by Kurt Winans
After another sip of coffee, the President stated, “Alright Mrs. Dawson. Keep me on schedule for everything after the eight o’clock, but for now, I need a few minutes alone.”
“Yes Mr. President, I understand. I’ll be at my desk if you need anything.”
During the time which was subsequently afforded him, President Harwell thought about what his next move would be with regard to the Secretary of State. Although on most matters the man was as capable as any other who had served before him, there was just something about him which didn’t instill a level of complete confidence. Perhaps that perception was generalized and unfair, while certainly being influenced by recent discoveries about Ambassador Pearson, but the Secretary did have a reputation of overtly aiming to please his counterparts when it came to dealing with foreign dignitaries. That attribute shouldn’t be considered as faulty for the common man, but the Secretary was not currently in a position which most common men would begin to comprehend. As a result of that character trait, he sometimes gave more than was called for. Unfortunately in many of those situations, which otherwise could have been avoided, some salvaging was required.
It seemed obvious to the President that the Secretary had been exploited by Ambassador Pearson for that very reason, which gave added validity to having kept the Secretary out of the information loop about him until now. The President thought about how the most recent meeting with the Ambassador might have progressed if the Secretary had been aware that he was dealing with an operative who was under surveillance. He doubted that the man could maintain the required emotionless poker face during that meeting, especially when informed of the newly created tariff. Regardless of that personal belief, what could be done to rectify the situation now became the most pressing question for the President.
He reached a final decision on the matter within the next few minutes, and it was one that required no action at all. It would be impossible for him to privately fire the Secretary of State in the current climate, or offer to accept a more dignified resignation. Although that would seemingly apply under most circumstances, it was especially true with the upcoming 2028 election of November. News of either a dismissal or resignation at such a high level would cause endless questions and speculation as to who his replacement could possibly be, while also providing the opposition party with an opening to exploit what they already deemed to be an ever weakening and divided administration. Losing both the Vice President and the Secretary of State, regardless of the reasoning behind it, could validate that belief.
As President Harwell pondered over what the opposition party, not to mention Vice President Sutherland, could gain in terms of possible leverage from the dismissal of the Secretary, it repulsed him. Washington D.C. and the beltway in its very nature was cutthroat enough, so those within it needed no added provocation to pounce on intended prey. The President had no desire to jump headlong into any type of ridiculous self-imposed political quagmire at the present time, and if possible, he hoped to avoid it entirely.
Beyond those factors there was the possibility that a new Secretary of State could alter how other nations of the world would proceed with negotiations over various issues. If Texas were to also change their approach in that manner, then it would probably become more difficult to read and react to the potential end game of the organization.
In conjunction with that belief the President understood what a tremendous job Heath had done during recent weeks to further uncover the treachery. Therefore it would be counterproductive and unthinkable to risk cutting off what could be a limitless supply of future intelligence. Following that course, the President realized that Ambassador Pearson must not, under any circumstances, be frightened or made to be overly cautious with his approaches toward the State Department. If he perceived even the faintest notion that his true identity of number eleven was known, then the Ambassador could recoil.
To help ensure that such a response could not occur, the President decided to keep the Secretary of State in his current capacity for the time being. Then to bolster the implied safety of such a maneuver, the President took it a step further. In spite of the fact that the Secretary would continue to meet with him on a regular basis, it was better that he not be made aware of who Ambassador Pearson really was or what could be in store for him. There was simply too much risk that if questioned, he could disclose certain information which should be left untold. History had proved time and again that ignorance could be bliss, and this was just one more example of that axiom.
The rare short stint of solitude within the oval office was then broken by the arrival of Cristopher Westin, so the President pushed a button to summon Mrs. Dawson. The three of them went over the busy schedule of the day, and what Vice President Sutherland would be responsible for within that framework.
Per the plan of Jordan Harwell the Vice President had been kept busy since the State of the Union address, and that would not change. The actions in service to his current boss provided a necessary presence in various remote regions, but as he was addressing what many deemed to be inconsequential issues, they offered him minimal visibility in the public eye unless the networks put forth an exerted effort to provide coverage. In addition the President had to a marginal degree been able to monitor where and when the Vice President traveled, and he would attempt to continue such a strategy.
That moderate level of control over the man came with two benefits. First he could be sent to places where the opposition party maintained a political stronghold, which meant that he would be unable to gain any significant support for his own initiatives in those areas. Secondly, the Vice President would simultaneously miss out on separate opportunities to gain strength in regions which were known to back his party affiliation.
The strategy was both brilliant and effective, as the President didn’t want to present the impression that the closing comments of ticket unity and conviction to duty during his State of the Union address were simply lip service. Although the appearances of the Vice President would continue to be scripted when possible, it was desirable for the man to remain on the fringes of public view. Therefore Jordan Harwell and his campaign team needed to maintain a diligent and attentive eye on the actions of Vice President Sutherland, and they would do so while remembering the sage wisdom of an age-old adage. The President would keep his friends close, while keeping his enemy closer.
