Broken Monarch

by Tom Schneider

  Saturday, August 25, 1979

  19

  7:00AM, Lindsey’s Car

  Lindsey headed into work early. She wasn't due in until eleven but knew Glenn would be there early and wanted to keep an eye on him. She thought of the night they had together and longed to see him like that again.

  She got in the white cobra mustang Robert had given her and gave the engine a good rev before backing out of the driveway and heading down the road. She turned up the sound on her custom-mounted Jensen speakers.

  Bob Dylan’s, Gotta Serve Somebody, played on the radio.

  The thought of Robert came to mind and she flashed back to being with him. Rubbing her hands through his thick hair and beard. His smell came over her, a mix of pine and bay rum. She pictured his cool, blue eyes staring back at her. Feelings of gratitude and loyalty came over her, for what he did for her. For freeing her from her role as a sex slave to creepy executives and politicians.

  She tried to hate him at this moment, but she could only think of how he helped her. She thought maybe she was overreacting. Maybe he was being straight with her. Maybe he was still looking out for her. Maybe he would free Glenn from the program too as he said. It was hard to see how but she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

  Her instinct has always been survival but her emotions were a mess. From the time she started with Glenn’s training, she’s had feelings toward him. She always assumed it was from deep-seated guilt from being his handler and helping to put him through torture. But now, after spending time with him outside of the program she knew it was something more. She wouldn’t say, love. Although if she’d had a different past she might. Her loyalties were torn and conflicted. She feared her alters were beginning to spill over into each other. She had thought she had control of them but right now she wasn’t sure of anything. Except for a growing sense of dread. That she was sure of.

  She prayed that when the time came; if it came, she would go through with their plan. If she did it would save Glenn but not her. And if she didn’t she would save herself. But for what? There was no path she could see to saving them both. There was no getting away from the evil that drove Robert and the men behind the program.

  The back door was already open when she got there. The kitchen was quiet. The dishwasher was still shut down, there were no sinks running, no one on the cook’s line, and no one coming in from the dining room. She heard the sound of a boot bumping a door and saw Daniel coming out of Richard’s office.

  “Good morning Daniel.”

  Daniel jumped and dropped his notebook, “Oh, jeez. You scared me. Good morning Lindsey.”

  “You’re getting an early start.”

  “I was just looking if there were any lists left to get started on.”

  “I think Glenn keeps his lists on the table over by the window.”

  “Yeah, yeah I think you’re right.”

  20

  12:00PM, Silver Lake Inn

  The day had a strange quality to it. The hours flew by while the minutes seemed to drag on forever. Jack was leaning against the cigarette machine, trying to stay awake in the lobby of the restaurant as everyone awaited the First Lady’s arrival. He cleaned up well, although his eyes were as red as bar cherries. Richard paced around the dining room, with his white chef’s hat and his Culinary Institute of America chef’s jacket.

  The swan was the trademark of the restaurant and Richard had carved one out of ice, three-foot-tall. It sat on a small round, skirted table with white linen, slowly melting. Across from it was the sixteen-foot long smorgasbord. Across the dance floor was the raised and inset bandstand where the grand piano played. The piano player stopped playing and approached the microphone to introduce the First Lady's arrival.

  In the kitchen, the new, unusable bottom microwaves went on. The kitchen phone beside the back window began to ring. Glenn picked up the phone and heard the phrase “through the looking glass.” He hung up the phone and without thinking, grabbed a long ladle hanging from the overhead rack, above the cook’s line and took it into the walk-in cooler. In the back left corner, he pulled out a five-gallon soup bucket filled with Maryland Crab soup and fished out a Zip-Lock freezer bag with a handgun sealed inside. He opened the bag and tucked the gun into his waistband. He pulled his chef’s jacket over it and grabbed a tray of stuffed mushroom caps and walked toward the dining room. He walked as though he was on a mission, he was focused yet not present in a normal way. His surroundings passed by in blurred slow motion. A hum filled his ears and head. Nearly deaf and blind he moved as though he were being pulled. He kicked open the swinging door to the dining room and saw Lindsey’s face and felt his mind rush back into his body.

