paranoid.’”
Trent said, “There is something you can still do for your country, sir. There’s no doubt your legacy has been tarnished by this criminal activity and cover up, but this isn’t the end. You can show your love of the country still. Some serious crimes have been committed and the people of Adoxia are going to want answers and accountability.”
The President cut him off. “You don’t want me to pardon any of them?”
Trent said, “Exactly.”
Alan Gergen let out a light and hollow laugh. “I have the best protection of anyone in the world as President of this country. Even with that, these guys can still get to me. You think mobsters are bad; politicians can be worse because they control the laws of the land. These guys will have me killed within a week. I’m not sure you know what kind of game they are playing?”
“Actually, we found out the hard way about the kind of game these guys play. I understand your plight, but I can get the government to make sure you stay safe with increased security. No matter what you do, these men aren’t going to be very fond of your testimony.”
The President told them, “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I’ll end up doing the right thing just for honor’s sake.”
“I should hope that you can come to this conclusion too. I want to thank you for coming in today and being candid with your responses. Obviously, we will need to speak with you again after we hold a few more interviews to see if your story holds up.”
The President got up and put his suit jacket back on over his sweat-soaked white button down shirt and left the small interrogation room.
Trent said, “We just got the President of Adoxia to admit that we were right. I’m not sure I believe him fully, but we will find out when we get to our Vice President, Frank Mooney. That is going to be one fun interview tomorrow.”
“It feels like we are right near the finish line on this one. I can’t believe the other agents let us handle these high profile interviews. If we can get the Vice President to admit to his wrongdoings, there won’t be much need for a trial.”
“Unfortunately because these are government officials, we have to jump through a few extra hoops to get criminal convictions. I didn’t want to say it in front of him, but the President is unlikely to spend a day in jail. His crimes are serious but his Presidential powers will make it nearly possible to even indict him.”
Trent added, “Exactly. And if he pardons anyone, all our work is basically for nothing as the biggest criminals in Adoxia history will get to walk free. We haven’t even started with whether the House of Delegates will get involved and hand out immunity.”
“I know. I remember how long it took for all the Benno Dante paperwork just to go through to start those proceedings. Now the web is even more tangled.”
The Vice President cancelled the scheduled interview at the last moment. He used the same tactic with the next two attempts and Trent and Whitney had to get a subpoena to make sure he would show up. The married couple sat in the same interrogation room that they had used for the President and waited.
Frank Mooney entered the room with his lawyer and angrily kicked the chair out from the table so he could sit down. His lawyer sat by his side and across from Whitney and Trent.
“I would say thank you for coming in, but we are way past those pleasantries. I don’t know you, Mr. Vice President, but innocent people usually revel in the opportunity to clear their names. You’ve been accused of some of the biggest charges in the history of Adoxia. I would think you would be chomping at the bit to set the record straight.”
The Vice President said casually, “What’s your point?”
“My point is that you have obstructed this process at every point. The President came in here and answered every question we asked. He didn’t cancel the appointment at the last minute three times and have to be dragged in here. My point is that you better answer our questions, and you better tell the truth.”
The Vice President commented, “That’s all I know how to do.”
Trent laughed and took a moment to compose himself. “Sorry, I thought you were making a joke. How do you respond to the charges of conspiring with a foreign government to win our election and making a back-door weapons deal with Olodomo?”
Frank Mooney looked at his fingernails on his right hand and appeared bored to answer the question. “Lots of rumors go around this town. I would expect you got answers about this from our President. I’m just his underling and a Vice President in this country doesn’t really have any power. Nobody listens to me. I’m just there in case the President dies. I’m nothing more than a mannequin.”
“So that’s when you use your limited power and resort to blackmailing them? You do know that blackmailing the President of Adoxia is a serious offense in itself?”
Frank Mooney said, “Whoa, that’s a serious allegation.” He looked at his lawyer, who closed his eyes and reluctantly nodded his head. “The blackmail story is ludicrous. I’ll tell you what I know, alright. The President was behind everything. I told him I didn’t want any part in that disgusting mess. He should have fucking known better, that dunce cap.”
“Allow me the chance to remind you that lying to an agent from the Bureau of Investigation of Adoxia is a felony charge that carries a possible sentence of up to ten years in jail. I should also let you know that we have already interviewed forty-one people about this and a very common theme has developed. So I’ll give you one more chance to amend your story.”
