“According to my source, Tony Clark was paid off by the Saudis for years, that’s where all the money comes from, paid into Swiss accounts. He stopped when he was elected Vice President, and now he’s trying to make a deal with them again, probably to help finance his next campaign.”
“That and the lobbies?” Ben looked shocked. “He’s a busy guy.” He was pleased to have confirmation that his assessment of Clark had been right. Underneath the smooth exterior, he was a bad guy. “What are you going to do with the information?” Ben asked her, as Alix thought about it.
“I don’t know. I’ll tell Felix, but I’m beginning to wonder if we should report this to some government law enforcement agency. This is a big deal.”
“Yes, it is,” he confirmed. “I’ve got good contacts at the CIA. This is up their alley. They have special teams for this. Something like this belongs in the hands of the National Clandestine Service, and will ultimately end up in the hands of the DNI, Director of National Intelligence, or the DO, the Directorate of Operations. The CIA reports to them, on something as important as this. You can’t hang on to information of this nature just as a story. It’s a matter of national security if what your source said is true. Do you trust your source?”
“Yes, I do, but someone should check it out. Like the CIA or the FBI. If we hang on to it for a while, while we try to get more info as proof, is that obstruction of justice?” She looked worried, and he thought about her question for a minute.
“It could be. I’m not sure. Felix will know what to do better than I do. You’ve got one hell of a story on your hands here. It sounds like a ticking bomb to me. And since it’s international, with the Saudis involved, this will go to the CIA, not the FBI.”
“Yeah, it sounds dangerous to me too.” She looked unhappy about it. “I wish I knew how much Bill Foster knew, and if he did. His widow will never tell me the truth. She’s too invested in protecting them both and I doubt she knows anything about this. But Foster was a smart guy. It’s hard to believe he didn’t know, or at least suspect something. But I don’t think he’d tell her. And she won’t tell me what she does know.”
“Do you think he was on the take from them too?” Ben asked her.
“No, I don’t. Not for a minute. But I wonder if he suspected something. He was such a straight, honorable guy, I can’t see him being part of something like this.”
“Neither can I,” Ben agreed. They had no problem believing it of Clark, though.
They were both lost in thought for a while after they talked about it, and walked back to the hotel in silence. Alix was exhausted by all the possibilities swirling around in her head. And every time she thought about it, she had more questions and fewer answers. She could hardly wait to talk to Felix about it as soon as they got back to New York. She hoped he would know what to do, and she thought that Ben was right, and they should go to the CIA or whichever agency was appropriate. She had never dealt with anything as major and sensitive before, where national security was involved, and someone as high up in government as the Vice President. And what would happen after a government agency like the CIA got involved, she had no idea. But of one thing she was certain, the Vice President was corrupt, and had been for years. The big question now was how much Bill Foster had known. Alix refused to believe he had been part of it, that just didn’t seem possible. At least she hoped not. But whether Foster knew or not, what she had just learned about Tony Clark was huge.
Chapter 5
Alix went into the office an hour early the morning after they got back from Tehran. She knew that Felix would be there, and she wanted to talk to him about the information she had, so they could decide what to do about it. The story was too important to give up, but it could also be too big to keep from government agencies, since the Vice President was involved.
Felix was happy to see her, and was thrilled with her coverage of the riots in Tehran, and he thought Ben had done a great job as well. It was award-winning reportage, which wasn’t unusual for her. And after they talked about it, she hesitated for a moment, and he could see she had something else to say.
“Something wrong?” He sensed a major issue on her mind.