  In his ear, Daniel heard a voice yell, “Through the looking glass. Target Lotus Petal!” It was Robert’s voice. Outside, in an ABC Maintenance van, he slammed down the microphone. Daniel looked down at the dessert table and picked up a cake knife.

  Glenn put the tray down on the service stand near head-table and stared ahead at the First-Lady, now at the podium. Daniel was approaching the head table. Glenn reached under his jacket and grabbed the gun. As he pulled it out a Secret Service agent yelled, “gun”. Lindsey saw Glenn with the gun and yelled, “duck in a noose,” attempting to deactivate his alter and mission.

  Another agent, close to him lunged for Glenn as he stepped away and dove forward, pointed the gun at the podium. An agent lunged at her from the left. As Glenn flew through the air he aimed at Daniel, who was running at the first-lady from the right with a knife in his hand. Glenn fired two shots as several others rang out right after.

  The room filled with screams and the sound of clanking silverware, falling glasses, tumbling chairs, and panicked people. Christopher saw it unfolding and was one of the first to dive to the floor, pulling Jack down with him.

  Glenn was on the ground, bleeding from the shoulder and stomach. Daniel lay on the floor, by the podium, dead. One shot to the head.

  Lindsey rushed out from behind the buffet table and knelt down by his side. “Glenn! Oh my God. I’m so sorry for everything. I love you! Don’t die. Not now, not like this. Don’t leave me here alone.”

  Glenn opened his eyes and looked up at her, “I love you”. He tried to reach for her but an officer grabbed his wrist, stepped on his shoulder blade and pushed his face down into the carpet. Another grabbed Lindsey by the arm and pulled her back off her knees and away from Glenn.

  Jack got up of the floor onto his knees and yelled at the agent on Glenn. “He saved her! Daniel, the black guy on the ground over there was going for her and he shot him!”

  Another agent kicked the knife from Daniel’s hand and checked his pulse.

  “He’s dead.”

  The First Lady rushed out the door in a swarm of Secret Service agents. She was shaken up but the only physical damage was to her shoe that lost a heel on the slate steps exiting the restaurant. As she got in the limousine, the ABC truck peeled out of the parking lot onto Route 30, headed toward Atlantic City.

  21

  Minutes Later...

  As they wheeled him toward the ambulance, Glenn’s thoughts were about Lindsey. By the hurried actions of the paramedics, he knew he had to be in bad shape. He wasn’t sure he could even speak, but he felt happy he came-to once again seeing Lindsey’s face. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever see her again now but he knew she was safe, or at least alive.

  Lindsey wanted to ride with him but those spots were reserved for the FBI and Secret Service. As the ambulance sped down the White Horse Pike to Kennedy Hospital the ambulance seemed to be under attack. Instruments were falling off the side counters and crashing on the floor. Glenn knew the agents were asking him questions but he couldn’t really hear them. He was hearing something and could see them speaking but he couldn’t isolate the sounds. He was feeling light-headed. He had no pain. He felt comfortable like he was floating. Darkness crept in from all sides.

  The ambulance came to a screech
ing halt as it was cut off by three black sedans followed by another ambulance. Men rushed to the ambulance’s back doors and ripped them open. The Secret Service and FBI agents drew their guns. They drew theirs and showed their CIA Special Response Team badges.

  “He’s our guy, we’ll take him from here.”

  “He’s lost a lot of blood, he needs a hospital quick.”

  The agent hiked up his pants. “You worried this scumbag is going to die? He tried to kill the First Lady.”

  “We heard he stopped the guy trying to kill her.”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  The agents lowered their weapons and watched them wheel the gurney to the second ambulance.

