The Plan (The Jackson Lowery Trilogy Book 1)

by Kevin P. Chavous

  The next day, he had it. When read together, the numbers represented coordinates. He was able to discern the longitude and latitude coordinates for the location of the elevator project. It was near Germany's Black Forest. Jackson then offered a suggestion regarding the digging site entry. He said, “I think I understand this. Let's be sure to bring a compass with us.”

  ___________

  With Jenny still behind the wheel, they were making good time. The Peugeot had some pick up. They did not have an exact idea of what they were looking for, but from Google maps they knew the coordinates were on part of the seventy-five acres owned by a German doctor and his wife. They had three kids and lived on a mansion on the Rhine. Many of the homes near the Black Forest had a look and feel similar to Transylvania in Romania from the Dracula legend. Throughout the Rhine region the trees are a dark, rich hunter green color.

  Access to most of the mansions was often a long, scary, tree laden road, sometimes so far from the main road that the house could not be seen until you were right upon it. Jenny and Sweeney could find no link between the doctor and the Carrs. In fact, they found no link between the doctor and anyone in America. They seemed to be a hard working upper middle class family.

  Jenny initially missed the driveway to the doctor's mansion and had to turn around.

  She then turned up the driveway, which seemed more like a road. The doctor's mansion was about three-fourths of a mile away. Jackson was looking left as Ronnie looked right. They were looking for a gray tree. Jackson got excited when they first turned onto the driveway, but every tree he saw was dark brown or black. The shade from the trees made it dark even though it was two in the afternoon. Jackson could see how the creepy Frankenstein and Dracula horror genre grew from this environment.

  They reached the end of the driveway without seeing a gray tree. Both he and Ronnie were disappointed, not understanding how they missed the gray tree. Outside of the formidable mansion were three kids playing. The kids were between the ages of nine to fourteen. They ran to the car. Then the mother came outside. This did not feel like the hideaway for attempted mass murderers.

  The Black Forest family was nice. They had never been to America and wanted to talk about New York City, LeBron James, and Kim Kardashian. Jackson, Ronnie, and Jenny were antsy to leave but knew it was important to be genial with their hosts. Ronnie, who spoke the best German, slyly asked about major construction on the property. The doctor's wife told them that the government did major excavation work on their property a couple of years ago. The family had been told that it had to do with a drainage issue from the Rhine. The workers were finished after about three months. After finally extricating themselves from the family, Jenny coasted down the road back to the main street.

  Halfway down, Ronnie called out, “I see a gray tree!”

  Jenny pulled into the woods as far as she could and positioned the car behind another group of trees. She wanted to make sure that the doctor would not see the car, if it was still there when he came home.

  They got out of the car and walked to the only gray tree within eyesight. Jackson stood next to the tree, pulled out his compass and rotated around the tree until the compass was pointed due north. He then walked fifty paces, with Ronnie and Jenny following him. When he reached fifty paces, he walked around a bit and finally stepped on a metal plate, similar to the plates you see on the street during street repair construction. He looked at Jenny and Ronnie. Both pulled out their weapons. With Ronnie having been stationed in Germany for several years, he still had significant military contacts in the country. He was easily able to get them all guns.

  Jackson poked around until he found a handle connected to the medal plate. He pulled it hard. The plate came off easier than expected. You could see ladder steps going down to a concrete floor about eight feet down. He looked at Ronnie and Jenny again, took a large breath and climbed down the hole. Ronnie and Jenny followed.

  Once at the bottom, Ronnie and Jackson turned on their flashlights. To the left of the ladder was an elevator. Ronnie said, “Just like that.”

  Jackson pushed the down button. You could hear the elevator pulling up to their floor. When the door opened, they all walked in and pushed the down button. There were only two buttons inside the elevator: one with an arrow pointing up and one with an arrow pointing down.

  The elevator started to go downward, traveling the equivalent of two floors.

  When it touched the bottom, the door opened and two people stood there to greet them. The man was tall and lean with an obvious toupee. He had a weather-beaten face that had gotten much sun over the years. Although, he was wearing khakis and a yellow golf shirt, he had a rugged, cowboy look about him.

