Part 35 (1/2)
Angela listened as the phone rang over and over. ”Dammit.” She ended the call, a wave of fear was.h.i.+ng over her.
”What's wrong?”
”I left Hunter with Liv Jefferson tonight,” she explained. ”There's no answer at her apartment.”
”Liv is the newspaper reporter?”
”Yes.”
”Well, she probably just turned the ring down because she didn't want Hunter to be awakened if someone called.”
That made sense. ”I hope so.” Angela checked the side mirror. The guards were behind them in a van. Also in the van were the two prisoners and several incriminating files she had directed the guards to take from the Sumter location. ”I don't even know what to call you now,” she murmured.
”Jake. It'll be refres.h.i.+ng to hear someone call me that again after so long. Especially you, Angela,” he said quietly, slipping his hand into hers and squeezing.
She glanced over at him. She wanted to squeeze his hand back. She wanted to let him know how she felt, but her mind was still reeling after learning his true ident.i.ty.
A few miles down the lonely road, Jake pulled to a stop at the entrance to a driveway. The driveway leading to the farmhouse the Lawrence camp was using as its base of operations near Richmond. Two armed men moved out of the shadows to intercept the Jeep, then waved them on when they saw Jake and he answered their query with the evening's pa.s.sword.
When they reached the house, Angela hopped out of the Jeep, trotting to keep up with Jake. He held open the farmhouse door, ushering her inside and directing her down a narrow hall and then into a quaint living room. As Angela rounded the corner into the living room, she stopped short and brought her hands to her mouth. Bob Dudley sat in a large chair near a fireplace, arms folded across his chest.
”h.e.l.lo, Ms. Day,” he said quietly.
Angela turned to run, but Jake caught her, immobilizing her. ”How could you do this to me?” she shouted, struggling to break free.
”Easy, Angela,” Jake urged. ”It's okay. Bob's on our side.”
She stopped struggling and looked up into his large brown eyes. ”What?”
Dudley rose from the chair. ”It's true, Angela. Carter Hill and the ExecCom members are responsible for what you found. I wasn't certain who was involved until you led Jake to that Sumter location.” He took a deep breath. ”Candidly, I wasn't really even sure what, if anything, was going on until tonight. But now I know. My bank has been engaging in some despicable practices,” he admitted dejectedly. ”It appears that the doc.u.ments you obtained tonight prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I'll need to review the information but, as difficult as it is for me to find out how dreadfully we have treated people, I'm glad to know that it will continue no longer. I owe you a large debt of grat.i.tude.”
Angela's arms dropped slowly to her sides as Jake relaxed his grip. ”You aren't involved?” she asked suspiciously, her eyes flickering back and forth between Jake and the Sumter chairman.
”No, I'm not,” Dudley said firmly.
”I've been working with Bob for months trying to figure out what, if anything, was going on,” Jake confirmed. ”And, if something was, how to uncover it.”
”But you're the chairman of the bank, Mr. Dudley,” Angela pointed out. ”Why didn't you just carry out your own investigation?”
He nodded. ”First, as I said, I didn't really know for sure anything actuallywas going on,” he explained. ”Six months ago I received an anonymous tip that Sumter Bank was engaging in discriminatory lending practices. And that a company named ESP Technologies was somehow involved. That was it. Though I still don't know for certain, I a.s.sumed the tip came from someone inside ESP. Or, based upon tonight's events, someone out at the South Side facility you and Jake penetrated.”
Angela spread her arms wide. ”But if you remotely suspected that something was wrong, even just on the basis of an anonymous tip, I still don't understand why you didn't carry out your own investigation.”
”I didn't know whom to trust,” Dudley replied. ”I had already turned the bank's day-to-day operation over to Carter Hill, and I had never really been close to the ExecCom members: Booker, Abbott, Thompson. And there's something you need to understand about being the chairman of an ent.i.ty as large as Sumter, Angela. You can't even use the men's room without the whole bank knowing. My every move is carefully monitored. My fear was that I would do as you suggested, commission my own investigation, and that the discriminatory practices, if they were really being employed, would be covered up by people I didn't know I couldn't trust. Or, that they would simply suspend those illegal operations until the storm blew over.” Dudley's expression turned grim. ”I also a.s.sumed that they would figure I had a deep throat, figure out who that deep throat was, and do something to that individual. As we now understand, these men are evil. For all I knew they would seek revenge on the whistle-blower. That was something I was not willing to take responsibility for.” He gestured at Jake. ”So, I contacted Jake Lawrence.”
