The Castle: A Ripped-From-The-Headlines Thriller

by Jason Pinter

  “Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.’”

  Griggs let those words sit for a moment. Then he continued with the words that Remy knew would change the very foundation of the American political system.

  “I stand here, Rawson L. Griggs, today, in front of my country and the entire world, to announce that I will be running for president on behalf of a new American party. A party for the people. A party that harkens back to the potential we once had, potential that has been stolen from us. But with this new party, we will reclaim a dream long forgotten.”

  Rawson waited, allowing the suspense to build.

  “I have been put on this earth to run for you. The people,” Rawson said, “In honor of the purity our nation was founded on, I will be running for president on the newly christened Mayflower Party.”

  The crowd erupted. Rawson put up his hand. They quieted en masse.

  “The Mayflower Party will speak for those who have been left behind, the silent majority, who feel that their interests are no longer cared for, who feel betrayed. Like the document signed by those brave men and women aboard that ship three hundred years ago, this is my compact both with the American people and our allies around the globe. Like our forefathers when they anchored at Cape Cod, today we journey into a new world. This begins right here. Right now. We will not leave anyone behind. We will bring back prosperity. We will bring back hope. We will bring back the America that our predecessors intended. We will take back what is ours. We will unleash the beast within!”

  The crowd went bonkers. Griggs campaign staffers walked through the crowd distributing THE BEAST WITHIN hats, flags, buttons, and bumper stickers. Within minutes, half the crowd was wearing bright red BEAST hats. Rawson looked like a proud father at his child’s graduation.

  As Rawson waited for the applause to die downs, Remy glanced at the bank of television monitors lining the floor. Cameras were panning the crowd for reaction shots. The enthusiasm was overwhelming.

  Then Remy noticed something strange on the ABC network feed.

  Their camera had panned towards the front of the Castle lobby, near the exit to the street. There appeared to be some sort of skirmish going on outside.

  Suddenly, Remy’s breath caught in his chest.

  The camera was fixated on a police officer, one hand gripping his still-holstered weapon. Another cop had his hand palm-out as if to say stop. There was fear in his eyes. Another cop had already taken his Sig Sauer P226 from its holster and was holding it, ready, at his hip.

  What the hell was going on?

  A woman began to scream. She was pointing at something.

  No. She was pointing at someone.

  Other network cameras began to swivel around to broadcast the mayhem. Then the crowd turned, curious.

  Then, on the NBC feed, Remy saw what the cops were reacting to.

  On the camera, Remy could see a young man. Mid-twenties. Short. Dark hair. Dark skin. He wore a black jacket and black pants. There was fury in his eyes. Several police officers were trying to restrain him. The man appeared to be trying to force his way into Griggs Tower.

  The man was shouting something. When he turned his head, Remy saw that his earlobes were gouged. And in each hole, Remy could see a shiny, silver ring.

  Stani.

  A man shouted that word as Remy lay bleeding on the street. A man with silver rings in gouged earlobes.

  Then, in one horrible moment, Remy understood what was happening.

  The man trying to force his way into the Castle was Dastan Nogoyev’s accomplice. The man who’d shot him. The man who’d disappeared.

  Then Remy saw what the man was holding, and his blood ran cold.

  He was holding a backpack. He had stripped it from his shoulders and was holding it out to the police as if to say this is for you.

  Then he pulled a device from his pocket. Remy realized that the bag contained some sort of homemade bomb.

  Jesus Christ.

  Rawson Griggs’s eyes widened. He instinctually threw his body around Alena and hurled her to the ground.

  Remy shouted, “Everybody get down!”

  There was a split second between Remy’s warning and the moment the man pressed the detonator, the world vanishing in a terrible burst of light.

  “You haven’t been returning my calls or emails. Are you okay?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “We still need you, Paul.”

  “I can’t do this anymore. People are dead.”

  “But not you. You’re doing the right thing.”

  “Every day it’s like I’m waiting for a piano to fall on me. I’m done.”