  The woman was very dressy and made up. She had blonde hair full of hairspray and was wearing a long flowered sundress. Thin and attractive, she reminded Jackson of a country western singer. Both were in their sixties.

  Both held guns pointed at them.

  “Hello, Mr. Lowery,” the woman said. “I see you refuse to give up, don't you? How much white blood do you have in you?” Her smile and all that it represented made Jackson want to strangle her.

  “Susan Carr, I presume?” Jackson said. “Shall we sit down and talk?”

  She looked at her husband, while Jackson snuck a peek at Ronnie and Jenny. He was surprised that Ronnie had not already started shooting. Both had their guns cocked and ready to fire.

  The Carrs apparently also recognized that Ronnie and Jenny were ready to shoot. Unlike their visitors, the Carrs were not prepared for a gunfight.

  “By all means,” Susan Carr said. It was quite evident that she spoke for both of them.

  “Let's.”

  She and her husband eased backwards away from the elevator and kept backing down a long hall. They clearly were not used to walking backwards. Susan Carr stumbled a couple of times in her heels. Ronnie and Jenny were all business. Ronnie held himself firmly in the ready position, while Jenny matched his focus.

  After thirty feet or more, the hall opened up to a large great room full of impressionist paintings and tall plants. Jackson recognized the famous painting of the woman knitting. Jackson liked the room, and thought the paintings worked well. He then thought how odd it was to be thinking about something like that while everyone in the room had guns trained on each other. A giant picture window was off to the right, displaying a high-rise view looking down on Central Park in New York. Jackson could see the birds flying in the park and people jogging below. He started to comment on the view, when it struck him that he was watching a tape or some kind of live feed. Another reminder of Ronnie's article.

  Susan Carr motioned to a sofa off to the left. The sofa was facing two high back chairs. A coffee table with two glasses of water was positioned between the sofa and the two chairs. Jackson sat on the sofa, as the Carrs each sat in one of the chairs. Jenny stood behind Jackson to the left of the sofa, while Ronnie stood behind him to the right. His posse was in place.

  “So, Mr. Lowery, can I get you something...”

  Jackson cut her off. “Ma’am, we do not want any food or drink you may be serving.”

  Jim Carr chuckled at this. Jackson shot a glance at Ronnie, recognizing that his friend might shoot the man right then and there. Jackson looked at Ronnie as if to say, “cool it”.

  Susan Carr said, “Of course. I understand. So now what?”

  Jackson tersely said, “You have only two options. You can leave with us now. Or we can call our U.S. intelligence friends who will shortly storm this place. It is up to you.”

  Both Carrs still held their guns, but not with the same conviction. They looked at each other. “We are not going with you,” she said.

  “Then, I am going to have to ask you to put down your weapons,” Ronnie said, speaking for the first time. He pointed his gun at Susan Carr’s forehead.

  She looked at the husband, then gently laid her gun on the coffee table. Jim Carr did the same. Jenny
hurriedly picked up both of their guns.

  Susan Carr looked again at their husband and leaned toward him to kiss his cheek. She then reached down and grabbed the two glasses of water, handing one to him. They gave a toast by touching their glasses and while looking into each other's eyes, gulped the water down.

  At that point, Jenny lowered her gun and softly said, “Cowards.”

  Ronnie lowered his gun as well and sat on the sofa next to Jackson.

  Jackson leaned back on the sofa, staring intently at the Carrs.

  The end came quickly. The two of them held hands just before they both began to look sleepy. Susan lowered her head first. Jim Carr made a coughing sound and then dropped his head. They were dead in less than two minutes.

  Jenny was now sitting on the sofa as well, having laid the Carrs' guns back on the coffee table. The three of them looked at the Carrs for a long time. Jenny took a few photos and emailed them to both Sweeney and Harrington. They then walked back down the hall, got on the elevator and left.

