“All this death and destruction,” the sheriff was shaking his head. “For hardly any good reason as I can see.”
“There’s a hidden truth, Sheriff,” I explained. “We don’t know exactly what it is yet. The bouncing waves are part of it. We only have a few pieces so far, so we don’t understand the big picture. But, we do know the most important truth EVIL is trying to hide.”
“What?” the sheriff asked.
“That there is a hidden truth,” I pointed out, recalling Mr. Patel’s words, “and that they are trying to hide it.”
There was a long pause around the table as that sunk in. Rob spoke up. “There you have it, Sheriff,” he said. “Our cards are on the table. I wish we knew more, but that’s what we have. What can you tell us about my brother’s death?”
“Fair enough,” the sheriff said, gathering his thoughts. “Bottom line is, it was an arrest gone bad – plain and simple. A few details don’t make much sense, but I’ve enough of the big picture to tell it wasn’t no accident.”
“The feds were already out there when one of my deputies spotted the accident and called it in. No one wants to work traffic control when there’s an incident scene, so I volunteered my deputies to free up the feds.
“When I got to the scene, I played junior G-Man, following them around like I couldn’t get enough sniffing of their manly jock straps. They ordered me back out on the perimeter to keep me and everyone else out, but damn if those orders weren’t real tough for a dumb redneck like me to understand. I just had to keep coming to them for one clarification or another, each time taking a different route through the area. I got a good look at most everything and, well son, it wasn’t pretty.
“Someone ran them off the road,” he explained. “Your dad was driving. Hit a tree and took the impact on his side. I don’t think he made it. That side of the car was stove-in. Your mom’s side wasn’t that bad off. I think she survived, initially.”
I stood up, turned my back to them and faced the wall. The sheriff stopped. I could feel their eyes on my back. If they saw how upset I was, they’d want to stop and spare my feelings. I couldn’t have that. I had to be a part of figuring this out. I took a deep breath, calmed myself, and said, “Please continue, Sheriff.”
The sheriff continued. “They had a team nearby waiting to arrest them. Probably following in another vehicle. Your mom never made it out of the car – may have been hurt too bad to move, may have been staying with your dad.”
I focused on a burlap coffee bag, hanging on the wall as a decoration. I tried to distance myself from the painful words.
“I didn’t get close enough to see inside the car,” Sheriff Gunn continued, “but there was a gun fight. There were bullet holes in her car door.”
I looked more intently at the burlap bag. “Greenwell Farms” was printed on the rough fabric.
“I saw some brass where the G-Men took cover,” the sheriff continued explaining. “There were two dark spots not far from the car where it looked like a couple guys might have bled out. That much blood, those two are dead.”
“Kealakekua, HI,” said the burlap bag that was failing to distract me from my pain. Hawaii? Must be. It wasn’t helping me feel much better.
“The way I figure it,” the sheriff reasoned, “those two came up to arrest them, she saw them coming, and decided to shoot it out at close range.”
I wasn’t the only one upset. I could hear the sheriff take a breath and collect himself before he continued. “She got two of the bastards, alright. The rest of them got behind cover and filled her with lead. She may have nicked one, judging by the blood I saw on one of the trees, but I doubt she got a second magazine loaded. That was it.”
“Two isn’t enough, Sheriff,” Rob was saying in a harsh voice thick with fury. “It was a good start under the circumstances, but it’s not nearly enough. I want the rest of their carcasses strung up.”
“You are not going off…” the sheriff began.
I heard Rob’s chair push back as he stood up and cut him off, “Those bastards killed my brother and his wife and so help me, they’re going to pay for it.”
I turned around in time to see Sheriff Gunn stand up, too. He was uncomfortably close to Rob. The two of them had their arms at their sides but it looked as if either could strike the other at any moment. Neither was backing down. The tension in the air was palpable.
“‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,’” the sheriff said calmly, stepping back. He’d blinked first, wow. “You need to understand. This is my county. These are my people. No one comes into my county, kills my people, orphans their children, burns them out of house and home, and gets away with it. No one, no matter how high and mighty. No one. To act now, though, means they get you and the kid, too. I think he’s in the clear, but he won’t be, if you go play vigilante on me. This is a time to mourn, a time to build, a time for silence. I will move in my own time and I will get the job done.”
“No,” said Mr. Burke. “None of us can be taking the law into our own hands. We will gather up what evidence we have, and I can make sure it gets before a grand jury. We’ll bring charges against them in a state court where the feds won’t be able to push the judge around.”
“No,” I said. They all looked at me in surprise. “No. Those men who killed my parents – they are tools,” I explained. “Instruments for evil in the hands of evil men. Don’t get me wrong. I want them, too, but more than that, I want the hand the wielded the tool. I want the men who called the shots and gave the orders.” Rob had an intent look on his face – one I couldn’t decipher. I continued. “I don’t want them warned that we’re coming for them by going after their minions and pawns.”
“All of you need to calm down,” the sheriff said, “and let me finish before you run off half-cocked on your various crusades.
“Any chance we can take a closer look at the wreckage?” Rob asked.
“Nope. They wouldn’t even let the troopers look at it. Though I managed to walk the troopers’ sergeant in and out past the wreckage, so they could tell him in person. They impounded both vehicles and they’ve both been crushed by now. Also,” he turned to me, “your parents’ remains were cremated.”
Rob blew up at that, “I told you! I insisted that they be released…”
“You don’t have to yell at me, Rob,” the sheriff interrupted him. “Horrible mistake. Unpardonable mix up. Ever so sorry they are.”
“Sorry, Sheriff,” Rob apologized. “I know it’s not your fault.”
“They truly are running roughshod over this case, aren’t they?” Mr. Burke observed.
“Like I was telling you,” the sheriff confirmed. “The arrest went south. There was a shoot-out. For some reason, they didn’t want to own up to the fact they lost a couple agents, so they staged it as an accident. Still haven’t acknowledged a couple of their own were killed. The fix is in. This afternoon, the inquest will convene and rule that the deaths were accidental. The reason I’m telling you all this is I need you to leave it alone.”
The sheriff cut off Rob before he could object. “I know it sticks in your craw, Rob. But, I got the kid away from those phony feds by convincing them if they pushed any further, the attention and the publicity wouldn’t be worth it. They came close to a public exposure of their cover-up, and they lost a couple of agents. Must be real sensitive about that loss to want to stage an accident, instead of trumpeting a heroic gunfight trying to bring in a dangerous cyber-terror suspect. Means they don’t want no scrutiny. Price they paid makes it easy for them to convince themselves they got the job done, and the case is closed. Raise a stink, and they no longer have the incentive to go away and let matters slide.”
We chewed on that a moment in silence.
Rob changed the subject. “I understand Larry took a personal interest in his nephew’s welfare.”
“I did notify Mr. Tolliver of his sister’s demise, just as I notified you regarding your brother,”
Sheriff Gunn acknowledged. “He offered straight up to bail him out and take him home, and, well, you know how that all turned out. Mr. Tolliver may well have placed a call or two. I did get a call from the governor expressing his displeasure at the way I aided those phony feds to bypass the troopers’ investigation of the accident. Of course, I figured I had to since they would have covered it up anyway, and at least I got a good look at what they were covering up out of it. I’ll need to visit Nashville to square things with the governor after the funeral.”
“I’m going to piss you off, Sheriff,” Rob predicted, “but I have to ask it. Did Larry appear to have any foreknowledge of his sister’s demise?”
“Now that’s going too far, Rob.” Sheriff Gunn was indignant. “I know your family has cause to be upset with Mr. Tolliver, but that was a long time ago. I’ve never seen any indication Mr. Tolliver would cause trouble for your brother, let alone be the sort to sanction the murder of his sister and your brother.”
“I had to ask, Sheriff. I do believe you,” Rob assured him. “I wouldn’t be sharing this additional information with you if I didn’t trust you.” He turned to Mr. Burke. “Bob?”
