Chapter 47

McGowan wanted to squash Mary Louise like a bug. The eyeglasses she broke caused him incalculable damage and he had no replacement in sight. He wanted revenge.

People will wonder why I, the most powerful person in the world, needs to extract revenge on an old woman, so I will leave her alone for now. In the meantime, how can I get a new pair?

The police chief hadn’t apologized for arresting him, and didn’t seem like he would. He became another person to deal with.

The arrogant McGowan, in spite of being held in a jail cell, showed no common sense. He told the police that he wouldn’t want to be in their shoes when he was done with them. The police chief told him that he was going to add a charge of threatening a police officer to his list of infractions. That only got McGowan more riled up, and he became more abrasive and abusive. His attorney, having been in touch with the superior court judge for an expedited hearing, was in flight to Centerville. He was going through the motions of trying to come up with a defense, but McGowan’s verbal assaults were being broadcast by Miller’s station and posted to YouTube.

The attorney was but one actor in the drama known as McGowan’s life. His role was that of a talented lawyer with gravitas, one who refuted the prosecution’s case in a way that made the jurors wonder why McGowan’s cases ever went to trial.

But that was show. McGowan bought his way out of convictions by bribing the judges. This arrest, however, had the most serious charges ever brought against McGowan. The attorney thought that this might be the one that brought him down.

So this time, the attorney decided that the best he could do for McGowan was to get him bailed out and then come up with a defense, one that justified his enormous salary. Then he realized what a joke that was, and burst out laughing. McGowan was going to bribe this judge, too, and he, the attorney, wasn’t Perry Mason. He got out of his seat, poured himself a drink, and parked himself in the copilot’s seat next to the very attractive helicopter pilot.

Knowing from her relationship with McGowan that the attorney was a lecherous empty suit who hated flying in helicopters, she flashed her alluring smile and hit the flight controls in a way that caused the copter to pitch abruptly to the right. The attorney felt woozy and passed out. He didn’t awaken until they were on the ground. He woke up covered in puke.

Back on the ground, the attorney located the men’s room inside the police station and cleaned his clothes the best he could before he walked over to the cell and told McGowan to say nothing more.

“You stink,” McGowan told him.

The attorney ignored him and went to talk to the chief.

“Transport my client to the Superior Court.”

“Who’s your client?”

“Funny. I’m trying to get him out of your hair.”

“When I’m ready. I’m finishing the paperwork and I can’t stop people from interrupting me.”

“You’re killing me, chief. Do you have any idea how torqued he’ll be when he gets out of here?”

“It doesn’t take long to get a sense of his personality. If you weren’t undoubtedly making an obscene salary working for him, I’d feel for you. But every word we exchange delays me, and you. Go have a chat with your client and try to convince him to keep his mouth shut. I’ll be done when I’m done.”

The mouthpiece reluctantly went over to McGowan’s cell and unsurprisingly found him still ranting to the press. Before McGowan could call him ‘smelly’ or some other olfactory-based pejorative, he told the press that his client had nothing more to say. That wasn’t true because there was no stopping McGowan, but every time he tried to speak, the attorney drowned him out by saying “no comment” over and over. This went on for fifteen minutes. By then the police chief had finished the paperwork and told his men to move his cruiser into the garage, after which he ordered the building to be emptied of everyone not there on official police business. Finally, McGowan was put into the cruiser for the ride to the superior court. The attorney headed to his car to follow.

The police chief enjoyed being in the limelight.

Maybe the governor will be impressed by my handling of this situation and make me the state’s top cop.

State police cars surrounded his cruiser as they made their way to Brassville and the superior court building. The attorney was unable to follow; someone had let the air out of his tires. Mary Louise drove by him and waved. He nodded at the likely culprit.

Miller drove by and offered him a ride. He accepted.

Inside the cruiser, McGowan was, for the first time in an hour, silent. Being without the eyeglasses was a catastrophe. The quickest way to get a replacement was to take a pair that he was sure was at the National Institutes of Health. Sitting in the cruiser, he had no one to give that order to. He’d have to wait—not his forte.

Veck apprised President Strump of the adventures of McGowan; while he was better off than McGowan, he found no solace in that. The review of the films picked up nothing on Stone and Danders.

“I agree with the general’s assessment,” said Veck. “They’re heading to D.C. Let’s stop using our resources looking for places where we won’t find them and concentrate on where we will: their destination. Let’s put eyes on every employee of the, what’s it called, the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke? I don’t think Stone and Danders will drive up to the front door of the institute, but they might drive to one of its’ employee’s houses.”

The president once again had to admit that the logic of Veck was sound, meaning that his was not. He tried to mask his insecurity with a gruff,

“Yeah, get everyone doing that.”

Veck gave all the assets their new instructions and then excused himself and went to his office where he had a brief phone conversation with an old friend, Jon Stone.

Taking no chances on having their plans disclosed by listening devices used by McGowan or the president, Stone and Danders began using old analog cell phones with no SIM cards or GPS. No one was monitoring them.

“Gary, Ty Veck told me that the president’s resources are off the roads. They are being redeployed to watch over the employees at Neurological Disorders and Stroke to see if we contact anyone who works there.”

“Good. Maybe McGowan will do the same once he hears what the president has done. But I doubt it.”

“Me, too. Let’s make a change of plans and frustrate both of them. They expect us to be in the D.C. area later today. What if we each find a place where we can lay low for a while? The pressure of not finding us will cause them to lose precious time neither has.”

“And put the world at risk.”

“True, but it will make their lives more chaotic.”

“All right. I’ll get in touch with General Steele and have his team identify locations in our new destination area that we can use. It will take two days to set up two factories—you at one, me at the other. No sense letting them get us both at the same time.”

“Good thought.”

Stone wanted to spend time with Murphy; he called the general for that, as well as to find locations for factories.

“Murphy is safe?”

“As safe as any of us.”

“Good. Can you get her to my destination?”

“In two hours.”

“Same for Gary’s wife?”

“Three hours.”

“How about your wife?”

“Sooner or later we’ll be spotted. Neither McGowan nor the president will hesitate to use force to take you two, and to harm me. I don’t want her next to me when that happens.”

“Okay Rod, I understand.”

Stone had more confidence than Steele that he and Danders would remain undetected, especially with their friend Veck now the President’s Chief of Staff. Veck was loyal to them; nothing was going to change that, because that’s who Veck was, a true friend.