The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology

by Jake Devlin

-86-

  Monday, February 6, 2012

  8:30 a.m.

  The Oval Office

  Washington, DC

  Emily escorted John Kelly, his Treasury Secretary, and Eugene Brynn, the Director of the Mint, into the office, where Donne waved them to the couches and sat across from them.

  “John, Gene, thanks for coming over. How are we doing on Project Newpaper?”

  “We're on track to meet your deadline. Production is well ahead of schedule, but with the confidentiality issues, we've had to take some extraordinary precautions that have slowed distribution a bit, especially overseas.”

  “Okay, Gene; thanks.

  “What's the challenge with the distribution, John?”

  “We've been having some difficulty claiming that all those huge crates are actually diplomatic pouches in some countries.”

  “Isn't Amy over at State greasing the skids well enough?”

  “Oh, she's doing fine, Gordy. But there's still some pushback from some of the ambassadors who were appointed by the previous Secretary. I'm even afraid some of them will leak the plan.”

  “Get me a list of them, John, and I'll make sure they know that they'll be in deep shit if any of them do anything that even remotely threatens the secrecy of the project.”

  “I've got that right here, Gordy.” Kelly pulled a thin plastic binder from his briefcase and set it on the table.

  “Great, John; I can always count on you to be ahead of the game. By the way, forget the binders from now on, okay? A staple is fine for my purposes. I don't need a lot of presentation value.”

  “Will do, Gordy. And I'll spread the word through the whole Department.”

  “Good, good. Emily, are you there?”

  Emily's voice came over the intercom. “Right here, boss.”

  “Put an email in the queue to get rid of the binders and other presentation stuff, okay? For wide distribution. No reorders, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  “Thanks, doll.

  “Oh, funny, boss.”

  “Better than 'mom,' huh?”

  “Okay, okay. Over and out.”

  Donne chuckled and said, “Thanks, Emily.

  “Is the Air Force help with distribution working out, John?”

  “They're doing fine, Gordy. And the CIA has agents riding herd on each shipment, even though nobody knows the contents.”

  “Any other concerns about leaks, John?”

  “Always. Something this big is bound to leak somewhere.”

  “Any concerns in your shop, Gene?”

  “Well, obviously, Mr. Donne --”

  “C'mon, Gene. I know you're a holdover, but you and I have been working on this project long enough that you can call me Gordy.”

  “I'll try to remember that, Mr. – I mean Gordy.

  “Anyhow, with three shifts at all locations running at full tilt, lots of the workers have an idea of what's going on, but with the oversight Secretary Kelly has provided, I think they're all absolutely clear that their loose lips would cause them big problems personally, so so far, I think we're okay.”

  “Good, good. I'll rely on both of you to keep it that way.”

  John and Gene both nodded.

  “And if you run into any more problems with distribution, John, let me know and I'll do what I can to smooth them out, okay?”

  “Will do, Gordy.”

  “And, Gene, be sure to let me know immediately if and when you run into any problems, any at all, okay?”

  “Yes, sir – Gordy.”

  “Good, good. Thanks for coming. Oh, if either of you are into grassy veggie foods, just tell Emily on your way out that I've donated whatever she's prepped for me to you.”

  “I heard that, boss.”

  “I know you did, mom.

  “Thanks, guys.”

  The three of them rose, shook hands and left Donne alone with his overflowing inbox, which he emptied within two hours and took a well-deserved and long-overdue nap.

  -87-

  Five Months Earlier

  Sunday, August 28, 2011

  11:24 a.m.

  Bonita Beach, Florida

  ”Hey, kids, guess what I just saw.”

  “No, idea, EAM.”

  “There's a swim suit floating right in front of you two.”

  “So?”

  “I got an idea. Can one of you go get it?”

  “Ewwww. Not me. CB?”

  “Oh, okay, JB. I'll go. Where is it, Sharon?”

  “Right in front of you – no, a little to your left.”

  “I don't see it.”

  “A little more, right in the surf there.”

  “Oh, okay; got it. Got it. Now what?”

  “Bring it up here.”

  “Ewwww.”

  “Quiet, Jill. Carie, be sure to wring it out first, okay?”

  “Will – oh, shit; it's got skid marks.”

