Sunshine or Lead

by Adam Van Susteren

  Felton planned on reaching the suspenders around her neck from behind, but she was facing him. Without thinking, he pushed forward and pushed the suspenders around her neck. Helen put her hands up. The suspenders closed around her hands and neck. From in front, he tightened and pulled up.

  Buzzers and keys clanged as marshals prepared to storm the cell. Helen Cluntz was lifted off the floor and was smoothly waved to the left. Her hands fought the first pull to the left; her whole body was trying to fight the motion that increased the force when Felton jerked right. Helen Cluntz’s neck was broken. She died instantly.

  Felton relaxed and regained consciousness. He let himself be subdued and taken into custody for killing Helen Cluntz.

  * * *

  Driving towards the San Diego federal jail, Aaron heard his phone ringing. “This is Aaron.”

  “Aaron, Aurora. This is big.”

  “About Anthony Wai?”

  “No, about Helen Cluntz. Aaron, Helen Cluntz is dead.”

  Aaron took his foot of the gas. “What? What happened?”

  “Her lawyer, Felton Oseff, killed her. Snapped her neck in prison.”

  Aaron became aware of other cars passing him and pushed on the gas pedal again. “The fuck? When did meeting with lawyers in jail become so dangerous? I’m supposed to go meet with Anthony Wai in jail. What the fuck?”

  “This just happened fifteen minutes ago. I don’t have the details and Anthony wouldn’t know yet, or at least he wouldn’t know that it has already happened.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “Agreed. Now I need to figure out if I’m staying here in San Diego with Anthony Wai and the leads here or if I should head back to D.C. to follow up with Felton Oseff. This is crazy.”

  “Well, I’ll see what I can find out. But I won’t be able to talk about what I learn from him with you. I take my oath and law license seriously.”

  “Understood.”

  “Alright, so what do you know about this Anthony Wai guy?”

  Aurora filled Aaron in on everything she learned, his academic background, work history, notable cases, and clients.

  Aaron asked, “Any link between him, Nannette, and Helen Cluntz?”

  “None that I’ve found. Yet.”

  Aaron spent the next ten minutes driving down the coast glancing at the Pacific Ocean and some beautiful sights. His mind kept drifting to the purpose of this meeting and how he could prepare. He hated not being in control and not knowing what he could do to prepare for it, so he tried to relax. He took a deep breath and called Tina. He sighed with relief when she didn’t pick up and then he left a short message. “Hey babe, headed down to San Diego for a last-minute meeting with a potential client. Will be home late after traffic. Call you later.”

  Aaron cruised down Highway 5 and instinctively thought of Enloe as he approached the Del Mar racetrack. He asked himself why he kept coming back into this case and bringing more people he liked into this nightmare. He could have easily turned down the meeting and let Aurora handle things.

  A half hour later, Aaron was at the Federal Building and had obtained entry to the private parking lot where he had a spot reserved for him. Aurora met him in the parking lot, and as he opened the door to the car, she joked, “Been a while, huh?”

  “Nothing against you, but I was kind of hoping for just one day without you and this mess.”

  Aurora smiled. “Such wild hopes and dreams. My boss is personally interviewing Mr. Felton Oseff who has been cooperating fully or at least appears to be. He told us that before Helen died, she told him there were seven members in her organization. If true, we have her, Nannette, Nick, and Spencer; and Anthony here in custody is presumably one of them. That makes five of seven and provides the link between Anthony Wai and Nannette Allenby.”

  “And hopefully Anthony can lead us to the other two.”

  “Yes, and a missing quarter billion in stolen gold.”

  “Well, Agent Wulfers,” Aaron said, practicing a level of formality, which would be required if he were to take Anthony Wai as his client. “I want to thank you for everything you have done and wish you the best of luck in case I can no longer speak with you about this investigation.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You know, I don’t have any experience in professional criminal consultations. I have butterflies walking in there. I feel like it’s a trap or something. The fact that Nannette and Helen died in attorney consult rooms just seems so surreal.”

