COVERT WRITERS TAKEDOWN, Joe Bergeron [epub e ink reader .txt] 📗

flew by me. - I’ll get
him for you.”
Preparing to replace the brake light on his car,
Eddie Dalger rearranged his priorities following his
wife’s request to answer the call.
“Hello, Kathleen.”
“Hi Eddie - I need a favor.”
“Whatever I can do.”
“Eddie - I’m sure you remember the events
around my brother John’s death…”
“Yes…I do.”
“I’ve been doing some research with Michael,
and was wondering if we could get a copy of the video
footage the CBS crew shot at the scene. Do you know if
that’s possible? Do you know anyone at CBS that we
could get it from?”
“Well - first of all, I’m pretty sure they’d still
have it, and yes, a good friend of Ellen’s and mine is
Chief of Program Engineering there. If anyone could
place his hands on it, he could. Let me give him a call
at home, and I’ll call you back. Are you guys at the
hotel?”
“Yes, we’ll be here the rest of the evening.”
“OK, give me a little time. I’ll get back to you.”
“Thanks, Eddie.”
Arms folded across her chest, she crossed the
room stopping only after her thighs met the arm of the
overstuffed chair where he sat. 194
It was he who addressed her.
“Kay, the shit is going to start hitting the fan
tomorrow with Yankee Echo. Your father’s in trouble;
we have our backs up against the wall; three hundred of
our writers are going to think I’m weaving on this issue;
can you handle all of this?”
Leaning forward, and bending at the waist, she
put her face six inches from his, looked him square in
the eyes, and gave him a low, passionate response.
“I may kill someone before this is over.”
The thought wasn’t lost.
Tuesday, May 23, 9:31 p.m.
He’d put a blanket over her on the couch. She
was half asleep when the phone rang.
Courtney, writing a TAC he hoped would
convince what he believed to be half his writing team
that he wasn’t crazy, secured the communication device.
“Michael Courtney.”
“Michael - it’s Eddie. I have some information
for Kathleen.”
He glanced sideways at her.
“She’s resting, Eddie - what’s up?”
“I just got off the phone with a friend who
works at CBS. You can tell her that he’s certain the
tape is in their archives, and that he’ll go into their
library tomorrow and pull it out. He’s going to transfer
it to VCR format for you. I gave him your address at
the hotel. He said he’d Fed Express it to you.”
“We’ll be looking for it. What do you want me
to do with it when we’re done?”
“Get rid of it at JGM.”
“I understand. Eddie, thanks for all the help.”
“Keep in touch, Michael.”
Returning to the table, it’s surface covered with
papers - his thoughts were directed on several agendas.
195
‘What’s with Tollman and Cuba? How does
Griffin get his information? Where’s Bellcamp? Why
did Belize send two men to search Belcamp’s house?
Who’s Catalina working with besides Belize? Where
are they holding Pat? Catalina Salazar set up the
Tollman-Griffin interview. Where was that call coming
from when we picked up the Iraqi Generals - was it the
CIA, or NSA? Is our own government trying to squash
Cuban development - or just part of the government?
The President publicly declared he wants to invest.
Why doesn’t Benson just fire Tollman and put someone
more supportive in that position? The breachers have a
power base in their anonymity, and also with Pat as
their hostage. We have the writers…..THAT’S IT.
THAT’S PART OF IT. Without public support, they go
nowhere. They have no leverage in Congress, the
Senate, in the White House, or in Cuba.’
He massaged his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
‘They had to come to us for national exposure.
The only way they could have found us would have
been through Belcamp - but why would he betray us?
Money? That would probably cost a lot. Who has
money? Belize - he has the money. If Bellcamp
betrayed us - he must also have betrayed them too -
either that, or they eliminated him, and we’re covering
their tracks for them. They don’t just need a few
articles from us - they absolutely can’t succeed without
us. We’re too much a part of their plan. We have to
make this work for them…can’t split the writers, I have
to play the game their way. OK, their driving, but I’m
holding the road map - Law Thirty. I have to assume
Belize, Salazar and Bellcamp are the breachers for now.
So, how do I get the rest of them to identify themselves?
If the President wants this program so bad, maybe he’s
the guy I have to talk to. He’s the one who’s going to
feel the impact from the writers.’
196
“Michael?”
She startled him.
His sudden unexpected movement, in turn,
causing concern.
“Michael - are you OK?”
“I’m sorry - I was thinking.”
“What were you so engrossed with - not that
you don’t have a few things to think about.”
“I have to go see the President on this.”
Her witty reaction was typical of a personality
trait he hadn’t seen in her in what seemed like a very
long time. It was refreshing to see it again.
“OH, really! Shall I get a new dress? What
Law are you working this off of Professor?”
“Thirty.”
Her response was immediate.
“You’re going to make the President of The
United States conform to something?”
“He’s going to give me an answer either directly
or indirectly - or both. I don’t know if I can make him
conform. I need to know what he knows.”