  ***

  Lindsey was stuck behind answering questions from the local cops, the State Police, FBI agents, and Secret Service. She stuck to her cover story and eventually was allowed to leave. As she approached her car a black sedan appeared. Two men approached her. One took her keys the other her arm to escort her to the back seat of the sedan. She got in without resisting or saying a word. As they pulled out of the parking lot Lindsey looked back out of the window. She saw her car turn in the opposite direction and she knew whatever she had was gone now.

  She wasn’t sure what the real plan was supposed to be but she was pretty sure they wanted the First-Lady dead. Did she stop Glenn from shooting her by yelling to him? Was he supposed to shoot her or was Daniel supposed to get her and then Glenn take Daniel out? She figured they would say both Daniel and Glenn were conspiring in the assassination attempt. She wondered if they’d implicate her, too. Was she somehow supposed to have been taken out? Will they make her disappear now? Or maybe they'll need her as a witness. If Glenn survives he may be charged and arrested. Her only hope was to talk Robert into having him play the hero instead of a conspirator. She assumed she was on her way to see him now.

  Sometime in September

  23

  Glenn’s Condo

  The President and First-Lady and talking about whether he was going to drop his re-election campaign as a result of the assassination attempt. Glenn sat on his couch in sweatpants without a shirt, staring at the TV. His bandages were still seeping a little blood and puss. A pizza box with a leftover slice and some abandoned crust sat open on the coffee table. Another box sat on the floor. Empty coke cans and Rolling Rock bottles littered the table with an overflowing ashtray and an issue of Rolling Stone magazine featuring Richard Pryor on the cover.

  A knock came on the door before it suddenly swung open, hard enough to bang the wall. Two men in suits and dark glasses entered. Glenn didn’t move to answer the door or turn his head to see who it was that barged in uninvited.

  “Come on Julia Child.” The agent put his hand on the taser attached to his belt. “Time to go play hero.”

  A third walked in the door with dry cleaning hanging from his hand. He walked to Glenn, grabbed his chin to tilt his head in his direction.

  “Can someone find some Visine? Our hero’s not supposed to be stoned. Come on Glenn put this suit on, it’s time to get going.”

  “When do I get to see Lindsey?”

  “I don’t know anything about that. All I know is we have to get to the press event. The Courier Post – a full spread insert this weekend. Play it right and maybe you’ll be on 60 Minutes next week.”

  Glenn reached behind the couch and the agent dropped the suit on the floor and pulled his gun as Glenn pulled out a bong. The agent holstered his gun and took the bong from Glenn’s hand. He put it on the table and pulled out a pill bottle.

  “Here, take these. Let’s go – get dressed.”

  ***

  Glenn did the interview and told everyone what they wanted to hear. Lindsey wasn’t in the story. Daniel was the villain. Although he knew now, Daniel was just another pawn – another Delta alter. He thought he may have actually been trying to understand what was happening as he was. Maybe that’s what he wanted to talk to him about. Why did he blow him off? How did Daniel know or suspect that he was experiencing the same thing?

  Glenn knew the real villains were hidden somewhere in the government bureaucracy. Using people, playing with their minds, torturing and destroying people, was being not condoned but orchestrated. He couldn’t remember what Lindsey had told him. She said who was in charge of the program but he couldn’t remember, despite his will. Could they have erased that info from his mind? How did they know she told him? What was the name she told him? Whenever he asked himself it was as if he were staring into a void. The answers were locked away in a room he couldn’t locate.

  24

  Undisclosed Facility in Philadelphia

  Two security officers dragged Lindsey by her arms through the double doors. On the other side waited a trio of men in doctor uniforms, the center one holding a needle ready to inject. As they pulled her through despite her resistance she saw Robert standing behind them. He walked out and took her by the arm as the others let go.

  “Linds baby calm down it’s all going to be okay,” he said.

  He motioned with his head and eyes to the doctor who came closer and jabbed her in the arm. She jumped up to Robert putting her arms around him. She began kissing his neck and whispering in his ear.

  “Come on daddy, I’ll be a good kitty. Come on what do you say?” She asked as she grabbed his groin.

