Redemption

by Sally Fernandez

  Noble was aware of the time, but he could not stall any longer. It was time to fill them in on his call with Max. “Hey guys, good discussion today. But before we break for dinner, I need to speak with each of you separately and in private—not to worry—it’s nothing earth shaking. I’ll try not to keep you too long.” He thought it best to begin with Chase. “Please stay seated and the rest of you go relax in the living room until I call you.”

  Each of them shot Noble a variety of curious looks but were willing to wait their turn. Hank, Seymour, and Paolo each stood up, gathered their belongings, and headed for the sofas.

  Chase complied.

  28

  THE TRUTH BE TOLD

  I could refrain from telling them. Noble gave it one last thought, and then immediately reconsidered. They have the right to know, but I have to keep them focused on the mission at hand. He remained quiet for a few minutes more, until he could see the others seated in the other room and out of earshot.

  Chase remained silent as well, nervously waiting for Noble to unleash some unknown announcement.

  “Chase, my deputy director Max Ford spoke with your wife recently. Your bank reported that strange activity had been occurring with your account.”

  “What?” Chase exclaimed, while at the same time trying to keep his voice low.

  “Some unknown person or persons has been siphoning funds. The bank has put a hold on the account pending further investigation.”

  The concern on Chase’s face was evident. “Simon?”

  Noble ignored the direct question, but filled him in loosely on the details of the crime. As he relayed the conversation that took place between Max and Chase’s wife, Chase appeared more relaxed. Then he asked a few follow-up questions.

  Noble answered as best he could and then assured him, “Trust me, Max has it under control, and your wife has been put at ease. I’ll let you know if there are any new developments.” But then he cautioned, “You are not to let on that you are aware of these events when you speak with your wife. Obviously, she’ll wonder how you became privy to this information, forcing you to contrive an answer. I trust you will act as though you’re shocked.”

  Chase understood, but there was a more pressing question on his mind. “Do you have a similar message for the others? Has something happened to their families as well?”

  “Would you ask Seymour to come in and then wait in the lounge?”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I believe given the personal nature of the situation that everyone deserves the courtesy of learning about this in private. If you choose to discuss it among the others that is your choice, but please refrain from doing so until I’ve spoken with everyone.”

  Without hesitation, Chase relented and headed to the lounge to summon Seymour.

  Noble proceeded to conduct similar conversations offering varying degrees of details, specific to the situation. Again, he cautioned them when speaking with their wives. Seymour was naturally pissed off and Paolo reacted with classic Italian melodrama.

  “Noble, I’m sorry about the art collection,” Paolo whispered, as he agonized over the home invasion and the thought of Natalie and Mario home alone.

  “Natalie’s fine and Max is there for her. You don’t need to worry,” Noble insisted, trying to alleviate the helplessness he knew his brother-in-law was feeling.

  “You want me to send in Hank?” Paolo asked forlornly.

  “It won’t be necessary.” Noble stood and headed for the lounge.

  Paolo was surprised by the answer, but took his cue and followed.

  When Noble entered the alcove, Hank took no time to launch in. “Who the hell is screwing around with us?” he asked, as though his hair was on fire.

  With great calm, Noble replied, “Evidently, you have been discussing the situation freely among yourselves. Hank, nothing has been reported where you are concerned…”

  Paolo cut him off. “If it’s happening to us all—former members of La Fratellanza—then I sense the fine hand of Simon.”

  Everyone in the room shot a look at Paolo as if he were holding the pin from a grenade.

  Hank had a sudden flashback of recent news events and stated, “Does anybody find it interesting that Baari had a heart attack around the same time Simon took his grand leap?” I wonder what he has in store for me, was his afterthought.

  They’re becoming suspicious, Noble thought, and quickly moved in to squelch their concerns. “Simon is dead, guys. Someone’s just messing with us. More than likely it’s a coincidence that these crimes are happening to each of you.” The truth be told, he thought, Max and I have not completely dismissed the fact that Simon may not be dead.

  “Us—that means you too?” Chase asked, missing Noble’s direct connection with the group.

  Seymour and Paolo threw out similar questions, talking over one another.

  “Listen to me!” Noble demanded. “Your families are safe. The investigation of these petty crimes is being conducted by experts in the field. Max is heading up the individual cases and you have my word she’ll get to the bottom of it.” Noble passed over the personal reference and stated, “I share your concern but I have full confidence in how the situation is being handled. Now, the pressure is on and we must stay focused. The nation is counting on us.”

  “That doesn’t help,” Hank asserted.

  Blowing off the comment, Noble asked, “I trust you’d like to speak with your wives. Who wants to place the first call?”

  Chase, looking rather sheepish, replied, “I’d like to.”

  “Remember the rule,” Noble advised. “Choose your words carefully.”

  Chase nodded in agreement, even though he was disappointed in the lack of trust factor.

  “Follow me.” Noble stood up and left the lounge, with Chase once again in tow.

  The rest of them remained behind. As they waited their turns, they continued to talk among themselves. Simon was the topic of discussion, which didn’t help to stave off the concern they shared.

