by David Carner
Jeremiah was sputtering he was so mad. “Are you telling me that man helped his daughter hide a murder!?!” John held his hands up.
“senator, I’m not saying anything. I’m just giving you the facts.”
“Oh calm down, John, I’m not mad at you,” said Jeremiah. “That man is as dirty as they come, but I can never get anyone to turn over evidence on him.” Trip looked up from holding his head in his hands.
“We’ve opened dozens of cases on Archibald over the years, but nothing ever sticks to him,” said Trip. “I’ve been around long enough to know when someone is dirty, and that guy is as dirty as they come. I had hoped that his daughter was nothing like him, but obviously I was dead wrong.” John was looking at Jeremiah. Jeremiah caught the look.
“I’m guessing you would like me to tell you about how the secret service met with me last night to try and convince Washington to take you off the case and put my son on it?” Jeremiah loved one upping John, it happened so rarely. John was stunned. “Oh and did I forget I was suppose to nudge my son into taking this case?” John almost leapt into the air. Jeremiah held his hand up before John could speak.
While this was going on, Chet was sitting off to the side pinching his lip; something in the story didn’t make sense to him. He began to do a search on Beth George, Double Forks, Kentucky. Jeremiah continued his conversation while this was going on.
“Unfortunately, John, this agent knew how to say just enough, or not say enough, that I could never pin anything on him. He never specifically said anything about the first lady.”
Chet’s search came up with no activity. It seems she did disappear around the time John was talking about. Chet decided to search for David George, Double Forks, Kentucky, expecting the same result as Beth. The conversation was continuing behind Chet.
“Trip, we have to send someone to Kentucky to get that body.”
Trip shook his head. “John, you do realize if we send forensics down there, it will tip off the first lady.” Trip groaned and shook his head. “John, we have a lot of smoke, but very little evidence to pin anything on her. There is one major problem with all of this; do you really think Lisa Nichols killed Jason Sparks, or his four mourners? That’s the case you’re supposed to be working on, not opening up an over twenty-five year old cold case that may or may not be a murder!!”
John was frustrated. Everything Trip said was right. For all the answers he had, there were none that answered the questions in Jessica and Chet’s case.
Chet was half listening to what was going on behind him. His mouth had dropped open when the computer returned information on his search. He pulled on Jessica’s jacket sleeve. Jessica had been listening to the entire conversation going on in front of her. She turned toward Chet’s computer screen. It took her a second to comprehend what she was seeing, but once she did she realized the case hadn’t come to a screeching halt like she feared it had.
“Uh . . . guys,” she said. John and Trip were going on, ignoring her.
“Trip, you can’t just sit back and do nothing . . .” John was interrupted by a shrill whistle. Trip, John, and Senator Cosby turned toward the screen that showed David George’s active military file. When John saw the file, it was like a huge lock turned in his head; the tumblers moved and in one instant, John was sure he had figured the case out. He now realized he had a problem if the case was solved. Instead of six murders, he now had six murders and a possible assassination attempt of one of the highest political figures in the US.
Lisa Sparks
Oval Office
Chapter 67
Lisa looked over the Oval Office. Over the next hour she would have her picture made with three of the nation’s finest troops. She had cleared out the outer office in spite of the numerous protests. It had taken some doing getting everyone to leave, but few argued with the first lady, especially when the president wasn’t around to assist them with Lisa. It would only be her, the cameraman, and two secret service agents. Lisa was already thinking about the publicity she could milk this photo-op for. There was a knock on the door behind her. She turned around and saw Agent McDonald.
Lisa sighed to herself. She was going to have to do something about Luke eventually. He was getting a little too close to her, but right now he was needed. She didn’t think she would have to take things to the next level to get out of him what she needed, but if she had to, she would. He looked around to make sure they were alone.
“I tried to talk to our mutual friend,” said Agent McDonald. Lisa thought Luke had seen one too many Mafia movies. “He wouldn’t help us, so I contacted someone to assist us.”
Lisa had a concerned look on her face. Luke smiled.
“You’re father, Lisa,” Luke said. Lisa smiled broadly. She knew deep inside if Luke screwed this up, her father would take care of everything. “I’m going to head out to take care of our friend. The three soldiers are ready. They all arrived a few minutes ago. I’ll get the cameraman and you can get started.”
Lisa nodded to Luke and watched him leave. Luke walked out of the Oval Office and through the halls of the White House. Luke was thinking about the first lady. The thoughts he was having about her were wrong. She was married and one of the most powerful women in the world, but part of him really didn’t care. He would do anything for her. Luke realized he had walked the halls on autopilot. He kept walking to his destination. He stopped when he reached the lobby where the three soldiers were waiting.
“You two may follow the two secret service agents,” Luke said to two of the soldiers. They followed the agents leaving Luke alone with David George. David stood up, and reached his hand out to shake Luke’s hand.