  “Double ewww.”

  “Just wring it out and bring it up here … please.”

  “Okay. Be right up.”

  Ten minutes later, Carie rejoined Jill on the beach, giggling.

  “What?”

  “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

  “If it's got you giggling, it must be good.”

  “Just wait.”

  Ten minutes later, Sharon said, “All set; listen well, kids.”

  At that moment, inside the ninth-floor condo, Joan said, “Ned, is that somebody knocking?”

  “I think so, hon. I'll get it … nobody there. Oh, what's this? My swim suit? And a note? 'I hope you're proud of yourselves. At your age, you should be. We saw what you did and thought you would like this back. Sorry, we didn't have a chance to wash it properly. By the way, bravo.' It's not signed. Who --”

  “Well, come back in and close the door. The breeze is melting the ice cream.” The door slammed.

  “How'd ya like that, kids?” Sharon said, pulling a tiny mike up over the railing in the atrium.

  “Not as good as I expected, Sharon,” Carie replied.

  “Ewwwww.”

  -88-

  Friday, February 10, 2012

  8:47 a.m. EST

  A network morning talk show

  Back from commercial, Lindsey smiled directly into the camera.

  “Welcome back. I'm Lindsey Framingham, and I had the chance last month to do an exclusive interview with Gordon Donne, the man who, two months ago today, bought this country and has instituted hundreds of new policies.

  “Here's a quick clip.”

  The screen cut to a shot of Lindsey and Gordon Donne, clad in his usual jeans and tropical shirt, facing each other on chairs in the Oval Office.

  “Mr. Donne,” Lindsey began, “to get right down to brass tacks, why did you buy the country?”

  “Well, somebody had to do something, Lindsey, before the entire country imploded economically and socially. It was crying out for an adult, maybe any adult, to come in and just take charge, get it off its fat, complacent, lazy butt, clean up the corruption and get back to the business of growth and optimism. And I happened to be --”

  “We'll be running the whole interview on this show on Friday, March 16th. Be sure to mark that on your calendar. But now, back to Rose and her guest, the sister of a woman who now claims that she had not really understood what the difference between breast augmentation surgery and breast incrementation surgery actually was when she had the latter performed.”

  This promo and clip ran ten times a day for the next week.

  -89-

  Six Months Earlier

  Sunday, September 4, 2011

  6:08 p.m.

  Bonita Beach, Florida

  Jake lay in a reclining lounge on his balcony, protected by the overhanging roof from the rain sprizzling down on this windless late afternoon. Looking out onto the quiet Gulf, he sipped from a glass of white zin and longed for a little cigar. But it was nine days since he'd smoked the last of the carton he'd bought the day after Pam had flown out of his l
ife for a month, and he'd vowed to quit completely by the end of August. So far, he'd been able to keep that vow, but on more than one occasion, he'd been seriously tempted to cheat, and this was one of the strongest temptations he'd had.

  He picked up his non-spiral notebook and tablet from the table beside him and began organizing the notes he'd made since Pam had left, humming his new theme song as he typed:

  “China-India war? Pakistan – Arab?

  “UN – out? Rent on UN property in NYC?

  “World Trade Org/World Court – out?

  “Basel – out?

  “Kyoto?

  “Educat – Tchr evals – NYC rubb rooms

  “Insurance fraud – medical auto life

  “Dr./hospital fraud, upcoding

  “Dan's joke: Egomaniac/Communist/Muslim. “Welcome, Mr. President.” NO

  “12/22/12 – National Oops Day?

  “Carrots/Sticks – S need enforce, C w/quals -- save from cons

  “all $$$$ lumps – crooks after 'em – HSAs, Roths, etc Protect

  “Rating agencies

  “Seniors – CD's low. 5% again? Unint Cons? Punish savers, lure debt/borrowers, then raise rates, default – conspiracies?

  “FDA – 510K – licensing (fees too high); Japs refuse – med devs

  “Canada/Eur model for FDA?

  “Lease out NIH/FDA/CDC labs?

  “University research grants?

  “CPSC ?

  “Cong. White Caucus – uproar if

  “Pendulum – too far L, too far R, settle down – good?