  In the end, each managed to deal with their personal at-home situations, having found a modicum of comfort after speaking with their wives. Although the question of whether or not the crimes were a coincidence still circled in their minds. Noble certainly felt more at ease after Paolo revealed his conversation with Natalie. However, chancing a conversation with Amanda negated the effect. Noble could never recall a time when she appeared so frazzled. He was unsure as to whether it was due to the identity theft or to having to plan their wedding.

  Quickly, the topic of dinner replaced the earlier conversations.

  29

  THE GREEN DEVIL

  The first obstacle of a personal distraction had been abated for the moment. And after rehashing some of the finer, often complicated points of the healthcare mandates, and witnessing the astonishing acquiescence by Hank, the group was prepared to take on an equally heated subject. The challenge on the docket for the week was to determine the overall effect the climate-change policies had on the job market and the economy in particular. Those in the room suspected Hank had not finished sparring and were prepared for him to unleash his weapons.

  Seymour threw the first jab. “We can’t refute the negative impact of the global warming initiatives to the economy. We must bear in mind, as we address the initiatives undertaken, their effects on the economy and their rationale.”

  “Excuse me—it’s climate change,” Hank interrupted, somewhat indignant. “Seymour, you know it was your idea for Baari to adopt a new term—a term no one could deny. It’s a simple matter of scientific fact. Climate change has been with us since the birth of Earth.”

  Paolo couldn’t resist entering the fray. “Wasn’t it Jay Leno who once referred to the White House’s slogan as ‘Hope and change the subject?’”

  “Funny,” Seymour chuckled. “But whatever you call it, the initiatives Baari put in place were over the top. And taking into account the lackluster economy at the time—the cou
ntry needed policies that were more evolutionary in nature. Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence to support revolutionary action now.”

  “I thought all of you guys in Hollywood were latte-sucking tree-huggers,” Hank chided.

  “You’ve forgotten I once was a political agnostic. My conversion didn’t take me all the way to the far left. I still have a brain, which gratefully intervened.”

  Tiring of the repartee, Chase interrupted. “Go back to the starting gate. This debate has been heating up ever since the 1992 Earth Summit that resulted in the United Nations’ Agenda 21, the infamous plan to develop the world into a sustainable environment, including global warming as an intricate and indivisible part of the so-called agenda.” He paused for the moment, and then asserted, “If my recollection is accurate, it started with a casual, unfounded statement by Edmund de Rothschild. It was at a wilderness summit a few years before. His statement became wildly accepted as fact without discussion.”

  “I remember. The gist of his statement was that an increased CO2 level was the cause of man-made global warming. Not surprisingly, it resulted in founding a burgeoning cottage industry.” Seymour alleged. “Might I add, where many have profited. Al Gore leads the pact. And as one of the beneficiaries he’s had a monetary motive, as well as other profiteers, to keep the issue alive.”

  “There is nothing to keep alive!” Hank argued. “It’s a real and present danger that must be addressed.”

  “Baari at least thought so,” Paolo acknowledged. “He wanted all the guns blazing on this issue, even though the science wasn’t there.”

  “Excuse me?” Hank challenged.

  “Then, why did we change the terminology away from global warming and establish a new mantra repeating ad nauseam that ninety-seven percent of the scientists in the world agree on climate change? They are not synonymous. Remember Aristotle said, ‘To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.’”

  “That was a mouthful!” Hank was taken aback, losing his train of thought.

  Paolo grinned. “It’s one of my favorite quotes. After all, they’re the words a spin-meister lives by.”

  “Which is another way of explaining a false premise,” Chase added. “Every scientist in the world—in fact, most thinking people—would agree that the world has warmed a little since the turn of the nineteenth century. But the climate-change supporters never cite the number of scientists who still remain skeptical that the carbon dioxide levels are at dangerous levels.”

  “Be careful, Chase. Remember Senator Robert Kennedy Jr. said, ‘All climate deniers should be jailed,’” Seymour teased.

  “Give me a break,” Hank grumbled, and then he retrieved the exact quotation from his tablet. “To be exact, what he said was,

  ‘I do, however, believe that corporations which deliberately, purposefully, maliciously, and systematically sponsor climate lies should be given the death penalty. This can be accomplished through an existing legal proceeding known as charter revocation. State Attorneys General can invoke this remedy whenever corporations put their profit-making before the public welfare.’”

  “It’s a pretty radical statement,” Noble interjected. “It characterizes differing opinions as lies on the premise that what he believes is God’s truth.”

  Hank had no retort but dug in his heels anyway. Taking a slightly different tack, he said, “It’s a fact that the CO2 levels that cause greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise and have surpassed monthly averages for the first time in our history. The former chief of the World Meteorological Organization himself said, ‘Time is running out,’ referring to the constant rise in the levels. The U.N. has stated that reaching these high levels holds ‘symbolic and scientific significance.’”

  “You make it sound so apocalyptic,” Seymour chided. “In fact, there are other scientific reports that show the earth is cooling, as evidenced by the increased ice in the Antarctic.”

  “That’s just not true. CO2 emissions are responsible for the warming effect and it has been steadily increasing over the past decade.”