“Thank you,” said David. Luke smiled warmly at him. David continued. “You don’t know what this means to me. The first lady has helped shape my life into what it is today and meeting her will mean more to me than you’ll ever know.” Luke smiled warmly and clapped the soldier on his shoulder.
After Luke walked off, David sat back down and thought to himself, “You have no idea how Lisa has shaped my life. Today I’m gonna make sure she knows exactly how much she shaped it, and so will the entire world.”
John Fowler
FBI New York Building
Chapter 68
John stared at the screen in front of him. On the screen, there was an active file on David George. He was alive. That meant that Beth was probably the body down the shaft in Kentucky. His mind was racing through all the scenarios that he could imagine, and they kept coming back to the same conclusion.
Jessica was watching John. She had been quiet all day. What they had shared the night before had put her in a position she had never been in. If she didn’t know better, she would say she was falling in love. She saw the look in John’s eyes and knew he had solved the case. She had seen that look so many times over the years. John turned and looked at her, catching her glance. He got this dopey lopsided grin on his face. The kind of grin that screamed, “He knew something that you didn’t and when he told you, you would feel stupid for not knowing it”. Jessica loved that grin. That revelation shocked her. She was surprised by that revelation. It used to make her so mad when he would get it in the past and now . . . she realized how much she had missed him. She found herself grinning back at John. As John kept looking at Jessica, he began barking out orders.
“Chet, I need you to see if David George’s unit crossed paths with Jason Spark’s unit in Afghanistan.” Trip looked at John sharply. Trip closed his eyes as it all began to fall into place. John looked over at the senator. Jeremiah was shaking his head. The look on the senator’s face was one of pure shock.
“Boss, I’m also trying to see if he was stateside during Jason’s funeral.” John nodded. Chet was less than a step behind him in what happened. Chet’s fingers were flying across the keyboard as the entire room was quiet waiting to see if what they all suspected was true. Chet quit typing and the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. John knew what the answers were t
o the queries Chet had made, but he asked anyway.
“What did you find, Chet?”
“Boss,” Chet seemed sick. “Boss, David George found Jason Spark’s body in Afghanistan. According to the report, David George killed Jason’s killer, a Taliban soldier. David George’s tour ended before the funeral of Jason Sparks. The last place I have any information on David is in New York. It’s like he fell off the grid after that.”
John turned to Trip and Senator Cosby. “Trip, I know you don’t want to hear this, but everyone that David George knew from that time in his life is dead but one person.”
Trip started to walk around the room muttering. Chet turned back to the keyboard. Something was gnawing at him in the back of his mind. Trip stopped in front of John.
“John, do you realize what you’re saying!?! The last thing we want is to scare the president and first lady with the slim chance there might be someone trying to kill her over something that may or may not have happened over two decades ago!!”
John grinned. “Trip, all we’re doing is following the case where it takes us. If there is no evidence to back up what we’re saying, then we walk away, but if there is evidence, we would not be doing our jobs to let it go.” Trip gave John a scouring look. Trip nodded his head in acceptance. John clapped his hands together, excited to get the investigation moving forward.
While this exchange was going on, Chet was staring at the screen again. Jessica happened to turn around at this time and saw what Chet was looking at. She hit him in the shoulder. Chet jerked his head to look at her.
“Chet, is this what I think it is?!?” Jessica asked. Chet nodded. “GUYS!!!” John turned and saw what was on the screen. He felt his heart fall into his shoes. Trips phone began ringing, and so did Senator Cosby’s. The color drained from John’s face. Trip answered the phone. He said hello and just stood and listened. He hung up and looked at the group.
“There’s just been an incident at the White House.”
David George
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue-20 Minutes Earlier
Chapter 69
David watched as his two fellow servicemen came back down the hall. The cameraman came up to David and told him he was ready. David stood, smiled, and mentally readied himself. It was time. He walked down the hallway to the exterior office of the Oval Office. David looked around; there were no other visible secret service agents except for the two inside the Oval Office. David knew they would be there in seconds, however. The cameraman stepped into the Oval Office and waved David in.
David had thought about his plan for weeks. The most secure room in the White House was the Oval Office. With only two guards he could surprise and overtake, it would just be him, Lisa, and the cameraman in the room; getting her confession. That’s all he was after. The confession. He would make Lisa tell the world who she really was and what she had done all those years ago. David smiled. He knew he would die today, but he had been living on borrowed time since he fell down that hole in Kentucky. He had made peace with all he had done. He just wanted justice. Today he would have it.
David stepped into the opening with the agents on either side of him. The first lady was across the room in front of the President’s desk with her back to David. David knew it was time. He moved suddenly and without any hesitation. Both his hands sprang outward in a sweeping motion catching the agents in throat. David had been counting on both agents being more at ease with a soldier in the room and not expecting an attack. David spun to his left and grabbed the head of the staggering agent. He brought his right knee up as he shoved the agent’s face down. The sick crack of David’s knee hitting the agent’s skull rang out through the office.
