“I think you misunderstand…” Pennington started, his tone turning more formal.
“I don’t think so,” Vail said, cutting him off. “When I took the job as Assistant A.G. it was with the understanding that politics would not enter into the assignment. I realize now how naive I was. I think your politics and my naivete are two of the main reasons I was chosen.” Pennington’s face clouded up. His jaws tightened.
“I invited you here today to thank you for a job well done,” he said. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Vail said. “I thought you invited me to thank me for keeping my mouth shut and offer me a nice, cushy job to keep it shut.”
The President glared across the table. “That’s an insolent remark, sir, and an arrogant assumption.”
“Probably. Tact and diplomacy have never been my strong suits and arrogance is one of my many shortcomings.”
“Let me tell you something, Martin. Life is politics. You play the game or you suck hind tit. It’s just that simple. I think you can learn a valuable lesson from this experience.”
“You know what I think? I think I was brought into this game to give you an excuse to take Engstrom out. I think you counted on my political gullibility to build a case that would make Engstrom so repugnant in the eyes of the public that you could use all your powers to destroy him. You had a lot of reasons. Even if we made the case, you knew Engstrom would never submit to the indignity of the court trial. You were facing a long, costly blockade. You had a Bible-spouting maniac who was in serious danger of making a fool of you, who scoffed at the presidency, and who was building support out in the hinterlands. I think you needed to show the whole militia movement that challenging the government’s power was a suicidal venture at the very least. And I think you knew that even if the whole thing went south, Marge Castaigne, James, and Simmons would take the gas pipe. Hell, if Stampler hadn’t put a bullet in me I would have gone down the tubes with them.” Vail leaned on his cane and struggled to his feet. “The irony of it all,” he said, before turning his back on the President of the United States, “is that Engstrom was praying for Armageddon and you answered his prayers.”
Jane Venable watched as Jack Connerman walked across the big lawn toward her husband and Magoo, who were sitting down by the lake. Vail stood slowly and shook the hand of the reporter who had chronicled his career since the days when he was a young defense attorney turning the law inside out and having prosecutors for lunch. She had no idea why Martin had invited the writer to lunch.
“How you feeling, Marty?” Connerman asked.
“I’m doing fine,” Vail answered. They walked along the lake’s edge.
“Looks like they’re putting the cabin back together,” Connerman said. He indicated the workmen who were busy sawing and hammering.
“I’ll be glad to have all those people out of our hair.” They walked a little farther, then Vail said, “I was thinking about zealots the other day.”
“Zealots?”
“Yeah. When two zealots face off, nobody wins,” Vail said. “One ends up a martyr and the other ends up riding off into the sunset. And all the people get out of it is the shitty end of the stick.”
“Interesting,” Connerman said.
“Well, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. I want to tell you a little story,” Vail said.
“About zealots?”
“About zealots and a lot of other things, too.”
“Is this off the record?” Connerman asked.
“Not on your life,” Vail answered. He began to talk. And as he spoke, as Connerman wrote, Martin Vail began to feel that perhaps his wounds would one day heal after all.
Two days later, on April 19, a Transcontinental 747 flying from Denver to Washington, D.C., exploded a few minutes after takeoff. Two hundred and thirty men, women, and children died in the crash.
Etched into the side of the black box in the wreckage were four numbers:
2-3-13
Table of Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Book One: Snakes
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
Book Two: Wild Pony
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
Book Three: Chaos
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
Book Four: Armageddon
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
EPILOGUE
Reign in Hell Page 47
