A man with glasses from the Adoxia side said, “Our associate is prepared to pass some favorable legislation for Goldera if you are ready to share in the vast wealth it will bring to your country.”
The translator said, “Are we talking what I think we are?”
“The embargo and all the sanctions will be lifted. We’ll pass it off like we are teaming up to keep the rest of the world safe,” the man from Adoxia promised.
The translator told the other men, “We will need to set up a clandestine channel of communication and figure out a way to hide the vast amounts of money you gentlemen are about to receive.” He started to laugh and the rest of the men at the table joined in.
Whitney looked at Trent. “I can’t believe what we are hearing. Goldera has a horrible human rights record and they fund global terrorism. Not to mention they slaughter their own citizens to keep them in line. The government is basically a mob running the country. Maybe that’s why we were selected to take on this task.”
Trent answered, “Maybe. This is treason here. They are selling foreign policy to the highest bidder. I don’t think these guys have any idea what they are getting into. Goldera will use this to hold over these guys because this country has no real law like we do in Adoxia.”
“The embargo and sanctions were put down as a reason to curb their imperialistic tendencies. It’s no mystery why in our briefings, they warned us several times about dealing with people from Goldera. They are always trying to glean evidence that they can use against a person.”
Trent walked over to the table and looked at a newspaper. “This meeting was on June 26 of last year. This was back when it looked like President Gergen didn’t stand a chance. I told you it was fishy how he won the election.”
“It was the story about how his opponent, Lott, was sending government secrets to hostile foreign entities. That’s what did Rick Lott in if you ask me. They still haven’t found any evidence of those emails or phone calls yet, the Chief has reiterated a few times. He gets really weird when he talks about it though.”
“I noticed that too. I thought it was a bogus smear at the time, but boy, was it effective. People hated him after those stories ran. I really don’t want to believe this is true, but we just heard it. Do you recognize any of these guys from our country?” Trent asked.
“No. I hate politicians and don’t really pay attention to them unless they are running for President or they are in my state or local area. I hate those slimeballs.”
“Me too, so I don’t know who they are either. Take a mental image of all three so we can find out who they are. This has to be the Vondlee deal from the dossier though,” Trent said.
“I thought so too, but all the Adoxia men were masked in that document. These guys from Goldera were named in the dossier, although I can’t remember their names. And to think it gets even worse from here is so scary.”
Without warning, a great gust of wind blew against the front of Whitney’s body. The violent surge pushed her and Trent against the wall behind them. The people at the table were undisturbed as Whitney felt like she was being pulled into the wall. She closed her eyes and the pain dissipated.
When Whitney opened her eyes, she and Trent were clutching onto the back of a golden dragon, flying through the night sky. The bright moon and stars made the armored scales shine and Whitney marveled at the experience. She didn’t want to look down because she had always been a bit fearful of heights.
They glided through the sky for another half hour before the dragon started to dip and dive. Darominius landed with a soft thud and his two passengers got off.
The dragon said, “I hope that helps. I must be off to give assistance to another deserving soul. My lady, good sir.”
Whitney’s hair blew back from the rapid wing beats as Darominius rose up in the air. She watched as his golden image disappeared into the darkness.
2
Whitney sat next to Trent in the meeting room of the Bureau. The Chief stood up front at the podium and organized his papers.
Chief McTalbot said, “Alright, I’ve called everyone in here because we have a new development in the Rick Lott story. We are reopening the case. Our East Coast Office has found forty thousand new emails in which there might be dangerous classified information being passed to one of our enemies.”
Whitney noticed that the Chief looked uncomfortable and kept yanking at his collar and tie. Delegate Rick Lott had lost the election to Alan Gergen. Most people would argue that it was due to the rumors he had been passing nuclear secrets to Adoxia’s enemies. He had been favored to win the election up until the final two weeks.
Her boss cleared his throat and continued, “This is going to involve a massive amount of work because the secret information has been reportedly inserted into a regular looking email. They will look normal at the beginning and end, but what we need is rumored to be smashed in between. Some of these emails are hundreds of pages long too, so bring a fine-toothed comb and lots of coffee.”
The Chief pulled a handkerchief out of his chest pocket and wiped the sweat from his shiny forehead. He said, “This case is our main priority now. Our national security may have been put at risk and it’s up to us to uncover the facts. Let’s go find the truth, everyone.”
The agents started to flood through the exit and the Chief stopped Whitney and Trent. He invited them back to his office to discuss a few matters. They got inside and he closed the door and shut the blinds. They all sat down and Whitney waited for her superior to say something.
The Chief appeared to be disturbed until he finally spoke. “There is a massive amount of pressure coming down on this one from every direction and I’m pretty sure I know why. This diversionary tactic lends more credence to the dossier because there’s no real reason for us to search these emails.”
“Where did they even come from?”
“They found them on Representative Pernell’s laptop that they confiscated from his house after the arrest yesterday,” the Chief explained.
“Why would they be on that pervert’s computer?” Trent asked.
