“What is that?” Rebecca said caustically.
“Black Hand activity,” Spencer said simply. “I’ll drop you off real quick, but I’ll need to see to this.”
“Why does it have to be you?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m in charge of the Continentals around here,” Spencer said grimly. “This requires my attention.”
“What did they do?” Rebecca asked.
“They set fire to some of the repairs they were trying to do to the tornado damage,” Spencer said.
Rebecca did not say anything, but was incensed. “Just take me home then,” she said finally.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Retaliation
Jared was staring at Vincent, fury convulsing through him. In the three weeks since the Continental ambush on his troops, he had assumed that his second in command had been killed or captured. As it turned out, Vincent had escaped by swimming away from the trap and had spent the time since hiding from Jared’s inevitable wrath. Jared had only found out the day before that he had survived though; the other Black Hand soldiers who had escaped and had finally straggled back to the city said as much. Jared had been forced to unleash Stan Finch and he had not disappointed.
“What were you thinking?” Jared demanded furiously.
Vincent did not respond, staring at the floor instead. “I said, what the FUCK were you thinking?!” Jared roared.
“I was protecting my life,” Vincent said. “We were trapped.”
“Yes, let’s go back to that,” Jared said furiously. “I’m not opposed to torching a town, after all I let your predecessor torch all of Central Park. But your orders were to take out the Continentals, not destroy a town! Because of your decision, half of the Black Hand was captured in the forest and the other half was captured on a bridge! You let the entire hit squad get destroyed!”
“No less than Ethan did,” Vincent said sarcastically.
Jared was going to roar at him, but decided on something else. “I’ve no more time for you,” he said.
Jared went to the door and shouted, “Stan, GET IN HERE!”
Stan obliged, carrying a briefcase. “Yes, Jared?”
“Look, I’ve got shit I need to get done and I’ve lost my patience with him,” Jared explained.
“So why is he still alive then?” Stan asked. Jared gave him a quizzical look and Stan continued, “I’ve heard what you do to most of the people you interrogate.”
“Well, I’ve got a better way to kill people that piss me off now,” Jared said. “Take your time, would you?”
“As you wish,” Stan said simply.
Jared left the room and was surprised to see Julia Turner in front of him. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask the same,” Julia said. “I thought you weren’t leaving the apartment.”
“Nobody looks twice at anybody in this city,” Jared said. “Besides, I have thick shades. Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“I have a standing order to raise hell in the Midwest, that doesn’t mean I have to be there for it,” Julia said. “I figured you could use some veteran leadership in the city after losing another hit squad.”
Jared wanted to make a biting comment, but realized she was right. “Alright Julia, what do you think?”
“What happened first of all?” Julia asked. “All I’ve heard is rumors. The Continentals in the area were spreading the news as loudly as possible trying to drive recruitment for them.”
Jared sighed. “We got word that the person who killed Ethan was training Continentals to fight up in Carmel. I sent Vincent to lead the hit squad and flush them out. He split his forces though, sent half of them to capture the Continentals and the other half they use to torch the town. The Continentals cleaned up the first group in the forest, then trapped the second on a bridge.”
“They’re good,” Julia said.
“It’s pissing me off,” Jared growled.
“We need some heavy reorganization then,” Julia said. “Did you ever refill the positions of all the people lost on Staten Island?”
Jared sighed heavily and furiously muttered, “No.”
“It’s a surprise something like this didn’t happen sooner then,” Julia said. “Clearly, these Continentals have the jump on us. That’s twice we’ve had our top fighters wiped out by them. We need to turn the table on them.”
“And I suppose you have some brilliant plan?” Jared said.
“Not yet,” Julia said. “Give it time though, I’ll come up with something.”
“That’s not good enough,” Jared said. “These pricks have been a thorn in my side for nearly six months. Six goddamn months!”
“I understand that, Jared,” Julia replied. “These things don’t resolve themselves easily. They’re a cancer and the treatment for that is not going to be pretty.”
There was a scream from the end of the hallway. “What the hell was that?” Julia asked.
“Someone getting what was coming to him,” Jared said.
Later that day, Jared and Julia were at his apartment, discussing plans for reorganizing the Black Hand in the city and elsewhere. Jared had decided to fill her in on the link with the Globalist Party, something that did not seem to surprise her unduly.
“I knew we were working for someone,” she said simply. “Why the hell else would you give such a vague order like cause chaos in the Midwest for no apparent reason?”
“I’m sure Liam Hensen has a good one,” Jared said bitterly. “But I’ll be damned if he tells me why.”
“And he wants you to be his secret police basically?” Julia asked.
“If that’s what Schutzstaffel is, then yes,” Jared said.
“It’s the SS from Nazi Germany,” Julia explained.
“So, I’m a Nazi then?” Jared asked.
“No, just mimicking them it sounds like,” Julia said. “They were basically their own military force, with ranks and everything. And they weren’t your regular Army men, no the SS were fanatics.”
“I’m not sure we quite fit that mold,” Jared said. “I just like destruction.”
