Just the Truth

by Gen LaGreca

  She walked through the deserted alley of the complex and into the courtyard. She grimly observed the rusted picnic table, and near it, the slide, swing, and covered bin of jump ropes and other gear that were the remains of a playground. She saw the lampposts with their broken lanterns and missing fixtures. She looked up at the dilapidated buildings lining the courtyard, which stood like the eerie gravestones of a failed project in which the hopes and dreams of the inhabitants were doomed.

  She entered one of the buildings from which she hoped to hear the voices in the courtyard, and she crouched down under a broken window facing the playground. She paused at the eerie sight of a tool kit and a roll of duct tape left there, as if a handyman who had patched some of the windows had taken a break and would return any minute to make more repairs.

  As she waited, she placed her phone in her jacket pocket, ready to pull out as soon as the meeting's participants arrived. With any luck, this recording would destroy Darcy Egan, Zack Walker, and the contractor who was making their diabolical scheme possible. This man would stop at nothing for money. He'd sell out a country, a once-great country, to enrich himself. As she crouched down and waited, she vowed to bring the Fox to justice for his unspeakable crimes against her country.

  She heard a car approaching. Then, its engine stopped. She heard only one car door opening, so she concluded the person was alone. It must be the Fox. She heard footsteps coming through the building opposite to hers as the person headed toward the courtyard. She was about to see a monster who would extinguish the cherished liberty of America, a depraved individual who would destroy the people's right to elect their leaders at the ballot box. She was about to see a man who, for a load of money, would topple the hard-fought gains of human freedom that took millennia of human suffering to establish. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest as her face reddened and her hands shook. Every cell of her body was demanding the capture and punishment of the man she was about to see.

  At first, she saw only glimpses of the man in the shadows of the building. She observed his baseball cap, his vest over a long-sleeved sweater without the benefit of a coat, and his sunglasses. He walked with a relaxed stroll that suggested to her a casual, devil-may-care attitude—a man without a conscience.

  Then, he moved into the courtyard in full sight. She realized she knew that body all too well. The muscular arms, the tall build, the trim waist, the long legs, the tightly curled hair weaving out under the cap.

  She forgot about hiding, about her safety, about the incredible story she was there to chronicle—a story that just became even more outrageous than she'd ever imagined.

  She stepped out in the open to face him.

  "Reed!"

  Chapter 27

  He whirled around to her, startled. How rare to see him caught off guard.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" Reed asked. "You have to get out of here now. You're in great danger!"

  She didn't recognize the voice that had dropped an octave.

  "You're the Fox? You, Reed?"

  "I just got a text. You're supposed to be out shopping. Who came out of your house and walked into a store? Wait, don't tell me—Kate."

  "Reed, you're the traitor? How low can you go?"

  "You lost the tail I put on you. You came alone—didn't you? To a place fraught with danger. That was very unwise and could cost us both our lives!"

  "What the hell are you talking about, Frank Foxworth?"

  "I can't explain. They'll be here any minute."

  "What the hell's going on, Reed? You're working with Darcy Egan and Zack Walker to rig the election?"

  "They think I am. It's complicated."

  The reporter in her persisted. "Does it go all the way up to Ken Martin?"

  His grim look told her the answer.

  "Reed, if you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, know that I'll get you. I've hunted you down. Even you, Reed. I won't let you get away with this—"

  "Okay!" He raised his hands in resignation to her will. "I'll tell you this much, and then you'll go. Last year, when the Bureau of Fair Trade dropped its plan to break up my company, more concessions than anyone knew were extracted from me. I met with Martin's closest aides and agreed to do a secret job for them. They were the ones who leaned on their partisan friends at Fair Trade to dismiss the lawsuit against me. It was Martin's closest aides who got them to shelve the plans to destroy my company, and I, in turn, agreed to secretly help them with the reelection campaign."

  "You mean, you saved your business by agreeing to destroy our country?"

