The Plan (The Jackson Lowery Trilogy Book 1)

by Kevin P. Chavous

  Bill Merchant

  As they were reading the note, Jackson was closer to the bed, squatting down, while Ronnie was leaning over his right shoulder and reading it as the same time. Out of nowhere, Jackson heard a noise, turned to his right and saw an object come down on Ronnie's head. Ronnie must have felt the blow coming, because he lifted his right arm just before impact, taking some of the sting from the blow. The blow still hit him hard, however, and Ronnie let out a moan and fell to the floor. Jackson looked up and saw the man who hit him still holding the poker from the fireplace in his hand.

  Jackson did not hesitate. Before the man could wind up for another swing, Jackson lunged at him from his squatting position, tackling him like a blitzing lineman takes out a defenseless quarterback. The poker flew across the room. Jackson could tell that the man was a little surprised. Both struggled to gain leverage on the other. Jackson was not a fighter, but his father did teach him to box.

  Always tall and skinny, his dad told him that boxing was the best way to ward off bullies. “Funny thing about being able to box, son. When you show you can, no one messes with you. It helps your reputation big time.” Jackson's dad was right. After a few lessons when he was eleven, Jackson regularly sparred with his father. At thirteen, he had his first and last fight. A big kid who had been teasing Jackson for a couple of years purposely knocked Jackson’s lunch tray out of his hands. The kid then squared up to Jackson in front of the entire lunchtime crowd. Jackson squared back in return. The big kid threw a wild right, which Jackson easily escaped by ducking to his left. He then swiftly unleashed a left hook to the kid's gut, quickly followed with a right to the head. The kid went down. Jackson was suspended, but no one ever bothered him again in school.

  That experience, however, meant nothing to Jackson at the moment. The man hopped to his feet and assumed a Kung Fu stance. Feeling that his aggressiveness had helped him get the poker out of the man's hands, Jackson jumped up as well, but did not strike a pose. He faked a left, then threw a massive straight jab to the man’s face. He heard bones snap, both his and the man's. The man went down, grabbing his face. Jackson jumped on him, swinging away. A week's worth of frustration, emotion, and fury was wrapped into each swing.

  While the man stopped trying to fight back, his next words served to freeze Jackson. “You can hit me all you want professor. On Monday, there will be a million less of your kind. Less of you to mix around our woman. Like your girlfriend, who I enjoyed getting rid of.”

  Jackson stood up, stunned. He noticed that his right hand was throbbing and hurting like hell. It was full of blood. The man was trying to get up, but was woozy and stumbling while trying. It looked like he was attempting to reach into his pocket. Jackson was going to stop him when he heard a spitting sound and saw the man fall backwards, with blood flowing from his left temple. With that, he was dead. Jackson looked to his right and saw Ronnie standing next to him. The smoke was still coming from the silencer on his gun.

  __________

  Jenny was amazed at Sweeney's abilities. She had heard of the savant computer types and even knew about kids like Sweeney who were so good the government paid them not to be on a computer. To Jenny, that never quite made sense. It was like keeping a race horse in an eight by eight foot box. You can never really stop people from doing what they were born to do.

  Jenny especially remembered a kid she saw on 60 minutes several years ago. It was right before Mike Wallace died. Computers were becoming more a part of American life and Wallace had found a young black kid from Harlem who was a computer genius. The kid, Anwar Jeffries, was about twenty-two years old at the time and he was wearing a baggy embroidered jacket like the nineties hip hop group Kriss Kross. The kid was so good that he transferred a million dollars from the federal reserve into Mike Wallace's bank account and then moved it right back. Wallace was blown away.

  The government was paying the kid to stay away from computers. But they had to keep paying him more and more money. Corporate espionage was coming into vogue and major companies were offering the kid hundreds of thousands of dollars to test their internet security, design better computer protections, and even hack into competitors’ databases. Jenny had actually met the kid years later in Quantico. He looked totally beaten down after being muzzled and marginalized by his own government. He was held hostage by his own skills. Watching Sweeney work for the last hour inspired Jenny to make sure that the story of Anwar Jeffries did not apply to Sweeney.

  Between the two of them, they found out that the leadership of Claremark, Jawer, and Honeyberg seemed honest enough. Claremark has been, by far, the biggest player on the school lunch scene and they had sketchy contracting practices. It was clear that they bribed contracting officers, used some shady lobbyists, and did not mind crossing ethical lines. With just a little digging, Sweeney found evidence of payoffs and even a couple of offshore accounts. Jenny was not interested in any of that.

  Sweeney then found something that was very interesting, possibly revealing. The CEO and founder of Claremark, Austin Nicholas, grew up in Alabama, where he attended the University of Alabama in the 70's. Apparently, while at Alabama, Nicholas was the campus head of the KKK. It was all kept under wraps and none of the information was easily accessible online, but Sweeney had the goods. Seemed as though Nicholas was following in the footsteps of his old man, who publicly supported the Klan.

  This was all Jenny needed. She reached out to Jackson and Ronnie to update them on all that she and Sweeney had discovered. She tried them both a few times, but got no answer. She then told Sweeney to focus his attention on the local co-conspirators. She believed that they had enough to take to the senator, but she wanted to make sure. Sweeney went to work.