The Chief used his hand to brush his thinning red hair over his head. “Pernell apparently worked on Rick Lott’s campaign, but that’s the only connection we can find right now. I think this is only a coordinated effort to keep our eye off the real issue.”
Trent agreed, “I think so too, but I guess we have to get through this email mess first, right?”
The Chief said, “No. I want you two to continue to work on the dossier. Full attention. Everyone else can take care of that boring eye bleeding work. My gut keeps telling me there is even more than the dossier mentions. I need you two to confirm whether we should commit more resources to this effort.”
“I can tell you the early returns have indicated that there is something strange going on here. I would say that within a week, we could have a concrete answer for you.”
The Chief said, “Sounds great. I know you two can get to the bottom of this. Be safe.”
They went back to their office and Trent shut the door. He pulled out an iPad and started to flip through it.
“Are you ready for picture time?” Trent asked.
“Pictures of us?”
“Not quite. Pictures that will help us. Recognize this guy?” he asked and turned the screen toward her.
“Holy moly, that was the middle guy at the meeting.”
“Yep. Former Representative from the great state of Pelonia, Joe Albright, who was appointed to lead the Justice Enforcement Agency by President Gergen,” Trent revealed.
“Oh boy.”
“You’re damn right, oh boy. But wait…there’s more. Check out dude number two,” Trent said.
“There’s the guy on the right, well, our right at that meeting.”
“Right you are. That was Judge Henley Brokham, former Judge I should say because you know he is now the Director of the Intelligence Community of Adoxia. You noticing a strange and disturbing trend here? We’ve been worr
ied about getting acclimated to the new job while the President snuck his men into key positions while everyone seemingly turned a blind eye,” Trent said.
“So who was the third guy from that shady meeting?”
Trent swiped and tapped his pad and then turned it so Whitney could see.
He said, “This is Representative Daryl Hopkins. Oddly enough, he wasn’t promoted after Gergen took office. I’m not sure if he did something wrong along the way to be punished or what exactly happened. I’ve sent word around to find out as much info on each guy as we can.”
“I’ll just take a guess that they were all on his campaign team.”
“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Trying to find out about the other people that were involved around last June with the campaign too. If the proposal in that meeting was real, they would need a lot more than four people to just move the money on that deal. There’s got to be more complicity in these duplicitous efforts,” Trent said.
“You turn me on so much when you talk with your proper cop speak. Should we christen these desks?”
“Don’t tempt me. That would be a great story about how we got canned from the Bureau in our first week for having sex in the office. Besides, these babies might have already been broken in. I think we need to concentrate on this for a bit,” he said.
A small object fell from above and fluttered in the air before falling to the ground next to Whitney’s desk. She jumped up and grabbed the small note, which had landed next to her garbage can. She quickly opened it and read, ‘Just drive.’
The engaged couple immediately left work and jumped in the car that had been given to them by the Bureau. The GPS directions took them to a remote location near the last place they had met with Darominius. Trent parked the car and they got out and walked around aimlessly.
They were in an open field, but Whitney couldn’t see any signs of her winged friend.
“There he is,” Trent said as he pointed at the sky.
The golden dragon was circling around and descending like a corkscrew. Darominius landed and cordially greeted them. The dragon waited for Whitney and Trent to get on. They rose with tremendous speed and made it up to the clouds. The dragon straightened out into a horizontal path as they soared through the sky.
The wind became too intense for Whitney to keep her eyes open as they started the sharp dive. When she opened her eyes, she was on a bridge that appeared to be under construction. She didn’t know what country they were in but she didn’t recognize the language written on a nearby sign.
Trent pointed at the construction workers and said, “Doesn’t exactly look like a professional work crew.”
“Not at all. Why are there two limos parked in the middle of the bridge? Let’s see what’s going on over here.”
They moved in closer and Whitney wondered why anyone would be waiting in the middle of a bridge that was under construction. She didn’t feel very safe under the conditions, but forged ahead with her man by her side. She noticed two men in suits sitting on a bench along the side-walkway of the bridge.
Whitney didn’t like heights very much and looked down at the rushing river below and started to feel a little faint. She focused back on two people getting out of a white limousine and sitting down on the same bench. The agents moved in close enough so they could hear the conversation despite the constant hammering sounds.
A spraying, sideways rain blew in Whitney’s face and she thought the sun was setting, but on second glance, it appeared to be dawn. The flowing fog made it hard to identify the people involved but she did notice a woman and man who looked to be Adoxian and two other foreign men.
The Adoxian woman said, “Wise thinking to shut down the bridge and cause a commotion so the wrong ears don’t hear this. We are glad to be in Starvary and look to develop a new and lasting relationship between our great countries. We just need to make sure you will hold up your end of this deal.”
The Starvary man next to her spoke in Adoxian and said, “We will organize the marches and rallies against Mr. Lott as soon as the accusations are released. We have great friends in the media who will make it look like public outrage from coast to coast. We can also hack into the voting machines and change the votes so that they all come through for the same candidate. Your man is guaranteed to win when we hold up our end of this deal.”
