Full Black - Brad Thor [22]
“So what you’re saying,” replied Ralston, “is that they used the money to buy influence.”
“Not only to buy influence,” the producer continued, “but to develop and push entire agendas. It was like having a tray of financial syringes. Any cause that met their radical agenda received huge injections of cash. Any causes that ran counter to their agenda received huge injections of poison and found themselves beset by opposition groups with bottomless wells of support. They used their money to cozy up to politicians, influence public policy, and elect their own candidates.”
“But how could they get away with that?” asked Ralston. “How would nobody raise a fuss or try to expose them?”
Salomon shook his head. “This isn’t just a mountain of hush money we’re talking about, it’s a whole range of mountains. This kind of power and influence can purchase a lot of silence.”
“And their boards just rubber-stamp anything they do?”
“They don’t need a rubber stamp,” replied the producer, “when the boards have all been stacked with members who see the world through exactly the same prism. If the people who had started many of these foundations were alive today, they’d be stunned to discover what was going on.”
Ralston didn’t doubt it, but so what? “The more you talk, Larry, the less I think this has anything to do with your documentary. I think we ought to be looking at other possibilities.”
“You’re wrong,” replied Salomon.
“Am I?” asked Ralston. “So lots of foundations and endowments have drifted from their original intent. Big deal. Your documentary might bring some unwanted attention to some in that industry, but as long as they’re not breaking any laws, I don’t see how anybody is really going to care.”
“That’s what I thought, too, until I saw what Chip and Jeremy had begun to dig up.”
“Which was what?”
“The foundations and the endowments need to make a return on their principal, so they invest in different vehicles. Often times, those vehicles are hedge funds. We discovered that a small group, the most radical, invested with one hedge fund in particular. It’s called the Standing Fund and is managed by James Standing.”
“The billionaire?”
“The vehemently anti-American billionaire,” Salomon clarified.
“So what?”
“So we discovered that there were some things even the most radical foundations and endowments were afraid to be tied to. What they weren’t afraid to do, though, was to use Standing as a cutout. Each of them agreed to allow Standing to retain part of their investment return in order to fund something they referred to as Project Green Ramp.”
“And what’s Project Green Ramp?”
Salomon looked Ralston directly in the eyes and stated, “An intricate plan to completely collapse the United States of America.”
CHAPTER 12
SWEDEN
Harvath was on his way out of the farmhouse with a blanket and a bottle of water, when his cell phone rang. “Go ahead,” he said, answering the call and setting the items down.
“We’ve got a fix on the mobile phone Phoenix Three contacted from the accident site,” said Reed Carlton. Phoenix Three was the code name that had been given to Sean Chase for the operation. Harvath was Phoenix One and Riley Turner was Phoenix Two.
“We’ve got an address?” asked Harvath.
“That’s affirmative,” said the old man. “I’ll pass it off to you on the back channel.”
The back channel was a reference to the secure network the Carlton Group used to communicate and pass information to each other.
“Roger that,” said Harvath.
Using the code name they had created for Mansoor, based on his initials, the old man asked, “Any progress with Massachusetts?”
“Not yet,” replied Harvath, “but I think he’ll be warming up