The Crimson Fall (The Sons of Liberty Book 1) (29 page)

“Like hell I’m going to help you. Untie me. Let me go!”

“Actually, you’re going to help yourself and every other man, woman, and child that calls themselves an American.”

“Whatever the hell you say,” Dan replied. “What, do you think I’ll go proclaim to the nation your innocence because you’ve threatened me? Help clear your name or something?”

“Though I do hope that eventually happens,” Adam replied, “please know that’s not why you’re here. You’re here so that you may finally see the truth that it’s not me who is hiding something. You’re here because I need your help.”

“There’s no chance in hell I’m helping you. I’ll go to my grave to watch you burn you cop killing mother—”

“You’re not here simply to clear my name,” Adam said.

“Then what the hell is all this for?”

“I’m sorry things happened the way they did, but it had to be this way. Calling you would have just led the president and his friends right to us, and that’s a risk we couldn’t afford to take. If we had sent you what we have discovered and you were found with it, then you would most likely be dead in a matter of hours. But someone needed to see what we found. Someone we can trust. Now, if you can promise me you’ll calm down and not try anything stupid, I will cut those cords on your wrists and get on with why you are here.”

Adam didn’t wait for Dan Martin to respond. He reached forward, flipped out a knife, and cut the bonds that held his hands. Dan sat back, rubbing his wrists, and looked around the barn, clearly deciding if he should or could make a run for it. Eric and Max stood in front of the one exit and looked back at him, silently telling the news anchor not to try anything stupid.

“And where exactly are we?” Dan asked.

“We can’t tell you where we are,” Elizabeth said in her calming southern accent, “but I will say that you’ll be home safe before the end of the day regardless of how this all transpires. Understand that by the time you’re home, we’ll be long gone and out of your reach.”

“And who are you?” Dan asked.

Elizabeth straightened up. “I am Elizabeth Holt, mother of Sue Chambers, and we’re here with you because this country is under attack, and you’re one of our last hopes for survival before war starts.”

Dan looked back and forth between Adam and Elizabeth for half a minute, sizing up the situation and his captors, before relaxing in his chair and shaking his head.

“You’re one stupid son of a bitch, Congressman.”

“What makes you say that?” Adam asked.

Dan laughed uneasily. “The whole nation is looking for you, and you just kidnapped their most beloved nightly voice. Do you really think if you let me go I’m not going to say anything about you or this?”

“Actually, I don’t.”

“Care to elaborate on why you think that way?” Dan asked.

“Because the next time you’re on air is four days from now, after your ‘planned vacation’, when you’re scheduled to do a live interview with President Chambers. I have a feeling you’ll be talking with him about what we’re about to show you and not about how great of a man he is, let alone your abduction. Come on now, don’t look so gloomy. You are about to get an exclusive interview with the nation’s number one fugitive. But before I give you what you’re here for, I want to tell you the truth about what you and every other station has been reporting on me since Chicago.”

Adam told him everything—save the names of the colonel and the lieutenant general. He had decided it would be best to only implicate himself in case his plan didn’t work. Elizabeth told Dan about the phone call she received from Sue, her four-year search for the truth about her daughter’s death, and her subsequent request for Adam’s help. Adam told Dan about his brother’s letter, his real reason for the campaign to stop the treaty, what happened at the Lukas’ ranch, and about his escape to Chicago. He described his fight and showed him the scars on his body that were not yet fully healed. He told him about Montana, the five dead agents the news wasn’t reporting on, and how that led them to kidnap the one man they believed Lukas didn’t own. Adam said that he believed Dan to be a patriot that would help expose the truth about the president if he only knew what that truth was.

Dan was quiet, taking it all in silently as Adam spoke. Once Adam had finished, Dan paused another moment before speaking.

“So, humor me, if you will,” Dan said. “What was it that you found?”

Adam motioned to Eric who brought a large envelope over and handed it to Adam. Adam unraveled the red cord and pulled out the copy of the journal.

“We found this.” Adam handed the journal to Dan. “It’s Lukas’ journal and it documents his life from the time he was a young teenager. Listen, I know you’re a big admirer of him, but I’m telling you he is not the man you think he is. He and his friends have been planning something for a very long time, and no one saw it coming. He is a murderer and a traitor to the presidential oath he swore. He has killed American soldiers and civilians—including my brother and those at Dulles last year—all so that he could bring about a revolution and destroy this country. A revolution that, sadly, they’ve already begun. They might think they are too powerful to take down, but we have the element of surprise. Lukas knows we know something, but I don’t think he has a clue we know his darkest secrets. I don’t even think his friends know those secrets. That’s why you’re here. If we can reveal the truth about him and divide the Patriarchs in the process, then we might stand a chance at saving this nation. Dan, you’re here because I believe you’re one of the only men with a voice in this country who isn’t owned by the president and his cohorts.”

“What do you mean ‘owned’?” Dan asked.

Adam pointed to the journal. “You’ll know what I mean once you have read that.”

Dan flipped through a few pages, skimming over the same words Adam had fought for with his life. Adam waited a few minutes, letting the words sink in to the attentive man. However, Dan’s reaction was not what Adam had hoped for.

“I don’t buy it,” Dan said as he tossed the stapled papers to the floor. “This is just some acrimonious plot to bring down a good man, and I will not be part of it.”

“Oh, you will be a part of it, one way or another,” Elizabeth said. “You’ll die, or worse, in the fires of his purging war if you don’t help us. I suppose a man like you might just adapt to the new way of things to save your skin. But I guarantee you that the day you watch those who had been your brethren lose their lives because
you
failed to act and . . . well, I’m no fortuneteller but even I can see that day will haunt you for the rest of your life. So let me ask you, sonny boy, do you love this country?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then read that and question him about what’s inside.”