The woman said, “Each trade deal will be skimmed by ten percent and not recorded in the national treasury books. That money will be put into an account specified by each recipient. We’ll set up a series of shell accounts in the Ivory Islands so no one will ever know what is going on. Thank you again and if you will excuse us, we need to get back to the flight field considering we aren’t permitted to be in your country. But not for long.”
The two Adoxians got back into one of the limos and the two men from Starvary remained seated on the bench. They started talking to each other in Starvarian and Whitney didn’t understand any of it. Starvary was located in Africa.
Trent said, “Do you know who those people were?”
“Can’t say as I do.”
Trent said, “Representative Mary Cummings and Delegate Emiliano Hertzoff. Two more people from the President’s circle. This is getting out of hand. How did nobody see this except our intel friends from other countries?”
“Sounds like we might have an intense cover up to bust through as well? President Gergen appears to have installed his own cronies in every position that has the ability to go after him. I’m starting to worry if our Chief has been compromised. He’s been around for six years, but why would he only have me and you on this case? No, I don’t want to believe that.”
Trent said calmly, “Let’s not rush to judgment on anyone right now. I think the Chief is a white hat and the powers that be are making him push the fake investigation. That seemed to really bother him. He looked like he was ready to puke every time he talked about that stuff.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough. This meeting was mentioned in the dossier too. That packet of papers is looking more bulletproof by the day and it scares the living daylights out of me. The way this is shaping up, it’s going to make the Benno Dante Case look like jaywalking or a parking ticket in comparison.”
3
Whitney saw Trent in the car straight ahead and pressed the gas pedal all the way down. She picked up speed and both cars rammed headfirst into each other. The rubber protection around both bumper cars didn’t prevent Whitney from being jolted forward in the wooden seat. She backed up and slammed the red car into Trent’s again before the ride stopped.
Trent helped Whitney get out of her car and they walked out to the paved paths of the small amusement park. She enjoyed being away from the crowded city and had always loved to go to the fairs and carnivals. Trent had a fun side to offset the serious nature that he carried on the job. Whitney had wanted to have a carefree night to get their minds off the potentially huge case.
A cotton candy stand without any customers in line seemed to be drawing Whitney in. She got a white cone of the puffy pink sweet treat and Trent paid for it. They shared the snack as they walked around the attractions. The lights started to flash on as dusk eased in and Whitney could smell fresh popcorn.
Trent pointed to the right. “Uh oh, what do we have over here?”
“I don’t think you want to do this to yourself. I don’t want to hear you crying all night. But if you really want to…” Whitney let the word linger.
Trent reached in his pocket and said, “I think I need a rematch from that lucky shooting you showed back at Aaric and Victoria’s. That was your home turf and you used that to aid in your slim victory.”
Whitney shook her head until Trent pulled her in for a kiss. They waited for the next round as she looked up into his eyes and wondered when she was going to wake up from this perfect dream. She had never thought her life could turn around so fast. The couple sat down and paid to play the shooting game. Whitney looked through the sights on her rifle before taking a quick pe
ek over at Trent.
She waited for the buzzer to begin the game. Seven targets of painted ducks were arranged in a triangle about eight feet away, waiting to be taken out by the flat hard-plastic pellets. Whitney steadied her breathing as the starting bell sounded.
She pulled the trigger and the red plastic pellets started to fly. The bullets streamed off to the left and she had to adjust her aim and hope for the best. She steadied the barrage of bullets and the duck-shaped targets fell one by one. She watched the final yellow duck fall and looked over at her lover.
Unfortunately for the competitive Whitney, Trent was already finished. He shaped his hand like a pistol and pretended to blow the smoke off the end of the barrel with a huge smile on his face.
“You got lucky. My sights were so off it wasn’t even funny. Here, let’s go again and we’ll switch sides this time.”
Trent said, “No, no, no. These lovely people here are waiting to play the game.”
The teenager said, “You guys can go again if you really want.”
Trent shook his head, “No, you two have been waiting and we don’t want to hold up the line for everyone else.”
“You guys go ahead and have fun,” she said to the two boys and turned back to Trent. “You are scared of a girl too. Why are men so insecure to lose something to a woman? I know I’m smaller than you, but I can handle myself.”
Trent chuckled. “It’s not that you’re a girl. You’re my girl. And I don’t mind losing some contests to my lady, but not a shooting contest. That’s hard for me. I don’t have too many things that I am very good at so it’s hard to let you have this one.”
“Well, now we’re even. I beat you with real guns and you won with a plastic fake gun at the amusement park. Take it for what you will.”
“You’ve made your point just fine, little lady. You want to go on this roller coaster?” Trent asked.
“Of course. Let’s get in line.”
They waited to get on the glowing, fluorescent green roller coaster and Whitney looked over at the Ferris wheel. She reached over and locked her fingers with his as they inched closer to the front of the line.
Roam Around The Earth: Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure #2 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 2
