“Have you ever been to Goldera, Representative?” Trent asked.
“No, why?” Representative Hopkins wanted to know as he shifted around in his seat.
“Just doing our jobs so we can clear you of any wrongdoing. Have you ever met with any people associated with the Golderan government to discuss lifting the embargo?”
His angry-looking face turned a deep shade of purple and he said, “Didn’t I just say that I’ve never been to Goldera? We’re done here. Take me back to my office, now.”
“Just a few more questions need to be recorded, sir. Just to clarify, you never discussed any type of deal about lifting the embargo with Joe Albright and Henley Brokham.”
“I’m calling my lawyer and I’m not answering anything else. You two think you can play me like this. I was stupid to even come down here in the first place but you two just dug yourselves a big grave. I don’t need a ride back in your shit box either, so you can shove that up your ass too. Stupid agents,” the Representative said, shaking his head as he left the room.
“Son of a bitch. We didn’t get him to admit to anything. Now he’s going to call the Chief and this might not turn out well for us,” Trent said.
“There’s no use hiding from it. We better get back to the Bureau and take our medicine. I don’t think this will get that blown out of proportion.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have had the press there. This is definitely going to get reported. I’m not as good at this political stuff. I thought it was a solid plan. You’re right. Time to go see how bad we are going to get spanked,” Trent told her.
They got stuck in traffic on the way back to the Bureau and Whitney felt like she was sitting outside the principal’s office, waiting to be scolded. Trent tried to go down a side street to avoid an accident ahead. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea and they came to another halt in the middle of an alley.
Whitney heard a whizzing sound as something flashed past her face and toward the driver’s side of the car. She looked over and saw a small dart in Trent’s neck. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell onto the steering wheel.
Whitney was about to scream when she felt a sharp pinch in the side of her neck and her vision became distorted. She felt extremely woozy and everything went black for Whitney Powers.
Several hours later, Whitney opened her eyes only to see darkness. She could feel fabric brushing against her face and a blindfold tied securely around her eyes.
“What is going on here?”
She heard Trent say, “Stay strong honey. Don’t let them break you.”
A cackling laugh filled the room and a creepy voice said, “You two have been very, very bad and you better stop or you’re going to end up dead. This is going to be your warning to stop with the conspiracy theories to smear our President. There will only be one warning. Go ahead.”
Whitney felt tremendous pain on the left side of her jaw after something smashed into it. Her arms and legs were tied to a chair as somebody beat her from head to toe with a small wooden club. An occasional punch to the face was mixed in to break up the monotony.
She wanted to cry but she wouldn’t give these sick people the satisfaction of hearing her in pain. She hadn’t heard a peep out of Trent except for the groaning as he was being beaten. The assaulters didn’t say a word as they took one last round on both of the agents.
Whitney had never experienced this kind of physical pain before as someone yanked her up from the chair and led her out of the room. She still had the hood over her head as a hand kept shoving her in the back.
Whitney started to hear other voices and the hand stopped pushing her. She reached up for the hood and expected someone to hit her but nothing happened. She hastily untied the blindfold and removed the hood. Trent was still wrestling with his head constraints.
Whitney helped him get them off and almost fainted from the look of Trent’s face. His entire face was completely stained in blood. He leaned over and kissed his lover as they stood in the back of a huge parking lot to a toy store.
“What the hell just happened?”
“These guys want to operate just like the mob and try to intimidate us. Don’t they realize I’ve worked on the inside of the mob and there’s no way I’m going to quit. I can’t believe they did this to you. Hopkins will be lucky if I don’t kill his ass. Now all these scumbags are going down even harder,” Trent promised.
“Let’s try to find someone over here by the store with a phone so we can try to get home. Come on baby.”
Whitney woke up the next day in even more pain than from the night of the beating. The couple stood in front of a mirror and Whitney stared at two battered bodies. She thought about quitting for a moment because she knew that these people didn’t see a problem with having her killed. She quickly quashed those thoughts and pledged to carry on with the mission.
Her body screamed at her to get back in bed and relax for the rest of the day, but she knew that wasn’t an option. She wanted to call the authorities about the kidnapping and assault but Trent pointed out that it probably wouldn’t do much good with all the corruption these people were involved in.
The water from the shower stung her tender skin and it hurt just to breathe. Whitney and Trent got dressed and drove to work. She knew that the Chief was going to tear into them and she mentally prepared for the tongue-lashing that seemed imminent.
They walked in the front door and all the agents they passed shook their heads and walked past them in silence. Whitney was surprised that nobody asked about the scars and bruises until she got close to her office. The names Merrick and Powers had been taken off the door and several boxes were sitting on the ground outside with their personal belongings.
A voice came from behind Whitney, “Powers and Merrick, Chief wants to see you if you can believe it.”
Whitney made the shameful walk down the hall to the Chief’s office. She realized this wasn’t going to be just a verbal badgering.
