Читать книгу Nathaniel's Chorus - Gary Lightfoot - Страница 7

Day two of the Senate Committee hearing on International Terrorism was postponed until the afternoon, due to a special closed session called by the Chairman. The cameras have now been on for five minutes waiting for the Committee members to assemble. Noticeably absent is the Senate Committee Chairman, the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch. Late as well are Senator James Bernard and Senator Cindy Aaronson. Sitting at the table in front of the partial Committee members are freshman Senator Nathaniel Foot and his close friend and lawyer, Jeff Alexander. Access to the hearing is again limited to a select group of media. Their cameras are trained on Nathaniel as he pulls a coin from his pocket. A hush descends on the room.

The hall now echoes as Nathaniel begins anew to “tap” on the base of the microphone in front of him and “squeak” in his chair.

“Nathaniel,” Jeff warns him, “hurry, someone’s behind us.”

A hand reaches from behind Nathaniel and places a frosty cold can of “Coke” on the table next to Nathaniel’s microphone,

“Your order sir.”

Nathaniel turns to see whom the hand is connected to; it’s the Chairman’s aide. The aide nods and begins to walk away. Nathaniel takes a sip of the icy cold Coke and says, “Ah, thanks, Cliff.”

Cliff is caught off guard and stumbles as he looks back at Nathaniel,

“What did you say?”

“I said, thanks for the Coke.” Nathaniel hesitates until the aide turns to walk away and then he says, “Cliff”

Cliff comes back to the table and bends down as if he dropped something next to it, as he does he whispers to Nathaniel, “you know me?”

Nathaniel makes eye contact, nods, and then looks away.

Cliff breathes deeply, as he exhales he says, “Branch has your brothers’ files.”

Nathaniel, not looking up at Cliff, acknowledges him, “Thanks for the Intel.”

Cliff continues to walk away from the table and goes toward the side door, where he opens it and holds the door for Chairman Branch and Senators Bernard and Aaronson. The three Senators take their places as the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch gavels the session to come to order.

Φ Π Ψ

Sitting on the couch in Footboards, in Long Beach, are Nathan and Neil who are watching the live feed on CSPAN.

Nathan calls to his wife, “Nancy, Branch is starting the hearing! Hurry, did you find Jeff’s phone number?”

Nancy comes trotting into the room while pressing numbers on the phone. As she hands the phone to Nathan she says, “Here you go honey, it’s ringing.”

Φ Π Ψ

Chairman Branch waves his hand to quiet the media who started to move after catching the entrance of the three Senators.

“Quiet please, quiet!”

The sound of a small boy making the sound of a racecar breaks the silence,

“ringa, ding, ding, ding . . . ringggggggg, a-ding, ding, ding, ding, ring, ring-ring!”

Jeff at first ignores the sound then he tries to discreetly silence his phone.

The media in attendance begin to chuckle, and then laughter breaks out as Jeff raises his hand. Chairman Branch, not amused, reprimands Jeff.

“This is not second grade counselor Alexander, do you have something to say?”

“I’m sorry sir, it’s my phone.”

“Well do you need permission to answer it?”

“No sir, I was going to ask permission to take this call outside.”

“Oh, by all means, please counselor Alexander, we will be more than glad to wait for you.” Chairman Branch, proud of his insult toward Jeff, sits back and grins.

“Begging your pardon sir, but I believe, we were waiting for you.”

Chairman Branch, now visibly angry begins to speak, but is stopped when Nathaniel interrupts him,

“What my friend meant to say is that you don’t have to wait on us, you can continue your inquest anytime you think you’re ready.”

Reverend Branch now boils over and blurts back at Nathaniel and Jeff as his southern drawl becomes less rehearsed,

“Now just you wait one second boy! I want y’all to know that this here examination is no joke. You two just might find yourselves running down the wrong trail. Hell boys, finding a way out of this, just might be harder than finding teeth on a hen!”

Senator Aaronson attempts to stop Reverend Branch’s sermon,

“Senator Branch, I for one could use a short break, I ah, I forgot something in my office.”

Senator Branch composes himself and officially grants a 5-minute break.

Nathaniel tells Jeff that he’s going to the bathroom; Jeff remains in the hall and answers his phone while sitting at the table.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Hey Jeff, it’s Nathan. Man dude, I didn’t think this call was going to cause such a major drama out there. The whole thing was caught on CSPAN.”

“That’s okay Junior, how you guys doing?”

“We’re doing fine. Listen, we can’t get in touch with Nathaniel, we’ve tried all his phones and get busy signals.”

“How ‘bout mine?”

Nathan laughs, “Jeff, we’re talking on your phone now.”

“Oh yeah.” Jeff says embarrassedly, “I can’t do cloak and dagger stuff.”

“Listen Jeff, we recognized the Chairman’s aide, his name is Cliff Cortez.”