”That's how you knew I had gone to Wyoming in the first place,” Angela whispered.
”Yes,” Dudley admitted.
”But why would you think Jake Lawrence would, orcould , help you?”
”Our families have known each other for a hundred and fifty years,” Jake explained, before Dudley could answer. ”Bob's one of my closest friends. However, because of the illusion my father created thirty years ago, we aren't able to communicate much. But Bob was one of the few individuals that my father confided in when he sent me underground.”
Angela could barely believe what she was hearing. ”Why did your father do that?”
”We were already very wealthy at the time. But my father realized early on that his computer investment with the Harvard nerd was going to take us to a wealth level usually attained only by oil sheikhs and dictators. I was the only child, and he wanted to make certain I lived.” Jake raised one eyebrow. ”As you now know, Jake Lawrence is a constant target. My decoy told me you were skeptical when he made that remark to you in the cabin, but it's true.”
She nodded. ”I do understand that now.”
”My father and I decided when I was young that I wasn't going to sit around with all of his money and do nothing. We decided, for better or worse, that I was going to take sides. That I was going to get involved. I've p.i.s.sed off an awful lot of people in the process, and supporters of mine have paid the ultimate price. But they knew what they were getting into, and I have no regrets. Behind the scenes we've made a difference in many corners of the world, and I'm proud of that. Sumter Bank is just the latest example. We're about to win an important battle in the war on racism. I'm not naive enough to think that we can ever wipe it out, but I need to do my part. We all do.”
”This is incredible,” she said, her voice hushed.
”I try to make a difference, Angela. I can't just sit idly by and let the bad things go on. I've been given the ability to help. I'm driven to do so. It's my pa.s.sion.”
”How rich are you?” she asked.
”Let's put it this way. When the world finds out what was going on at Sumter, the bank's stock price is going to take a hit. Probably a big hit. Even if it goes to zero and completely wipes out my investment, my financial advisors will barely notice.”
”Be more specific,” Angela pushed.
He smiled. ”As you might imagine, my net worth changes on a minute-by-minute basis. But, as near as I can tell, it's close to $500 billion.”
Angela gazed at Jake, astounded. ”My G.o.d.”
He nodded. ”A little intimidating, huh?”
”Yes.”
Jake chuckled. ”I just have to hope that the United States' budget deficit doesn't get too bad because they might send somebody to kill me.”
”Why?”
His eyes got big. ”Estate tax rates are more than 50 percent. Killing me would be a quick way for the Feds to get their hands on about two hundred and fifty billion.”
Dudley chuckled as Jake explained.
Angela smiled when she understood. ”But why did you need to buy such a huge stake in Sumter?”
”To make the illusion seem real,” Dudley answered for Jake. ”I suspected that Carter Hill would be involved if there was anything to the tip. So Carter couldn't think that Jake and I were working together.”
”So I kept buying Sumter shares to convince Carter that Bob really did hate me,” Jake added. ”To convince Carter that I might actually be secretly trying to take over the bank, and to put Bob out of a job. And to convince you, as well. You couldn't suspect the Jake Lawrence connection to Bob, either,” he said, his voice dropping. ”You had to believe everything was as advertised. Which was also why I instructed my decoy to make a pa.s.s at you in the cabin on the mountain. I needed Carter to believe that you hated me. Otherwise, he'd suspect thatyou and Jake Lawrence were working together.” Jake reached out and took Angela's hand. ”I'm sorry about that.”
She nodded, then shook her head, impressed. ”That's one h.e.l.l of a plan.”
”Yes,” Dudley piped up. ”Right down to me getting into that public spat with your reporter friend Liv Jefferson at the Richmond University business forum. Carter, or whoever was responsible, had to believe that I wouldn't have cared what they were doing anyway. I made Carter believe that I wouldn't be looking for the operation. I knew that if the tip was accurate, someone would be watching me.”
”But there was a memo.”
”A memo?” Dudley prompted.