He called the office to check in and let them know that he would be where they asked him to be. Then he dialed Natalie’s number, hoping to catch her before she left the office for the day. She answered.
“So, I guess we’re off for tonight?” Natalie said.
“Unfortunately, yes. I’ve got a busy day ahead tomorrow. Maybe I can catch a train to Washington this weekend.”
Natalie perked up.
“I like that idea. What did you have in mind?”
“Not sure yet, but I’ll think of something.”
“You always do — but it better be good.”
Flynn laughed and promised it would be. I have no idea what to do for fun in Washington. Who am I kidding?
He then collected his carry-on and exited the plane.
Suddenly, he felt his burner phone buzzing. Who could this be? The number was blocked.
He answered. “Hello?”
“Be careful what you do, Mr. Flynn. We’re watching you.”
The voice, the accent — Flynn recognized none of it.
“Who is this?”
The line went dead. He hoped it was a silly prank.
Flynn looked around to see if he noticed anyone suspicious. Suddenly, the entire airport appeared suspicious to him. He collected all his personal items and hurried toward ground transportation. He wanted to get out of there — and fast.
CHAPTER 16
Ivan enjoyed spooking Flynn. It wasn’t a game by any means, but the monotony of always being ahead of the people he sought to destroy, ruin, or embarrass grew old. Besides, he wasn’t just having fun. He really did have eyes on Flynn. From the moment his plane landed, Ivan began receiving updates with pictures every few minutes, detailing all his movements. Yet for the moment it was pure sport, anything to distract his mind from being tucked tightly into a corner of the rafters in the U.N. general assembly hall.
His phone buzzed again.
“How are our plans coming along?” asked the voice on the other end.
“Splendidly. You have nothing to worry about,” Ivan answered.
“Good. Let’s keep in that way. I’ll expect to hear from you tomorrow after you complete your task.”
“Don’t worry. It will be a good report.”
“Just in case you run into trouble, I wanted to let you know I’ve dispatched a team to give you some added leverage.”
“Excellent. And what might this leverage be?”
“I’ll send you a picture.”
The man hung up as Ivan awaited the image to appear on his phone.
Still careful to be quiet and discreet, Ivan chuckled to himself.
“ Ideal’nyy.” Perfect.
Everything was falling into place.
CHAPTER 17
When Flynn finally checked into the Wyndham Midtown 45 hotel just a couple blocks away from the U.N., he wondered if another coherent sentence would come out of his mouth the rest of the evening. In less than four days, he had gone from checking out a lead in Washington related to the JFK assassination to seeing footage of the elusive second gunman to receiving threats from an underground Russian extremist group he’d never heard of. It was moving too fast. He needed to stop and think. He needed a drink.
Meandering down to the hotel bar, Flynn hoped he could find a quiet table where he could mull the recent events. But there wasn’t one available. And at the bar, there was just one lone seat. He reluctantly sat down and ordered a beer. If he had one request, it was to be left alone.
The portly gentleman seated to his left dashed that dream when he recognized Flynn almost immediately.
“Hey! I know you! You’re James Flynn, aren’t you? That conspiracy theory guy on television,” he announced. The whole bar heard him.
As much as Flynn wanted to lie, he promised that he would never deny his identity to people in the public. They were lied to enough already.
“Busted. In the flesh,” Flynn responded, mustering up as much personality as possible.
“Yeah, I saw you last night talking about that lady who wrote a memoir claiming she was a spy in Germany while cleaning houses. I bet she wishes she made up another fake biography now.”
Flynn winced, remembering that he desecrated the woman’s vulnerability. It was for her own good, but he still regretted the fact that people like the large gentleman on his left would call her a liar for the rest of her life.
The man continued to babble on about something, but Flynn tuned him out, straining to hear the latest news report on the situation brewing in Russia over the missile sites being erected. Suddenly, Flynn realized what was happening. The picture became clear in light of all the recent events. He needed to call Osborne.
Flynn threw a ten spot on the bar and left his glass of beer half full. He remembered hearing his fellow patron protest and offer to buy him another round if he stayed for a few minutes. But Flynn ignored him. This is big. Osborne is going to thank me for this.
“Are you sitting down?” Flynn asked Osborne the moment he picked up.
“Flynn, what are you doing calling me at home?” Osborne responded, ignoring the question.
“I figured it out. I know what’s going on.”
Osborne decided to ignore the fact that Flynn contacted him at his personal residence. It was a breach of protocol at the very least.
“OK, I’ll humor you. What did you figure out?”
“Who was behind JFK’s assassination, why I’m being followed and why I think something big is going down tomorrow at the U.N.”
“Whoa, there, Flynn. Slow down. I know you’re good but you’re not that good.”
“Just hear me out — It’s got to be the Kuklovod. They’re behind it all.”
“Didn’t I tell you to drop doing whatever you were investigating so they’d leave you alone?”
“You did, right. But it’s too late now.”
“No, it’s not. Just stop chasing this story like a fool. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“If I reveal that they were the shadow organization that first initiated the assassination attempt against JFK, they’ll be exposed.”
“And how is saying their name out loud on national television going to stop them?”
“It won’t — but it will get every law enforcement agency looking for their operatives tomorrow.”
“Flynn, you don’t understand how these guys operate.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t think you do either.”
“What very limited information I have on them that I can share with you is that it’s a small group of individuals who like to influence world events for their own agenda. They are hard-line communists.”
“Exactly. Your description of them fits my theory, which is why I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why they would’ve wanted to kill JFK.”
“Please, dazzle me with your theory.”
“OK, quick history lesson. Think back to 1963. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia ran high. Russia was threatening to bring missiles to Cuba to help defend them against the U.S. JFK ordered a mission into Cuba to overthrow Castro that was severely botched. It told us one thing: JFK didn’t have the guts to launch a full-scale war. Those theories that the CIA wanted JFK dead because Lyndon Johnson was more likely to take U.S. troops into the Vietnam conflict — it makes sense.”
“I’m following you so far. What are you getting at?”
“There’s more. What happened after JFK was assassinated? Russian President Nikita Khruschev became erratic about how he wanted to handle defense. Some times he wanted to take a hard-line approach; other times he preferred diplomacy. But when he came out in the summer of 1964 and said he wanted to talk about reaching an arms treaty with the U.S., Khruschev’s own political party shuttled him out faster than he could say, ‘nuclear bomb.’”