He yawned.
“This is a very important time for him. If
Benson succeeds in Cuba, all of Central America will
fall in line with his plans. This could be an enormous
political coup for him, and it should be a piece of cake.
Why he’s giving Tollman so much control is beyond me,
but he has a reason.”
He stretched.
“If I confront him with the fact that someone’s
going to blow public support for his program out of the
water, he’ll have to do one of two things. Either talk to
me, or send someone to investigate me. If he sends the
CIA or the FBI, we’re in more trouble than we are right
now because that response will tell me he may be
connected with them in destroying his own plan - which
doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
197
He stretched again.
“If he agrees with me, it’s because he either
believes my story, or because he’s already aware of some
of the things I’ll tell him about in a letter I‘m going to
send him. He should find my letter preposterous, but
he should also send it on the proper authorities for
investigation. If he agrees to see me after he reads my
letter, without calling in any spooks, then he knows
something we don’t know, but maybe he’ll share it with
us.’
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Kay - the breachers can’t succeed without us,
but the President could. Simple logic tells us he can’t
be involved with them.”
“I would hope not.”
She sat on his lap, putting her arms around his
neck.
He continued.
“So - if he’s not one of them, and if he has
public support for his program, and Cuba should be a
cakewalk, then why keep Tollman? I can understand
part of his labor argument - but this Sino/Soviet crap is
full of holes. Benson could make his plan fly with ten
phone calls to the CEO’s of our largest industrials. Why
hasn’t he?”
“Maybe there’s something Santiago wants that
the President’s not willing to give him.”
“I doubt it. He’d give him Texas if he wanted it.
He has a hidden agenda, Kay. Think of Law Thirteen.
The President has two agendas going, and until he
completes one he can’t do the other. You and I both
know that even if we whack the hell out of his plan with
out writers, it would be just a matter of revising the
pattern later on, and all that public support would come
right back.”
Her hand was gently stroking through his hair.
It felt good
198
“He’s no fool, Kay. He understands, better than
anyone in the country, the power of the press. So, if I
tell him there’s an organization that can destroy his
Cuban Plan, and he doesn’t believe me, I could prove
our existence with the TAC’s we write.”
She continued stroking his hair.
“If he takes me seriously, but doesn’t try to stop
us, it confirms his second agenda, and also confirms
that for the time being, his second agenda is more
important to him than the Cuban one. His reaction to
my letter is going to give us answers, one way or
another.”
“How are you going to be sure he gets the
letter, and reads it.”
“Through Andy. I’m sure there’s a high-up
Navy guy who can get to see the President, and I’d bet
my last dollar he owes Andy a favor.”
“Michael - aren’t we taking a risk with Dad?”
“If I’m wrong about all of this, maybe. If I’m
right, no. It’s going to lead us to him. Kay, someone in
either the Central Intelligence Agency or the National
Security Agency has been calling us. I can’t believe
either one of them as branches of government would
want to destroy the President’s Plan. But someone
inside one of those agencies has set this up, or is a part
of it, and that scares the hell out of me. The only
person who has more resources than either one of those
organizations is the President, and I have to get to see
him.”
Tuesday, May 23, 8:35 a.m.
The soft green light blinked. Sitting alone, he
expected the call.
“Scotty - what do you have?”
“I checked the Puerto Rican and Panamanian
banks, Sir. Its all in order, one hundred fifty million in
American dollars.”
199
“What about Pat McKenzie?”
“We believe he’s alright for now. Can President
Santiago hold off his Vice President from getting control
of the military?”
“I think so.”
“Are you prepared for the Secretary’s meeting?
Do you have enough information to keep the Press at
arm’s length?”
“He’s a smart man, Scotty. He may be the
worst mistake I’ve ever made, but he’ll convince me to
postpone any serious calls to corporate America. If I get
pressure from the Press, I’m just going to sick them on
him. What’s going on at the NSA?”
“We’re not sure who Tollman’s man is, but he’s
had several contacts with Courtney. He’s been
instructed to write negatively against your Plan.
Wirtham told David Eisenberg it will begin in one to
two weeks, and continue to last eleven to fifteen weeks.”
“How many writers does he have on it? “
“Several hundred in various papers. They
could cause considerable damage to public support.
We’re lucky he doesn’t have the whole organization on
it.”
“We’re going to need to work fast, Scotty. Keep
me informed on Pat McKenzie.”
“I will, Mister President.”
Returning his phone to its cradle, Randall
Benson stood and looked beyond the Rose Garden to the
sky. He thought about the awesome power of the free
Press, and what could be done to a nation should that
power be concentrated in the wrong hands. He thought
it incredible that an organization such as Yankee Echo
could exist, but he also knew that there are men and
women in this world with both the ability and resources
to create and control such an organization.
200
While he’d never studied The Universal
Physical Laws, he was aware there were analysts who
used them all the time. And for those who practiced
them, there was