  “Don’t say that. There’s so much more. You said it yourself. We need to stop him.”

  “So figure it out. If you can’t, then god help you.

  “Give me something. Anything. Come on, Paul.””

  “Alright. But I don’t know much. Alena mentioned something about Jeremy Stanton meeting with Grace Rivas from the Gazette.”

  “Did she happen to say where and when?”

  Griggs Campaign Regroups in Wake of Bombing

  “We will not be intimidated. We will soldier on.”

  by Grace Rivas and Eric Celsun, New York Gazette

  The dead have been buried and the wounded tended to following the devastating bombing at Griggs Tower, an act that killed five and wounded dozens on the very morning that Rawson Griggs officially announced his candidacy for president of the United States. Undeterred by the horror and violence, Mr. Griggs vowed that his resolve had never been stronger.

  “The American people will not be intimidated by terrorists and radicals who look to upend the will of the people through fear and violence. My heart goes out to victims of this despicable act of cowardice and savagery. And I promise you this: the moment Rawson Griggs is elected president, we will hunt down these cowards. Words do not prevent evil: actions do. And Rawson Griggs is a man of action. We will work with our current allies, and build bridges with new ones, to create the greatest global safety network the world has ever known.”

  Medical records have identified the bomber as Alexay Usenov, 28, formerly of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Sources within the FBI confirm Usenov was likely the second man suspected in the attempted murder of Alena Griggs and Paul Bracewell, which was prevented by Jeremy Stanton, the ‘Upper East Side Hero,’ who has since taken on an active role with the Griggs campaign. Like his accomplice, Dastan Nogoyev, Usenov had spent time as a migrant worker in Moscow, and had come to the United States legally from Bishkek.

  Added Mr. Griggs, “The fact that these monsters came to our country legally means we must intensely scrutinize people living both outside of, as well as within, our borders. Radicals do not just come here from abroad. Some are homegrown. Some are here legally. And we will smoke them out.”

  Mr. Griggs declined to comment on what sort of policy would be enacted to follow through with that statement.

  While Griggs himself claims to be self-funding his campaign, a number of pro-Griggs Super PACs have already begun raising money to support his candidacy. One PAC in particular has raised eyebrows: former Mississippi Senator Brent Scott recently submitted paperwork to open a PAC called TEETH OF THE TIGER, and Scott’s lobbying firm has already contributed nearly $7,500,000 to its efforts. TEETH OF THE TIGER has plans to aid the Griggs campaign through direct mail advertisement, robocalls, radio advertising, and phone banking. In the past, however, Senator Scott has come under fire for his employment choices since leaving office, including consulting with the Kremlin-owned, multi-billion dollar natural gas production company, GazProm.

  The Griggs campaign had no comment on former Senator Scott, and insisted that, per campaign finance regulations, they do not coordinate with any Super PACs that support Mr. Griggs’s candidacy.

  Many have also questioned Mr. Griggs’s statement
s critiquing the Truman Doctrine, which many say heralded the start of the Cold War in order to stem Russia’s geopolitical influence, eventually leading to the formation of NATO.

  On CNN, Rebecca Blum, Griggs’s campaign manager, stated, “We will be reevaluating every policy decision made over the last hundred years to determine which ones worked for the American people, and which ones strangled us and our allies with regulations. Nothing is off the table. Nothing.”

  Remy sipped from his cup, thinking that it was the first time he’d ever met a girl for coffee while three large men with guns waited for him outside.

  The armed slabs of beef were part of a massive security force hired by Rawson Griggs in the aftermath of the bombing at the Castle. Remy still hadn’t gotten used to them and didn’t think he ever would. The night Remy decided to join the Griggs campaign, he’d thought long and hard about the various paths his life could take.

  Nearly being killed for the second time in less than a month was definitely not one of the options he’d considered.

