"So what’d he do?" Kyle asked eager to hear more.
"That’s the funny thing. He just sat there kind of in shock. I expected him to go off on me, or call security, but he seemed calmer than what I’d have been."
"So why does he want to see us today?" Kyle asked, anticipating Colleen’s question.
"He said he wants to 'read us in' on his involvement." Jack replied as the car pulled within two blocks of the Russell building.
"Involvement in what?' Kyle asked.
Jack paused, looking at Colleen. She wasn't taking the news very well. "Involvement with William Downs, I suppose."
"Or maybe it’s a trap, Jack," Colleen added, "You ever think about that?"
"Well, you’re welcome to stay in the car, but I believe him. I have faith in your vaccine Colleen, and I’m willing to take the risk. I know what he’s going through, and I just know it will be all right."
Colleen and Kyle hesitated. This was too fast and too much to process to decide if they wanted to jump right back into danger.
"But, how do you know Jack?" Colleen pleaded. "How do you know everything will be okay?"
Jack looked at Colleen and hesitated while he decided whether it was a good time to come clean. Before he had decided, the words came spilling out of his mouth. "Because I also dosed myself, okay?"
Jack pushed open the car door and almost leapt out. He didn't want to see Colleen's reaction, and he didn't want to explain why he'd kept this secret from her. She would never believe he'd done it because he loved her; he was having a hard time believing that one too. He’d decided to walk the final block and realized his dramatic exit would force them decide once and for all if they were in or out.
"Jack!" Colleen shouted after him on the sidewalk as they sat in the car trying to make a decision.
"Screw it!" she said after a few moments, and opened the door. Kyle gave directions to the car to park, and then they hurried after Jack, finally stopping him halfway up the white marble stairs of the Russell building.
"You weren’t going to tell me this? Didn’t you think I should know you dosed yourself?"
"To tell you the truth, it was just something I had to do. I realized I couldn’t very well forcibly inject another person if I had doubts about it myself. But you know, I feel a lot more clearheaded since I did it. Things just make more sense to me now… and I’m hoping Max has had the same evolution."
"It’s still an untested drug Jack! There’s no way to know if the same outcome you had will be replicated in Max. You could still be walking into a trap!"
"Then so be it, Colleen. At least I can console myself that, thanks to your discovery, I’ve done more than most to bring honesty to The Hill!"
Colleen and Kyle looked at each other. Neither wanted to leave Jack, so slowly they climbed the remaining steps and entered the building. As they got closer to Max’s office, Colleen had a growing sense of foreboding. They had cleared security with no problems, a fact that originally had bolstered her spirits. But now as they closed in on his office, she could feel the danger, she could almost taste it. Colleen tried to push the feeling from her mind but failed.
"Hi Megan, remember me?" Jack asked as the trio entered Max’s office. Megan looked up from her work and seemed surprised to see him. She stared at Jack with a long look, a look of realization, like she had just connected a piece of a puzzle.
"Mr. Colder, I didn’t see your name on the schedule today…" Megan said shaking off her thoughts.
"I hope I didn’t get the wrong day, Megan. Max called me yesterday and set this up for ten. These are my friends, Dr. Colleen Baker, and Kyle Preston."
Megan hesitated a moment, stunned briefly by the color of Colleen's eyes. "Well, let me check. He is in today, and it wouldn’t be the first time I was the last to know a change in schedule. Have a seat won’t you all?"
On the way to the couch, Jack nudged Colleen and gestured for her to look over his shoulder toward the conference room. "There were two killings in there a couple weeks back! Something to do with military imposters, all very hush-hush." Jack said with wide eyes and a lowered voice.
Colleen sat down slowly, as if in shock. Her fears had calmed a bit after finding Megan was so pleasant, but now her apprehension began to rise again. Kyle craned his neck to get a better view, but the conference room door was closed, leaving his mind free to imagine blood stained walls and chalk lines of bodies on the carpet.
"Sorry for the confusion folks, Max just forgot to let me know about your meeting." Megan said, flashing her famously warm smile. "He’s just finishing up and will see you shortly. Can I get you anything while you wait?"
"Some coffee would be wonderful, if it’s not too much bother," Colleen said.
When Megan left the room, Colleen added in a low voice only Jack could hear: "And maybe a Valium?"
"Relax, everything will be fine." Jack whispered back.
As the three were ushered in to Max’s large, well-appointed office, the photographs of famous people on his bookshelves and walls diverted Colleen’s attention. The senator had been in Washington for over 20 years, mostly in the House, and the high points of his career festooned his office with the many mementos, photos, and awards scattered about in places of honor.
Colleen was engrossed in the senator’s accomplishments and pictures of his meetings with industrialists, world leaders, sports heroes, notables from the arts and even the pope. She was about to comment on a photo of Max and Andy Warhol when she turned to face the senator and was instantly struck speechless. His eyes were violet, like hers but much paler.
