A plan was starting to percolate, but the question was whether he would have the guts to pull it off when the right time presented itself.
The weather changed as mid October approached. Indian Summer lasted almost all the way through September, but the October days began to cool. However, a rain storm seemed to bring in the cool Autumn weather for good. For Bao An Hahn, who’d spent nearly his whole life in the Bay area, the new weather felt like winter. He’d prepared for the inevitable change in weather months before, buying top-of-the-line winter clothing, but he hadn’t been prepared mentally.
The biggest problem with the colder weather, however, was the fact that he had to be outside so much more than he was used to. As a computer programmer by day, and hacker by night, Bao had rarely ventured outside in any kind of weather. Now, as the owner of a vending company, he had to work his route—either rain, snow, or shine. If he didn’t, he might lose his cover as an Insight Resource spy within the experiment. He grumbled about it every day with his bosses, but he always got out and filled his machines.
The one thing that motivated him every day was knowing how much his fellow spies envied him. He was easily the closest to Mike Wilson, the only person who could possibly beat David Asher in the upcoming election. Bao and Mike had developed a friendship. This helped Bao create the most interesting and in-depth reports about the political goings on in Blue Creek. He was also privy to the private lives of those who worked with Mike, including the notorious Patton Larsen. Bao had even succeeded in finagling an invitation to Patton’s wedding through Mike.
A serious problem was developing, however. Bao found it increasingly more difficult to maintain his cover as an Insight spy. He’d already leaked information to Patton about the committee that organized the government. Fortunately for him, he claimed he’d gotten the information via his job as a vending machine owner. For his part, Bao found it difficult not to continue to leak information about the Asher campaign to Mike—information he received from another spy who’d gotten a paid job with the campaign.
It was a daily battle and today was no different. The Asher campaign spy had reported the connection between the candidate and two members of the organizing committee, namely Charlie Henry and Anna Radinski. She had found it troubling that these two would be directly involved in a campaign. The report was also troubling to some of the higher ups at Insight Resources, but they had no power to do anything. The experimenters wouldn’t allow any kind of intervention because that would defeat the purpose of the experiment. On the other hand, no one in Washington was listening anymore.
Bao wanted to walk into Patton’s office, close the door, and spill everything he knew about David Asher and those behind his campaign. However, he was afraid he would lose his job. He had no doubt that Patton would do something with the information and when he did so, it would become obvious how Patton Larsen had come by the information in the first place.
No, Bao decided, he would sit back and let things play out … unless things got really bad.
CHAPTER
14
Soft piano music played as Jennifer started slowly down the curved stairway. The music was from the Pride and Prejudice film starring Keira Knightley. It was Jennifer’s favorite music and it seemed to perfectly match the mood of the day. When Patton first saw Jennifer standing at the top step he had to catch his breath. Her wedding dress had been a secret and Patton was suddenly glad. The strapless gown showed off Jennifer’s tanned and toned shoulders and arms. Lace gloves covered her skin past her elbows. The gown itself was mostly simple, but Jennifer looked gorgeous. When their eyes met, tears stung at her eyes and she fought the urge to wipe at them.
It was a crisp, but beautiful October evening. A few soft clouds dotted the darkening blue sky, which could be seen through the gigantic, ornate windows. The sun was beginning to descend, sending its array of colors through the sky. There wasn’t a place classy enough in Blue Creek to hold a wedding so Jennifer found this venue. It used to be a privately owned home, but new owners converted it to a wedding chapel and reception hall. It offered a breathtaking view of the Great Salt Lake and the mountains to the West. However, while many of the guests were enjoying the panoramic views, Patton only had eyes for his bride.
Patton’s mind began to drift. The music, the room, Jennifer’s dress made him think of his first wedding. It wasn’t like he was yearning for those times—those years with his first wife. Instead, it was a chance to dwell with her, with his departed children. His old life and his new life were one again. No longer would he need to keep them separated with some imaginary wall. Without noticing, tears began to stream down Patton’s face.
Jennifer was off the stairs now, making her way down a cream-colored carpet. Patton stood alongside a Mormon bishop who had been recruited to perform the ceremony. She held her bouquet close to her chest and Patton could see that her knuckles were going white from the grip. As she reached the dais, Patton reached out and took her hand, helping her up the two steps. The bishop greeted them and then they took each other by both hands and stared into one another’s eyes as if no one else in the world existed.
Jennifer laughed and the movement revealed the muscles in her back. Patton traced the line of them with his forefinger, then down her scapula to the middle of her back where her well defined back muscles created a little ridge. He reversed the path and she almost started purring. They were both naked with only a flat, white sheet covering them. Jennifer marveled because this was the first time she’d ever seen Patton, now her husband, completely relaxed and at ease. He seemed to always be carrying some sort of burden. That’s how type-A people are, she thought. He was now actually, and visibly, content. No worries looked good on him. She could definitely get used to it.
“Are you happy?” she asked him, her back turned to him, but welcoming his touch.
