Part 37 (1/2)
Chapter Twenty.
From the transcript at trial: Commonwealth of Virginia v. Alvin Scheer DIRECT EXAMINATION, CONTINUEDBY MR. STENNINGS:.
Q. So, Alvin, were you taken by surprise when things turned around so fast?
A. Oh, yes, sir, Mr. Stennings. I never thought for a second that the whole...well, nearly the whole, I reckon... of the military would turn on Was.h.i.+ngton the way they did.
Q. And you saw your chance then, exactly when, Alvin?
A. Well...with them soldiers in the blue dress uniforms guarding Was.h.i.+ngton, I was no better off than I was before...not so far as getting close to my target went, anyhow. But I heard that all the governors were getting together in Virginia Beach and I figured, under the circ.u.mstances, that eventually the President would have to go there too. So I packed my bag and my rifle and I headed south....
Was.h.i.+ngton, DC
A cynic might have scoffed at smoke-filled back rooms. The cynic would, of course, have been years-decades-out of date. There was no smoke.
Other than that, though, the back room was much the same. In it a.s.sembled the real movers and shakers on the national political scene. One party's worth, anyway.
”Ladies and gentlemen,” began Carroll, ”our fortunes have definitely headed south.”
”Is there no hope then, James?” asked the party chairman.
”None with Willi, no, sir. She's burned more bridges than the Texans blew up. Worse, she tied a whole bunch of the rest of us to railings on those bridges and...man...I tell you...the fire's gettin' hot.”
The chairman lifted an eyebrow, inquisitorially. ”All of us?”
”Yes, sir. I mean, we know her close confidants are going down. Vega...well, h.e.l.l...the whole Cabinet. Maybe that c.u.n.t McCreavy might have gotten out in time. And don't think for a minute McCreavy won't be testifyin' against us, too. The rest'll be singin' like birds inside half a month.”
”Willi can't control them, then?”
Carroll shook his head emphatically. ”No way. She's going to be spillin' her guts, too...and likely it won't take her as long. She's a lot smarter than most; more ruthless, too.”
”Does she know about this meeting, James?” asked one of the two women present.
”Ma'am, I don't think so. She's, for the minute, in such a blue funk about everything that's happened that I don't think she's listenin' to much of anybody about much of anything.”
”Useless, then...or harmful.”
”Harmful is the only way to read it, Mr. Chairman,” piped in Walter Madison Howe, Rottemeyer's always-kept-in-the-background Vice-President.
Sadly, reluctantly, the chairman nodded his head. Looking around the room's important occupants he saw...some regret, yes. But little opposition; none, in fact.
The chairman looked pointedly at Howe. ”Can you handle your responsibilities to the party, Walter? Rebuild everything we've lost or are about to lose? I know it will be hard, very hard.”
Howe exhaled. ”I can set us on the right road, sir. But rebuilding seventy years of effort? And that was seventy years in a world already more or less under our thumbs? We'd be doing well if we did it in forty. And that's a big 'if.' That miserable Seguin woman is going to be an awful impediment to our purposes as well.”
The group discussed Juanita, Willi, a host of problems-Republican, Democrat and Independent-before reaching any firm conclusion.
Again nodding the dignified old head, the chairman turned to Carroll. ”Can you fix the problem for us, James?”
”I've already taken the liberty, sir....”
Houston, Texas After so long without it, liberty felt strange to the senses of Jose Bernoulli. Indeed, based on the shocked, stunned expressions on half the faces emerging into liberty's light, Bernoulli was by no means alone.
Not that the sight of liberty, confronting people emerging at last from a long dark, was so very pleasing. That sight, in this case, in this city, was as often as not one of wrecked and burned cars, trashed buildings, and bloodstains.
At least they've taken the bodies down from the lampposts, thought Bernoulli.
Underneath a nearby lamppost, under guard by the engineer's platoon, some dozens of former federal agents labored at cleaning up the mess, shoveling broken gla.s.s, prepping wrecked automobiles for towing...cleaning up unsightly stains.
”G.o.d in Heaven,” muttered the short Tejano, ”I hope we never have to do anything like this again.”
Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia ”Please don't ask me to do anything like this again, Juani,” pleaded Jack as he walked by her side down the long aisle between cheering-and a few scowling-attendees at the convention.
It was the off season; hotel s.p.a.ce was plentiful, the convention center unbooked. Transportation by air and ground was easy. Moreover, the U.S. Army's own ”Transportation Center,” at Fort Eustis, was nearby to a.s.sist and coordinate, as was Oceana Naval Air Station and Norfolk Navy Base. And, given how much the Armed Forces were looking forward to the expected changes from the convention, that support was cordial indeed.
And Virginia Beach was a great place for a convention, in any case. Though off season, the weather was unseasonably warm. The area reeked of history, of sights to be seen and restaurants to be sampled.
It was a place and time of the greatest excitement.
It was also bedlam, nothing less. Schmidt followed Juanita through the ma.s.s of cheering...cheering what? Nuts Nuts, was Schmidt's opinion. And, though he tried to hide it from everyone, Juanita knew that opinion, even shared it to a degree.
A quick glance confirmed Juani's suspicions. ”Smile, G.o.ddamit, Jack. You're the man of the hour. Act like a politician for once in your life, will you? It won't kill you, you know.”
Schmidt nodded, forced a smile to his face and then leaned over to whisper in Juani's ear, ”These people are insane, Governor.”
Juani s.h.i.+fted her eyes, glancing quickly at a bearded man in a confederate uniform with a pole bearing the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia grasped tightly in his hands. The man wore gray clothes with a double set of bra.s.s b.u.t.tons topped by a broad brimmed gray felt hat.
She smiled, warmly, and tore her widened eyes away. ”I know, Jack, but what can you do?”