“However, what’s done is done and there is no taking it back. As to the legality of the recent searches of embassy grounds and properties let me say that there is no diplomatic immunity when a state of war exists. Just as we are justified in attacking and if necessary occupying the territory of a foreign enemy power, we are likewise and perhaps more justified in attacking and occupying the territory of that enemy power when that territory resides within our own sovereign borders. The papers confiscated by our military intelligence people, the weapons, the sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment, the sabotage, the killing, the corrupting of officials cannot be ignored or denied now that they are as tangible as these tables full of evidence before you testify.
“Our analysis of what has been uncovered indicates that fully 40 percent of the delegations accredited to the United Nations engage in significant espionage or subversion of our institutions or officials. Our analysis shows this to be systemic in the United Nations and of long duration. The degree to which our republic has been compromised by these illegal activities permeating the very fiber of the United Nations is only now being felt by recent events including the assassination of our president.
“Twelve members of United Nations delegations have been implicated in the recent events and are now in US custody. The usual course of expulsion from the United States is rather too inadequate for the acts committed against us. These are not acts of diplomatic misdemeanor. These are essentially acts of war against us. The recent covert meetings of Vice President Latimer with these factions, particularly the Brazilian factions, raises confidence in my own personal resolve that we are taking the right road, that the stain of innocent blood is not only on these UN factions, but tragically on the hands of the vice president himself, as well.
“I can assure all Americans that the events of recent days have caused intense and high-level discussions regarding the United Nations. The Executive Council has decided to reexamine the rationale for having the UN on the soil of the United States of America. Not only is it inappropriate any longer for the UN, representing the international community of nations, to reside within the territorial boundaries of a particular sovereign nation, it is no longer safe to the host that it do so.
“Accordingly, when the Congress reconvenes in the next few days I will submit a review of treaty obligations with the objective being an orderly transfer of all UN facilities and personnel to a more international and less intrusive location.
“The United States has always been, from the days of its founding in 1945 to the present time, a staunch supporter and defender of the United Nations. We continue to support the concept and principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. However, we must face the reality that the world circumstances that prevailed in 1945 no longer prevail today. What seemed to be a necessity then is an impertinence now. To put it simply, in the best interests of both the United Nations and of the United States, the United Nations must go.”
There was an immediate rustle of microphone noise and chatter from Jeremy’s radio speaker, followed by a quieting down and a question from a reporter that rose above the haranguing assemblage.
“Mr. Secretary, has there been any contact with the secretary-general of the United Nations on this matter and what do you think are your chances of Congress approving your proposals?”
Jeremy turned the radio off. In his rearview mirror he was watching a motorcycle policeman coming up behind him. There was no siren, no lights. He was just closing slowly. Jeremy reached over to his glove compartment and, opening it, took out his handgun and placed it between his legs on the seat. The motorcycle came up directly behind him and then fell back a few yards. The officer moved to either side of the lane as if trying to determine which side to come up on. Jeremy watched his movements carefully. The officer finally pulled to the left and slowly came up opposite Jeremy’s window. He motioned Jeremy to the side of the road. Jeremy put out his cigarette and pulled over. The officer parked his motorcycle behind the car and walked over to Jeremy’s window.
“What’s the problem officer? Was I speeding?”
“No sir. I was just noticing that your left rear wheel is wobbling. You may have loose bolts or a bent axle. Are you going far?”
“No, I’m only going as far as Atlanta. I want to thank you, officer, for your consideration.”
“I think you might want to stop at a garage in Pell City and have your rear wheels looked at. It’s just a bit down the road a ways.”
“Thank you, officer, I’ll do just that. Mighty nice of you to take the trouble to help me out this way.”
“My pleasure, sir. Have a good day.”
“Good day to you, officer.”
Resuming his journey, Jeremy, lit up a new cigarette and smiled broadly to himself. I have to stop smoking these things, he thought. One of these days they’re going to kill me.
Amanda Brock spoke urgently to Special Agent London. She caught his attention and held it relentlessly.
“I need you to stay on Sylvia Carlyle. Forget about Marshall. He’s nothing. There has been a lot of chatter with Carlyle and it’s coming from all directions. I think the key to Slaider will be through her. Our Ms. Carlyle is suddenly finding herself in the middle of a bidding war for her loyalty or at least for her information. Senator Paxton is in on the bidding war too along with his friends in the oil patch. However, she may see all this sudden personal attention as something less than satisfying. She may find herself faced with a choice of options, only one of which results in her survival. And she’s learning fast. She didn’t have the resources Cranshaw and Berman had to allow her just to disappear for a while. She’s vulnerable and she knows it. So watch her. Focus all your attention on her and I’m convinced Slaider will provide us with some opportunity to nail him. I want to know every move that son of a bitch makes. And I want to take him down. Do you understand me, Special Agent London?”
London replied instantly. “Yes, Director.”
“Find him. But arrest him only on my say so. Personally. Do you understand?”
“I do, yes.”