  Ronnie eased behind the wheel for the drive to the Frankfurt airport. When Jackson reached for the passenger side door, lifting up the seat for Jenny to sit in the back, she paused, then climbed on in. For the first time since the three of them had been in cars together, Jackson sat up front. Ronnie started the car, noticed Jackson sitting in the front seat and looked back at Jenny, who smiled and said teasingly, “About time you took a turn up front, Jack.”

  Jackson alternated looks between his two friends and said, “It is a brand new day. I'm not hiding anymore.” Jenny nodded a smile as Ronnie gunned the Peugeot for the airport.

  Author’s Note

  For the past 15 years, I have been deeply immersed in the national education reform movement. As a result, I have written three non-fiction books and opinion editorials that have appeared in nearly every major newspaper in the country. Indeed, most of my writing has been directly related to that work. All of which begs the question: Why would someone like me write a book like this?

  Quite frankly, I have always loved reading political thrillers, mysteries, and action-filled suspense novels. In recent years, even while engaged in writing exclusively about education, I have frequently mused about writing a novel. Those thoughts became more crystallized during the 2016 presidential campaign. The growing prominence of the white nationalist movement during that campaign, along with the increasingly divisive nature of U.S. politics, prompted me to write this book.

  Politics aside, I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying Jackson Lowery on his journey.

  As my first foray into fiction writing, I had no idea how much fun it was going to be to put together all of the necessary pieces of the story. As much as I love writing about education, none of it compares to the liberating freedom associated with writing a novel. Writing The Plan was an incredibly satisfying and rewarding experience. I look forward to book two of the Jackson Lowery trilogy.

  Of course, writing is an easier process when you have people around who you can count on. The person I have relied on the most for copy-editing and organizational advice for my last two books has been Alyssa Devlin. Alyssa is, quite simply, terrific. I am looking forward to working with her on many future projects. Sincere thanks as well to Terrie Scott for jumping in at the end of this project and providing a superb job of editing and formatting.

  I also thank my book agent extraordinaire Anne Bohner, for her wise counsel and friendship. Thanks to Mike Presky, Jaime deBlanc-Knowles, and Sloane Miller for their encouraging writing tips.

  Special thanks to the popular and talented Indie thriller writer, Rafael Amadeus Hines, for his willingness to offer guidance and help wherever needed. He is such a good guy. Thank you, my brother!

  I have been blessed to be surrounded by an incredible family and an amazing network of friends. Thanks to all of them for their steadfast love and support. In particular, my sons Kevin and Eric patiently guided me through the ups and downs of the story-telling process as I wrote (and re-wrote) The Plan. They did not hesitate to share their views. Thank you, sons! I also need to give a shout out to my step-son, Kalijah, who always seemed to know the right time to interrupt my writing by asking if I wanted to go to a movie. Those breaks kept my mind fresh. Thanks, K.

  Finally, this book is dedicated to my wife, Amber. She is the sweetest, most love-filled soul I know. Her love, motivation and encouragement has made me a better man. For that, I am eternally grateful. ~ Kevin P. Chavous

  About the Author

  Kevin P. Chavous is a noted attorney, author, and national education reform leader. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Mr. Chavous spent most of his professional career practicing law and engaged in public service in Washington, D.C. As a former member of the Council of the District of Columbia and its education committee chair, Mr. Chavous was at the forefront of promoting change within the District public school system and helped to shepherd the charter school movement and school choice into the nation's capital and around the country.

  A prolific writer and much sought after speaker, Mr. Chavous' opinion editorials have appeared in most major newspapers and he has given speeches on the topic of education in nearly every state. Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels calls Mr. Chavous “the most effective advocate for children in America”. Mr. Chavous is also an accomplished author, having published three books of nonfiction: Serving Our Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education, Voices of Determination: Children that Defy the Odds, and Building A Learning Culture in America.

  Mr. Chavous loves reading political thrillers and was inspired to write The Plan in response to the increased prominence of the white nationalist movement during the last presidential election. Just before he began writing this book, he discovered that his great-great-grandfather's name was Jackson Lowery. He decided to give The Plan's main character his ancestor's name. Mr. Chavous is currently working on book two of the Jackson Lowery trilogy.

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  www.kevinpchavous.com

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