“My original client is dead, Sheriff,” Mr. Burke began, “but before he died, he tasked me to get to the bottom of these cyber-terror allegations. I’ve shared the results of my investigation with his executor,” he gestured to Rob. “I advised him to keep the results confidential. He disagreed with my counsel, and on his recommendation, I’ll share it with you.”
“Sheriff, you and the Tollivers are real close,” Rob explained. “I’m taking a big chance telling you this. I need your word that this goes no further.”
The sheriff nodded his head. “Very well. Y’all have my word on it.”
“My client,” Mr. Burke explained, “was able to give me an important clue – that someone or something named Xueshu Quan had an interest in these bouncing waves physics books. Xueshu Quan has a mailbox in Arlington, Virginia, so my firm engaged a private investigator to learn more. Our investigator spotted a woman who retrieves the mail from Xueshu Quan’s box in Arlington on a daily basis, apparently on her lunch hour.” Mr. Burke shared a couple of photos of the woman. “She gets the mail, grabs some lunch, and heads back to the office. They’re awfully cagey. She takes different, circuitous routes each day. They have a couple of their own, watching her. They’re looking for tails. Took a week to actually trace her back to her office without anyone realizing our investigator was following her. Our investigator hasn’t been able to confirm exactly which office she works in because security on her building is tight, and I cautioned him not to take any risks. But she works in the same building as the Civic Circle.”
“So there is a connection,” I said.
“Appears so,” Mr. Burke concluded.
“But, that means Uncle Larry…” I began.
“May be tied into this,” Rob observed.
“I don’t believe it,” the sheriff insisted. “You spend so many years knowing a man, you take his measure. Mr. Tolliver can be ambitious and ruthless at times in his personal and business dealings, but I do not believe he would ever condone, let alone participate in, the murder of his sister and brother-in-law.”
I saw the light bulb turn on for the sheriff. “When I told those phony feds Mr. Tolliver was Civic Circle, they backed down and stopped trying to fight me over the boy. I figured they realized with the governor interested and a lawyer on the way, it was too late to simply make the boy quietly disappear. Maybe it was the tie-in to the Civic Circle on our end that did it.”
“The Civic Circle might well be involved,” I observed, “without my uncle knowing the details. They’ve kept this bouncing wave physics secret for a century. I doubt it’s common knowledge among the members. It could be a case of one branch of the group not knowing the details of what another is doing.”
“And laying off when they realize they might be stepping on their associates’ toes,” the sheriff added, thoughtfully. Now it was making sense to me why EVIL had been far more ruthless with Nicole than with me. Not only were they confident I had no knowledge of their secrets, but also they were deterred by my connection to the Civic Circle through Uncle Larry.
“You called them phony feds, Sheriff. Why?” I asked.
“My first tip-off was Mr. Patel out at the Berkshire Inn. He picked up there was something off about those guys. So, I called down to the Knoxville FBI office. They told me there weren’t any FBI agents operating in my county. I went to confront Special Agent Wilson, and he insisted the Knoxville office call Washington. The director’s office vouched for them, so I apologized for the misunderstanding and let them go on their way. But, I didn’t give up there.
“I called some friends in the FBI and had them do some digging,” the sheriff explained. “Near as they can tell, those phony feds never attended, let alone graduated from, the FBI academy. They are not nor have they ever been on the FBI payroll. The director’s office may vouch for them, but they are not ‘real’ feds.”
“Who are these contacts of yours, Sheriff?” Rob asked.
“Need to know, Rob,” he said with a thin grin. “Need to know. My contacts are in a position to be able to tell me such things, though, and I trust them.”
“What about the Tolliver Library fire?” I asked.
“The investigators can find no sign of arson, but the timing and the intensity of the fire are both suspicious,” the sheriff concluded. “The fire suppression failed, too – someone must have cut off the water, somehow. Maybe it was our phony feds trying to destroy more evidence or protect their secrets. Maybe not. They’ve shown much more interest in looking into the Tolliver Library fire than they did the burning of your home.