Jack handled the introductions and added some small talk about the DC weather, and flying, which covered for Colleen’s inability to offer anything but a vacuous smile.
"I must say Dr. Baker," Max said in a pleasant voice, "this eye color of yours is quite arresting. I confess I have used it to sway my fellow senators that just days before had put up the most robust objections to my proposals. I find it quite useful!"
"Colleen," Jack said wresting control of the conversation, "perhaps an explanation is in order."
Colleen nodded, still unable to take her gaze from the senator’s most striking and seemingly newest attribute.
"I got Karen to make, um, a modification for me." Jack said starting his explanation slowly. "Remember our conversation about the vaccine, and how we couldn’t solve the conundrum of how to administer universally and openly?"
"Yes…" Colleen stammered, finally finding her voice.
"I used your DNA to add a marker. One that couldn’t be counterfeited, but one that would identify 'trustees' immediately."
"So that’s what’s going on with your eyes!" Colleen shrieked, turning to face Jack. "Why didn’t you consult with me? What ever gave you the idea…"
"Actually," Max interrupted, "I’m glad he did. I’ve never had more clarity, or the drive to make things better. And if I may interrupt further, I’d like to tell you all why I asked you here."
Colleen quieted her outburst in deference to the senator, though she still glared at Jack.
Jack interrupted Max while he begged forgiveness from Colleen with his eyes. "Sir, if I may ask a pressing question first? In our first meeting senator, I got the idea you knew William Downs. Do you know where we can find him?"
"No. He is one mysterious lobbyist. No business card, no contact info. He said the quality and nature of his information demanded absolute confidentiality."
"Then how did you meet him?" Colleen asked still getting used to Max’s eyes.
"I guess you could say I got involved with William Downs by accident. I ran into him at an Air Warfare Symposium down in Orlando. He mentioned he had some classified intel on our drone program, and would like to set up a meeting with me back in DC.
"I’m still not sure how he found out, but at our meeting, he gave me proof that some Pakistani insurgents had compromised our tactical codes and had commandeered our drones in the air, then used them to attack civilians. Innocent ca
sualties were piling up and turning vital regional support against us. Of course it didn’t matter that the boys at the Pentagon had fixed the problem within weeks, the media was asking why our target info was so bad all of a sudden. We couldn’t exactly reveal that our state-of-the-art weapons systems had been hijacked!
"All he wanted, he said, was for me to put my weight behind the Rebuild America bill. You know, give it a shot in the arm and move it out of committee and get it scheduled for a floor vote. Doing that would help a private company, ReformCo obtain a lucrative labor contract. He said he’d let me have the leverage over the military if I helped him out on the prison deal.
"Hell, it wasn’t but a few months later than some guy named Caswell called me. He said he knew about the drone co-opt and wanted me to make a call to clean up his mess with some inmates. I’d been sitting on that story waiting for a good time to use it, and here some prison desk jockey called me up and threatened to expose me as a complicit!
"Reluctantly, I made the call and spent my leverage. A gruesome affair, over a dozen prisoners killed. But somehow it still seemed manageable. That is until Mr. Colder here showed up with knowledge of some important pieces of the cover-up and a nose like a bloodhound!"
The three visitors sat there listening, gripped by the thought that a U.S. senator would be confessing his sins to complete strangers.
Max turned to Jack and searched for the right words.
"Anyway, when you injected me, I really thought that was it. I’d survived an attempted assassination just days before, and I figured you were here to finish me off! Strange as it seems now, I was kind of ready to go. But Jack, what you gave me was so much better than an easy way out!"
Max paused; his face conveyed a look of placid gratitude. "I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I’ve decided the best way to describe the effects of this miracle you forced on me is… absolution. For the first time in my adult life, I can really, deeply, honestly forgive myself!
"And for that…" Max said with a catch in his voice as he turned to Colleen, "I will be forever in your debt! And now I even have your arrestingly persuasive eyes to help me make the case!"
Colleen seemed overwhelmed by Max’s words of praise. They were almost enough to make her forgive Jack and Karen for corrupting her project.
"Excuse me sir, but what case is that?" Kyle asked in a small voice.
"The case for rapid public adoption of this miracle, of course!"
"Wait, what?" Colleen and Jack replied in unison.
"Senator, do you think that is wise?" Jack asked. "Close to twenty people are dead, one of them was my best friend! And we personally have been threatened, beaten, kidnapped… all because someone simply thought we might discover what may be a cure for crime! In addition, I have tons of research that shows very clearly the damaging effects to the economy that any cure for crime would have in the short term!"
Jack paused. Seeing his words were not having any effect on Max’s serene exterior, he pressed harder. "Two men died in your office trying to silence you for God’s sake!"
Max waited patiently for Jack to finish and remained calm. In fact, even after all Jack said to impress upon him the danger of the situation, he was more than calm. Max was downright tranquil.