The door was open and the red-faced Chief said, “Get in here and close that door.”
Whitney and Trent sat in two chairs in front of the Chief’s long black desk.
The Chief screamed, “What the hell kind of stunt were you two trying to pull?”
Trent said calmly, “We were just trying to put everything to rest. If everything is false, we just wanted to make sure.”
The Chief had spittle shooting out the sides of his mouth as he yelled, “You embarrassed the Bureau. All I talked about on my first day was completely ignored by two rogue agents. The fact that people are even talking about this nonsense in the media is a complete disgrace to the Bureau. You were trusted to take on one of the most precious jobs in all of Adoxia and you threw it away within a month.”
“In our defense, there are records at the financial crimes unit that back up a lot of those allegations.”
The Chief shook his head. “You two have no defense, none at all. You were trusted to help our country solve some of its biggest problems and you blew it. Agents work on the cases that they are assigned to, bottom line. We don’t pick and choose what we feel is important. Even I have to talk to the other department heads before I can push a case.”
Trent said, “If you just give us one more chance, it was just one mistake.”
The Chief said, “Not a chance. This is not a job where you learn as you go. The former Chief apparently made another huge mistake in judgment bringing you on. A lot of people told him that you two would be useless. Solving a case in a small city is much different than the game we play here. You two play checkers while everyone here plays chess.”
“Don’t get comfortable in this office and if you think this is the last you are going to see of us, think again. We know about your meeting on the tarmac and it will come to light. You might have the authority over us right now, but this isn’t over. It will only be over when you are being led away in handcuffs.”
The Chief started snarling before he said, “How dare some bitch try to thre
aten me? I should have you both thrown in prison for dereliction of duty and endangering national security. I must be feeling nice today to take it easy on you two and now you try something like this.”
Trent said, “You know none of those charges about us are true. We’re coming for you and the Vice President. You know, the one who sat right next to you on that plane when you joked with the King of Olodomo. We have your ass so you can try to squash this as much as you want, but there are too many people loyal to the country than one crooked president. Good day, sir.”
Whitney and Trent got up to leave and the Chief started yelling, “Get the hell out of here. Both of you are complete disgraces to the Bureau. I’ll take your badges now before I forget. You two will never work in law enforcement again. This was the biggest mistake of your lives.”
Whitney pried her badge out of her wallet and threw it on the desk. Trent wound up like he was going to throw the silver badge at the Chief’s head. The hefty man screamed in a high pitch and put his hands in front of his face to defend himself. Trent dropped the badge softly onto the black desk and the couple left.
They gathered the few boxes of belongings and went to get their car. However, Whitney had forgotten that the vehicle and apartment had been given to them by the Bureau, which presented an even bigger problem. Trent and Whitney spent the rest of the day trying to figure out if they could find a car and residence to live in or if they should go back to Pennsburgh for a while.
9
Whitney and Trent found a place to rent and purchased a new vehicle. They had decided to stay and had already talked with Barrett and a few other agents about helping out with the case. Whitney knew they would be limited on resources, but she hoped they could still push forward.
The couple had found a small free-standing house just outside the Capitol. Whitney liked the lack of traffic in the area and looked around appreciatively as she went to check the mailbox. She hadn’t registered this address but the box was stuffed with sales ads from the local food stores almost every day. Whitney flipped open the front of the red mailbox and found a small envelope the size of a credit card.
She went back inside and opened the tiny package. There was a folded letter inside that she opened up.
Jobs are lost, but not the faith,
When trying to help all stay safe,
Facts, there are, to still be had,
Avoid frustration and don’t get mad,
Our help, you have to guide the ship,
Don’t give up or make a quip,
Our friend with wings, colored in gold,
Will take you where favors are sold,
A new car will drive you anywhere,
Directions already given will take you there.
Whitney and Trent looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t have the Intelligence Agencies at the tips of their fingers to find new evidence, so this was a welcome letter. Trent drove and followed the programmed directions to another state park about twenty minutes away.
Whitney got out and the fierce wind blew her hair into her eyes. She pulled a pony tail holder out of her pocket and tied back her hair. They walked toward the woods and looked up for Darominius. She shielded the sun from her eyes but still didn’t see her friend.
Whitney wondered why the directions had sent them here. There weren’t a lot of people around but every other place they had gone to meet Darominius had been empty of humans. The closest person was about fifty feet away and Whitney tried to think about where they could go to be alone.
Trent tapped her on the shoulder and when she looked over, he was pointing up to the sky. A golden dragon descended with tremendous velocity and she heard a whistling sound as he plummeted. She took a quick peek around and everyone was pointing to the sky.
The dragon slowed down as he neared the harsh surface of the earth and landed as his waving wings came to a stop. People started to run over toward them.
“Hurry and get on,” Darominius told them.
“But they’ve already seen you. How can we explain this?” Whitney asked as she and Trent climbed up on their usual spots.