“Journalistically, no,” she said cryptically. “Morally, yes. I called an old source I have in Tehran. I haven’t contacted him in years. Interesting guy, he has friends and contacts in high places, and he comes up with some very good stuff. He knocked me flat on my ass when I was there. Tony Clark has been meeting with four major Saudi oil guys for years. He says his sources tell him Clark was being paid into a Swiss account, in the days when those accounts were kept secret. We might get lucky on that now, or the right authorities might. He says Clark stopped doing business with them four years ago, which coincides with when they won the election, but he’s back now. He was there six months ago on an unofficial secret visit, and he’s meeting the same Saudis as before in Dubai. He wants big money, probably for his own campaign, and if they give it to him, they’re going to own him body and soul if he gets to the White House. It’s a hell of a great story, but there’s more than that involved. National security, corruption, the Vice President is a crook if any or all of this is true. And God knows who else he’s taking money from, and what he’ll owe them. If this is true, the possible future President of the United States is up for sale.”
“What about Bill Foster? Was he in on it? Did you ask?”
“According to my informant, Foster never went to Tehran, and he never heard his name. I wonder how much Foster knew, or if he didn’t suspect it before he died.”
“Foster was nobody’s fool, he must have had an inkling of something. Who would know about that?”
“His wife said that Clark had no connection to any particular lobbyist, so she sure isn’t going to admit that her husband knew about payoffs from Saudis. I don’t think she knows anything, and maybe Bill Foster didn’t either. Clark is very smooth, and if the money was going into numbered accounts in Switzerland, how would anyone know? It explains the money he’s made in the last ten years, which has never shown up in the financial statements he discloses, but crooked money wouldn’t. He always claims that the money he’s made is due to his Midas touch with investments. If he sold out to the Saudis, that explains it better than lucky wins on Wall Street.” Felix sat silently at his desk for a minute, thinking about it, and then looked at Alix intently.
“I had a call from one of my own sources while you were gone. I didn’t want to put it in an email, or tell you on the phone. He says that a friend of his who works for one of the big gas lobbyists told him that they’ve been paying Clark under-the-table campaign money, against bills they want him to push and sign if he wins, and with them behind him he might win. And if he’s taking money from them, he may be taking it from other sources too.”
“Jesus. He hasn’t left anyone out, has he?” It was all so much worse than they’d suspected. And if the case against him could be proven, he would end up in prison after being removed from the vice presidency, never mind losing the next election. “What do we do now? Ben thinks we should contact the CIA, and let them pursue it. Their connections to investigate are a lot better than ours.” Felix nodded. He didn’t disagree with her, but the story was too good to give up just yet. He wanted to see what else they could find out, and then go to the CIA.
“What if we hang on to it for a few more weeks and see what turns up?” Felix suggested. “I can call more of my sources. Then we can hand the CIA the whole story, or close to it, and they can take it from there.”
“And if they find out we’re on to something?” She looked worried. She did not want to anger the CIA.
“We tell them we wanted to be sure. And the one thing I’d hate like hell about this whole damn thing would be to find out that Foster was part of it, and knew what Clark was doing or was implicated in some way. He died a hero. I don’t want to see that go down the tubes, and find out that he and Clark were in it together. But it could happen, you never know.”
/> “I don’t think he was,” Alix said quietly, and more than ever now, she wondered what his widow knew and what she was hiding, if anything.
“Let’s give it two more weeks and hand it over to the CIA then,” Felix said, making a rapid off-the-cuff decision. He was a newsman above all else, and this was just too big a plum to hand over, especially given what Alix had discovered in Tehran.
“I’ll agree to that,” Alix said. “But no longer. I have a kid to support, and I don’t want trouble.”
He nodded, looking serious, and started making phone calls to sources he had in Washington the minute she left his office. She had already exhausted hers.
“What did Felix say?” Ben asked her when she got back to her office, and he saw her worried expression. Sitting on the story for two more weeks made sense newswise if they could crack it wide open and hand the CIA a done deal. But if they couldn’t, it would be difficult to explain to the CIA why they hadn’t come forward sooner. If nothing else, it made them look uncooperative, and sometimes they needed the CIA’s help.
“He wants two more weeks to see what else we can find out before we hand it over.” Ben nodded, and was worried about her. With something of this magnitude, the boys in charge of clandestine operations and national security didn’t screw around.
“Are you going to try to see Olympia Foster again?” Ben wondered out loud.