  SATURDAY

  ONE

  Saturdays are slow news days, even in Washington, D.C. But, not on this particular Saturday. The press was having a field day with the announcement coming from senator Rex Duncan's office. The senator's press release indicated that Jackson Lowery was innocent in the killing of the senator's daughter and that Lowery was working with law enforcement to bring the killers to justice. There was no mention of Lowery's whereabouts or what was meant by the reference to killers, not killer. Strangely, no leaks followed the release. None from the senator's staff. None from the US attorney. None from the police.

  The collective 'no more information' approach made the story bigger and bigger by the hour. The cable news channels flooded the airwaves with their talking heads and political pundits wildly speculating on how to interpret the senator's press release. The feeding frenzy had grown out of control. At the same time, a social media story was circulating around the internet alleging that ITM CFO Bill Merchant had a history of abusing young boys in Australia. The story featured an exclusive interview with one of the boys who was interviewed along with his mother.

  Amidst all of the media attention, Roger Tyler deemed it appropriate to have one final call with his group. This was a watershed moment for Tyler. All the years of silent frustration followed by hopeful organizing was coming to a head. He was doing all he could to keep things on track. For him, the plan was the only alternative. As soon as he got the General and the Carrs on the phone, he gave them an update.

  “Well, as I am sure each of you know by now, Reba Duncan did connect with Jackson Lowery and they have all joined forces. But as we agreed during our last call, this ultimately can be a good thing. It certainly is playing out that way. Merchant is done and his letter is in place. We have people watching his place.

  The General spoke, “I agree wholeheartedly, Roger. I can share another bit of good news that also suggests things are playing out well. I received a call from Senator Duncan asking me to come visit he and Reba at their home in the morning for breakfast. They said they need my help working through all that has happened in the last few days. I told them I was eager to help.”

  Tyler then directed the conversation to the Carrs. “That is good news, General. Jim and Susan, our
main issue now concerns whether we can get this thing off the ground on Monday. I am increasingly worried about us being able to stretch it even one more day.”

  Susan said, “As you know, my husband is the expert, but I can happily report that our scientists are ready, as are our distribution centers. The packaging idea works perfectly. Trucks roll out Sunday night. We are proud to report that all is good to go.”

  “That is awesome news, Susan. Just terrific.”

  “We are excited,” she said. “One question. What will we do with the ground team and the command center?”

  “Great question,” Tyler said. The General and I have been talking about that. There will be a lot of heat following Monday, so they will slip underground, many back into the bowels of some of the agencies where we have friends. Livermore will be able to access them on an as-needed basis in the future. As to the contractor, we don't need him anymore. Since he never disposed of Lowery, he will not get his bonus. Unfortunately, he lost a lot of his men, so he will have to regroup on his next project. I have told Livermore to shut down the command center by Monday morning. Until then, we need to be able to keep an eye on Merchant's house and have the techies clean up all we need to clean.”

  Jim stepped into the conversation. “Shouldn't we at least have them finish off Lowery? He has been a pain in the butt.”

  Tyler answered him. “Strother probably wants to, as do Livermore and his number two, R.J. But as far as I am concerned, that is not as big of a priority today as it was yesterday. Our folks know that if he gets in the way of our Monday plans, they are authorized to take him out, but now that Jackson has been exonerated by the feds, his death could look suspicious at this point. Our sole focus now is to make sure Monday is a success.”

  “We agree,” Susan said. She then added, “Jim and I will be gone tomorrow morning, so this will be the last time we chat with you for a while. As we say goodbye, we want you to know how honored we have been to contribute to the cause of preserving the right humanity.”

  Jim simply added, “I agree. Stay true to the cause, gentlemen.”

  “Thank you both,” Tyler responded. “For everything. Going forward, under the General's leadership, the best is yet to come. Godspeed.”

  “Hear, hear,” chimed in the General.

  With that, the most powerful white supremacy group assembled since the civil war officially disbanded, with the ardent belief that their efforts would bear fruit on Monday with the killing of over a million U.S. school children.

  __________

  One of the most understated and overlooked D.C. landmarks is Lincoln’s Cottage at the Old Soldier's Home in northwest Washington. Sprawled over two hundred acres, the site served as the summer house for presidents such as James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Chester A. Arthur. However, no president is identified with the site as much as the great president, Abraham Lincoln. Between June and November in 1862, 1863, and 1864, Lincoln and his family occupied the house to escape the swamp-like conditions at the White House and the wartime congestion of the capital.

  It is said, however, that Lincoln did not escape the Civil War and his burden of leadership. Every morning he mounted his big gray horse and rode the four miles to the White House to carry out official business, returning to the Old Soldiers' Home every evening. As a historian, Jackson admired Lincoln greatly and loved being on the grounds of the Old Soldier's Home. Standing near the cottage, Jackson could visualize Lincoln mounting his horse, complete with his dress jacket and stovepipe hat, enduring D.C.'s summer heat on his way to work to save the nation.

