by Finian Blake
After a half hour of waiting it was their turn. Pauline went to open the cart. She detected a worried look on Evan’s face. She selected the three files off of the top of the documents.
“Do you mind?” Evan nodded his agreement. Pauline emitted a sigh of relief when she saw the contents were complete. “I thought that you might want some leverage.”
“I do admit that the idea crossed my mind. That would be a shitty way to treat my new assistant.” Pauline fed the first three folders to the shredder without a moment’s hesitation. Evan passed the rest to her a few at a time. When they were through, Evan and Pauline strolled back to the office. “What about Brian?”
“Brian is a vegetable. I had a report from the hospital and his EEG is minimal.”
“I hope that it was worth it.”
“It was worth four million.” They walked back to the office without further comment. When they closed the door of the inner office Pauline had Evan open the storage section of the couch. She pointed at the pile of cash on the left side.
“There is $280,000 there.” Evan suddenly knew where the cash in Sean’s car came from. “It was part of three million that went to finance petty cash for our sweeper $900,000 was appropriated by Sean for his run fund. Now that he is dead he will be blamed for all undocumented shortages.” Evan understood the game without any further prompting.
“I have $200,000, but there is $750,000 unaccounted for.”
“Sean and I were splitting it for our run funds. I have mine in a few different locations. The last of it came out the other day and his is in a safe place. Since you are the foreman you are entitled to his last $175,000.” Pauline bent over and pulled out $4,000 handing Evan a receipt. “Sign here,” the receipt read ‘$400,000 REPAYABLE’.
“Why the repayable comment?”
“We have to account for the money that you use to buy your clothes. Everything you owned went up in the fire at your place and you don’t have any money.” Evan admired the way that Pauline could juggle legal and illegal. She was able to blend all of the facts into one believable story that people wanted to buy.
Pauline made the call to the chairman of the committee before they left for the mall. Evan was surprised when she pulled up in front of JC penny.
“I was thinking of something more upscale.”
“The Senators and Congressmen tend to be suspicious of people that are better dressed than they are especially when they are testifying about missing funds. An Armani suit is out of the question for now. I am sure that you will find something that is right for you. Public servants should not look like millionaires or rag pickers. You want to fall somewhere in the middle.” Evan found many things that worked extremely well. He even found a sport jacket that he liked. They even purchased a suitcase so that he wouldn’t be a bag man.
“Where is your hotel?”
“I was planning on getting one this morning before our meeting.” Pauline looked Evan over critically. He had taken several of her suggestions and she thought that she might be able to work with him.
“My place is only thirty minutes from here. I have six bedrooms there. I picked up the place as part of my inheritance. My folks raised horses they have a few acres East of DC, so we can carpool in.” Evan could not believe his luck at having a ready-made assistant that was familiar with the Washington conventions. Pauline drove down a long tree lined drive that was framed by a white rail fence. The pasture was surrounded by old hard wood trees. There was a southern style two story brick home with a wide covered porch in front with white columns framing the porch. Evan admired the modern southern look of the place. The buildings were one hundred thirty years old and had been recently remodeled. The barn was made of brick and seemed to have ten stalls. Pauline pulled into the four car garage and closed the door.
“We have a guest house in back but it is not prepared for company. Sean had it converted for a special purpose. I have several guest rooms inside the house. Come and we will get you settled in.” Pauline led the way through the house. The floors and trim were hardwood throughout. Most of the furniture was hardwood with padding for the seats and backs. There were pictures of horses and country scenes on the walls. Pauline led the way up stairs. Various pieces of antique tack were hung around the house for decoration. She led the way to the master bedroom.
“I took over the master bedroom when my parents died last October. A raccoon made a home in the chimney and carbon monoxide built up in the house. My parents died in their sleep and so did my sister, but don’t worry I fixed the chimney so that it will never happen again.” Evan remembered what Pauline had said last night.
“You said that Brian helped things along with an accident.”
“You do listen. Perhaps I said too much last night.” Evan smiled and backed out of the room.
“Come to think of it I can’t remember a thing. Which room, do you recommend that I use.”
“You just forgot everything that I said?”
“I do know that my assistant would never misuse her authority. You are a kind and loving person.” Pauline patted him on the cheek. “It seems that we will be together for a long time. They are sending Don, Sam, and Brian back on the same plane. Would you like me to arrange their travel?”
“I couldn’t think of better hands to leave it in. Where is your shower?”
“Your room is here, and the bath is the next door down the hall. Pauline indicated another door. “We need to hurry to make it back in time for our meeting with Senator Mudson.”
“Yes, Senator George Mudson is personally administering the oversight. He is one of the few people with knowledge of this branch. We have a meeting with him this afternoon at one.” Evan spread his new clothes and started to cut the labels out of his clothes. He was only half finished when Pauline walked in the room.
“I will finish this. Get your shower and we will leave.”