“I already know that, Nathaniel told me yesterday.”

“What? How would he know him?”

Jeff looks around to see if anyone is close enough to hear him, he then whispers into the phone. “Watch Nate, listen to what he says.”

“What did you say?”

“Got to go.”

As Nathan and Neil watch CSPAN, they see Jeff close his phone.

Neil looks over at Nathan, “What did he say?”

“He said he had to go.”

“No bro, what did he say before that?”

Nathan gets up from the couch and walks across the room,

“He said to watch Nate, listen to what he says.”

“Now just what the heck does that mean?”

Nathan begins to walk around the room and look at the pictures on the wall, pictures of former military days. As he walks he begins to think out loud.

“Watch Nate, listen to what he says. Not listen to Nate, but watch Nate.”

Neil begins to think like Nathan, “I don’t know Junior, do you think it’s some kind of code?”

“Yep, I sure do.”

Nathan calls out for his wife again, “Honey, do you know where our old family phonebook is? We’re going to need help on this.”

Nancy comes walking into the room with the phonebook,

“What numbers do you need?”

“I’m going to call the guys from the service we knew.”

Neil opens up his bag that he brought from Mexico, “I’ve got a list I started a couple of years ago. I put it on a thumb drive.”

Neil finds the thumb drive and hands it to Nathan.

Nathan inserts it into his computer and opens the file. He begins sorting them out and putting them into a program he wrote to automatically compare the numbers listed with current listings in the United States. As he initiates the program he says to Neil, “Have you kept in touch with anybody from team Tiger?”

“Yep, I talk to Chris Thomas pretty regular, at least twice a month.”

“What’s he doing now?” Nathan asks while watching the computer screen.

“He flies for an airline full time and helps his wife, Asela, run a flight school out of Long Beach Airport.”

Nathan searches the database for Chris’s phone number, “Why don’t you call and see if he’s in town.”

Neil pulls his cell phone out and keys the number in, after a few rings, Asela answers,

“Hello, C & A Aviation, where would you like to fly today?”

“Hey Asela, this is Neil, how you guys doing?”

“We’re doing great Neil, are you in town?”

“I’m over at Junior’s, we were wondering if Chris was home.”

“No I’m sorry, he’s not right now, but he should be landing soon. I was just walking out the door. He’s finishing a 4 day trip this morning, I’m supposed to pick him up in about an hour at LAX.”

“Say Asela, would you mind if Junior and I pick him up?”

“No, not at all. You guys want to come over for lunch?”

“No thanks, but we might swing by and let Chris change clothes.”

Neil finishes his conversation with Asela as Nathan is working the computer program searching records nationwide. Nathan rolls his chair back from the computer and says, “Tell you what, let’s go get a doughnut and a cup of coffee, I’ve got to think.”

Φ Π Ψ

Standing at the urinal in the men’s room, just outside of the Intelligence Committee hearing room, Nathaniel hears a voice come from the man standing at the urinal beside him.

“Cindy Aaronson wants to talk to you.”

Nathaniel glances over to see who was talking to him; it’s the Chairman’s aide, Cliff Cortez.

“What about?”

“She’s got second thoughts.”

As other Senators walk into the bathroom, Nathaniel zips and flushes then says,

“We’ll get back with you on that.”

Nathaniel exits the Senator’s bathroom and is confronted by Senator Cindy Aaronson. She begins to speak as she looks over her shoulder.

“Nathaniel, I need to talk to you.”

Before Nathaniel can utter a sound, he’s interrupted.

“Well Senator Aaronson, I do declare!” It’s Branch who has followed her from her office a few paces behind. Several media cameramen anticipate the ensuing confrontation and train their cameras on them. Senator Aaronson completes her turn around and is bombarded by several TV news reporters who begin asking her questions, all at the same time.

“Senator Aaronson, Senator Aaronson, what are we to make of your meeting in the hallway with Senator Foot, are you about to offer a deal for testimony?”

Senator Branch intervenes and steps in front of the cameras.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of our most esteemed media, we will have prepared comments at the conclusion of today’s afternoon session.”

One female reporter from FOX News, an attractive blonde, aggressively moves forward and steps between Branch and Senator Aaronson,

“Senator Aaronson, ma’am, I understand that a new video from the terrorist organization known as the tri-P has surfaced; what is your comment on this and will it effect the current hearing that seems to be wrongly focused on Senator Foot?”

Senator Aaronson looks past the reporter to see what Senator Branch’s reaction to the question is. Fortunately, a reporter from MSNBC who has asked Senator Branch if he is considering running for President in the upcoming election distracts Branch. Senator Aaronson reaches out for the reporter’s free left hand,

“Shea is it?”