  "When I left you last year, it was to keep you from ever getting involved with this scheme. It was much too dangerous. That's why I had to leave you. I didn't count on you uncovering the whole thing on your own and throwing a monkey wrench in the gears I so carefully set in motion. You're too damn good a journalist, Laura, and it could cost you your life! Yes, you figured it out. Almost. But what you don't know is my real role here."

  Just then his phone rang. "That's them. That's their ring." He slid his phone out of his vest pocket and answered it. "Yeah, Velvet. What's up? . . . Okay, I'll wait. Take your time." He ended the call and put his phone back.

  "Your friend Sean is a no-show for his presser, so Darcy needs to rehearse another stooge to spit out the talking points. They'll be twenty minutes late." He grabbed her arms. "That gives you time to high-tail it out of here!"

  "You said I don't know your real role in this thing. What would that be?"

  "That will become clear to you later. But now, you have to go. As it is, I may not . . . This is my last meeting with them. It's very dangerous. If I didn't show up, that would raise their suspicions. So here I am, but I could be walking into a trap. Laura, I may not . . . If I don't . . . I want you to know . . . Oh, Laura . . . "

  He pulled her close and kissed her. She felt the hunger of his mouth against hers, the urgency of his hands stroking her shoulders, the longing of his arms pulling her closer. Against her will, she felt her arms winding around him. She lifted his vest and felt the luscious folds of his back through his sweater. She felt the handle of a concealed gun tucked inside a waistband holster at his side. For a moment there was no investigation, no election, no country. Just the sudden release of a desire that had been repressed too long.

  Suddenly, a man appeared behind Reed and dug a knife into his back, almost piercing his skin.

  "Let her go!" the man demanded. "Let her go now, unless you want to be paralyzed for life."

  Both of them recognized the voice. It was Sean Browne.

  Chapter 28

  Reed loosened his arms around Laura and raised his head. "Don't mangle my back the way you mangle the news."

  "Reed!" Sean gasped in utter disbelief.

  In a surprise move, Laura grabbed Reed's gun, stepped away from the men, and pointed the weapon at both of them.

  "Drop the knife, Sean, and step back. You, too, Reed, step back."

  The men looked astonished.

  "Drop it, Sean!"

  The seriousness of her tone made Sean obey. He dropped the knife. The men stepped back. She moved forward to stand by the knife as if guarding it.

  "So now we know who the Fox is," said Sean. "The biggest bastard in the country is none other than Reed Miller. He's rigging the election. He's selling out our country for a pile of cash! I should've guessed it, Laura. We need to call the police and turn him in, along with his two accomplices, right now!" Sean reached into a shirt pocket for his phone.

  "Not so fast," said Laura.

  She stood about eight feet from the men. They stood about four feet apart, watching her as the gun in her hand moved slightly, leaning first toward one man, then the other, leaving them wondering where it would ultimately point.

  "He's conning you again, Laura," Sean warned. "Remember how he used you and crushed your feelings without a care in the world?"

  Sean raised his phone to begin dialing. "I'm calling the cops."

  "Put
that phone away, now!" Laura demanded, her gun pointing at Sean's chest.

  "Okay, Laura. Don't do anything crazy. You hear?" Sean slid the phone back into his pocket.

  Laura looked at Reed. "You said I don't know your real role here. Just what would that be?"

  "Knowing the truth puts both of your lives in danger, and mine, too," said Reed, shaking his head. "But here goes." He turned to Laura while she continued to hold them at gunpoint. "Did you really think I'd roll over and play dead? Did you think I'd let Ken Martin's goons transform my company from something that served my beliefs and values, and served my customers, into something that served them? And would I oversee the SafeVote programming for them, as they so delicately put it, in exchange for them not destroying my company? What kind of a deal is that? A deal with a thief not to empty your house?"

  Laura listened soberly while Sean sneered.