It hadn’t even registered yet with the cameraman and the first lady what was happening. David took the gun from the fallen agent’s holster. He spun to the other agent. The second agent had grasped his throat and fallen to one knee. He began to realize what was happening and went for his gun. David pistol-whipped him to the ground. He took his gun as well. He sprinted five steps across the room past the cameraman and grabbed the first lady as she turned around. David put the gun to the first lady’s head. He spoke to the cameraman.
“Lay down your camera right now and drag the bodies out into the exterior office or I will kill you.” Adrenaline shot through the cameraman as he quickly drug the first one out of the room. David nodded toward the second. The cameraman drug him out as well. The cameraman drug the second agent much further out and dove behind a desk in the exterior office. David silently cursed himself. He hurried himself and the first lady across the room and slammed the door to the Oval Office shut. Lisa spoke.
“Do you realize what you have done? Do you know who I am?”
David smiled. “Yes, Veronica, I know exactly who you are. Do you know who I am?”
The blood drained from Lisa’s face. She realized, much too late, that she should have taken the note more seriously. For the first time, in a very long time, she was afraid.
Chapter 70
Veronica tried to think who this could possibly be. She had only gotten a glimpse of him earlier. She couldn’t place the face or the voice. She tried to muster all of the courage she could. “Who are you?” She asked.
David snorted. “To think Beth thought that you cared about us. That preacher was right; Beth never should have told you her secret.”
Veronica’s mind was reeling. There was no way this could be Beth’s brother. It wasn’t possible. He died that day. She knew he did. Veronica thought back. She actually never saw the body. How did he survive? David spoke, like he was reading her mind.
“What’s wrong? No quick answer this time Lisa? No quick ideas like there were when you made Jason think my sister was raping you? I should have done something then, but I was too scared, and then he killed her; the poor idiot. He was just doing what you wanted done, just like the other four. That’s why I killed them all fast.” Veronica stiffened. “Oh, you didn’t know I killed Jason?” David laughed. “Lisa, you should have checked that shaft. I don’t know how, but I landed on Beth that day. It saved my life.” Veronica felt fear well up in her. She wanted to cry, but she refused to give David the satisfaction. David continued.
“I checked on her immediately. I was no doctor but her neck was all weird. I knew she was dead, and I knew it was all your fault.” There was a pounding on the door. David yelled.
“If you come through that door, I will kill her!! I’m not kidding!!”
A voice came through the other side. “Sir, please keep calm. No one needs to get hurt.”
David yelled again. “That’s right, and no one will. Now if you want to talk to me it’s real simple. There’s a phone in here, call it. I only want one thing. I want Lisa here,” Veronica stiffened. She felt sick, everything was about to fall apart. She chided herself. Things had already fallen apart. She had to play spin control. David continued. “Sorry about that, but I want Veronica here to confess what happened in Kentucky over twenty-five years ago and then I’ll let her go. All I want is a cameraman to tape the confession; none of you secret service clowns. I’m not listening to anything else that isn’t a phone call!”
David heard a mumbled ok from the other side and then it was quiet. Veronica knew she needed to do something to get David off of his game. She went with a desperation plan.
“You know they already have someone close solving the case,” said Veronica.
“Oh really?” replied David.
“Oh yes. They pulled some guy out of retirement. He grew up in Kentucky. Who knows, we may have known him. He’s already talked to Tom’s family. It’s only a matter of time before he puts together what happened. David I didn’t do anything that day; it was Jason.”
David was very quiet. He was considering what Lisa was saying. He knew everything Lisa said was about gaining an advantage.
“So you think he knows everything?” David asked. Veronica nodded, very sure of herself. “What is his name?” The question caught Veronica off guar
d and David knew she was trying to throw him off his game. He had turned the tables and now he knew exactly what to do. He tightened his grip on her and buried the gun a little further into her. “What? Is? His? Name!?!” Veronica realized she had been outmaneuvered. The pain was getting to her.
“John! John Fowler!” David eased his grip on her.
With that, the phone rang. He motioned for Lisa to hand it to him. He dodged as she tried to swing at him with it and subdued her. He put the phone between his neck and shoulder. He made sure he had a firm grip on Lisa with one hand, and in the other hand he had the gun pointed into her ribs.
“Listen,” said David. “I know you are going to try and wait me out. I’ll make this very simple. I want former FBI agent John Fowler to film Lisa’s . . . I mean VERONICA’s confession. Afterwards, I give myself up and let both people go unhurt. You have three hours or I kill her.” David hung up the phone and looked down at Lisa. Lisa finally broke and started to cry.
“That’s good. That’s real good,” said David. “Before today is done, you are going to cry every tear you have stored up in your miserable body.”
John Fowler
FBI New York Building-Now
Chapter 71
Trip was having trouble breathing. This was more than he ever dreamed he would have to deal with in all his years at the FBI. He was in the New York office, not the DC office. Yet here he was, smack in the middle of a hostage situation. This wasn’t any hostage though; this was the First Lady of the United States of America. He was jolted back to reality with a smack across his face by Senator Cosby.