“You understand that you can’t tie in to the normal surveillance channels as they will all be monitored by NSA people and we can’t know who they are reporting too at this point. This will have to be done with old-fashioned leg work with people you trust. I want no electronic footprint on this. None. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You will report only to me.” She handed him a piece of paper. “These are my locations for the next ten days, times and places. I will expect to see you only when you have something material to report. A lot is riding on what you do, Special Agent London. Choose your team carefully. The clock just began ticking. Go with God. And stop for no one.”
London gave a quick “Yes, ma’am” and was gone.
Director Brock sat at her desk for several moments thinking. Then she rose, walked over to a door leading to a small room connected to her office. Inside she walked to where the hidden bar was located and opening it, carefully poured herself a glass of single malt scotch, aged eighteen years . . . her favorite drink when circumstances warranted it. She added two ice cubes and walked back to her desk, slowly rotating the glass to chill the scotch uniformly.
Slaider, that son of a bitch, she thought again. He acts the hero, charges slide off his back like water off Teflon, our Teflon generalwhile Alex Llewellyn quietly consolidates his control over the country. She wondered who was ultimately in charge. Slaider or Llewellyn? No matter. She will nail both their asses to the wall. And Paxton and his whole crowd of oil buddies. Did they really think they could meet in a cabin in the woods and we wouldn’t know about it? If the US government can monitor every telephone, telegraph, radio transmission, you name it, don’t they realize that monitoring every aircraft in the air, especially after 9/11, was something we would just have to do. Not just the commercial planes or the private planes, but every plane. If it’s in the air we know about it. So Paxton’s trip
to the Smokey Mountains was spotted as soon as it left the ground. But they can wait.
She took a sip from her glass. It went down smoothly without any burning but rather with a comforting warmth. It was a welcome feeling. Had she been responsible for President Drummond’s death? Why had she protected Slaider? Had she ultimately allowed herself to get caught in the bureaucratic disease of everyone covering everyone else’s ass so deeply that no one could ever do the right thing about anything? Had she become just like all those “servants of the people” she so despised for their hypocrisy and venality? Like Scarlett O’Hara, she had been putting that thought off until tomorrow. Tomorrow and tomorrow.
Now she had work to do. She had to stop Slaider. And Llewellyn.
76
Senator Paxton’s eyes were bloodshot and he tapped his thumb on his desk as he spoke with Slaider. “Morgan, aren’t you meddlin’ a little bit too far into politics, son? I usually have this kind of discussion with the secretary of defense, not the chairman of the joint chiefs.”
“These aren’t usual times, Senator. Tomorrow the Congress will reconvene. The first order of business must be deciding the issue of succession and I want to have an opportunity to express my unfiltered opinions to you.”
“Well, that’s just it, General. You aren’t supposed to have any opinions on this matter. You’re a soldier. You just wait until we all us politicians work it out then you snap a right smart salute and attend to your orders. May I ask you, General, if the secretary of state is aware of and has he authorized your comin’ here to me?”
“No, he is not aware of my visit to you nor has he authorized it. Let’s say I authorized it myself. Out of respect for my strong feelings that you acknowledged, may I request that you give me time to hear me out?”
“I don’t rightly know about this, Morgan. Our meetin’ could right easily be construed very unfavorably if this were presented with the appropriate unfriendly twist. I think not, Morgan. Go back and wait or talk to Llewellyn. He will surely represent your feelin’s to the political sector.”
“Yes, that’s true. But representing my feelings isn’t enough.”
“Well, that’s all any of us get to do, General. Just express our opinions and hope those opinions carry the day. This is pretty basic material, Morgan. If you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got to attend to the preparations for tomorrow.”
“Not just yet, Senator. Please.”
“I’m afraid I just can’t, General.”
“And senator, I’m afraid I must insist.”
“Insist? A strange word to be usin’ with me, son. May I ask on what basis you presume to insist that I do anything?”
“On the basis, Senator, that sixty-seven of the nation’s largest cities, including the capital of this country, are under military administration and that for all practical purposes, I am the military. On the basis that the country has no president and is functioning in the executive branch through an un-elected ad hoc council. On the basis that a bunch of politicians are coming back from vacation who have no idea what is going on here and will possibly be making the worst mistake in the history of this country if Paul Latimer is declared to be the president.”
“Why are you so sure Latimer is a mistake for our country? I’d have to say most people would agree he served the president and this country fairly well for six-and-a-half years. I know there’ve been some charges made about foreign contacts, but general, it’s the vice president’s job to keep up foreign contacts.”
“Senator, the vice president is a traitor to his country and to his president. He secretly conspired to transfer defense secrets related to our laser umbrella system to Brazilian agents. I have the evidence that will support this charge. Allow me to present it to a select committee of the Congress before they decide on succession. Afterward it will be too late. Latimer will be president. Even if there is an impeachment proceeding, he will be president. While you have your trial, he will be president. All the while he will be president doing god knows what irreparable damage. You must look at the evidence before you declare him president.”
“I see you have strong feelin’s about this, son, but it wouldn’t do any bit of good for you, General. If I or any of my colleagues listen to your argument and decide there is indeed, credible evidence of high crimes and misdemeanorswhich I doubtwe would vote up a bill of impeachment. That’s how we do things here, Morgan, or have you forgotten that? Latimer would not be guilty until tried and would not be tried before tomorrow and tomorrow he will be sworn in as president of these United Statesin my humble opinion.”