Darominius flapped his wings and as they started to rise he said, “Don’t worry about explaining anything. I can scrub their memories for the past five minutes. Close your eyes.”
Whitney closed her eyes as a bright flash of white light filled the sky. She opened her eyes but her vision was distorted and kept going out of focus. She kept her eyes closed as they speeded up and reached the clouds quickly. She felt the dragon change directions and surge through the sky.
The milky surroundings made it hard to see even with her vision being completely restored. She dug her fingers into the dragon’s flesh as Darominius plunged toward the ground. She got that ill feeling again and thought she might pass out.
Whitney shook off the sensation and realized she was standing on the sidewalk of some town. She looked across the street at a huge building which bore the name Rose Ridge Club. The green structure had white columns around the huge patio entrance, a well-manicured lawn and a small rose garden.
They watched as men in suits stood around the patio with drinks in their hands and others arrived to have their cars valeted.
Trent tapped her shoulder and said, “You see what I see?”
“This looks like almost all of those people from the arms deal. I guess they just can’t get enough. These are all the top guys from the Bull Party. And there he is. Our piece of trash that calls himself the Chief of the Bureau.”
“Oh tremendous. I’m so glad we have some more stuff to nail this guy on. Look at him stuffing his face with that shrimp cocktail. We need to find out when and where we are,” Trent suggested.
“Alright, since we can’t be seen or heard, let’s move in for a closer look.”
Darominius said, “I’ll be back. Remember not to leave the safety radius.”
Whitney and Trent walked across the street as Darominius disappeared into the cloudy sky. She noticed the Vice President as they got closer but she hadn’t seen his boss yet. So far, they hadn’t been able to find any concrete evidence to connect the President directly to anything. She started to wonder if these guys had done all this stuff behind his back and just used his name to seal the deal.
“Lookie there. If it isn’t the Ambassadors from Goldera and Starvary. Maybe this was to setup those face-to-face meetings on the bridge and tarmac,” Trent said as he pointed into the crowd of politicians.
The overwhelming smell of competing colognes offended her nose. The conversation all sounded innocuous although Whitney didn’t expect to hear them making deals and exchanging money in public.
She found a flyer on the ground and picked it up. The top read Bull Party International Convention and Policy Updates. Whitney didn’t have to read any more.
“Well that spells it out pretty well. I wonder what international policies they plan to update with the representatives from Starvary and Goldera sitting in the crowd? It’s weird though, the President’s never adjusted those policies or lifted the embargo.”
Trent said, “He just said in press conference yesterday that he is considering more measures if these countries don’t improve their human rights policies. It’s almost impossible for me to think that he isn’t in on all this, but this just doesn’t seem right. Did you see what it said on that itinerary?”
“What part exactly?”
“Where it said that Presidential Candidate Alan Gergen was supposed to be the Featured Speaker, but he couldn’t make it so it’s going to be the VP. It didn’t say Vice Presidential Candidate. So how did they know he was going to be in that position? Why would they make this pamphlet like that if they knew the President wasn’t going to be able to make it?” Trent asked.
“I don’t know, to use his name for leverage maybe. Alright so this meeting had to take place after those other ones. It had to be right before the election and it’s likely they knew they were going to win.”
Everyone moved inside for a sit down
dinner. Trent and Whitney worked their way around the room trying to find out new information but they only encountered small talk. After the dinner, Whitney saw the Vice President with a small circle of men around him as he stood near the bar. They all started to move toward the front of the building.
“Trent, let’s go see what this bunch is up to.”
Whitney pointed to the five men walking out of the building. They all started to get into a black SUV with tinted windows.
“What should we do?”
“I’m going to open the back gate and we need to jump in fast. If they can’t see or hear us, they might think the door was open,” Trent said.
He quickly lifted the gate and Whitney slid in as Trent contorted his body to jump in and pull the door closed. Two of the men in the backseat turned around and Whitney got nervous even though she knew they couldn’t see her.
Representative David Alldreck said, “Did you see that shit?”
The other man said, “I heard something sound like it was closing. I didn’t see anything.”
“The whole gate just opened and closed, what’s up with this haunted car?” David Albright asked.
Whitney recognized the other man to be Judge Rennett Goldstein. He said, “I think you’ve had one too many gin and tonics, my friend.”
“Keep it down ladies, we’ll hammer out all the details once we get to the shack,” the Vice President said as he drove the vehicle down the road.
The truck pulled into a run-down neighborhood and crawled down a dead end road. Suddenly, Rennett Goldstein looked back.
The old Judge screamed, “Who the fuck are you people?”
“Oh shit we must’ve gone outside the mile radius.”
Trent tried to open the back gate but it was locked. Whitney leaned down to get into a position to kick out the back window.
“Don’t try anything stupid, assholes,” said David Albright, who had a gun pointed at Trent. “Get the fuck out of the truck and into the house. Who should I let kill the two of you? Who should I call?”
The Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure 3 Book Bundle Page 19