The startled reporter attempts to pull her hand back. She is new to the Washington Bureau having recently been transferred from “FOX Mexico” where she had been covering the Mexican drug cartel. She flew in from Los Angeles early this morning on the “red-eye” and is shocked that someone from the Washington elite would know her.

“Yes ma’am, my name is Shea Noble. I must say I’m a little surprised that you know my name.”

Senator Aaronson tightens her grip on Shea’s hand, now holding onto her with both hands.

“Shea, I’m Cindy.”

“Okay, Cindy, do you have any thing to say, regarding my question?”

“Shea, we, I mean, I . . .”

Senator Jeremiah Branch reaches in and breaks the hold Cindy had on Shea. He then grabs Shea in the crook of her right arm that is holding the microphone, pulling the microphone away from Cindy. Shea instinctively reaches with her left hand and takes his thumb, bending it backwards, causing Branch to let go of her arm. No one notices her move except Cindy. Branch however, starts to draw his hand back as if to strike Shea. Senator Aaronson stops him by pushing Shea aside,

“Jeremiah, I believe that the session is about to start don’t ya-know, and we are about to be late, again.”

Branch gathers himself but before he turns away from Shea he says,

“Young lady, I don’t know who you think you are, but let me tell you a thing or two.”

Shea thrusts her microphone into the Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch’s face and says,

“Shea Noble, FOX News, I’m sorry sir, what were you saying?”

Senator Branch becomes aware that now all cameras are on him and the young attractive reporter from FOX News,

“As I said previously, I, or we,” Branch now holding Cindy in the same painful way he had just been holding Shea, “will have prepared comments at the conclusion of today’s afternoon session.”

As Senator Branch and Senator Aaronson walk away, Shea turns to try and interview Senator Nathaniel Foot.

“Where did he go?” Shea asks her cameraman, “He was just standing right there!”

Φ Π Ψ

Sitting at the table again are Nathaniel and his friend and lawyer Jeff Alexander. Missing again are Senators Branch, Aaronson and Senatorial aide Cliff Cortez. Nathaniel turns to Jeff and says,

“Didn’t we just do this?”

“Ah, yeah.” Jeff answers but continues writing notes on his pad.

“Jeff?”

“Ah, yeah?” Jeff jumps when Nathaniel touches his arm.

“Hey man, relax.” Nathaniel says as he wraps his arm around Jeff’s shoulder.

“Nathaniel, I’m trying, I’m not like you and your brothers.”

“My brothers? Did they called? What did they say?”

“Well it was your brother Nathan, he said that they recognized Branch’s aide, that his name was Cliff Cortez.”

Nathaniel grins at Jeff, “That’s what I told you last night.”

“I know!” Jeff turns his note pad over to reveal the notes he took from last night’s conversation, displaying the phrase that he was to tell the brothers, “and I read this to them exactly as you said.”

As the Chairman and the two other missing Senators walk into the chamber, Nathaniel leans over close to Jeff,

“I saw Shea Noble in the hallway.”

“No way! She’s so hot!”

Noticing that they were drawing the attention of Chairman Branch, Nathaniel whispers to Jeff, “Watch it Jeff, I think she might already be taken.”

Senator Jeremiah Branch begins the afternoon session in the most rehearsed southern gentleman’s drawl he can muster,

“Lady’s and Gentleman, fellow Senators, and distinguished members of the media, I would like to begin this here session, by having our young Senator Foot provide for us some illumination on questionable affiliations of Senator Foot and his family members. I will then turn our attentions to significant holes in the recorded historical documents that will show that Senator Foot has not been forth coming in providing for us ALL of his documents nor aptly account for his whereabouts for long stretches of time.”

Jeff puts his pen down and sits back in his chair while Senator Branch concludes his introductory monolog by hinting that the list of accusations against Nathaniel most likely will be evolving.

“Let me just say that once the facts, all the facts, are exposed to the light of day, Senator Foot will be shown to not be who he says he is.”

Jeff stands up to halt the Chairman’s colloquy,

“Senator Branch, I must protest your accusation of Senator Foot’s character being anything other than a respectable member of the United States Senate.”

Chairman Branch ignores Jeff’s attempt and continues unabated,

“Senator Foot, elements of your brother’s military record bear some explaining as well.”

Nathaniel now joins his counselor, standing in defiance to Branch’s accusations,

“Chairman Branch, my family has proudly served the United States in every war she has ever fought. To imply that my family is unpatriotic is an attack against everything that I am.”

Chairman Branch now grins at the thought that he has in some way “gotten” to Nathaniel,

“Senator Foot, I do believe that we haven’t seen this violent side of you before. Is this now some indication that you might truly be a different person than what you have portrayed?”