  “Excuse me, Hank, but for the past decade, there has only been a marginal increase in CO2. In fact, there is also scientific proof that CO2 emissions have a lesser effect on global temperatures than previously thought,” Seymour persisted.

  “It’s a quixotic notion that humans alone influence the climate,” Noble prefaced, and then he asked in jest, “Hank, what do you suppose ended the Ice Age? It can’t be blamed on humans, factories, or autos.”

  Hank cleared his throat, ignoring Noble’s ridiculous question and took a defensive stance. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change refers to it as a pause or hiatus. They also speculate that the slowdown is another indicator and when the average global temperatures begin to rise again—which they will—it will be at a faster rate.”

  “Hank, the IPCC is not a scientific body. It’s a political arm of the United Nations. And in the past, the IPCC has had to backtrack many of its findings, ultimately admitting that their models may have been faulty,” Paolo challenged. “And by the way, the global warming hiatus as you call it, will be twenty-one years old this October.”

  Chase could see that Hank was gearing up for another round and quickly cut in. “Paolo is correct. After much backlash, the lead author of one of the U.N.’s reports honestly conveyed that the temperatures have remained flat for the past fifteen years. He even went so far as to acknowledge that the computer models couldn’t replicate the prolonged pause that you refer to in the recent slowdown. Let’s not forget; it’s the IPCC that’s been promulgating the rules, based on faulty scientific models. The U.N. relies on them to push their agenda—to develop a sustainable global environment.”

  “This is starting to sound like the same old case for global governance wearing a different disguise,” Noble revealed.

  “In my personal opinion that’s the ultimate goal of the UN, a threat we should not ignore,” Paolo warned. “Their goal is to spend one-hundred-billion dollars a year to fight global warming as part of their agenda. As you would expect, the money comes by way of pledges from countries and private donations. Having said that, they have never been able to establish a coalition among world leaders to reduce the CO2 emissions. As former House Speaker Tip O’Neill said, ‘All politics are local.’ That includes nations and continents looking after their self-interest. It doesn’t require a huge leap in conjecture to understand that unless everyone jumps on the global warming bandwagon—it will have little to no effect. They set the deadline for 2015 to establish that binding agreement. 2015 has come and gone.”

  Hank didn’t react and continued to listen as he mentally armed his defense. Everyone else was active on the playing field.

  “To Paolo’s point,” Noble was quick to submit, “you may recall that in 2014 the leaders from the largest polluting countries didn’t even attend the U.N. Climate Summit held in New York. The leaders from China, Russia, India, and Australia, to name a few, were absent. Even today, their support continues to be lukewarm, in a manner of speaking, finding domestic issues more prominent.”

  “Leonardo DiCaprio attended the summit,” Seymour mocked.

  Chase thought it time to throw in the towel. “We can debate the existence of global warming or climate change, or whatever you want to call it, until the ice caps melt—but it’s not helping us determine the effect it has on jobs.” He repositioned in his chair and directed his attention toward Seymour once again. “You, sir, created the firestorm when you started off the debate referring to the administration’s policies as being revolutionary. Would you care to elaborate?”

  “Of course.” Seymour, noting that Hank was temporarily subdued, continued. “Undeniably, there is science on both ends of the spectrum. It’s widely agreed that climate change exists, but the rate at which it’s changing is inconclusive. The majority of citizens are in agreement that we should take
steps to move toward renewable energy sources. And no one would deny that we must become energy-independent as a country. However, to reach that goal we must utilize all sources of energy and carefully transition to renewable energy over time.” Seymour paused before upping his tone a notch. Then he added, “Instead, during the recession, the Congress passed a stimulus bill committing seven-hundred-eighty-seven-billion dollars, out of which ninety billion dollars were allocated to green-job programs funded by government investments and tax incentives.”

  Hank, not sure of Seymour’s point, stated, “The Department of Energy said the green job programs were ‘to lay the foundation for the clean energy economy of the future.’”

  Chase took issue straightaway. “That’s what they said. But the administration never factored into the equation the hundreds of billions of dollars the local and state governments were forced to spend to transition to green energy using renewable energy resources. It was a heavy burden then and the numbers continue to climb.”

  “The precise point,” Seymour stated. “The attempt to revolutionize renewable energy resources became a formula for disaster—which we are now experiencing in the early stages.”

  Chase furthered the point, redirecting his attention to the entire group. “It’s undeniable that when the former president ordered the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to impose a thirty-percent cut in carbon-dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired plants, it was devastating for those coal-producing states. Granted, they had until 2016 to implement them, but the prediction in the loss of jobs from several organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, proved to be accurate. Over seven-hundred-thousand jobs have already been lost, resulting in a loss in GDP of fifty-one-billion dollars.”

  “Whoa, Chase, you’ve been doing your homework. But most of those jobs were absorbed by green jobs. In the energy-efficiency sector alone, there’s an emergence of jobs,” Hank retaliated, stepping back into the game.

  “What are green jobs anyway?” Seymour asked, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s become a catchphrase for any job that’s somehow, even remotely, connected to renewable energy. A large number of those jobs fall in the administrative, clerical, and bureaucratic positions. Most of which do not produce goods or services. The only green is the greenbacks we’re spending.”