“To each their own,” Julia said. “Do the Continentals know about the Globalists?”
“Not that I am aware of,” Jared said. “I’ve kept a tight lid on it, I mean you’re the first person I told since they told me in June.”
“I’m impressed you kept it a secret for that long,” Julia replied.
“The rewards for keeping my mouth shut were too good to pass up on,” Jared said. “They’re going to have me at the head of their personal army. I basically will rule the country.”
“No, you’ll be enforcing whatever Liam wants to cook up, or this…what did they call her?”
“The Globalist Master,” Jared said. “It sounds dumb, but I couldn’t think of a better name to call…whoever it is.”
“You don’t know who it is?” Julia asked.
“No, whoever it is talks through a computer to sound like a woman robot,” Jared explained.
“That’s weird,” Julia said, shaking her head. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what we could do to get the Continentals drawn out. Do we have any hostages we could take of theirs?”
“The hell if I know,” Jared said. “Why?”
“Get the hostages in a building and rig the whole thing to blow when the Continentals get in there. Quick, easy, and no casualties to us,” Julia explained.
Jared looked unsure and Julia sighed and said, “You’d rather them know that you were the one killing them. What good would that do, Jared? They’re going to be dead anyway.”
“It would be satisfying to me to see their despair,” Jared said. “They killed my best officer after all.”
“Yes, you made that clear when he died,” Julia said bitterly.
“I don’t see you bringing an entire city to its knees,” Jared said.
“No, I’m bringing down entire states,” Julia shot back sarcastically.
“Oh fuck you,
Julia,” Jared said bitterly. “I suppose you’ve had the time of your life out in the bum fuck Egypt while I’ve been trying to destroy the Continentals and hijack an entire country!”
Julia rolled her eyes. “Did you at least flush out the Continental spies?
“The fuck you talking about?” Jared said.
Julia became outraged. “You didn’t take out the spy ring?!”
Jared slammed his fist on the table. “Either explain what you are talking about or fuck off!”
“The Continentals have spies in the Black Hand! Didn’t you ever wonder why your operations kept getting blown?” Julia demanded. “I’ve captured a handful in Kansas City and they said that they got the idea from the main group of Continentals here!”
Jared was equally irate and horrified at the same time. “I need Stan.”
“Stan? Who’s Stan?” Julia asked.
“He’s a private investigator I hired,” Jared said, picking up his phone. “He’ll find out who these bastards are.”
The crackdown of the Black Hand, spearheaded by Julia, Jared, and Stan, shook the city. All Black Hand members in the five boroughs were called in and forced to do a loyalty test. Over the last week of September, the city was thrown into chaos as suspected spies were murdered and dumped unceremoniously all over the city. The police were overwhelmed counting all of the bodies and identifying them.
Whatever effect it may have been having on the Continentals was unknown to Jared as they had withdrawn out of the spotlight in the weeks since the ambush in Carmel. Jared at least could draw satisfaction in that they were probably reeling from the crackdown.
Since it had begun, numerous supposed Black Hand agents had disappeared, which led Jared to assume that they were spies that had gone into hiding. Best of all, the Black Hand knew who they were so it would not hard to find them and get them to spill whatever information they had.
Jared was looking at one of the suspected spies right now. A young woman named Valerie had been caught up in the sweep and was sitting at a table in front of Stan. The sadistic investigator had not cut her yet, as he was trying to see if he could get any information from her willingly. Jared was disappointed, but he knew that Stan was particular about how he hurt people; he did not do it if he did not need to.
“Just tell me Valerie and you don’t need to suffer needlessly,” Stan said. “Tell me who’s in charge of the Continentals and you won’t be in any more trouble.”
“I don’t know,” Valerie kept insisting. “I didn’t know who was in charge, I just answered to my supervisor.”
“Okay then, who’s the supervisor?” Stan asked calmly.
“Some guy named Eric,” Valerie said nervously.
Stan nodded. “I know you’re telling the truth,” Stan said. “You’re not the first to say this name.”
Stan walked out of the room, disappointing Jared again. “Aren’t you going to cut her up?” Jared demanded.
“Why? I got what I needed out of her. We have two people of the Continental leadership council identified now,” Stan said. “We need to find this Eric Swanson person.”
“Well, add him to the list,” Jared said. “Right next to Zach and Bob Pates.”
“I have a lead on Bob actually,” Stan said.
“What, how?” Jared asked.
“I have my ways,” Stan said. “In this case, some rumors of a man named Bob who’s living with a Hispanic family in Queens. One female, two young boys.”
“Juanita,” Jared said.
“Come again?” Stan said.
“That bitch disappeared the night we stole the gold,” Jared said. “She was my secretary. I trusted her and she betrayed me. I bet she was the one that leaked the information to the Continentals that led them to the gold in the first place.”
“Well, you can ask her yourself when I go pick them up. All I’m waiting on is a positive identification,” Stan said.
“How long?” Jared asked.
“Longer than I would’ve liked,” Stan said. “It’s been busy around here lately.”