  Reed continued, "I had no army to defeat them. I had no movement, no groundswell to stage an uprising. I had only myself. So I figured I had to play along with them in order to destroy them and their evil scheme. My weapon was a new high-tech video camera hidden within these lenses and frame, right here." He pointed to his sunglasses. "This was how I got video recordings of the commander-in-chief and his inner circle engaging in systematic, deliberate, unequivocal election fraud. I would be an army of one to bring them down. That was my thinking."

  He glanced at his watch nervously and looked around the grounds to check that no one was yet approaching.

  "Go on, Reed. I want to hear all of it," Laura ordered.

  "Yes, I rigged SafeVote in a project called Operation Topcoat. I devised a program that would steal votes that were cast for Martin's opponent in the districts and counties of swing states, and I would give those votes to him. It was all mathematically arranged to give Ken Martin ballot wins in areas where he otherwise would have lost by a slim margin. Everything would appear to be plausible and no results would be so outlandish as to raise suspicions of rigging. That's the job I did as they know it. But there's more. I did more programming that no one knows anything about. You two will be the only ones who know what I'm going to say next."

  He turned to Sean. "I trust Laura to know this. But you?" He glared distrustfully at Sean. "You can't say anything about this until after five o'clock tonight. This is of the gravest importance!"

  "Come off it, Reed. You're spinning us to make yourself look innocent," Sean said.

  "Shut up, Sean." Laura ordered. "Reed, you have to tell both of us. That's the way it is."

  Reed shrugged and continued, "At five o'clock tonight, unknown to anyone, I've arranged for the SafeVote system to revert to the original certified program that was in place before I began Operation Topcoat. Also, at five o'clock tonight, a telecast will air on Miller News and be transmitted to news outlets across the country and the world. A pre-recorded video will play in which I'll explain everything to the public. I'll explain how I rigged the system, and I'll also explain how the changes I made are being undone and the original, legitimate program is being put back in operation as I speak. I'll tell the people that when they go to the polls tomorrow, they can rest assured that their votes will be counted as cast.

  "Then I'll reveal to the world the incredible proof of my sting operation. I'll show the videos of me meeting with Darcy and Zack, explaining the vote-rigging, and getting their approval. The videos will also reveal my meeting with Ken Martin in which he shows he's aware of Operation Topcoat and gives me the green light to do it.

  "I arranged my life, so there would be nothing they could threaten me with. I lost interest in my business and passively complied with their broadcast requirements. I also freed myself from other . . . entanglements." He looked at Laura and his voice softened. "I had to write you out of my life, so they would never know you were important to me, so they would never use you to manipulate me. I was willing to risk my life. But not yours."

  Laura listened poker-faced, keeping her emotions in check, weighing the incredible things he told them.

  "When my video is broadcast at five o'clock tonight—when the program I rigged is erased and the legitimate original program is re-activated—I'll be on my private plane headed to a remote spot outside the country where no one will find me."

  Laura could tell that he was searching for her reaction, wondering if she believed his story. But she continued to fight off her emotions, trying hard to be objective and show no sign of either accepting his story or rejecting it until she had heard it all.

  Reed continued, "No one can stop the reversion to the legitimate voting program, except me. Neither Darcy nor Zack can stop it. Ken Martin can't stop it. The tech stooge at Elections that's in on the scheme can't stop it. Everything is password protected and encrypted. No one must discover what's about to happen or be able to force me to reverse it. The only thing that can stop me is if they somehow discover my plan and can get me to cancel it. I must have nothing here that they can use to force me! That means you, Laura. That's why you have to trust me and leave here now!" He finished speaking and glanced at his watch. "You have less than ten minutes before they arrive."

  There was a pause as Laura and Sean absorbed the information.

  Then, Sean broke the silence. "A one-man army! No one would ever do the crazy things you say you're doing."

  "No one you know would," Reed replied.

  "Why would Darcy and Zack trust you with this work?" Sean asked.