Pauline had to push hard to get back to the office in time for the meeting with the Senator. On the way over she handed him two ID badges.
“The first ID is for the building. The second one is for our wing it serves as a keycard for the doors.”
“You had these all the time?”
“I needed to see where you stood. It could have taken months to get these processed. You know how things move.”
Evan smiled, “I take it that we will be working together?” Pauline nodded continuing as she raced back to the office.
“This afternoon is guaranteed to be a strange one. I would like you to go along with me no matter what happens. I don’t have time to explain things and you would not believe it if I did.” Pauline pulled her car in the parking lot using the normal entrance. Evan used his ID to access the primary entrance to make sure that everything was working. They went directly to his office. “The Senator will be using your private entrance. I had your car moved so that he can use your parking space.”
“Is he that important?”
“We still have $700,000 unaccounted for. What we need to do is stop the oversight before it begins. Sean was a master at this. He has one more set of files which I will acquaint you with later. Right now I have a phone call to make.” Pauline picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other end for several minutes. She hung up the phone without comment. “The travel arrangements have been made. My contact at the FBI will relay the details.” Pauline turned on the monitor next to the desk. Within minutes Senator Mudson pulled in the parking spot. She pushed Evan in his chair and turned off the monitor.
Senator Mudson walked in the room and recognized Evan from the day before.
“Evan I see you found time to shower and change your clothes.” Pauline jumped in before Evan could answer.”
“Yes, all of his clothes burned in a fire. I issued him some funds from petty cash which he will repay.” Senator Mudson read the receipt which she handed him.
“Pauline I see that you are efficient as usual.”
“Thank you, Evan went to work last night. The two o
f us were at it until dawn. We found the mission files and used one of the keys that you gave Evan yesterday. She opened the couch producing the files. We did not want to destroy them until we could get your approval. She handed the top ten files to Mudson. He turned beat red when he read them. These would end the career of anybody associated with the project.
“Shred these now we can’t have this kind of information getting out. He spotted the cash at the opposite end. “Is that the petty cash?”
“Yes Evan and I went through the receipts last night. There seem to be some funds that can’t be accounted for.”
“How much are we talking about?”
“Right now we are talking about $900,000.”
“Shit that’s not some. It’s a third!”
“Sean was on a meltdown. I am sure that he is not a thief. Evan and I can reconstruct the accounts from the files. It will take some time but I am sure that we can account for every penny.”
“We can’t turn those files over to the General Accounting Office. I want them destroyed now.” Mudson looked at Evan closely. “I gave you two keys. What did the other key fit?” Evan shrugged his shoulders.
“We haven’t found that yet.”
Mudson looked around the office. “Well that chair looks to be the same construction as this couch.”
Evan handed the other key to Senator Mudson. The key fit the lock perfectly. The seat moved forward revealing a smaller file. It held just ten folders. Evan picked up the first file. It had pictures of an older man standing behind a young man with his pants down. The file had a congressman’s name on it.
Evan worked his way through the files. Each file had a respected member of the congress or senate in equally compromising situations. The last file was the most interesting. It was a picture of Pauline passionately kissing another woman on the office couch. Her hand was well up under the other woman’s skirt.
“Pauline you like women!”
“No I like men!” Evan moved to the next picture in the file. It dropped his jaw. “Mudson, that’s you in drag. This must be Sean’s black mail file.”
Senator Mudson’s face was purple with rage. “Shit that bastard…”
Pauline blurted out, “Honest to god I didn’t know!”
Evan decided to step in, “Senator you were more than fair with me at the hearing yesterday. I have no intention of blackmailing you. These files do not exist, so we are going to shred these and the other files. As far as I am concerned, these files never existed. I have signed the National Secrets Act and I guess that this would qualify as a secret. We will shred all of the files.” Evan held up the nine other files. Mudson started to cry.
“You won’t try to blackmail me?”
“Pauline and I will go to the grave with the secret.” The Senator watched them load the document cart and they had him escort them down to the shredder room. George looked in each of the top ten files to be sure that they still contained all of the information in them. Pauline and Evan destroyed all of the files as the senator inspected them. They took the document cart back to the office.
The Senator still looked depressed. He sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
“All of this may have been for nothing. My wife is out in LA looking for a publicist. I think that she will have a big announcement to make when she returns. She found some of the photos that I took in my dresser drawer.” Pauline sat on his lap and massaged his neck.
“We have a Lear jet taking some of our people back from LA tomorrow morning. There are a few seats left on it. I could get your wife on the flight.”
“Do you mean the flight with Don, Sam, and Brian on it?” Pauline kissed the Senator passionately. He held her back.
“Evan…”
Pauline gave the Senator a playful elbow in the ribs, “After what he has seen, are you worried about a kiss? Evan what do you see.”
“I see the Senator sitting in front of me discussing dismantling our branch. I think that I will go down to the coffee shop to see if there are any Danish left, but I might have to go down the street to find some.” Evan walked out of the room and closed the door.
