No Place to Hide by Steven M. Roth

Author:Steven M. Roth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Press
Published: 2018-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

CHAPTER 51

I met again with the secretary of defense. Unlike the previous time, I had no problem setting up this meeting.

We sat on adjoining short couches that were arranged perpendicular to one another.

“My problems have intensified since our last meeting,” I said. “Why shouldn’t I believe you and the president are behind them, rather than some other, as yet unidentified, person or other group like you suggested before?”

The secretary made a dismissive hand gesture in response to my question.

“You should believe it because we’re not behind it, that’s why.” He shook his head slowly as if frustrated that I would not take his word at face value.

“I’ve said it before. We have nothing to gain by harassing you, but much to lose if we do. We’d likely provoke you or your backup insurance policy into taking action against us if we were to go after you.”

He paused, as if waiting for me to respond, to acknowledge the unassailable logic of his statement.

I silently acknowledged that logic, nodded once as my throwaway to him, but said nothing. The underlying assumption of his statement was that he and the president would act rationally. I wasn’t ready to concede that. Desperate or angry people do not always act in their own best self-interest.

I could easily see the president acting irrationally as his second term approached. If I were him, I’d think hard about cleaning up his mess while I still had the power to do so.

“If it was us,” the secretary continued, “it would only make sense if we could first eliminate your backup insurance policy, then go after you. Otherwise, we’d be setting ourselves up for an inevitable hard fall. That is not how you’ve described it to me.” He stared into my eyes, not blinking or looking away.

I shrugged and stared back.

The secretary rubbed his palms together like a carnival barker. He grinned wolfishly.

“I can tell you this much, Mr. Austin. If we were to go after you, it wouldn’t be by destroying your credit or by putting your mortgage into default. That would merely make your life miserable.” He paused, then added, “And it would not be by setting you up for murders you didn’t commit.”

He paused again, as if taking my measure. He looked hard at me, nodding now. His eyes became slits.

“No, if we were to go after you, we first would eliminate your backup protection, then permanently eliminate you and your wife. We’d play hardball with you and would get it done.”

I didn’t want to concede anything to the secretary, but what he said made perfect sense. That is, if you assumed he spoke for the president, too, that he was able to control the president, and that the president had not gone off on his own.

Those were too many assumptions for my comfort, but I saw the sense in possibly playing ball with him. I’d feel him out to see where he would take this.

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll buy that for now, but I still have to deal with my problems, whatever their source.

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