  “Grilled gecko – ick

  “HS pep rallies – poli conventions

  “Boston vs. NY fans – how bright? D's vs. R's

  “Down With Donne”

  “Jet packs, flying cars? No Maybe

  “National Lottery ???

  “Surcharge – Vanity/Specialty plates ??

  “Fed Reserve audit ??

  “Tax havens/evade - confront or maybe co-opt

  “Randi – Indi - cute couple – Puerto Rico

  “Joy – Jodi – Sarah/Sara

  “displaced aggression

  “dashed his balder

  “Bolero CD?

  “PLA's – Project Labor Agreements – unions – right to work

  “Israel/Pal/Arab/Iran

  “FDR – undistributed profits tax – NO way

  “nude beaches ??

  “Internet gambling – legalize and tax?

  “Sales tax – 6% 5 4 3 18 ???

  “Past the talking points

  “Political response – straight response vs. blah-blah

  “Statute of limitations – RICO – Congress? Sov Imm – gone?

  “Tree > Bush > sucks arrrghhhh, etc. Wendi – Myrtle Bch

  “pay to play

  “Acts of God insurance – prove God exists before payout :-)

  “Obesity

  “Turmoil in your life does not warrant an emergency response in mine – from me” ??

  “power-hungry demagogues - JJ/AS shakedowns ?

  “gullible dupes – useful idiots (Lenin) - most voters ??

  “greedy moochers/misers vs

  “Section 8 subsidies

  “better class of gold-diggers after me for my $$$ - recession

  “towel-shaking – sand/wind – thanks for doing that carefully

  “Obama college transcripts – suppressed – why?

  “Strawberry Twins?? Daiquiri? Pink Alexander – no.

  “Opal/Ruby – black jewel thieves ?? Hmm

  “Cayley – 7ish, cutie Mom? Jane, Jean, Joan?

  “Alert the Watchers

  “Stuxnet ?? leak for poli purposes, destructive to policy

  “Sam and Christine – captain LEO ret

  “Ron/Eileen – judge

  “Classified stuff – hmm – how?

  “Laura – Houston C/R JJ- NoCaro ??

  “Martha Smith – NZ, sub tchr Denv

  “zero sum – slice of pie vs. bigger pie !!!!!

  “MWBE – Minority/Women Biz Enterprise – law 20% extra cost

  “Compliance costs

  “Karen – Austria - ??? Who? QH'd that.

  “Aff Action – cash cow for JJ/AS/attys

  “Tortie/Veronica (Ronnie)

  “Statehood – PR/Guam/USVI/ etc. ????

  “NZ model – 1984 – driv lic good till age 75, no renewal, no fees

  “Your mission? Overlap wit other Miss's? Cost/Benefit? Staff? Essential or --- need/want; ego/budget “Mine's bigger than yours.”

  “National DrivLic, good in all states, $500 for lifetime – ID card??

  “cui bono – cui malo (who benefits, who's harmed?) CrimLaw

  “nanny state – ick

  “Agencies: trans, indianaff,TSA,NASA,ArmyCorpEng/etc

  “GSA – natl parks (rent?), real estate (sell, lease?) etc.

  “Rent out soldiers/equip ???

  “Lacey/Rachel/Evie baby/mom/aunt OK

  “RockyMtn Oysters

  “sewing/sowing/sosoing

  “balloon under sand – dangerous – punk AH's” fr. Ann Louise

  “Jeff/Shari – Toledo OK

  “Alan – London - “Could he fix my country next?” Hmm. ???

  “self-indulgent navel-gazers”

  “Zachary - “If I can spell it, you can say it – NOT Zach!!!!”

  “Enviros – front for anti-capitalists = anti-business = anti-Amer

  “Creative idea/sols, not more $$$ just thrown

  “flatten midlevel bureaus – fewer layers ??

  “FAA/airlines/electron devs safe?”

  As he typed that last one, the wind picked up and the rain began to blow onto his balcony, so he packed everything up and headed inside, closing the sliders behind him, and began humming his new theme song again.

  He stacked and fluffed the pillows on his bed, sat down, leaned back and, with just a few notes to go, continued:

  “Close mil bases overseas which? $$ saved?

  “Charge 'em for keeping bases there?

