The Road to Justice/Sins of the Son combo pack - A John Fowler Novel (John Fowler (Books 1 & 2)) (32 page)

“
I
’
m coming alone
,
David,
”
yelled John.  John slowly opened the door to the outer office and looked in.  He saw no one and slowly walked in.  After he stepped in he closed the door behind him. 
“
David, I
’
m in the outer office, by myself.  Please don
’
t shoot me.
”
 
John slowly walked to the inner office. 
“
David, I
’
m at the door, what would you like me to do?
”

“
Open the door, very slowly,
”
said David. 
“
I will kill her if you try anything.
”

“
David,
”
said John. 
“
You have nothing to worry about, I
’
m just gonna open the door.  I have only the camera in my hands, and there is no gun anywhere on me.
”
 
John opened the door very carefully
.  He slowly walked through.  He saw
a man with a gun pointed toward
the
f
irst
l
ady
’
s head.  John came in, and shut door behind him.  John laid the camera on the chair and stepped away from it.

“
What are you doing?
”
 
David asked.

“
I thought you might want to examine the camera and make sure it
’
s exactly what I said it was.
”
 
John held his hands up.  David chuckled.

“
I trust you
, s
ir.  I
f you do anything what-so-ever,
I
’
m simply going to put a bullet through the
fi
rst
l
ady here, understand?
”

“
I sure do
,
s
ir,
”
said John.   John slowly walked up to the camera, examined and flipped a switch on the back.  The red light came on.

“
Whoa,
”
said David. 
“
What is that light?
”

“
Sir, this building is very secure; I need to record everything on this camera.  The red light means it
’
s not transmitting but recording to the camera.  When this is all over
,
I take it to the network and the world finds out your story.
”

David looked upset. 
“
So you can
’
t transmit live?
”

“
No sir
,
I
’
m afraid you can
’
t,
”
John replied.  Lisa smiled, she knew she could say exactly what David wanted to hear, and it would never air.  The
S
ecret
S
ervice would take care of that.  David George would go to jail for murder and she would go on being
f
irst
l
ady.  The downside was John Fowler would be a hero and
Senator Cosby
would find a way to use that to his advantage, but her father already had a contingency plan in place for that.  It was going to be a great day.

“
Ok,
”
said David. 
“
What do you want me to do?
”

“
Boss, you
’
re the one with the gun,
”
said John. 
“
Last time I checked that meant you got to make all the rules.
”

David smiled and nodded. 
“
We
’
re going to get on just fine,
”
said David.

John looked back to make sure that the red light was on.  He saw Lisa smile when he fed her the line about the camera not being able to transmit.  Lisa would now tell the truth, which would keep David from killi
ng her, but would
also en
sure she would pay for what happened to Beth all those years ago.  Bro. Jim, this is for you.

Outside in the
N
ews
T
ruck

Pete was si
tting at his spot in the new
s
truck watching the feeds come in.  He stared at one monitor and could
n
’
t
believe what he was seeing.  He ran to the door and shouted out.

“
Sheila
!!
”
 
He yelled. 
“
Who has camera 6!?!
’

Trip had w
a
ndered outside of command central.  He didn
’
t trust John to do things by the book.  He knew that John had another agenda, and John would do whatever it took to get that done.  He hea
r
d Pete yelling from the news truck, and Trip knew where he could keep tabs on John.  He ran over as
Sheila
approached the truck.  Trip pulled out his FBI credentials.  Pete stood there like a statue.  Trip turned to
Sheila
.

“
Look, that is my agent in there,
”
began Trip. 
“
Actually he
’
s not an agent any longer, he
’
s just a consultant.  Either way, he
’
s my friend and I need to see what he
’
s up to.  It could be he
’
s
trying to send me a message, and if I can
’
t hear or see what
’
s going on, I won
’
t know how to help him.  I promise you I have no plans of shutting down anything.
”

Sheila
didn
’
t like it, but there was a lot of sense in what Trip said.  She wondered how John was going to pull all of this off by himself.  She motioned Pete out of the way and they both went inside.  Trip smiled when he saw the monitor.  John had gone live.  He was going to take down Lisa, or Veronica, or whatever the heck her name was.  He turned to
Sheila
.

