“We can get a position on him. Good thinking, Reis.”
Rick was flipping back through his notes. “Yeah, he has a cellular. As for whether or not it’s with him, I would presume he took it with him in the car, but I can’t say for sure.” He folded his notebook. “As for the number, I don’t have a clue.” He grinned. “But I’ll bet his wife does.”
Alex smiled back at him. “Yeah, I bet she does. Why don’t you and I go ask her, huh?”
“Good idea.”
“Um, could I just ask why it’s going to be you two?” Harnisch asked. “I mean, I know Ken wanted Alex and David down here, but I’m still not real sure as to why.”
Ken nodded. “Well, Rick and I, we played good cop,bad cop, and I think we played it well. Janet Brogan knows him and me, and knows he’s the good guy, so it should be easier for her to open up without me in the room. Then again, Alex is female, so she’ll be even less of a threat.” David laughed at that, and Ken grinned at him. “Theoretically, Dave, theoretically.”
Harnisch nodded. “Good thinking. Very good. You think you can ask questions nicely, Alex?”
“Sure. And if I don’t get the answers I want, then …”
“She’ll wait for Teren to get here, and have Teren ask nicely.” David smirked at his partner.
“Right. And who’s Teren?”
The four agents looked at each other, and David said, “Well, Teren is, um —” he stopped for a moment, then he, Alex and Ken finished the sentence.
“Hard to explain.”
Harnisch raised his eyebrows. “Right. Hard to explain.” He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.” He waved at them. “Get out of here.”
The four agents shared a grin and left.
*******************************************************
Teren pressed the buzzer on the mailbox marked with the name ‘Stuart Mouskevitz.’ A moment later the door buzzed back at her, and she entered the building. She took the elevator up to the fourth floor, and followed the directions she’d been given. She found 415 at the end of the hall, right next to a fire stairwell.
When she knocked, a voice called out, and she pushed the door open carefully. She found herself in a small foyer attached to a living room. Facing the window, was a young man typing on a keyboard. He didn’t even look up.
“Come on in. Close the door, would you?”
Teren did so, gently closing the door behind her. As she made her way further into the apartment, she noticed first its sparseness, and secondly, the owner obviously loved to read. Every wall had bookshelves that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and all of them were filled with books, or magazines, or pamphlets.The only exception was the area immediately in front of the window, where a table with the computer sat. Beside the computer, and scattered across sections of the table, the couch, and the armchair, were stacks of papers and journals. Teren took her time looking at the books, waiting for the young man to turn around.
When he did, he looked up at her and grinned. “So, you’re the spy Carl said he was sending to me. I’m Stu.” He offered his hand and she shook it.
“Teren. Nice to meet you.”
“Jeez, Carl said you were beautiful, but I thought he was just being nice.” The grin widened. “After all, the only beautiful women spies are in James Bond movies, and most of them are bad guys!”
Teren laughed with him. He invited her to sit, and moved a stack of papers off the armchair so she could do so. After looking around for another empty surface, he shrugged and put the stack on the floor next to a book shelf. He returned to his seat, and looked at her.
“Okay, what do you need to know?”
“Well, Carl said you could tell me a little about the leadership of the right wing.”
“What part of the right wing? I mean, are we talking far-right, near right, Republican right, religious right, patriot right —”
“Lets start with the religious right, and see where it leads us, okay?”
“Okay.” He got up. “Personally, I think it’ll lead us in a great big circle.”
“What do you mean?”
Stu scratched his head, as he looked among a group of folders in one of his many stacks. “Well, it’s kind of like one group leads to another, you know? Religious right, patriots, klan — ah, here we go.”
He pulled out a folder and handed it to her. It was labeled ‘Leadership Diagram.’ She opened it to find a folded sheet within. She unfolded the sheet to find a group of names, both of people and organizations, with arrows and lines and circles around and through them.
“Um, Stuart, can you explain this to me?”
“Only if you promise not to call me Stuart again.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s Stu, or guy, or jerk, but not Stuart.”
Teren looked at him, amused. “Fine.” She motioned to the diagram. “Care to interpret this for me, Stu?”
“Sure. It’s simple really. Look here. This is Stephen Radcliffe. You know him, right?”
“Yeah, leader of Christians Unite.”
“Right. But did you know he’s also on the board of directors for the Christian History Foundation?”
“No.”
“Okay, here’s the head of the History Foundation, Melvin Stevens. Now, he sits on the Board for Christians Unite, as well as the board for the Christian Men’s Front. Which brings us to Martin Richmond. Now, Richmond is the head of the CMF, and he’s also on the board of Christians Unite, and the Religious Families Association, whose leader is Jacob Dawkins. Dawkins is on the board of CMF, as well as being a board member, and a Fellow of the Christian History Foundation.”
“What’s a Fellow?”
“It’s a title they give people. It means he gave them a whole shitload of cash.”
“Gotcha.” Teren examined the sheet again, noting many of the titles and positions held by these men. A name caught her eye, and she pointed to it. “Who’s she?”
“Oh, yes, Ellen Maguire, Christian Women’s Forum. You know, she’s the one that said feminists are all witches and baby killers and dykes.”
“When was this?”
“A couple years ago. By the way, she also is a Fellow at the History Foundation, as well as being on the board of RFA, and the board of Rescue Missions International.”
“That’s the group that blockades abortion clinics, right?”
“Correct. It’s run by Harvey Richardson. He, get this, is on the board for CMF, RFA, and CU, as well as being a Fellow at?”
“The Christian History Foundation.”
“Correctamundo! You get a prize!”
“What’s that?”
“Another diagram.” He placed another document on top of the one she held. “Okay, here is Steven Radcliffe, right? And here is John Treville. Know him?”
Teren gritted her teeth and nodded.
“Okay. The two of them traveled together in Europe several months ago. Steven would appear at all these religious functions, since they were supposedly touring all the right wing Christian groups in Europe. Treville would be with him most of the time, but not all.” He pointed to the line from Treville to a capitol ‘N.’ “Treville was seen, and photographed, on the stand at a Nazi parade in Lithuania . The parade was in honor of Adolph Hitler. I can’t remember what it was about, maybe his birthday, or when he took power, or something. It really doesn’t matter what the reason was, these guys just love parades.”
Teren’s eyes narrowed. “Treville was photographed on the platform? What was he doing there?”
“Reviewing the troops. The guy’s a Nazi, right down to his goose stepping little toes.”
Teren took a minute and reviewed both papers Stu had shown her. “Okay, now can you tell me how anyone on here connects to Derek White?”
He snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding me. These people? They’re too self-righteous to admit any kind of connection to the far-right.”
“But the connections are there, aren’t they?”
Stu grinned. “You betcha.” He got up to get another file, and Teren slid her coat off thinking it was going to be a long morning.