“During the interview?” Dan laughed. “Do you really think—”

“Yes, during your interview,” she said. “When you see the truth in his eyes, you will know the truth as well, and so will the whole nation.”

Dan shook his head. “No. I can’t throw away my career because of a printout you allegedly copied from the president’s journal. How the hell do I know you didn’t make all this up?”

“Sue Chambers copied it,” Adam said. “Not me. She did so just before her husband found out she knew about his affair with Maria Brekor. Shortly afterward, she was murdered to cover up that affair. Later, it only took a hint that someone knew of what he was planning for him to do what he did at Dulles. Think about it. Those men were not there for random destruction. They were there for Joe Reinhart. Lukas used that attack to not only silence Joe, but to make the people respond emotionally instead of rationally when he brought his firearms bill forward.”

“But there was nothing irrational about his bill!” shouted Dan.

“And you actually believe what he said about the Chicago riots?” Adam asked. “Do you really think I have the ability to shut off all communications—technology protected and regulated by the federal government—so that I could simply get out of the city? Or, maybe he didn’t want anyone to see what he did next when he shut off the guns.”

“But he said—”

“He said.” Adam shook his head and laughed. “Since the man is a habitual liar, let’s talk about what he has actually done. Did you know he murdered American soldiers in Iraq? His own platoon—shot them dead. Did you know he killed Mike Holt and his own father to seize control of one of the largest defense contractors in the world? Did you know he has used that company to create the technology for his new guns that he could require the people—by law—to purchase? Did you know the only reason those guns exist today is for the sole purpose of being able to shut down any resistance? Did you know that bastard is trying to destroy everything you’ve ever known?”

Adam’s last question was a shout that echoed throughout the barn, stirring the birds that rested in their nests above. He had hardly realized that he had risen out of his seat and approached the reporter with each question until he had been shouting inches away from the man’s face. Dan sat back in his chair, purposefully staring off to the side as he tried to avoid Adam’s angry eyes. Adam finally stepped back, inwardly scolding himself for losing it on the very man he desperately needed.

Dan waited a few moments before standing up. “You said you’d take me home regardless of how this conversation ended. I think it’s obvious that you’re nothing more than a desperate man with a desperate tale. Well, I do know this, Mr. Reinhart; you’re a disgrace to the United States, and I’m not saying a damn word to the president or the country come Monday night.”

Dan started walking toward the door. On the verge of losing their best and only option of exposing Lukas, Adam grabbed the discarded journal from the floor and shouted after the man.

“How much is the bounty on my head?” Adam asked.

Dan stopped and turned around, looking at Adam inquisitively.

“It’s now forty million.”

“It will be all yours if I’m wrong,” Adam said. “You once told me that if I ever found evidence of a conspiracy, that you would air it live. Please, just read the journal over the next four days and think about it. You’ll know it’s too perfect to be fabricated. When you realize his journal is legit, you’ll know there is no one else but you that can help us.”

After a minute of staring hard back at Adam as though he was contemplating the idea, Dan smiled and laughed. “Oh, please. You know as well as I do that as soon as I say something you’ll tuck tail and disappear again.”

“I promise I won’t,” Adam said. “You have my word.”

“Your word? I’m afraid you’ll need to do a little better than that.”

Adam walked over to Dan. “You agree to question the president on live TV, and I promise you I will make it known right then and there where I am. You give me your number and I will send you a photo of my location. If you want to stop mid-sentence on live TV or set me up prior or whatever, then fine, but ask one question pertaining to what you’ve read first. If you don’t get anything out of him, then turn me in. You can say you helped capture the most dangerous criminal in the nation. The money and fame will be all yours, not that it will matter much in a year or two. I know you don’t need the money, but you’re a truth seeker and a storyteller, Dan. That’s what you do best. You do this, then no matter who is telling the truth, you will be more than a news anchor or a celebrity. You’ll be a legend.”

“Right,” Dan said. “I don’t believe you’ll just turn yourself in.”

“At this point, if I don’t succeed, then it all doesn’t matter anyway. There is no other way to stop him. America will be destroyed, and we will be slaves to him and darker people. They will come down so hard on those who refuse to adapt that we will witness events like the Dulles Massacre in every city on every day until they subdue us.”

Dan’s eyes narrowed, staring back at Adam as though he was maybe beginning to believe a hint of what was being said. A few more seconds had passed before he rolled his eyes and grabbed the journal from Adam’s hands.

“I’m not promising anything other than I’ll read it.”

Adam nodded his head and shook Dan’s hand firmly.

“I’ll have my men drive you to where you want. No hood, no drugs, and no questions asked. We owe you our lives, Dan.”

“If you’re wrong about all this,” Dan said, “then you have no idea how right those words are.”

Dan started to walk to the door, and two of Elizabeth’s men followed. But before he reached it, he stopped and turned back around toward Adam.

“Let’s assume you’re right. Suppose what I read in this is true, and I make it public to the nation. What then, Congressman?”

Adam had asked himself that question countless times. Lukas Chambers and the Patriarchs wouldn’t go down without a fight, but he hoped this would slow them down and buy the American people time to defend their freedom.

“Then pray for swift justice,” Adam said with a smile. “If that doesn’t come, then we go to war.”

With that, Elizabeth’s men took Dan to the truck and began the journey back to where they had taken him from, leaving Adam, Elizabeth, Tanker, David and Eric behind in the barn. Eventually, when the sound of tires on a dirt road disappeared, Max broke the silence.

“We’ll need to leave soon. We have four or five hours before he’s home and able to tell someone where we are.”

“Do you think it worked?” Elizabeth asked.