‘‘But the evidence is overwhelming.”
“General, all unchallenged evidence is always overwhelmin’. And if we stopped the succession process for you to present and him to rebut and then do his own presentin’, well, do you see, General, we would have no president durin’ the interim. And we would be havin’ our trial to depose him before we crowned him. I’m fairly certain that he could make a good constitutional case against such a course of action. I believe the courts would never allow such a process.”
“So, there’s the rub, Senator. I can’t let him take office and you can’t try him before he does.”
“If he’s to be tried at all, General. You know many politicians, even presidents, have been called traitors in their time in the heat of the political fray. In not one case has a bill of indictment ever been presented, much less an impeachment sustained, for the offense of treason. Isn’t it likely that you’re just getting’ riled up under the stress of these tryin’ times?”
“Senator Paxton, please do not patronize me. I tell you that I have irrefutable evidence that the vice president is involved in the assassination of our president, that he is involved in treasonable acts with foreign powers, that we risk the almost certain compromising of our most vital national defense secrets if Latimer is sworn in as president, that every member of the cabinet has seen this evidence and is convinced . . . all this, and you tell me he will take you to court if you stand in his way, that the constitution does not allow you to act on my evidence. Please don’t throw the constitution at me, Senator. What does the constitution say about governing the country with an Executive Council? Where is that in our Constitution? Where are the courts protecting the process now? They have, as they usually do, opted for stability.”
“You’re point is well-taken, son. And one we in the Congress are about to remedy tomorrow morning. We will have our quorum and we will have our swearin’ in. We cannot continue much longer to run this country as if it were some two-bit banana republic, sir. We are a people who respect due process. And due process will be carried out tomorrow. Any charges that you wish to present against the new president you can make the day after tomorrow. I assume you turned your evidence over to the folks at the FBI?”
Slaider paused, turned his back on Senator Paxton for a moment. Then he turned back to face the senator. “No, I haven’t.”
“No? And why not, General?”
“Because I believe my evidence will also show that Amanda Brock is also in on the conspiracy against President Drummond, that she supplied tactical support and intelligence to Paul Latimer. Intelligence, I might add, that allowed him to escape from Washington before he could be arrested.”
“Arrested? GeneralsonI have to tell you, myself, that I believe the vice president has acted very responsibly in this matter of succession. He did not send American boys to kill other American boys as you have seen fit to do at Andrews Air Force Base. You know, any federal judge can swear him in as president now that Emerson, God rest his soul, is dead. His claim to the presidency is perfectly legal. But you and this keystone cabinet have created such a passel of smoke about his loyalty that only Congressional action will legitimize his succession. Frankly, I applaud his recognition of the need for united action . . . that all branches of government return quickly to the normal processes of government, that this state of emergency and our dysfunctional executive branch be quickly returned to
constitutional health.
“And to tell you the truth, son, I’m not so sure about your motives. And I’m not so sure of the motives of the cabinet that seems to have been ill-prepared or ill-advised durin’ this crisis. I would not be surprised if Mr. Latimer’s first act as president was to ask for your resignation as well as the resignation of his entire cabinet. I have never seen a more vacillatin’, disloyal, and frankly, harebrained bunch of groundhogs in all my life and it embarrasses me, yes it does, it embarrasses me that I ever voted to confirm any of you. I’m afraid to say that I must include you, for all your fervor and loyalty to America, in with that pack—because they are incompetent and youyou’re a special casebecause your fervor is dangerous. I would say that you have all failed to perform under fire in a way that when the time called for courage you all provided political drift and executive abrogation of responsibilities to a military cabal. I expect that all loyal Americans would have hoped for more. This Executive Council is the dumbest idea I ever saw and one we will remedy tomorrow. And your charges, I believe, will be judged to be groundless. I know Paul Latimer quite well, General, and while I certainly know that he has limitations, he is no traitor to his country, nor is he an assassin. Was there anything else you wanted to see me about, sir?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, there is. If you will not look at the evidence against Paul Latimer, I would like to offer one other avenue out of this legitimacy issue. The Congress by constitutional mandate has the power, as it is written, ‘to decide the issue.’ What I suggest is that the Congress appoint Alexander Llewellyn the next president of the United States. For all practical purposes he has been acting as president by chairing the Executive Council. And he is a choice the military can be comfortable with.”
“The military can be comfortable with? What the hell has gotten into you? Tomorrow we will in all probability declare Paul Latimer president of the United States and the military can be comfortable or not with how Congress decides the issue because the military has not a goddam bit to say in the matter . . . and, God willin’, never will. And I cannot believe Alex Llewellyn is in any way a party to your treason. Treason, sir! There is no other word for your display of contempt for the constitution and the actions you have taken to manifest that contempt. What you and Llewellyn have cooked up is a power grab, plain and simple. It’s obvious to anyone. Your actions are tolerated because there is no functioning institution able to stop you. Except the Congress and we will remedy that situation tomorrow.”
On Deception Watch Page 31