Alix shook her head. She had given up there. “It won’t do me any good. She won’t tell me anything, and I doubt she knows anyway. No one could guess what he’s up to, and on such a major scale. He’s gone straight to the lobbies with big money who need presidential help. And if he makes a deal with the Saudis, he’ll have everything he needs, not to mention his wife’s money. He’s got his ducks set up, all in a row.”
“I guess it won’t hurt to wait two more weeks. He’s not going anywhere, and he has no reason to suspect people are looking over his shoulder. And even less for him to suspect you know he’s planning to meet the Saudis in Dubai.”
“This is starting to make me nervous,” Alix admitted to him. “There are some very heavy players in the game. They’re not going to like our exposing him, and neither will he. This could get ugly,” she said to Ben and he nodded. She was right. She had covered big stories before, and even an exposé of a major Mafia boss many years earlier, but this was even bigger. And the implications were enormous. Tony Clark had been setting this up for years. Alix wondered if he had been taking bribes all along, and now with a presidential campaign in sight, he had something to sell them if he won. He could endorse all the bills they wanted.
By the end of the week, one of Felix’s sources had come through for him. A lobbyist for gaming interests confirmed confidentially that he had paid Clark a huge amount, and in exchange for immunity, he would be willing to testify. He didn’t want to go down for Tony Clark. Felix was waiting to hear from one other major lobbyist, and would then be willing to go to the CIA. But they came to him first.
A week after Alix got back from Tehran, two senior operations officers of the CIA Clandestine Service showed up at the network and asked to see Felix. He looked surprised when they walked into his office a few minutes later, but was pleasant and appeared to be relaxed as he snuck three antacids into his mouth at once.
“What can I do to help you, gentlemen? Coffee?” he suggested. They declined and dismissed the offer as they sat down, and the most senior member of the team spoke first. His name was John Pelham, he was a senior operations officer of the National Clandestine Service. They were on the front line on critical international developments, terrorism, and military and political issues. It was an elite corps to protect national security interests, and they reported directly to the Director of National Intelligence, the head of the CIA, and the President.
“You’ve been doing some serious digging into the lobbies and the activities of the Vice President.” He came right to the point. “We want to know why. Is it some kind of witch hunt designed to make the Vice President look bad and discredit him, or do you have a lead we should know about that you’re not sharing with us? I don’t think I need to remind you what that’s called.” Neither man had smiled since they walked in, and Felix felt like a fool for being effusive with them. It was time to play it straight.
“We’ve had a couple of leads,” he said honestly, “and played a hunch, but that’s all it was at first. We didn’t want to be irresponsible and start an avalanche on bogus information. We’ve been trying to ascertain if it’s real, before we wasted your time with it.” He was backpedaling as fast as he could.
“That’s our job, not yours,” Senior Officer Pelham reminded him in an ice-cold voice.
“Not always,” Felix responded. “We’d drive you crazy and lose our credibility if we came to you with every lead we get.”
The officer conceded nothing. “And just exactly what have you turned up?” He was angry at the senior producer for not coming to them sooner, but there was often conflict between the media and government agencies. This wasn’t the first time. And it was why he was here. He wanted their information and their sources.
“I think this is a serious situation, and I trust our informants. As of yesterday, I have a lobbyist willing to testify in exchange for immunity,” Felix volunteered.
“Testify to what?” the senior officer said tersely. “And it’s up to us to agree to immunity, not you.”
“I’m well aware of that, but we’ve done the legwork for you here,” Felix said lamely. His stomach was on fire.
“If that’s what you want to call it,” Officer Pelham said sourly. “So what are you telling me?”
“I can’t prove it to you, but we’ve been told that several large payments have been made to Vice President Clark, in exchange for favors if he wins the next election, or can get a bill pushed through for them during this administration.” It didn’t get clearer than that. “It would seem that he’s getting payoffs from two major lobbies.” He reeled off which ones and Pelham didn’t react.