“
Is this feed being broadcast out to the country right now?
”
Trip asked.

Sheila
was stunned. 
“
You
’
re telling me to broadcast this!?!
”

Trip shook his head no. 
“
I
’
m telling you I won
’
t shut it down.  You might want to bar that door if you decide to do it.
”

Sheila
turned to Pete, who took off.
He locked the door and began to
pile stuff in front of it
. 
Sheila
got on the phone and began talking.  Trip watched the TV broadcast on another monitor.  An anchor was on TV talking about the situation in the White House.  He looked confused for a split second and then Trip was watching Lisa, John, and the man he could only assume was David George.

“
Ok
,
John,
”
he said to no one. 
“
Bring this one home.  And make sure you bring yourself home alive.
”

John held the camera where David
’
s and Lisa
’
s face
s
were perfectly framed. 
“
Not bad
,
”
he thought. 

“
Anytime you
’
re ready
,
David, I
’
m sure Lisa is about ready to end all of this,
”
said John.

“
First of all,
”
began David. 
“
Her name is Veronica.  She came to my home town in Kentucky when I was a young boy.  She took an interest in me and my sister, Beth.  Our Mom was a drunk and we had no idea who our Dad was, or if we had the same father.  Beth took care of me like she was my Mom.
”

John had heard the majority of this story, but he wanted to make sure he got every bit of this broadcasted so people would know exactly who and what Lisa was.  David continued.

“
Anyway
.
Veronica here used to come around and do things with us.  She helped Beth in school
and
gave her hand-me-down clothes that were much better than anything we owned.  To tell you the truth
,
I didn
’
t think some of them had ever been worn.
”
 
Lisa scoffed.

“
They weren
’
t hand-me-downs you idiot,
”
Lisa said. 
“
They were new, or clothes I had never worn.  I swear you are still the trash I thought you were twenty-five years ago!!  You and your sister were, and still are, beneath me!!  Why did I ever try and help the two of you?  You both ruined my life!
”
 
Lisa gasped as the gun was being dug into her ribs.  John acted quickly.

“
David,
”
he warned. 
“
Don
’
t do it man.  You are getting exactly what you want out of her.  You want everyone to see exa
ctly who she is and what she
’
s
done to you and your sister.   You need to let her say whatever it is she
’
s going to say.
”

David nodded.  He relaxed his grip. 
“
I apologize
,
Veronica, f
eel free to say whatever you feel is appropriate.
”
 
Veronica shot David a death look.  

“
You really are an idiot,
”
said Veronica. 
“
You do realize that when this is over you will spend the rest of your life in prison.
”

“
I may,
”
replied David. 
“
But I will finally have justice for you murdering my sister just because you were afraid someone would think you were gay!  You won
’
t be the
f
irst
l
ady anymore, and there is nothing that you or your father can do to fix it!!
”

Lisa was furious. 
“
You have no proof of that!!
”
 
She exclaimed.  John felt he was about to lose control of the situation . . . if he ever had control to start with.

“
Lisa, calm down,
”
said John.  Lisa glared at him
.  W
as it because he didn
’
t refer to her as the
f
irst
l
ady or Mrs. Nichols?  John really didn
’
t care.  He really hoped she didn
’
t push his buttons too far or he was afraid he
’
d let David shoot her.

“
Lisa, why don
’
t you simply tell what happened in the cave that day.
”
 
Lisa nodded. 

“
I had gone to meet Jason Sparks that day,
”
Lisa began. 
“
You know, the Captain that was killed in Afghanistan?
”
 
John nodded. 
“
The one that just happened to run into David over there and end
ed
up dead?
”
 
She asked the question accusingly at David.  John started to get a sinking feeling in his gut that Lisa was doing something she hadn
’
t planned on.  David had never responded to any of Lisa
’
s accusations, but worse than that, there was no actual proof of David killing anyone.  Lisa was actually starting the basis for an insanity defense.  A lawyer could say that David saw Jason killed in Afghanistan and it triggered all of his memories or some craziness like that.  John thought about stopping her, but decided against it.  Lisa continued.