  “Please, please daddy. I’ll be a good girl. Give me another chance,” she said as she began cycling through her alternate personalities. As she switched to a more violent alter she lashed out at him and managed to scratch his face before the doctors had her again by the arms. She felt suddenly felt limp as the drugs took effect. The hall swirled around her as they laid her down on a gurney and wheeled her down the corridor.

  Everything was upside down as they entered the operating room. She came to a stop and was picked up and placed on the table. A video camera hanging from the ceiling rotated and lowered toward her head. The men surrounding the table began tightening leather straps around her ankles, thighs, and wrists. A clamp with foam padding was affixed to her head, pressing on her temples. A final strap went across her chest, pushing down on the top of her breasts. The men cleared the room and Robert entered.

  “I hate to see you like this Linds. I thought we should say goodbye. Sorry, it’s not under better circumstances. It’s just no longer possible. You caused a major cluster-fuck in Jersey. Things could have been different. Now we have to do what we have to do. He walked to the window and looked out over Philadelphia. It’s always been bigger than us, we just have our parts to play. You can’t just improvise at any point. The script’s been written. The story goes on.”

  Lindsey struggled to move but she was strapped down tight and near paralyzed.

  “Oh, don’t try to talk. The medicine is taking effect. It won’t be long. You won’t feel a thing. I made sure of it. I don’t want to cause you any pain. I never did… I’m not sure where we went wrong. Too many splits maybe. We tried to do too much… You’ve come a long way from the little girl I knew who I helped become a butterfly.”

  The thoughts raced through her head. This was Robert confessing. He had said she arrived later as a runaway teen. That she was a Beta – never a butterfly. Now she knew she was there much younger. Butterflies go through a very specific type of torture to disassociate. He had raped her and worse when she was just a child. She had been told she had a wonderful childhood and that she was loved. It was supposedly her who threw it all away for drugs as a teenager. Now she knew the history she had concocted or planted in her head was a lie. Another alter. With the truth being so horrible she wished he hadn’t told her. She wished he would let her keep that one lie safe. But he was a sadistic bastard.

  “We had some fun. You showed us a lot is possible. I won’t forget you, Lindsey,” Robert raised his hand pointing his finger in the air. “You know, I should tell you. Your little insurrection against me wasn’t really your idea. Everything went exactly as we planned. Al
l we wanted was to have an attempt. You didn’t stop anything. Glenn's fate was sealed long ago, just like yours. You were never in control. Even when you graduated from the program. You may have helped train him but you were never free. Your mind was always mine.”

  The surgeons entered the room. Robert put his hand on her shoulder, squeezed and walked toward the door. Lindsey could see them doing something to her head but she felt nothing. Not even fear. She was still there watching but in her mind, she had already left. She was just hanging around now long enough to see where she’d go next. She was ready to leave all this behind.

  A bolt of pain shot from her head through to her toes. Nerves singed from deep inside to the edge of her skin, everywhere. She was somewhere else. A young girl – nine or ten. There was a man in a military uniform, with badges, ribbons, and medals all over his chest. Her father. She was clinging to his leg with all her strength. Her tears making a wet spot on his pant leg.

  “No crying now, sweetheart. This is for the best.”

  Her new guardian led her away by the hand. A younger Robert. She sobbed and yelled,

  “I love you, daddy!”

  Girls were recruited into the program at an early age. Often from military parents told their kids would become geniuses and be well taken care of and they too were rewarded, with rank and compensation.

  She saw herself now holding the young Robert’s hand walking through an amusement park. He was handing her a new stuffed animal he won for her. It was a bright sunny day full of snow cones and candy. She was happy.

  A swath of darkness wiped out the scene and she was on a stretcher. Still a little girl but she was dressed like a woman, wearing leopard-skin tights and a matching dress above the knee. Her ankles were spread apart with a metal bar keeping them from closing together. Her arms raised above her, wrists tied tight. She was frightened to death, confused and crying. Colored lights were swirling around and a man approached wearing a devil mask without any clothes.