Fullwood slumped in his chair.
Senator Ferguson Luke Abercrombie hadn’t been in Washington for thirty-three years without learning a few bargaining skills. After Fullwood had a minute to dwell on his failed mission, the senator stoked the embers again, shaking his head this time. “I just don’t see how I could pull it off, Earl. I’d have to call in a few favors from some other senators to even have a chance, and that’s a mighty big price to pay. Been saving up those favors they owe me — you know how that goes. Pretty soon one of my big contributors will need a highway to his farm or a new airport close to his factory and the only way I’ll get it through Congress is by calling those favors due. Now if I use them all up to help you out with Warfield, you see where that leaves me.”
Fullwood, still staring at his shoes, nodded slightly that he understood.
After a minute of dead silence, Abercrombie appeared to have a new idea. “You know, Earl, I just thought of one possibility, but it’s slim. There’s this office building back home that, well, it belongs to one of my good constituents.”
Fullwood perked up.
“Don’t want to bore you with details. Let’s say my constituent relied on the income from the office building after his business got into some trouble. Now his tenant has moved out of the building and he’s looking at bankruptcy. I been wondering what I can do to help him out. His poor mother’s about to die and he has to stay home with her so much it’s affecting his ability to make a living. Now if the Bureau could use that space for a field office…”
Fullwood nodded. “Well, yeah, I see where you’re going, but one problem I see, Fuggason, is the GSA. You know how they look at everything.”
“Don’t worry about the General Services Administration. Fellow I know over there owes me a favor or two. Get your people to write up a requisition for office space in Taylorville and send it to me. Fifty-thousand square feet. Forty bucks a square foot a year.”
Fullwood looked worried. “Sounds a little risky, Fugga—”
“Treasury spills more than that on the way to the bank! Get me that requisition. Meantime, I’ll go to work on your problem.”
As soon as Fullwood left, Senator Abercrombie dialed his sister who handled his personal business back home in Taylorville. “Barb, it’s me.”
“What is it Ferguson Luke? I’m busy!”
“The Oak Street building? Got a tenant for it.”
“No jokes today, Ferguson Luke. I can’t laugh. You don’t have enough to pay your mortgages again this month.”
“No, Barb. This is real.”
“Listen, Ferguson Luke, I’ve about had it with your problems. By the time you get a lease written and rent coming in, the banks will own those dilapidated buildings of yours. There’s going to be foreclosures! They don’t give a damn anymore that you’re a senator. That held them off for awhile, but now it wouldn’t matter if you were Abe Lincoln. They want their money.”
The state had been in a recession for three years. Many businesses in Taylorville had layoffs and scaled down or closed their offices and plants, leaving a glut of vacant space and jobless workers. Senator Abercrombie, who had bought the four-story office building and various other real estate over the years, no longer had rent income from his properties to pay the taxes and mortgages and was sinking deeper in financial quicksand by the day. If it went on much longer, he’d have to sell his home in Taylorville and everyone in the state would hear he was broke. Then he would lose his Senate seat. His opponent in the next election would say to the voters that if Abercrombie couldn’t manage his own affairs, how could they trust him with the nation’s business?
“Listen, Barb. It’s as good as rented. All 50,000 feet.”
“I’ll believe it when I see the first rent check. How much?”
“Forty a foot. To the FBI.”
Barbara was silent for a moment. “You’re not serious. Best rent I’ve heard in this burg was ten a foot! The old Madison Building.”
“Yep. Two million bucks a year!”
There was silence again before Barbara chuckled, then laughed hard. That triggered the senator and he began laughing too, and for most of a minute both of them laughed and giggled without ever saying a word, pouring out the tension built up in each of them for so long.
“Congratulations,” Barbara said, regaining her composure. “God knows you need it, Ferg, and so do I. Too much pressure for me.”
They chatted for another minute before Abercrombie excused himself. “Gotta go, Barb. Little committee business I gotta take care of.”
CHAPTER 11
Ana Koronis was found guilty. If she were, what about Harvey Joplan? Warfield knew that was a question to which he might never know the answer even though the government made a compelling case against Ana Koronis. Nevertheless, the mole hunt that President Cross had assigned to him was over, at least for now, but undisputed was the fact that Boris Petrevich had moved nuclear material into Iraq at the Habur border crossing, and undiminished was Warfield’s determination to find him and the nuclear material before — he hoped — it was put to use. It wasn’t enough to identify and bring to justice any American involved: The unlimited potentially disastrous consequences of nuclear material in the hands of the wrong people remained. President Cross yielded to Warfield’s request to be allowed to execute the case to the end without interference from Fullwood but cautioned him about covering his tracks. There was only so much Cross could do to help if he went too far over the line.
Early the following Friday morning, the receptionist at Lone Elm told Warfield General Hendricks was there to see him. Bob Hendricks was the Pentagon advisor to Warfield regarding Lone Elm matters. They came up through the ranks together and both had come up for promotion to general at the same time. Warfield retired instead to take over Lone Elm and Hendricks was now a two-star and worked for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. It was a position that provided a lot of visibility of goings-on.
“Come on in Hendricks,” Warfield hollered to the outer room. “Must be raining on the golf course today.”
“Trying to be more like you — work all the time.”
“What’s up, Bobby?” They talked about nothing for a few minutes but Warfield could tell Hendricks had something on his mind.
Hendricks took a deep breath. “Senate Armed Services Committee, they’re gonna hold hearings about Lone Elm, Cam.”
“Lone Elm? You mean for Lone Elm only?” Lone Elm wasn’t up for funding this year, and even if it was, there wouldn’t be a separate hearing about it — unless there was a problem.
“That Senator Abercrombie’s going to say it’s about something else, but it’ll be about Lone Elm. I wanted you to know.”
Warfield looked into his friend’s eyes for the rest of the story. “Doesn’t sound good, Bobby.”
“It’s not.”
Warfield shook his head. “You sure about this? Abercrombie’s always been an ally. Last I heard, he praised Lone Elm from the Senate floor. Always fought to fund us, even in times when military budgets were going south.”
Hendricks nodded. “There’s something behind it, Cam, but I don’t know yet what it is. May not know until the hearings start. But you’ll know then as well as I do.”