“Now Senator, do you want your wife on that plane?”
“Yes…”
Pauline slid her hand under his shirt and pinched his nipple forcefully.
“I will see that she is on that plane, now let’s relieve some of that tension.”
Edward reentered his body. He and Layla had been rotating viewing sessions. He picked up the recorder logging in all of his observations. Susan’s service was just three hours away. Edward ran the recorder back to Suki. She developed a stronger interest in the process ever since the two CIA agents were detained. MI called the number from their cell phone, and the station chief refused to come down to MI to pick them up. There was no demand for the detention cell so MI decided to keep them. Susan’s daughter Lynn decided to hold a board meeting at breakfast before the services. Adam, Noah, Susan, Sarah and Suki met at Susan’s home. Alex and Lynn were invited but declined. It was up to the new board to decide on the future. Lynn took the chairman’s seat.
“I wanted to see if everyone was alright with Lynn’s suggestion of restructuring. I think that we need to have an election. It’s our board and I want to get things right. Are there any suggestions for a chairperson?” Her brother Noah started the nominations.
“I nominate Lynn for Chairwoman and Susan for financial officer.” Lynn was praying for another nomination, but was greeted by silence. Lynn waited for five minutes for any other nomination.
“With no other nominations, I want to ask if there are any objections.”
Suki broke the silence, “Lynn we are all behind you. You did a hell of a job yesterday. You made all of the right calls. I am comfortable with your leadership and nobody is better qualified than Susan for financial officer. I would like to ask Adam and Noah what their plans are.”
Noah jumped right in, “I don’t know about Adam, but I plan on doing whatever is necessary to back my sisters. I signed up for four more years with the SAS. What about you Adam?”
“Things are going good and I will do whatever it takes, but I have every confidence in my sisters.”
“I am not sure that I can do it like mom would have done it.”
Sarah broke her silence, “We expect you to do things the way that you see them. We will all help and provide any support that you require. We are still a board and you are our voice. We will support you the way that we supported Susan.” Lynn looked around the room.
“Is there any other business?” Suki raised her hand.
“I am going to turn day to day security over to Nadia along with my shares. Yuki has no intention of getting involved with overall security. I will still work with the Inn, but we need more energy in the international areas. Nadia and Ted make a good team. Is there any problem with the shift?” Lynn could see what Alex meant about not having to make every decision on her own.
“Is there any discussion?” Everybody nodded their agreement. “Then we will accept Suki’s decision. If there is no further discussion I believe that our business is concluded.” Breakfast was served and everybody left to prepare for the service.
Lynn, Anna and Alex were sitting on the steps of the security building. Lynn and Susan walked out past the three of them. Lynn stood up in front of her daughters.
“How did things go?”
“The board accepted your proposal. Susan and I will be running things you may file the will.”
“Susan left it all to me. I will need you to help making the necessary transactions. We will amend the charter to reflect the new board. I am going to transfer funds from my account in the same amounts as I did Susan’s funds.” The girls looked panicked.
“Are you dying?”
“No but sooner or later it will happen. I will still have forty-five million in the bank. All I do is buy clothes and maybe a horse or a dog now and then. The forty-five million ought to cover that. Do you have any plans of kickin
g me out of the house?” Lynn and Susan gave their mother a horrified look. “Then there is no point in having all of that money in my name. I have Shultz and my horse Troy. Essentially nothing has changed. Please excuse me I need to prepare for Susan’s funeral.” Lynn walked off leaving the girls with Alex and Anna.
“Thanks for the advice I feel much better about taking the Chair now. The board voted me in unanimously. I was worried about what they would say. Suki turned her control of the security company to Nadia and Ted, and then we adjourned. I thought that board meetings took much longer.”
“There are only six members and they all live here. We always put any discussion of importance through the board. Our fastest meeting was five minutes held in the stable. All of the members are your advisors anyway. To make it official I suggest that you get a verbal proxy from Adam and Noah in case they are unavailable.” The girls gave Alex and Anna a warm kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you for not treating us like your daughters.”
The service in the stone garden was crowded. Alex was not surprised that there were over a hundred people there. The service was limited to intimate friends. As people gathered Anna noticed a strange man to the back of the crowd. She walked up to him and extended her hand.
“Hi I am Anna. How did you know Susan?” When the stranger extended his hand she made a quick move putting him in a hammer lock. He started to struggle. Edward stepped up and delivered a blow to his left shoulder, and the arm went slack.
“If you kick my mother you will never survive.” They moved him into the bushes.
“I have an ID that I want to show you.” Edward frisked him and found that he was unarmed. He nodded for Anna to release the man. His left arm was useless and he had to struggle to retrieve his ID. Edward stepped up, pushed on his shoulder giving it a quick tug. The man flexed his arm and wiggled his fingers.