True to form the Secretary of Defense arrived at the basement room where Heath was living and doing much of his work five minutes before the scheduled eight o’clock briefing with the President. When the Secretary received an all clear signal, he advanced and quickly shut the door behind him. Then he said good morning to the President before offering a slight nod of acknowledgement toward Christopher Westin and Agent Bishop.
The President looked at the Secretary and stated, “I’m afraid that my time throughout the day is rather tight, so please begin the briefing without delay.”
After a quick glance toward Heath, he replied, “Yes sir Mr. President, but I believe that Agent Bishop should take the point on this briefing.”
“And why do you say that Mr. Secretary?”
“Because the most recent information we have obtained builds upon what he previously uncovered. Therefore I will gladly yield the floor.”
With a nod the President turned slightly to his right and said, “Alright Heath. Why don’t you start things off today?”
“Yes sir.”
Heath began by stating to President Harwell that Ambassador Pearson had continued to place calls at irregular intervals to the same three numbers in Texas, but no others. Two of those numbers were within the 737 area code, which meant that their origin was in Austin, while the third was located in the area code of 936. On the surface the first two numbers would appear to be quite normal, as number eleven could have been behaving in the role of Ambassador by contacting various personnel in the capital city of his republic. Although that could be interpreted as a plausible cover, for anyone who was paying attent
ion it would be easily recognized as false. The most glaring problem in that interpretation of cover, which raised an immediate red flag, was why the Ambassador would need to place the calls from a secretive location in Washington D.C. as opposed to making them from within his offices. Beyond that obvious detail, the practice raised the additional questions of who he was speaking with and why he would need to refer to those individuals as numbers three and twenty-three.
Heath then informed the President that a tracking of both numbers within the 737 area code had been initiated, which in turn led to significant discoveries. The location of the first and most often used of number twenty-three was at a private residence in Austin. He added that there was currently no proof to establish the owner as the mysterious number twenty-three, or simply as someone who is unaware that the phone is hidden within the residence. The phone in question had not moved from the dwelling at any time since the tracking began, so no pattern could be established as to the everyday habits of the person who used it. However based on several bits of recorded conversation between that woman and the Ambassador, Heath theorized that the location of the phone would remain constant.
When the President asked why he assumed that, Heath replied, “Well sir, I believe that number twenty-three is the person who passes along the majority of information between the various operatives for the organization. If true, it would coincide with what Lieutenant Royce suggested. From what we have heard, it appears that number twenty-three receives a call from an operative who provides her with information. Then she places a separate call, or perhaps several, to forward that on to the applicable personnel. Managing a task of such scale would be difficult to accomplish on a continuing basis without unlimited access to the phone, which would logically include the property as well. Therefore if the woman is not the owner of the residence, then perhaps she works for the owner in the capacity of something like a maid, cook, or nurse. Whatever the case may be, I think of the woman known as number twenty-three to be their distribution hub sir.”
After a few seconds of thought, the President replied, “Well I suppose that all makes sense Heath. And it could be a significant breakthrough.”
“Yes sir, I agree. And based on that belief, the Secretary has employed voice recognition software to chew away on the exchanged dialog of various calls made to her by number eleven. If we can identify who the woman is, and then tap into the phone lines and bug the Austin residence, then the opportunity for intelligence gathering could be limitless.”
Nodding his head positively, the President responded, “Well that all sounds good in theory Heath, but you are talking about doing that to a civilian who lives in a foreign country. Although that has been done with frequency by our government in the past, I’m afraid that’s not quite as easy as how we can randomly tap into John Doe here in the United States.”
“Yes sir. I understand that sir. And I know that it could be difficult to both implement and justify. However if you will allow me, I don’t consider this number twenty-three person to be a civilian. If she is a major player in what we in this room believe the organization to be, then she could easily be defined by you as a soldier!”
“I see your point Heath, and admire your passion to see this through. Now I don’t think you would make such a statement without the ability to at least partially validate it. So if I’m reading the situation correctly, then you might have additional information which could solidify your position on her status.”
“Yes Mr. President, I do.”
Heath continued by adding that the second phone with a 737 area code, that of number three within the organization, had also been tracked. It too remained in a constant location, and when Heath revealed exactly where that was, it noticeably shocked the President.
The Secretary of Defense was unfazed as he had known for a short time the information that Agent Bishop conveyed, and it was partially why he wanted Heath to lead this particular briefing. However like President Harwell, Christopher Westin was stunned to learn of it.
Quickly rising from the couch, the Chief of Staff moved toward Heath and asked, “Will you please repeat that location Agent Bishop?”