He made a quizzical look that she couldn’t see and asked, “Is that a rhetorical question?”
She giggled and said, “I guess so. You seem pretty relaxed right now.”
Patton chuckled. “Weren’t you here just a few minutes ago?” He sighed and rolled over onto his back, putting his hands behind his head. She rolled over and snuggled close to him. She loved hearing his heartbeat and feeling the air go in and out of his lungs.
Not wanting to ruin his good mood, she asked, “What do you want to do tomorrow?”
He leaned up and looked down at her.
“This,” he said, kissing her softly and passionately.
When the kiss was over she pushed him away and laughed.
“No, silly. Of course we’ll do that, but we can’t do that all day,” she said.
He had a pretend hurt look on his face and asked, “why not?”
A devilish grin crossed her face and she said, “Honey, it’s not like you’re thirty anymore.”
He rolled his eyes and he dropped down onto his pillow, laughing loudly. Once he recovered he said, “Touché.”
They bandied about different ideas and didn’t come up with anything. They decided to look for things to do on the Internet in the morning. In the meantime, Patton tried his best to show his wife, that although he wasn’t thirty anymore, he was far from being an old man.
The next day they drove to Salt Lake City. They ate at a Japanese steakhouse and saw a movie. They enjoyed being away from their lives in Blue Creek. It was a strange feeling for Patton—being away was like having a weight off his shoulders. All of his concerns about the impending government and the elections had vanished, at least temporarily. He just wanted to enjoy his new wife and be away from everyone they knew. They flew to San Francisco the next morning to start their honeymoon. They would spend a week touring northern California, including the Napa Valley.
Patton then took Jennifer to meet his mother. As expected, the two women, whose mutual love for Patton gave them something in common, felt an instant affection for one another. Patton d
rove Jennifer around his hometown. Seeing the places Patton had played with his friends and had gone to school made Jennifer feel like she was beginning to know him—the way a wife should know her husband.
They returned to Blue Creek during the first week of November. By the time they got home, the weather had cooled drastically. Cold rain fell almost every day and leaves had already changed colors. In contrast to the cooler weather, Patton’s attitude about life was warming. It amazed Jennifer to watch him. He was almost a completely different man now. He no longer saw a conspiracy around every corner. He just went to work and then came home to spend time with her.
Soon, though, Patton returned to the realities of his new life. He had a business and a political campaign to run. Mike had also spent some time away from Blue Creek, but had returned before Patton. He was antsy to get his campaign started in earnest. David Asher’s campaign was already in full bloom. Early polls, as unscientific as they were, showed Asher with a near majority, which would guarantee him the victory and avoid a runoff with any of the other candidates. It was time for Patton to get into the game again.
Asher‘s face was grim, his face pale. What Travis just told him disturbed him deeply. His demeanor wasn’t merely a reaction to Charlie and Anna’s plans to keep him under their thumb—Travis’s suggestion on how he could avoid that scenario was also was nagging at him. He drained a whiskey glass and winced as it burned. He spent a long moment thinking, trying to add up all of the costs and benefits on some sort of mental ledger. Finally he looked at Travis, trying to read his face as if they were playing a hand of poker.
What Travis had just suggested to him was to kill them, or as he’d put it, “take them out.” Asher had wanted to scoff at the suggestion, but there was something in the younger man’s eyes that let him know that he was serious.
“You saying you could do them? Why would you do that? I thought Charlie brought you here.”
Travis nodded and leaned back in his seat, a mirthless grin on his face.
“He did. But he’s crazy. He’s erratic. He’s overly emotional and is going to ruin everything we’ve already done.”
This statement revealed many things at once. First, Charlie Henry wasn’t as much in control as he probably assumed. Whether it was Anna or Travis that was actually pulling the strings, David didn’t know. It was clear that the real power behind this thing was still up for grabs, though. The second thing it showed was that Travis was a true believer in what they were doing. All along, David had thought of him as a hired gun, a mercenary.
The third, and potentially most important thing this statement revealed was that Travis was implicitly offering to enter into a partnership with him. Instead of David Asher being the third wheel, he could be a partner. He could have more control and more influence. He sat back in his seat, pensively looking around the bar. It was a lot of information to take in at once. Still, he had to be clear.
“So you’re saying it could be you and me in it together?” David asked finally.
Travis nodded, happy that the man understood his implication.
“How do I know I can trust you?” David asked, then taking a swig of beer from a glass.
Travis shrugged noncommittally.
“You can’t know that, just like I don’t know if I can trust you. But there are a lot of people here that aren’t happy with Charlie. He’s a smart guy. He’s experienced. He knows a lot of players. But he’s—”
“—erratic,” David said, interrupting him. “Yeah, you mentioned that. My question is, why would we move on them before we even got control of this thing? It would be easier to take something that has already been established.”
Travis nodded again. He was impressed. Of course he and his cohorts had thought of this, but they were anxious to get Henry out of the way as soon as possible.