"I assume from your eye color that you dosed yourself a day or so after me, so you do not yet know the clarity I now enjoy." Max said as he opened his drawer and pulled some photographs out of an envelope.
"These I suppose are what Mr. Downs was going to use to keep me quiet. His men paid with their lives to deliver this blackmail to my office."
Kyle, Colleen, and Jack leaned in as Max spread the photos of burned bodies and twisted metal out on his desk. Kyle immediate flashed back to that day in the desert. The smells of burning flesh and smoldering tires crowded out his other senses.
After a moment, Max sympathetically returned the gore-filled photos to the envelope and closed the drawer. "Let me assure you, I understand the danger Mr. Colder. I just refuse any longer to be held captive by it."
"What do you intend to do?" Colleen asked in a cautious tone.
"Tomorrow at noon, I will hold a press conference. For the safety of others, my staff and you included, I will only announce it fifteen minutes beforehand. I intend to resign my office and confess my transgressions— including my involvement with the Rebuild America influence peddling scheme, the drone hacking episode, and the involvement of Colonel Chastain in the murder and cover-up of those killed in the desert. I will hope my confession and willingness to work with authorities will allow them to go easy on me at sentencing, but what happens to me isn’t a consideration.
"And once I pay society for my transgressions, I will announce my candidacy for re-election. If I’m not the perfect poster boy for the power of your miracle drug, I don’t know who is! If the people want a confessed and reformed sinner, I will be proud to unswervingly serve their interests.
"If not…" Max said addressing Colleen, "with your permission, Dr. Baker, I hope to become a most persuasive advocate for the public’s adoption of your vaccine."
Jack looked at Colleen and Kyle and tried to read their thoughts. He wondered if Max’s idea could ever sound like a workable plan to them. Perhaps the vaccine works differently on different people, but at that moment, it just sounded far-fetched. Far-fetched and deadly, especially since they were no closer to identifying William Downs, much less bringing him to justice. Maybe "trustees", Max’s coined term for those who had taken the vaccine, were incapable after all of perceiving the schemes of those who meant them harm. He just didn’t have enough data to tell, but Jack made a mental note to discuss it later with Colleen.
"Senator, perhaps you are correct and your plan will work as you say," Jack said in an even tone, "but it is a mistake to underestimate William Downs, and especially his ability to thwart your attempts. He remains a dangerous man, and a man that demands our attention. Have any of your associates been contacted by him? Do you have any leads to find him at all?"
"At one time, I had a phone number for him but it’s disconnected now. The number was traced to a burner phone sold in Georgia. That’s all I know."
Jack thought for a moment and decided against telling Max about the hack of his data that originated in DC. He wanted to trust Max, but Jack now had questions about his ability to keep a secret.
"Have you told Megan about the press conference tomorrow?" Jack asked.
"No, knowing a day early would do her no good. She’s in no way involved in this. Besides, her job is secure since my appointed replacement will rely on her even more than I have."
"If you don’t mind, senator, I’d like to leave Kyle here to keep an eye on things. Just as a precaution you understand."
"Certainly Mr. Colder, happy to have him. I’ll let Megan know he’s here working on a project for me.
"Wonderful!" Jack said. "We look forward to your press conference tomorrow, but we understand the need to keep it quiet."
"Excellent!" Max said as he stood. "I knew I could count on your confidentiality." Jack and Colleen said their goodbyes and pulled Kyle aside as they walked to the door. "Remember," Jack whispered. "Call me if anything suspicious happens, okay?" Kyle nodded.
When Jack and Colleen got to their Consulate Car, Colleen started in on him.
"Do you know how dangerous your little prank could have been? Maybe still is? And who gave you the right to modify a project and put my reputation, not to mention my DNA on the line?"
Jack wanted to defend his actions as being necessary to enlisting Max’s help, but seeing Colleen had more scolding to do, he kept quiet.
"I can’t believe you’d think you had the right to vaccinate a sitting U.S. senator, let alone with a serum that had limited testing!"
"I know, Colleen. I could have really screwed up!" Jack said with a feigned bashful expression. "But before you decide whether you can ever speak to me again, there’s one item that needs to go into your calculation."
"Wha
t’s that?"
"Did you hear how Max described his reaction to your – uh, our– um, okay, my screwed up vaccine? He said it gave him absolution, Colleen! Were you ready for that? I sure wasn’t! Here we were racking our brains as to how to force this vaccine on the public, maybe even resort to involuntary mass inoculation techniques, when in all likelihood, people everywhere will be standing in line to get it!"
"You mean you were racking your brain over this, don’t you?"
"Weren’t you? Colleen, this is huge! Forget the fame, forget the accolades… you have something that will change the world! And you have a very powerful advocate! We just have to keep Max's secret until noon tomorrow."
"Jack, the vaccine hasn’t been through the proper trials. The FDA wouldn’t allow it to be sold or distributed until they’re absolutely sure it has no deleterious side effects. End of story."
The Premise Page 39