Turning toward the man he replied, “Yes sir Mr. Westin. I said that the location of the phone for number three has been pinpointed. It is currently within the Capitol Building of Austin, and to be more specific sir, that would be in the private office of Texas President Marcus Stoddard.”
Having noticing that his Chief of Staff had been rendered speechless by the claim, President Harwell seized the opportunity to ask the most obvious question.
Moving a few steps closer to Agent Bishop, he inquired, “Are you absolutely sure about that location Heath?”
“Yes sir, without a doubt.”
“Alright then I want this to be clearly understood by the four of us. You are saying that the current President of the Independent Republic of Texas, who just prior to attaining that position was the Governor for the State of Texas, is the operative known as number three within the organization which we are investigating?”
“Yes Mr. President. That is correct.”
“Well that is astonishing!”
“Yes sir, I agree. And I didn’t believe that it could be true when Lieutenant Royce first made claim to knowing the identity of number three, but we have now gathered enough evidence to prove she was correct. Through voice recognition software we have been able to compare numerous conversations between him and number eleven against several samples from when the man was Governor. The software has determined that they are an absolute match, so there is no doubt about it sir. President Marcus Stoddard of Texas is indeed number three.”
While pondering the implications, the President asked, “Well if the top man in the Texas government structure is number three, then who could possibly be numbers one and two?”
“I have some information to that end Mr. President, and I believe that you will find it enlightening. Although we have no lead at this time as to the identity of number one, I have been able to create an extensive file on number two and certain members of his family.”
“Alright Heath, tell us what you know.”
As when reporting on numbers twenty-three and three, Heath proceeded to brief the President and Christopher Westin on what was known of number two. He reminded them that the third number Ambassador Pearson would typically dial was within the 936 area code, and to be more specific, that it was located on the northern outskirts of Crockett Texas. That phone belonging to number two was in the home of a man by the name of Samuel Tillman, which once again aligned with a claim revealed by Lieutenant Royce.
Unlike Marcus Stoddard, no previous voice recordings of the man could be found for the sake of a comparative study. Therefore it would have been difficult for Heath to verify the identity of number two as Samuel Tillman if he had not personally met with and spoken to the man on one occasion. That brief interaction in Crockett had been nearly a year prior, but Heath had not forgotten the commanding voice of the man or the inflection and measured pauses within his rhetoric. Adding to what Heath considered as a reasonable verification of the identity was that the phone in question rarely changed location. When looked at on an individual basis neither of those factors would convince most people that Samuel Tillman was indeed number two, but Heath had collected a body of other circumstantial evidence which would back his claim.
Before Heath could move on, President Harwell asked, “So unlike the phones of numbers twenty-three and three, this one does occasionally move to another location?”
“Yes sir. According to satellite tracking, most of the movements were small as the phone remained somewhere on the grounds of the Tillman estate or in the vicinity of Crockett. It would be safe to assume in those instances that number two was simply moving about the property or driving into town with the phone on his person. However there has been one occasion since we began the tracking when the phone moved a greater distance.”
Christopher Westin intervened and pre
ssed, “Define a greater distance.”
“In that singular instance the phone was tracked to a few locations over two days. First it moved from Crockett to Austin where it bounced between the Capitol Building, a nearby hotel, and a restaurant on Sixth Street. Then after another visit to the Capitol during the following morning, it headed east to a location in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University before returning to Crockett.”
“So he potentially went to Austin to meet with number three?”
“That’s our assumption Mr. Westin.”
“Alright, that seems reasonable. But then why go to College Station during the return?”
At that moment the President didn’t understand why the query might be relevant, but he was intrigued that Heath had created what he deemed to be an extensive file. Upon hearing the belief that the visit of Samuel Tillman to College Station could have multiple purposes, he took over the questioning from his Chief of Staff.
With a slight hand gesture, he asked, “Alright Heath, what else do you have?”
Heath reminded the President that he had spoken to him previously about Mr. Tillman, and that conversation was based on Heath meeting with him and members of his family at their home in Crockett the previous April. For Heath it was obvious then that the Tillman family possessed a great deal of money, but he had not put that comfort of wealth into context until more recently.
Once he had been informed of his identity by Lieutenant Royce, Heath had done some extra digging into Samuel Tillman when time availed. What he learned was that the man was the patriarch of what could more accurately be defined as the Tillman Empire. Their wide range of possessions included everything from rail, trucking, and shipping companies for the import and export of goods and services, to vast real-estate holdings in heavily populated and remote regions of Texas. Although the purpose of owning certain parcels of their land was not known, some included oil fields and agricultural interests of both livestock and produce. As what amounted to nothing more than a minor sidebar, the family also owned their own private jet. Heath had first learned of that long before discovering the additional Tillman interests, as he had briefly known the lead flight attendant Domonique before she was killed at a Lake Tahoe ski resort.