Senator Foot calmly answers and makes his stand,

“Chairman Branch and to the Committee as a whole, I will not answer any question you may have pertaining to my family nor directly any question that has anything to do with my brothers’ service to this nation. Nor do I intend to defend my personal allegiance and my own patriotism that I have to this nation. As for any information that you might fancy knowing about my brothers; I’m sure that you will be able to read it in their secure files that you now have in your possession. As for myself, I will let my own record speak for itself.”

Chairman Branch looks to the Senators on either side of him, Senator Aaronson on his left and Senator Bernard on his right. A few tense moments pass. Branch collects himself, glances down onto the folders that are before him and taps his fingers upon the brother’s files. He then says,

“Senator Foot, you very eloquently eluded to your record speaking for itself, well son, that dog wont hunt. As for me having in my possession files that may be deemed by others to be of a secure nature, let me assure you, this committee has access to any files that we need to read, and Nathaniel, we need to know everything about you and your brothers.”

Committee member, Senator Tillotson from Arizona quickly steps in and begins to speak,

“Chairman Branch, I beg to differ with you on your statement that this committee has access to any and all files that we may think we need to see. We are not charged with that power nor do we need to see files of a secure nature to, in someway, satisfy our personal curiosities.”

Committee member, Senator Rowse from Kansas follows by speaking into his microphone,

“I agree with the Senator from Arizona, our initial duty was to investigate the possibilities of the terrorist group, the tri-P, having a physical presence in the United States as well as seeking out any signs that the tri-P has influenced any member of the present administration or any members of the Senate.”

The Right Reverend Jeremiah Branch grabs a large manila folder that his aide has been holding and begins to wave one hand above his head as if he’s summoning supernatural power while reaching into the folder with the other hand. Then with an evil smile forming on his face he pulls out a key piece of evidence and places it on his desk.

“Dear fellow Senators, please indulge your humble Chairman a moment, I failed to brief you this morning on key evidence that has been found recently by my staff. Evidence that I believe will impress upon you of a long standing linkage between this here young freshman Senator, including his brothers, linkage that will irrefutably prove that this Senator sitting before us today, has willfully withheld information and has indeed been in the past and is in the present, a key founding member of the worldwide murderous terrorist group know only as the tri-P. I will expose him and his impetuous brothers to the world as evil scoundrels lying to the American people and to this Committee. Nathaniel Foot will not be able to refute my claims for I will show that his very record, that he proposes will speak for itself, will indeed shackle him to the tri-P. Before we are finished, I assure you, that we will have not only tied Nathaniel Foot to the tri-P we will also bring down the tri-P completely.”

The room erupts with noise. The opposing Committee members began talking while Branch was midway through his accusations and the media was now maneuvering for a better shot of Nathaniel’s face as the Chairman’s voice loudly reverberated over the speakers. Nathaniel, who had remained standing in defiance as Branch began his speech, is now sitting and tapping a coin on the base of his microphone. Chairman Branch leans forward on his desk and screams into his microphone,

“Boy, stop that infernal tapping, don’t you understand! You’re gun’na be tried for falsification of federal documents, withholding documents, conspiracy, treason, forming of a terrorist organization, acquiring weapons of mass destruction, advertising for the purpose of performing assassinations, and for the very act of murder. Now when we finish with you and your brothers we will show that these charges go way beyond sedition. They will show that you have willingly misled this Committee, the people that elected you, and the people of these United States will see you for the sham you are.”

Senator Aaronson reaches over to calm Branch down, padding his arm, she says timidly, “Geez Jerry, you need to calm down . . .”

Branch angrily cocks a glare at Cindy expressing his inner rage of contempt for Nathaniel. Catching his breath, he sits back into his chair. The room is even louder now as the media scrambles for pictures of both Senator Foot’s face and that of the Right Revered Jeremiah Branch. Pleased with his performance, Branch looks over toward Senator Aaronson,

“Cindy darling, you’re a-fixin-to get into my sights. Don’t call that dog home lessen you’re ready to feed it.”

Jeff had been writing notes on his pad the entire time that Branch has been speaking. Now he calmly and softly speaks into his microphone,

“Chairman Branch, again I must remind you that this is not a trial, but an investigation.”

Chairman Branch now lifts the newly acquired evidence for all to see,

“Senator Foot, do you care to explain this advertisement?”

Nathaniel stares in disbelief at the poster. It’s an old poster the brothers made during Nathaniel’s senior year of high school and while his brothers were in college. The poster depicts two men in masks throwing a whip cream pie into the face of someone. Across the top of the poster are the words, “PPP Hit Squad, you name’em we pie’em.”

The media cameras zoom into the poster; the screen fills with the image of the poster. The camera continues to zoom in closer on the images of the two masked men, the image on screen is split with half being a live shot of Nathaniel and the other half being the masked men. The hall grows silent as they realize that one of the masked men has smoky blue eyes exactly like those of the freshman Senator from Southern California, Nathaniel Foot.