  “It is something that I don’t think has ever happened in this country before. Now twice in a week an attorney has killed a client in custody. We’ll make sure that Anthony Wai is chained down and I’ll be right outside the room. If you signal, we’ll be right in.”

  Aaron and Aurora continued to talk as they walked to the elevator, but they were dead silent for the twenty-second ride to the fifth floor where Anthony was being held. Aaron went through a security check. He didn’t bring anything with him into the room, no pencil, pen, or anything else that could be taken and used to stab him; he left his keys and cell phone with the security guard.

  Aurora walked him to the final door. “Good luck.”

  Chapter 38

  “Mr. Wai, I’m Aaron Baker.”

  “Excuse me for not standing up,” Anthony said as he tugged against the manacles clinking the table, which allowed him less than a foot of freedom with his hands.

  “Mr. Wai, I understand you wish to speak with me about retaining me as your attorney. I have to advise you there may be a serious conflict of interest based upon my involvement in the matter thus far.”

  Anthony nodded. “Is it your understanding that the privilege has attached?”

  Aaron knew he referred to the attorney-client privilege. “Yes, this will be a privileged disclosure.”

  “My plan is to get back at Helen Cluntz. She forced me to set up the altercation with Nannette.”

  Aaron didn’t disclose her death. Instead, he asked, “What’s your relationship with Helen Cluntz?”

  “Entirely privileged?”

  Aaron nodded.

  “She was the head of a quasi-government agency that was supposed to help steady the currency of the United States when official channels might not work. From what I saw, she really just leached off of the system and I was one of her…New Deal Soldiers.”

  Aaron had a dozen questions he wanted answered but he held off to see what else Anthony might offer up.

  “The structure of the organization is a powerful bargaining chip, Aaron. One that I’m ready to play, but I want to know how the game will be played. If I give you all my chips, no doubt that will help bring down Helen. But it may not help my case.” After a few seconds of silence, Anthony said, “Have you seen the tape yet? What are your thoughts on my self-defense defense?”

  “I haven’t seen the tape. All I can say is thank you for what happened with Nannette. That makes me a fan of yours. Your apparent desire to help put Helen away endears me further, but you working with them makes me very cautious. Why would you bring me in to represent you? I don’t do criminal law. I just don’t see your angle.”

  “You helped expose what I should have years ago. When they first approached me, I was flattered to have the interest. I agreed that the country was too unbalanced and that certain people had a moral responsibility to ensure that there was more equality.”

  Aaron raised an eyebrow high. Anthony continued, “I started a clerkship for a federal judge who is now sitting on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. My tasks started with researching ways to defend regulations and taking on the position of an advocate rather than remaining neutral as a clerk. I agreed with the end goal, so I agreed to do little things to help stack the deck in court, when possible. Things like attacking procedural deficiencies hard in one case and letting them slide in another.”

  Anthony looked Aaron in the eyes. “The more I was willing to bend the system, the more I was rewarded. I was invited to meetings with people of influence; giv
en job offers; received adulations for helping the judge achieve justice. During one instance in particular, Helen Cluntz happened to be at a dinner party at the judge’s house and she talked with me about my thoughts on transparency in government. I remember telling her I thought transparency was important, but government privacy was sometimes needed because people can’t always understand what is done in their best interests. It’s what I thought. And she started recruiting me right after that.”

  “Into what?”

  Anthony sized Aaron up and decided that he would trust him to maintain the privilege. Anthony also knew that secrets held by more than one person could never be kept forever. He took a breath. “The New Deal Soldiers. It started before Montgomery Singe. But I think he’s the one who really started robbing the Treasury. I was one of the few in the program that never worked for the Treasury Department. The hope was for me to be on the Supreme Court.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “From my understanding, seven. There are maybe two to three times that number of recruits from which to pick when someone dies, but only seven with knowledge of the program at any one time.”