“Any other questions?” the sheriff asked. There were none. “For the boy’s sake,” the sheriff reiterated, “there can be no suggestion that we suspect his parents’ deaths were anything other than an accident.”
“I also want to make sure it’s absolutely clear all around,” Rob insisted. “There can be no word or hint of what we believe – that the Civic Circle is tied into these murders.”
“I know better than to ask you all not to look into this further,” the sheriff added, “but for God’s sake, be careful, and be discrete.”
“Some shadowy cabal in the government – or worse, outside the government yet able to control it,” Mr. Burke ruminated. “I think we’re all agreed this cannot be allowed to stand. We need to figure out what’s actually going on. We need to work together to unmask these conspirators and expose them. We need to assemble a unified front, rally allies and supporters, and take them on.”
“That dog won’t hunt,” Sheriff Gunn countered, shaking his head ruefully. “They are the system – or at least they control or influence large parts of it. You can’t take them down within the system. A centralized effort like the one you describe would be easily detected and crushed. They’d get a whiff of your communications, take a closer look, and suddenly you’d be awakened in the early morning by a heroic SWAT team and ‘found out’ as a terrorist. Just look at what they did to the boy’s parents if you don’t believe me.”
“We have to do something,” Mr. Burke insisted.
“You have the right idea,” Rob acknowledged. “We need to expose them. We can, and we will. But, the sheriff’s right. A centralized response? No way. We’re operating from a position of weakness. David versus Goliath.
“They believe themselves all powerful. They believe themselves above the law. They believe they are the elite and they run the show. They aim to construct a New World Order: some kind of neo-feudalist society with themselves firmly at the helm and the rest of us in our places as their peasants. Make no mistake, they are powerful, and they will use that power to crush any obvious opposition.
“They look strong, but they have weaknesses, too,” Rob explained. “There are only a very few who actually know the score and call the shots. The rest join in for prestige or status or to secure some adv
antage in their New World Order. They can be attacked on a moral level. Expose them, somehow, carefully. Unmask their brutality. Reveal their schemes. As we’ve seen, they are very, very sensitive to having their secrets revealed. So let’s figure out more of their secrets, and reveal them. But, we have to do it in ways that don’t directly lead back to us.
“Any stone that any of us can throw is a mere pinprick. But even a pinprick at the Circle’s pretensions to omnipotence is a start. The smallest victory discomforts them and shatters the myth of their inevitability. The pinpricks we all can inflict will embolden others to throw stones of their own, to question the Circle’s plans, to resist and to rebel, in ways that none of us can possibly imagine.
“In this kind of decentralized and distributed struggle there are no leaders nor followers, yet everyone is a leader and everyone is a follower. There is no centralized plan of battle, and yet we can observe and learn from each other’s success and failures. That way there’s no hierarchy, no head to lop off. This is not a conventional war of force versus force, at least not yet, but a battle of words and ideas on the moral and mental level.
“Go forth,” Rob advised. “Learn more about our enemy. Pick a stone wisely. Take cover. Avoid detection. Aim carefully. Let fly.”
As we were leaving, Rob cornered the sheriff. “You’re confident Larry Tolliver had nothing to do with this?” Rob asked.
“I am,” the sheriff replied. “And keep in mind,” he said with a thin grin, “I’m a steely-eyed lawman who can smell a lie, remember?”
* * *
The inquest was anti-climactic. The EVIL agents didn’t even make an appearance. They’d already prearranged the desired outcome: vehicular manslaughter by party or parties unknown.
My folks’ remains had been cremated against our expressed instructions to hide the evidence of their murder. Grandma Tolliver wanted the cremains buried in two coffins in the Tolliver family plot. Uncle Larry agreed and informed the funeral home and church of their decision. This being Sherman, the Tollivers got what they wanted, and no one consulted us, despite Rob being my parents’ executor and holding their power of attorney. Kira was particularly furious when she learned of the plans. Rob and I had to calm her down.
The Hidden Truth: A Science Fiction Techno-Thriller Page 26