“That’s a good point,” Travis acknowledged. “But you don’t have to work with that son of a bitch every day. You don’t have to get his calls at three in the morning because he’s angry or depressed. Like I say, he’s not easy to deal with. But … you make a good point. Maybe we should wait until you’re in office.”
“No maybes about it,” David said after a pause. “I’d insist on it. It’s pointless otherwise.”
Travis nodded calmly, his arms folded across his chest. He was glad to hear that his companion was seriously considering his proposition. It would be messy, but he knew that they could work together. Hell, working with anyone other than Charlie Henry would be better by default.
“Okay,” Travis said then pursed his lips. “You win, you get the ball rolling, and then we start to make a transition.”
Transition, David thought. A wry smile formed on his face. Transition was another way of saying “We kill everyone in our way and then we take control.” But Asher accepted the guarded words. No reason to broadcast their plans to the patrons in the bar.
“Good, then,” David said, offering his hand.
Travis shook it firmly. He sat grabbed his beer and drained the remainder of its contents. He belched lightly and wiped his lips. He stood.
“So are we good?” Travis said, clearly ready to leave.
“Yeah, for now.”
“We’ll be in contact,” Travis said and then walked towards the bar.
“We” will be in contact, not “I” will be in contact, David thought. Why the “we” instead of “I”? He wondered if Travis was trying to intimidate him—to make him feel that he was past the point of no return in their agreement. David swallowed hard then thought he might be reading too much into the statement.
He swirled the remnants of a whiskey and Coke in his glass and then swallowed it down. In an attempt to get his mind off of Travis’s last statement, he began to scope the bar for tonight’s companion.
“That’s him,” Patton said, handing the binoculars to Mike. He raised a digital video camera and started to film the man walking down the sidewalk that was now wet with rain.
Mike held the binoculars to his eyes and clicked his tongue. “That shaggy haired kid is in cahoots with David Asher huh?”
“Uh huh,” Patton said quietly, nodding grimly.
While Travis and Asher were sitting together in their booth, Patton walked by and saw them. There were obviously in the middle of a serious conversation because neither of them noticed him.
Patton and Mike followed David Asher to the bar to see what he would do and who he would talk to. It seemed strange to Patton that he would meet up with another man. And it was something about David Asher’s drinking buddy that raised those silent alarm bells inside of his brain. It was an instinct he’d developed in his old life, in his old work. There was something going on here, Patton thought, and it wasn’t innocent.
“Did he walk here?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know,” Patton said, shaking his head. I guess he was here before Asher got here. We followed Asher remember?”
“Well, wherever he’s going,” Mike said, gesturing towards Travis with the binoculars, “he’s not getting there in any kind of hurry.”
The kid was loping along at a leisurely pace, oblivious to the fact that he was being stalked. He got to the corner and then crossed the street. Patton pulled away from the curb and followed him, making sure to stay at least a half block behind their prey. The longhaired man walked another block and then turned left, continuing to walk casually, his hands in his pockets.
“Must be going home,” Mike said, hating the silence. Patton grunted in agreement but said nothing. He had his game face on and he didn’t want any distractions.
The kid walked two and a half more blocks and then jogged diagonally across the street, entering a narrow driveway. There were trees obstructing their view, but it looked to be a small apartment building. Patton drove past, drove halfway up the next block and then turned around. He parked a block away on the opposite side of the apartment build
ing and shut off the engine.
“Looks like this might be where he lives,” Patton said almost to himself. “It’s weird, though. Anyone who wanted to could have a house. Why wouldn’t he have a house instead of living in an apartment?”
They both sat in the dark and pondered the question. Finally Mike said, “Well, people were given a house, a business, a car and cash … or the equivalent in cash, remember?”
Patton hadn’t remembered that fact but that must have been the reason. What was he going to do with all that cash but buy a house, car and what not? It didn’t make sense … yet.
It wasn’t just the loud clattering of pots and pans that let Patton know Jennifer was angry with him. She hadn’t talked to him since he’d tried to sneak into the house just before dawn. Worse, he’d been unwilling to tell her where’d been or what he’d been doing. He was in a tough spot. If he told Jennifer he’d been following people in the streets of Blue Creek all night she would tell him that he was acting crazy and paranoid. Instead, he chose to go with the silent treatment. He would tell her everything once he verified the thing that had been bothering him.
There was something about the guy at the bar. It was his walk or how he carried himself or something Patton couldn’t put his finger on. He watched the video he took the night before. He started the video, paused it, watched it again, rewound it, and watched it yet again. This process went on for nearly an hour and then something clicked. Patton double-clicked a file folder on his desktop and double-clicked an icon. A new video popped up. Patton double clicked the icon and waited. Three minutes into the video he saw it. When Jennifer walked in to tell him breakfast was ready she found Patton watching his computer screen, his mouth wide open with shock.
“What—” she began to ask, but he stopped her with a raised hand.
Patton rewound the video and watched the video again, sliding over so she could see it. Jennifer had seen the footage in question at least a dozen times.
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