  “Why seven?”

  Anthony shrugged his shoulders and his chains clinked even with that limited range of movement. “I don’t know that it’s significant in and of itself, I just think it was big enough to have enough hands helping and small enough to keep control over. I didn’t see anyone on a regular basis. I’d never met Nannette until I met her here. Until Helen ordered me to…come help her out.”

  “What did Helen have on you?”

  “She could have ruined my legal career, brought me down with her. But she was also going to lump me into the Chinese conspiracy mess. Even behind bars, she has a lot of influence and the one thing I really don’t want to face is a treason charge.”

  “Why did you let Felton represent her?”

  “To learn more about her. I trust Felton with my life.”

  “Why? What’s with you and Felton?”

  Anthony leaned back as far as he could before the manacles went taut. “I know, it’s strange, he’s twenty years older but we are best friends. I like to consider him my non-sexual soul mate. Ten years of practicing law together, living and breathing the same cases, just grew into an incredible bond. My apartment was blocks from the office; he spent half the weeknights sleeping at my place because we worked so late. We are best friends. He knew I was hiding something from him about my powerful friends but he accepted that I was allowed to have a private life and a past. Just another thing I love about the big guy.”

  Feeling a touch more empathy for the shackled man, Aaron gently said, “Anthony, something happened at his meeting with Helen earlier today.”

  “What?”

  “It sounds like Helen was going to turn over information on you, the rest of the program, and the location of stolen gold in exchange for house arrest/witness protection.”

  “What happened to Felton?”

  “He killed Helen Cluntz. I guess he broke her neck while choking her with his suspenders.”

  Reflexively, Anthony’s eyes widened and he leaned further back until the chains snapped him back to reality. His head sunk forward and he looked down at his handcuffs. His friend, his partner, in law and life, would spend the rest of his life in prison because he wanted to protect him.

  Aaron observed the emotions on Anthony’s face. “I’m sorry Felton will have so many problems. It seems like he cared a lot about you.”

  Anthony nodded.

  “Now that you know she’s dead, do you still want me as your attorney or do you want someone more competent? If you have money, I can recommend someone, but I think your best bet is to come clean to cut a deal. I’m not sure what’s going to happen on the Nannette killing but, if you were a New Deal Soldier for a long time, I’m pretty sure you broke a lot of laws and someone is going to have to pay.”

  “There aren’t exactly a lot of New Deal Soldiers alive and kicking these days.”

  “Two?”

  “I only know one more for sure.”

  “Who is that?” Aaron asked.

  Anthony looked at him with heavy eyes. “I guess that’s my bargaining chip, isn’t it? I’d like to play it for Felton.”

  “Do you know where the rest of Helen’s money is?”

  “I might. But honestly, I can’t say for sure.”

  “Look, this NDS thing is going to be found out. That Aurora is a real pit bull. My advice, for whatever it’s worth, is play all your chips as early as you can because their value will go down with time. Do you have anything useful on the Chinese spy program?”

  Anthony looked him in the eyes. “The formal program in the news, no. I know it was common for companies I worked with in China to repudiate patents and copyrights, but that’s no secret. Walk around any major city in China and you can find bootlegged versions of American movies and music on street corners. There’s no recourse.”

  “From what I understand, you have a good chance of beating the Nannette Allenby charge under a self-defense claim. But if you were part of Helen’s network as a New Deal Soldier, I have to imagine there will be some federal charges that would very likely put you behind bars for a very long time.”

  “You know, I don’t feel bad about the goals of the New Deal Soldiers. We wanted to help everyone have a fair share. It wasn’t until Felton showed me there are no angels in charge of handing out fair shares that I realized those under the guise of helping everyone, Montgomery Singe and Helen Cluntz, actually hurt people the most.”

  “That’s the truth.”