  “Arab Spring?

  “Russia?

  “China – subsidies, curncy manip, h. rights, prison labor, cheap products to US. Power/backlash – war?

  “Immigrants – legal/illegal – quotas, visas, college, engineers, India/Asia

  “Andorra – mob? :-)

  “Free market princ for honest, good people; regs nded for crooks

  “OSHA 42-in safety railings 41.5? $500 fine. Stuck, checklists, micro, stupid

  “FDA – 30% higher prices delays, egos

  “TSA – union – gone.

  “Top Ten reasons why I procrastinate:

  10.

  “Energy Dept. gone or reduced; new mission: Yes, not No

  “Ed Dept – same – more charter schools, less admin in publics

  “EPA – same, mostly gone.

  “Dodd-Frank – how, why – most gone

  “Obamacare – mostly gone. Pre-exist, 26-yrs, infant pre-ex YES

  “I'm going to talk to the adults in the room now.”

  “No more pandering to the children; no more nanny state !!!!

  And with that, he'd finished the notes, so he closed his tablet and headed downstairs. He got the PC cord out, plugged it in and booted the PC up, nuking a pot roast sandwich while waiting. Taking that and a can of soda back into his study, he sat down, copied the notes from his tablet to the PC, then checked his email and found one from Pam there. He hurriedly opened it.

  “Hi, Jake. Hope you and SB are doing okay, Miss you (both :-)) a LOT. Hope you're getting mucho writing done; I'm looking forward to reading a lot when I get back (two weeks!!! Yippee!!). VERY busy here; only allowed communication tonight and next Sunday eve, and can't say much about the courses, other than that they're tougher and more advanced than the Farm was; but that was a long time ago. I'm doing fine with it all. But I have to remember to compartmentalize a lot. Really missing you (both) a LOTTTT. Love, Pam … and GM :-)”

 
Jake heaved a deep sigh of relief and smiled happily, leaning back in his chair, savoring Pam's words and the deeper meanings hidden within them, the ones meant only for his eyes.

  Finally deciphering all the meanings, he leaned forward and wrote a carefully crafted reply, trusting that Pam would not only get his words, but also the hidden meanings he'd buried in there.

  “Hey, Pam … and GM. Missing you … both … a lot here, too, and M&B, too. I'm so glad you're doing well with the O&S stuff, and I'm trying to keep your idea of compartmentalizing in mind here, but it's hard(SCR)er for me, without your experience; new to me. Not much actual writing since you've been gone, kind of an emptiness filling the void (oxymoronic, but true). A few notes and a very few interesting conversations with a few of the eight percenters, and lots of not-so-interesting ones with a whole bunch of the 92 percenters. Looking forward to the 18th … a LOTTTTTT, too. Love backatcha, Jake/SB”

  He looked it over closely, thought back to all of his time with Pam and added, just in case: “PS. SCR = Sorry, Couldn't Resist,” then hit SEND.

  Jake leaned back, closed his eyes, stretched his back and arms, began humming the Bolero again, and checked the rest of his emails. He found seven that needed replies, sent those, then sent three new ones, each with an attachment, and then settled in to do some real writing, for the first time since Pam had walked slightly awkwardly through the airport terminal doors two weeks before.

  He was pleased to notice that he hadn't coughed at all that day.

  -90-

  Friday, February 17, 2012

  8:47 a.m. EST

  A network morning talk show

  After a solid week of promos for Donne's interview, using the same question, Lindsey smiled at the camera after a commercial.

  “Welcome back. I'm Lindsey Framingham, and I've now got another clip from my exclusive interview with Gordon Donne, the man we all now call boss.”

  The screen cut to the same shot of Lindsey and Gordon Donne on the chairs in the Oval Office that was used in the first promo series.

  “Mr. Donne,” Lindsey began, “is the rumor true that you had an affair with a porn star?”

  “Absolutely, Lindsay, I'm proud to say. Of course, I didn't know she was a star at the time. I mean, I was only 20 years old. I met her at a party celebrating the sale of my algorithm, and she – well, she was after some of my new money. And she succeeded; that she did.” Donne smiled. “I smile at the memory. First, best and only sex I ever had. Her screen name was Fannie --”