The Vice President shook his head. “I don’t need to amend anything. It was all President Alan Gergen the entire time. He said he would fire me if I said anything to anyone. He’s the monster you should be going after. I’m the victim here.”
Trent asked, “Have you ever heard of drones, sir?”
Frank Mooney quickly responded, “Of course. We’re developing an entire air fleet of them right now for defense.”
Trent said, “Sure, but not those types of drones. I’m talking about much smaller ones that fly around and take pictures. And let me tell you, they are really good at it. They can take pictures of meetings on tarmacs with leaders from other countries like Olodomo. They can take pictures of meetings at a place called the Rose Ridge Club and a house a few blocks away. New ones even have audio if you can believe it. Maybe you should have known about these kinds of drones.”
Frank Mooney whispered something into his lawyer’s ear. He asked, “Can my attorney and I have the room for a few minutes?”
“Certainly. I’d send in some catered food if we had it.”
Whitney and Trent exited the room and stood outside the closed door.
“He can feel the vise being turned a few more times.”
Trent said, “He’s close, but we’ll see. He seems pretty comfortable throwing around lies so far. We need to make sure he knows that all the testimony has shown him to be the organizer of this entire operation.”
The door opened again and the married couple sat back down at the table.
“I hope you guys had a nice little chat.” Whitney looked at his lawyer. “Did you warn him about lying to federal investigators? I really hope so.”
The Vice President said, “I’ve already told you the President was behind everything and he kept me so far away that I didn’t even realize how dirty the man was. I wish I had known about the severity so I could have said something.”
Trent yelled, “Alright, cut the bullshit. We’ve interviewed a lot of your cohorts and one story has emerged. They all say that you were in control of everything including the blackmailing of our President. Why would nearly every single person say that?”
Frank Mooney answered calmly, “You should relax with all that stress. Do you know what a politician is? A liar, plain and simple. When you get a group of them together and they see someone with honor that might go against them, they gang up on that person. They tell the most erroneous lies about that person to save themselves. I can’t believe the President got them all to spread these utter lies about me.”
“The funny thing about these conversations is that no one disputes that these historic crimes have been committed. That is a fact now. If you were in charge, which you were, you are in more trouble than any citizen from Adoxia has ever been in. You are looking at never seeing the sun rise again unless it’s for a visit to a firing squad. What do you say about the tarmac meeting with Olodomo?”
The Vice President said, “Show
me these pictures you say you have.”
Trent laughed. “Yeah, that’s not at all how it works. At this point it doesn’t really matter, does it? I could show you the seven pictures of King Raddman getting on and off the plane and my favorite one, which is the picture of that briefcase full of diamonds.”
Whitney saw the shade of the Vice President’s face start to get darker and she thought he might be about to come clean.
Frank Mooney said, “I can make pictures too. I can show you pictures of my body with a lion’s head. I can show you lots of pictures that have been doctored up to look like anything. Look, you two, I’ve got a lot of political opponents out there. I never would have thought they would come from my own party, but I’m the real victim here. I was just trying to represent the people of this country. I was just trying to do my job for all the citizens.”
“I am going to give you one more chance. I would remind you about the laws you are breaking, but that seems to be a futile exercise. Are you sticking with your story that it was only the President conspiring with the rest of the Bull Party to make you look like the bad guy?”
Frank Mooney shook his head. “It’s not a story. It’s fact. Not the delusional world you two live in where you rely on fake intelligence reports and stories from politicians. Now someone sent you fake pictures with me superimposed into them. There haven’t even been any crimes committed that I’ve seen any real evidence of.”
Trent said, “Now wait a minute. Just a few moments ago you were saying that these other people were framing you for these crimes that haven’t been disputed by anyone yet. So which is it?”
Frank Mooney started to get angry. “That’s what I just said. I wouldn’t know if there were crimes committed because I wasn’t involved. Are you two even listening to what I am saying? This whole interview has been a huge waste of time.”
“Okay, now we finally have something we agree on. This was a huge waste of time for you and it is going to cost you big time. As you said, those other crimes are going to be hard to convict, but there is a sure fire way to make sure you go to jail. And that’s to lie to a Bureau agent.”
The Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure 3 Book Bundle Page 22