Black Friday (or Black Market) - James Patterson [127]
Samantha Hawes spoke after Birnbaum. She had information about Hudson. She’d managed to retrieve some of the missing Vets files during the past few days.
“David Hudson was approached by at least one Committee member when he was still in the Army, while he was at Fort Bragg after Viet Nam,” she told the others. “General Lucas Thompson, his old commander, approached Hudson first Thompson knew everything about Hudson’s POW experiences. He knew about Hudson’s training at Fort Bragg, too. Army Intelligence had prepared Hudson to be their Juan Carlos. They backed off when Hudson lost his arm. Well, the Committee had plenty of uses for Hudson and his skills.
“… Another interesting note—Philip Berger of the CIA ran Hudson’s original commando training at Fort Bragg. Several Committee members have spoken at veteran affairs over the past few years. The connections are there, the manipulation is feasible.”
Carroll had read the missing FBI and Pentagon files which Hawes had brought with her. “Hudson was given a lot of help with Green Band. The help came in the form of Wall Street information, and tips about what we were doing inside Number 13. That’s why he was able to play so many cat-and-mouse games. He also had Pentagon files on all the candidates for Vets. Hudson chose men who’d served with him in Viet Nam. The Committee promised him millions as a reward.”
“Yes, only half the Vets are dead now,” Birnbaum spoke. “The rest are missing. Hudson is missing. Where is David Hudson now, I wonder?”
Caitlin had been quiet for most of the session. She had retrieved the necessary financial backup information. She Was still angry. She felt used by this Committee which believed it was above the government, above laws.
“We’re beginning to make progress,” Caitlin finally spoke in a quiet manner. “But we’re still faced with an overwhelming problem. Whom do we trust beyond the people here in this room? Do we take our information to the newspapers? Do we go to the FBI, Samantha? Whom can we tell this story to?”
There was silence in the room. They were all beginning to understand the power that was in the grasp of a select few. They were beginning to understand the real political system.
The question remaining was so simple, yet so impossibly complex—whom could they trust with the truth?
Chapter 100
FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-FOUR HOURS on December 22, the Carrolls lived in cramped quarters in the West Side hotel. They had no other choice to consider. Whom could they trust?
Late at night, Carroll and Caitlin stayed in the smaller of the two bedrooms. They lay in each other’s arms, passing the long, eerie hours. They were realistic enough to know that something nightmarish might still happen—that they might never be together like this again.
“Hudson said something on the rooftop in Brooklyn,” Carroll whispered as he stroked Caitlin’s hair. “He said that he loved his country. You know, I still feel that way. I almost feel closer to Hudson than to the others.”
Caitlin nodded.
Her eyes were stinging when she finally whispered to Carroll, “I feel so angry at whoever was deceiving all of us, at the ones who’ve lied and misled us all these years.”
When Caitlin and Carroll made love, it was more tender than it had ever been. They fell asleep holding each other, like children allowed to sleep together during a storm.
At six o’clock, Caitlin found that she couldn’t sleep anymore. She pushed herself up in bed.
When she switched on a tiny portable radio, Caitlin heard the last thing she wanted to hear in all the world. Caitlin heard the news that finally broke her heart.
“… adviser to several U.S. Presidents, Anton Birnbaum, was killed on Riverside Drive near his home in Manhattan early today. The elderly statesman was struck in late-night traffic by an unidentified hit-and-run driver … Birnbaum was eighty-three years old at the time of his death.”
Caitlin shook Carroll until he mumbled and finally blinked awake. In a voice that was racked by sobs, she began to tell him what had happened.