“How are they paying him?” the senior operations officer said, frowning. He didn’t like what he was hearing, at all, nor that the network had kept it from them while trying to break the story on their own.
“That’s up to you to figure out, we don’t know.”
“Is that it?” Pelham asked him, and Felix sighed.
“Unfortunately not. I had a reporter in Tehran a week ago, covering the riots for women’s rights. An informant who’s given us reliable information before told her that Clark is in negotiation with several major Saudi oil dealers for a deal with them, and apparently he’s done business with them before, before his vice presidency, and he’s looking for money now. He’s planning to meet them in Dubai.” Pelham looked incredulous at what he had said.
“We’d like to speak to the reporter. Is he here?”
“It’s Alix Phillips, our top reporter, as I’m sure you know. She’s never given me a bogus tip yet, and she trusts her source.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been sitting on this for God knows how long,” the operations officer said in a fury.
“What would you rather have, an unverified hot tip from some crackpot that may be worth nothing and send you on a wild goose chase, or for us to check it out before we call you? Personally, gentlemen, in your shoes, I’d rather have a clean tip than a rough guess. We were going to call you in a few days, but what I’m giving you is straight up.” Felix went immediately on the offensive, and they didn’t look happy about it, but what he said made sense.
“Our officers are more experienced at verifying information like this than your reporters.”
“I think they did a pretty good job anyway, and for the record, Bill Foster’s name came up in none of this. There is nothing to suggest he was involved or implicated in any way. We asked.”
“We’ll check that out,” Pelham said grimly. A political hot potato had just landed in his lap. For Felix and the network, it would be a major coup that would send their ratin
gs skyrocketing. For the CIA, it was a potential disaster that could seriously impact or impair the current administration. It was not good news to them. “Who else knows about this?”
“No one yet. The sources I used, which I can’t disclose to you, Alix Phillips, our reporter, and her cameraman. She did the investigative work herself, both in Tehran and here.”
“Is she here?”
Felix nodded, buzzed her from his desk, and asked her to come in. He didn’t say why, and she was startled to see the two men with him, but she knew why they were there as soon as he said they were with the Clandestine Service of the CIA. Ben had explained all of that to her on the flight back from Tehran.
They questioned her thoroughly and made notes while they did, and then stood up and said that they would be back in touch if they had more questions, and that they expected Felix, Alix, and the network to cooperate fully with an investigation. Both Alix and Felix assured them that they would, and reiterated that this had not been an attempt to usurp the CIA’s role in national security, but to make sure the story was real. Pelham didn’t comment but told them that they could reveal none of this to anyone for the moment, nor release the story. A full investigation would have to be undertaken by the CIA. And then they left, and Alix looked at Felix nervously and sat down in a chair.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Alix asked.
“I don’t know. You did their job for them. I’m sure they just don’t know what to do with the information. This is not good for anyone. And if they can corroborate the story, they’ll have to indict Clark, which looks like shit for the sitting President. I just hope Bill Foster doesn’t go down in flames with them posthumously, he doesn’t deserve it.”
“I hope they can prove he wasn’t involved,” Alix said sadly, thinking of his wife and children.
“A lot of people are going to be in the hot seat over this, once they get going. Foster’s widow too, since she’s so close to Clark now, and Bill was all his life. My guess is she knows something, but she’s not telling.” Alix had the same feeling, but wasn’t sure what. The CIA could force Olympia Foster to talk, with the threat of federal prosecution. And if they subpoenaed her, she’d have to tell the truth, like it or not. Alix dreaded the pain of that for her. She was lost in her own world, surrounded by her husband’s trophies and mementos, writing books about him, while her husband’s best friend was making illegal deals with everyone he could. It was going to be a shock wave felt around the world once it came out. But the CIA had homework to do before it did. It was their problem now, and in some ways, Alix was relieved. She would have loved to break the story if they had found conclusive proof, but she preferred having the CIA stick their necks out, rather than her own. And she said as much to Ben when he got to work.
Dangerous Games Page 8