  Jackson had suggested Lincoln's Cottage to Reba Duncan as a place for them to all meet that evening. It was time to tell the senator all that they knew. Ronnie and Jenny agreed that it would be best done in person. But finding a place to meet was not easy. Since CNN broke the news regarding the senator's press release, the media had been stalking the senator and his wife. Forty news cameras were in front of their Kalorama home. Fortunately, secret service was keeping them at bay.

  Ronnie and Jenny also suggested that Jackson call Harrington immediately after meeting with Rex. They had to be careful not to antagonize the new F.B.I. director, who was looking for a reason to clamp down on Jackson.

  Lincoln's Cottage closed at 4:30 pm on Saturdays. Run by the Park Service, no one could get on the grounds after hours - unless, of course, you were a U.S. senator and possible future president. Rex liked Jackson's suggestion and, after a few calls, paved the way for everyone to meet at the one-time home of Lincoln. Jackson, Ronnie, and Jenny arrived in the Grand Cherokee half an hour before Rex and Reba Duncan. They settled into one of the cottage's rooms that had a conference table and waited.

  Based on all that Jenny and Sweeney were able to find, Claremark was the likely co-conspirator. They also had hundreds of school district contracts. It was impossible to determine which cities were the probable Monday targets. Getting the senator and law enforcement involved was now essential. With the information they had found, including Bill Merchant's suicide note, prosecutors could obtain search warrants to gain access to all of Claremark's distribution centers. Subpoenas could also be used to gain access to company documents.

  Thinking about this, however, bothered Jenny. She was hard pressed to see how search warrants would gather more information than Sweeney could get. She kept making that point to Jackson as they both were being checked out for their injuries. Ronnie had gotten an old marine buddy who was a doctor to come to Jackson's apartment to examine them. Even though Jackson was no longer a fugitive, he still felt uncomfortable going to a hospital. Jenny's gunshot wound was healing nicely. Jackson had a couple of bloody, broken knuckles. Ronnie's doc friend reminded them both how luck they were.

  While his colleagues went to Lincoln's Cottage, Sweeney had decided to stay at Jackson's apartment to finalize his research on the local conspiracy team. Sweeney was enjoying watching the watchers. He did not find joy in a voyeuristic way. Rather, he appreciated knowing what he did not want to do with the rest of his life. He did not want to use his gifts to harm others.

  Already, he had uncovered many pieces to the puzzle. Mills and Merchant had been in regular contact with an ex-Navy seal named Brent Livermore. Livermore worked closely with an R.J. Nevers, also an ex-Navy seal. According to his identification, the man that Jackson had fought and Ronnie had killed in Merchant's bedroom was R.J. Nevers. He also was the one who said he had killed Amy.

  Through phone records and countless other name identification searches, Sweeney was able to put together a list of nearly twenty former special forces, navy seals, black ops types working with Livermore. He also pieced together about six or seven computer tech experts. Digging deeper into the recent phone records of Livermore and R.J. Nevers, Sweeney also unearthed the names Dick Strother and Russ McNair.

  Quite simply, these men were hired mercenaries, something Ronnie had been calling them for the last several days. When Sweeney showed everyone their pictures, Ronnie quickly identified them as the two fishermen and the two men who looked into the window of the Newport, Tennessee diner. Jenny swore that Russ McNair was the same man she shot.

  Through watching Livermore and his crew, Sweeney had learned a bit more about the operation. The tech guys had been instructed to fabricate information between Mills and Merchant to make it seem like they were operating alone.

  Finally, they all had been operating in a nondescript building located in Fairfax. One of the reasons why Sweeney wanted to stay behind was because he had accessed the camera on one of the computers of a techie in the Fairfax building. He was able to hear and see almost everything being said on that side of the room. Sweeney noticed that there were four other computers with cameras in the rest of the building. He could only look at one at a time, so he recorded sound and video from the others. He would look at the tapes later - he wanted to make sure that he was thorough.

  It was evident that the place was in wind down mode. Before they left,
Jackson, Ronnie, and Jenny watched and heard Livermore bark orders and spew out racial epithets. Sweeney thought he was a real racist prick. They even heard him give out the future agency placement information for some of his team. He liked to throw his weight around and treated his team like shit. He had been up in arms because R.J. had not checked in. He talked about sending someone to Merchant's house, but got distracted trying to make sure they were shutting things down in the right way.

  From all that Sweeney could determine, the plan was for the place to be vacant tomorrow, Sunday morning. Sweeney wanted to keep listening just in case he picked up on some information that could help them stop the dreaded Monday attack.

  Back at Lincoln's Cottage, Senator Rex Duncan and his wife Reba entered the conference room and headed straight for Jackson. Reba hugged and kissed him. Introductions were made. Jackson, Ronnie, and Jenny told them all that they knew. Everything. Each of them realized that the only chance they had to stop this thing was to have the full support of the powerful Rex Duncan. Jackson and Ronnie capped off the update by telling them what they found at Bill Merchant's house and how they were attacked. They recited the letter word for word. They even told them what R.J. Nevers said about Amy. On hearing that part, Reba cried out softly. Rex's fists clenched.