“These things happen when there are traitors around,” Jared said dismissively.
“It’s good to know that you’re cleaning up your organization before you go mainstream,” a voice behind them said.
Jared turned to see Liam’s campaign manager. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Liam sent me,” Ryan said. “He wanted to make sure everything was going alright before the election.”
“Don’t you have to win it first?” Jared said caustically. “The last time I checked, that one bitch was winning.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Ryan said. “We have plans for that.”
“Plans that involve me?” Jared asked.
“No, this is something that can’t be solved with gratuitous violence,” Ryan said. “We’ve got the debate coming up and other opportunities.”
“What’s with the Midwest and the South operation then?” Jared demanded.
“Okay, there’s part of the plan that can be accomplished with gratuitous violence,” Ryan admitted. “We’re using the violence as a plan to discredit Conservative policies. With luck, it will erode support for Conservative candidates in these states, making it more likely that we win in those areas.”
Jared rolled his eyes. “Well I’m glad to be a pawn in your schemes,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re not a pawn,” Ryan said. “You’re one of the higher players. My campaign staff, your Black Hand personnel, they’re the pawns.”
“Whatever,” Jared said. “Is there anything that Liam needs from me explicitly?”
“Not really, but I did want to run some plans by for you that we need to go over for after the election,” Ryan explained.
“Fine,” Jared said. “Stan, do something with Valerie. If you don’t feel like torturing, just put a bullet in her head and pick a river.”
“Why don’t you just reeducate these spies?” Ryan said.
“What?” Jared and Stan asked.
“Don’t you remember? That was part of our platform,” Ryan said. “We’re going to take the people who don’t fit into our new society and make it so they do.”
“Do you have this program already set up?” Stan asked suspiciously.
“Well, not exactly,” Ryan said. “We can’t do anything about it until after we would come to power, but I do have some interested parties who want to test some theories about how this indoctrination would go over.”
“Do you need a guinea pig?” Stan asked.
“Yes,” Ryan said. “I would like to, um, borrow that Continental spy and any you haven’t gotten around to killing yet if you don’t mind.”
Jared turned to Stan with his eyebrows raised. Stan shrugged and said, “It saves on bullets and my time.”
Jared sighed, annoyed. “Fine then. Once we’re done interrogating everyone, we’ll turn them over to you.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get anything useful from those that are left,” Stan said. “They’re all basically saying the same thing anyway, so it’s doubtful there will be anything new. We should dump what’s left on them and be done with it.”
“Fair enough,” Jared said. “Gather up all of the spies and see that Ryan gets them the fuck out of here. And then, you can focus on Bob Pates.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Debate Prep
“Abby, I think that it’s a real shame we don’t get three chances to beat the other candidates in debate,” Liam said.
“Did you want to see a brawl in person?” Abby asked suspiciously.
“Hey, when someone insults your family like that, it doesn’t matter if hundreds of millions of people are watching, you’ve got your family’s honor to defend,” Liam said defensively.
“I’m sure that’s what Reynolds was thinking too. I’m not sure that Packard thought he would clock him though,” Abby admitted.
“Packard had it coming. No one taught him any respect for others,” Liam
said.
“Well anyway, the debate committee decided that it was too risky to have more than one debate because of that onstage brawl and now you only get the one chance to separate yourself from the pack.”
“We’re already almost there, we just one person left to discredit,” Liam said.
“Do you think there’ll be an October surprise?” Abby asked.
“Hopefully not against us,” Liam said. “But hopefully there will be against Hall.”
“Well, the surprises are unreliable at best. We need to do well on this debate and keep hammering the message,” Abby said.
“Fine,” Liam said. “Who do you want to be? Green? Sanchez?”
“Why don’t you want me to be Hall?” Abby asked.
“I’ve had enough of Hall right now I want to focus on someone else,” Liam said.
Abby sighed. “Green’s a dumbass so all you need to worry about him is that he’ll make you laugh onstage.”
“Is that bad?” Liam asked.
“These are supposed to be serious moments,” Abby said. “It’ll look bad if you crack up laughing onstage. That’ll probably play into Green’s strategy honestly. Bring the other candidates down to his level. That’s probably the only legitimate shot he has at this point.”
“He doesn’t have a real shot,” Liam said disdainfully.
“Green doesn’t seem to think so if his latest rallies are any indication,” Abby said.
“That doesn’t change reality,” Liam said. “But sure, be Tom Green if you can match that bullshit he spews.”
Abby sighed. “Yeah, I’m not doing that. I’m just going to dig up some tapes and see how you respond. I’ll tweak your response if I don’t like it.”
A minute later, Abby had a video cued up of Center candidate Tom Green’s latest rally. “My opponents have written me off because of a few harmless gaffes.”
Liam paused it and said, “Holy shit, I can’t deal with that level of delusion.”
“You’re going to have to,” Abby said. “Keep playing it.”
Liam groaned and turned the video back on. Green continued, “My campaign is strong and has the backing of President Hoch. Our campaign is the least extreme out of anyone and will succeed.”
Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1) Page 36