  That was before a man named Alexay Usenov walked up to the lobby of Griggs Tower carrying a pressure cooker bomb in a backpack. Usenov was the unidentified gunman who’d shot Remy and escaped into the night, only to emerge from the shadows to cause unspeakable evil. The only silver lining was that Usenov hadn’t managed to worm his way inside the packed Castle lobby. The carnage would have been catastrophic.

  The FAA discovered an unused plane ticket in Usenov’s name. His flight was scheduled to leave LaGuardia two days after the attack on Alena and Paul via Aeroflot Russian Airlines, with as stopover in Istanbul before landing in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The same final destination as Dastan Nogoyev’s unused plane ticket.

  Neither man was on a no-fly list. They would not have been flagged leaving the country. There was no evidence of radicalization, no suspicious postings on social media, no trail that would have alerted Homeland Security or the TSA. Both men were invisible until they decided to take lives.

  The lobby would be rebuilt. The campaign would push through. And part of that meant Remy making good on his promise to Alena, and meeting with Grace Rivas of the New York Gazette.

  Remy raised the cup of coffee to his lips. It had taken a solid week for his hands to stop shaking after the bombing. The woman sitting across from him picked up on it.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “We can do this another time.”

  “No, I’m good,” Remy said. He sipped his dark roast then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Still a little anxious, I guess.”

  “Given everything that’s happened, it’d be strange if you weren’t.”

  Grace Rivas was about five foot seven, with straight black hair that went down slightly past her shoulder blades, and eyes the color of summer grass. She was in her early thirties, with faint lines beginning to creep in around her eyes and forehead. She was young, but spoke confidently, and her eyes betrayed no hint of naiveté. Remy had read her C.V. before their meeting and came away impressed.

  Grace was born in Queens to Hector Rivas and Angela Barerra, both Colombian immigrants who had fled Puerto Boyacá as the Medellín cartel was rising to power under Pablo Escobar. Once they settled in Queens, her father got a job driving a taxi. Her mother worked as a hotel maid. Grace had been given no advantages.

  She’d earned a B.A. from Stanford and a Master of Science from the Columbia School of Journalism. She took a job on the tech beat at a prominent digital news startup, and when that folded, the Gazette came calling. Grace covered Owen Gladstone’s campaign during the previous election, and given her experiences in both politics and business, she was the perfect reporter to cover Rawson Griggs. She’d built an impressive portfolio in a short amount of time. Remy could understand why Alena would trust her.

  A small digital recorder sat on the table between them. Grace turned it on, and Remy eyed the red light suspiciously.

  “I want to start with the day of the attack at Griggs Tower,” Grace said. “The bomb set off by Alexay Usenov was a homemade device, a pressure cooker, similar to the ones used by the Tsarnaev brothers at the Boston Marathon. Five people were killed and dozens more wounded. You had just accepted a position with the Griggs campaign as a communications aide. Can you tell me what your thoughts were immediately following Usenov’s attack?”

  Remy shifted in his seat.

  “I remember opening my eyes and not being able to hear,” he said. “When the device went off, it was the loudest thing I’d ever heard. It all happened so fast. I had no idea if I was alive, what had happened. I was on the ground, and when I got up, I remember not being able to see the lobby through the smoke. There was glass everywhere. People were screaming. Once it seemed that most people inside were safe, I went outside to see what I could do to help. It was just…chaos. I’ve never seen anything like it. And I hope I never will again.”

  “Did you have any idea Usenov might target Rawson Griggs’s announcement?”

  “I didn’t know Usenov’s name at the time. I thought I might recognize him from the night he and Dastan Nogoyev attacked Alena and Paul. I think a part of me always worried that the second man was still out there. I didn’t think he’d just disappear.”

  “Neither Nogoyev or Usenov were flagged by the FBI or TSA. In his speech, before the bombing, Mr. Griggs said he would take a much harder line both on immigrants coming into the country, but also people already here who have green cards or work visas. He hasn’t elaborated on these plans. Can you speak to those? How exactly does Rawson Griggs plan to keep us safe while upholding the constitution?”