  “Under attorney-client confidentiality, let me tell you one of my bigger bargaining chips. Something that I’ll be disclosing as soon as I can get a deal. Monty Singe thought he shit gold… Aaron, tell them I want confirmation that Helen’s dead and someone here with authority to make a deal, and then maybe I’ll cooperate.”

  “Okay.” Aaron thought about Anthony’s riddle. “I’ll send them in. Wait, do you want an attorney?”

  “No. Fuck it. I’ll just see what they say they can do for Felton. And you can go ahead and tell Aurora that the other NDS member is a judge on the Court of Appeals.”

  ‘Holy fuck,’ Aaron thought. “I’ll let you tell her. You have not retained me. I am not your attorney. I suggest you retain an attorney before talking with any prosecutors.” Aaron stood up to leave. “And I really do wish you well.”

  Chapter 39

  “Damn it, Brandon! I don’t want piecemeal additions and exceptions, I want broad-based immigration reform,” the President said with frustration, looking up from a current draft of the House’s legislation as his Chief of Staff, Brandon Joseph, entered the Oval Office.

  “Barrett, that’s not why I’m here. I need to talk with you about an operation involving the Helen Cluntz case.”

  The President took off his reading glasses and looked up, signaling his attention was now focused on the current issue.

  “I received a call from FBI Director Schwartz. Aurora Wulfers has initiated the prisoner transfer of Anthony Wai, and they have cut a deal with him for immunity on murder charges against Nannette Allenby in exchange for his cooperation in uncovering Helen Cluntz’s network.”

  “Wasn’t that a self-defense killing?”

  “That’s what it looked like on tape. There were enough oddities during the interrogation to give them a chance, but it would have been a losing case. So the team wanted to make a deal.”

  “Thanks for bringing this to me personally.”

  “There’s more. According to Anthony Wai, he was one of seven recently living members of something called the New Deal Soldiers. A Federal Reserve Chairman in the seventies started, or advanced, this group as a means to redistribute funds fairly by operating in gray areas of the law. He believes that Helen Cluntz was the head of this organization as currently formed.”

  “Seven recently living?”

  “Two Secret Service agents that Aaron Baker and Ti
na Lee killed last month, Nick Bitren and Spencer Jeppson, along with recently deceased Nannette Allenby and Helen Cluntz. That leaves Anthony Wai, one that we have yet to identify, and Judge Preston Peterson.”

  “Judge Peterson. Oh no.”

  “That’s why I’m here, Mr. President. With everything that’s happening, Aurora is extremely concerned that any warrant signed by a federal judge will be leaked, which will tip-off Peterson. As it is, with everyone in his network dying, he is likely to go into hiding and cover his tracks if he hasn’t already.”

  “I take it Aurora has a plan?”

  “Yes. She wants you to send Secret Service to pick him up immediately, then meet with him and tell him that a Justice of the Supreme Court is retiring and you would like to vet him for a spot on the Court. You will say that you need access to all of his records for this reason. Then the investigation will not come as a surprise; it might almost be welcomed. And we can follow him to see what he tries to hide.”

  The President looked at his new Chief of Staff. “Your thoughts?”

  “I know nothing of Judge Peterson. I had that NSA kid, Justin Chernick, find everything he could of note and within five minutes he told me that Anthony Wai was a law clerk to Judge Peterson fifteen years ago. This Wai character also told us that Singe had gold hidden as pipes in the walls of his house. We have identified millions of dollars’ worth of piping at his cabin already. He definitely seems to be plugged-in, however, it could just be confidential information he learned from Helen Cluntz herself.”

  “Let’s do it. If it turns out the Judge wasn’t involved, I can always just tell him the vetting process made me think of going another direction or the Justice is not retiring.”

  The President put his reading glasses back on to look at the memos and proposed legislation on his desk. Chief of Staff Joseph said, “Mr. President?”

  “Yes, Brandon?”

  “Have you ever toured the border and seen the processing facilities and what it’s like there?”