  "I built a corporate empire on my own cutting-edge programming, so they knew I had the skill to do the job. With the lawsuit at the Bureau of Fair Trade to break up my company, they gave me the motive. They were holding my company hostage, and they thought I'd do what they wanted. Besides, they kicked in a hefty fee, figuring that would be an added inducement. They were right about my having the skill, but they didn't know that I don't pay ransom—and money-at-any-price is not what I'm after."

  "You've been unreliable before, Reed," said Laura, the pain of the past resurfacing in her voice.

  "You have to believe me, Laura. It's the reason I left you."

  "How do I know you're telling the truth this time?" Laura asked.

  "He's lying. Don't believe him," interjected Sean.

  "You know, Sean, you don't have a good track record of grasping more than meets the eye and getting at the real truth," Reed said.

  "There's one truth I know: You're a traitor!" Sean charged.

  "You're the traitor. When you were in the news business, you betrayed your profession," said Reed, his voice heavy with contempt. "You know how much damage you've done with your clueless, sycophantic news stories that snow the public and perpetuate the power-grabbers? It's people like you who threw us to the wolves. And for what? So you wouldn't have to work too hard and verify the facts yourself, so you could swallow talking points somebody else fed you and go home for the day, so you could go along to get along and advance your career with a top job in the People's Manor? You're a bottom-feeder who got to the top!"

  Laura tried to decide what to do. As her gun swayed from Reed to Sean, her feelings pulled her in one direction, but her mind nudged them back. She felt compelled to hear more, to stop her feelings from leading her in the wrong direction.

  "Laura," Sean pleaded, "don't let him ramble on. He's not on your side. I am. I finally saw what you wanted me to see. When Darcy and Zack promoted that scandal about you and the senator, which I knew was false, I finally realized they had nothing resembling good intentions. I broke with them when they wanted me to spread vicious lies about you. But Reed knows about worse things that they're doing, and he's in bed with them. That's why you can count on me, not him. Now, I see the truth."

  "Now you see the truth?" Reed remarked. "It's a little late—isn't it? I saw the truth from the time I could walk. I saw their types in school. They envy you when you get high grades. They resent your success. They hate when you do things better than they can. They're the ones who accomplish nothing and want to control everything. When the
y grow up, they gravitate to politics as their breeding grounds. They find useful stooges like you, who for whatever reason, help them along, who give them a moral sanction, which is the worst thing you can do."

  "Laura," Sean pleaded, "he admits he rigged the election. You caught him. Now he's composing a wild lie to wiggle out of it." He turned to Reed. "Stop playing with her feelings. You don't deserve a hearing with her. You don't deserve her, period."

  "You think you deserve her, man?" asked Reed. "When her family's businesses were being pummeled, you spit out the administration's moronic talking points. You said that they were only regulating business and not trying to influence Laura's speech. But if they control our property, they control everything else—what we say, what we do, our freedom—everything is theirs. So now, you finally wake up to what your bosses are really after. You're a little late to the party, Sean."

  "That's enough! Both of you!" Laura said, still holding her gun on both men.

  "Laura, we're out of time. You have to believe me," Reed said urgently.

  "And be played again? Don't believe him, Laura!"

  Sean and Reed stared at her, waiting. The gun pointed a little more toward Reed, then a little more toward Sean, then back and forth again.

  "I've had enough of his lies." Sean reached for his phone. "I'm calling the cops."

  "No, you're not!" Laura made her decision. She walked toward Sean and from close range aimed the revolver only at him.

  Laura's move galvanized Reed. He picked up Sean's knife and lodged it in the back of his belt. He opened the bin in the playground and grabbed two jump ropes. Then, he pushed Sean down on the ground and went to tie his hands. Sean tried kicking and punching in protest, but Reed was too strong for him. He subdued Sean and managed to bind his hands behind him, then his ankles.

  "Quit struggling, Sean," Laura said. "We don't have time for this."

  Looking at Laura with defeat in his eyes, he stopped trying to break free. Reed trotted to the broken window and gingerly slipped his arm through to retrieve the roll of duct tape that had been left on the sill.