  “Well, first and foremost, Mr. Griggs wants to keep us safe. This is a man who, within the last few months, almost lost his daughter and her husband, almost lost his own life in an attack that took the lives of innocent people. So something isn’t working when a man can walk into a crowd with a homemade bomb. Rawson’s concern isn’t just from abroad, but the people already here, working in secret, people who aren’t on our radar because we don’t know what to look for.”

  “Rawson Griggs hasn’t wasted any time. He’s already made campaign stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, and has rallies planned for Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas in the next few weeks. He drew enormous crowds in Iowa and New Hampshire. You’re a political novice. Until recently, you worked at a consulting firm. What does it feel like to be in the middle of all this?”

  “It’s overwhelming,” Remy said. “But at the same time, better than a shot of red bull and a double espresso. Wanting to be a part of something bigger than you has become kind of a cliché, but it’s true. Rawson has galvanized the nation. I’m just proud to be a part of this, and honored he thinks I can help.”

  Grace said, “What is it about Rawson Griggs that you think resonates so much with the American people?”

  “He’s one of us,” Remy said. “Rawson came from nothing. He fought for our country, came home and built an empire from a loan that, today, wouldn’t be enough to start a hot dog stand. He feels there’s an American spirit that’s been lost. He wants to bring that back. And I think the people know they’ve been let down by their elected officials for years. Rawson Griggs is the kind of man who gets things done. He makes you aspire to be more than you have been.”

  “Running as a third party candidate is bold, but also risky,” Rivas said. “No third party candidate has come close to winning the presidency in the modern era. By eschewing both major parties, Mr. Griggs is forgoing the massive infrastructure and fundraising mechanisms already in place. How can he realistically expect to win?”

  “Well, I think the attitude that he can’t win is one of the reasons he will win,” Remy said. “Americans are tired of being told what they can’t do. Rawson wants to people to know they can do anything. People are fed up with politicians asking for money. Who needs that money more: the coal miner or the senator? Rawson Griggs is a self-made man. He’s employed thousands of people and built some of the most amazing properties around the count
ry. People respond to his spirit. While other politicians are campaigning, Rawson Griggs is working.”

  “In speeches last week, Mr. Griggs called Governor Richard Bertrand of Louisiana a crook, and Senator Annabelle Shaw of Kentucky a leech who, and I quote, ‘has sucked Americans dry like a disgusting leech during her thirty years in office.’ Is this the kind of language befitting a man running for president?”

  “Rawson isn’t a robot. He’s saying exactly what other people are thinking. Some politicians spend more time constructing artful phrases than they do governing. Rawson doesn’t want time. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met.”

  Grace said, “The strongest performance by a third party candidate in history was Teddy Roosevelt in the 1912 election, when he ran on the Progressive Party and still finished fourteen points behind Woodrow Wilson.”

  “I’m not sure I heard a question there,” Remy said.

  “Was this campaign a massive miscalculation? What makes you think Rawson Griggs has a chance?”

  “All I can say is this: people can dismiss Rawson’s candidacy all they want. But when they go to rallies and see these massive crowds, they understand. Rawson Griggs makes political rallies feel like rock concerts.”

  “People might buy Bruce Springsteen’s albums,” Grace parried. “I’m not sure they’d vote Springsteen for president.”

  “Pretty sure Springsteen would win New Jersey,” Remy said.

  “It’d be close,” Grace said with a smile.

  “This is just the beginning,” Remy said. “Mr. Griggs has close to twenty million followers on social media. We have unprecedented ability to speak directly to the voters. Governor Bertrand has a forty percent approval rating in his own state. Annabelle Shaw is currently in her fifth term in the Senate. These people are political lifers.”

  “How much did you know about Rawson Griggs before you met him?”

  “The same as everyone else: just the Rawson Griggs we read about and see on television. But the truth is, in private, he’s just a decent family man. Rawson and I are very different in many ways. I might not have a three-floor penthouse in the sky or my name on properties all over the world, but we want the same thing. A better future for our country.”