Consent of the Governed Ch. 06

Teresa said "I think I figured out something... why you reacted so strongly to the agitators at the Hospital. You were expecting those riots to 'cancel' Laura, and by destroying those assholes at the Hospital, no one would be surprised at anything you did after that."

"Give that woman a crowbar." I said. "That was some of it."

Teresa continued: "But you had me worried at the Election Center. I thought you might really shoot her in her office, there."

"I came close." I said. "Soooo close."

"And you colored outside the lines like I've never seen you do before." Teresa said. "Those videos you had Laurie and Callie make, that you showed Tamara? That was never going to be admissible in Court. And while you did nothing wrong at the Ethics Board session, having the FBI open an investigation and reading Carmela his rights and all that stuff? It was... aggressive." I nodded in agreement.

Teresa: "And then there's that gouging out Carmela's eye... while you were at the Council meeting, and so was I... because you told me to be. And it really was about the only way to make Carmela back off... take one eye, threaten the other. If you ask me... that is Iron Crowbar thinking, and only Iron Crowbar thinking."

"Well, I can't take credit... for that brilliant piece of work" I said. "But what could I do? Carmela just kept ratcheting up the stakes. Every time we stopped him, which wasn't hard to do, though possibly extralegal, he just pushed harder, played even dirtier, to the point he did put out a million-dollar contract to murder Carole."

"Oh, I don't blame you a bit." Teresa said. "I'm just saying I've never seen you quite like this. And neither has the Chief, if you get my drift. He's supported you very strongly, but he really doesn't like how we play things, at time. No, he hasn't said anything to me, and I don't have the Power of the Vibe. But I do observe and deduce things, you know?"

"Yeah." I said. "I know. Oh well, the Election is over, Laura is acquitted and no longer in real danger, and I'm sure the Underworld of our County will be eager to give us more work in the coming weeks and months."

"Well, I better get on home. Don't get up." Teresa said, standing up herself.. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Text me when you get inside your house." I said, knowing she was walking to her house next door in the dark. She leaned over and hugged me, and I hugged her back. Then she walked around the house via the outer driveway as I turned to look at the twinkling lights of the Town in the valley below me. A moment later, as I saw a train come out of the western horizon and take the curve before the River, my personal iPhone chimed with a message from Teresa that she was safely at her house.

Yes, I had colored outside the lines, I thought to myself. I had had Callie and Laurie make fake videos about Tamara, to bully Tamara into a confession of what she really had done: accessed my wife's files and calendar, and obtain the information the filthy Lionel Carmela had ordered her to get.

And that information, such as doctor appointments and such, was innocent, but evil people like Carmela and the corrupt Media could and would twist it around, accuse her of something unethical if not criminal, and demand ongoing deeper investigations to no end until they achieved their goal to 'cancel' Laura and remove her from her positions on Campus.

So why had I done it? Why had I worked so hard outside the lines, outside the constraints of the Law? And enlisted others to help in the schemes? To save Laura, of course. To save her careers, her honor, and ultimately her life. But why did I have to go to the lengths I did, and cross the line and get in the mud with the perps and the slugs? Because Laura didn't tell me a thing, but I knew. I knew my wife was not innocent of the ethical violations. She was guilty.

Yes.

When Peter had gone to her with his thesis idea of the Babymaker Club, Laura had not nixed the idea, she had approved it. And she'd begun her own research project to go along with his thesis work.

Peter had set up everything, but it was Laura that had steered Carl and many of the other men his way. She could have done the examinations innocently, but she did do them as part of the projects. Melina had gone in and erased every trace of her work, but anyone with more brains than a Betta Fish knows that nothing is ever totally, truly erased. I think Professors Hawking and Susskind had a debate about that over Black Holes.

So Peter and Karyn had talked too much, and didn't realize Tamara was under Carmela' insidiously evil influence. Tamara told Carmela, who had her obtain the circumstantial evidence. And he took his opportunity to use it to smear my wife's name and destroy her career and her life. And of course I did what I had to do to save my wife, no matter what line was crossed.

Carmela didn't anticipate that, and just kept ratcheting things up, trying to find my limits. But when it comes to my family, especially Carole's life, there are no limits. And Carmela found out that I did not turn a blind eye to him, pun fully intended.

It wasn't hard to suggest to Tracy Stone a course of action that would succeed. And after what he'd done to her, trying to destroy her life, she had NO qualms about administering very proper punishment.

But it had also gone awry. Carl had been murdered. Peter and Karyn were lucky; they got away with their actions. But Tamara did not. I felt sorry for Tamara. I thought Carmela had done something to make her disappear; but apparently neither he nor I were guilty of that. I'd been shocked to learn who those attackers on The Cabin were; I thought they'd be Carmela's thugs, like the ones in the backyard of the Mountain Nest.

And now I realized that Clark Webster was right... it was very likely the Swamp Frogs that had abducted her, and that she was likely dead or in a white slavery ring somewhere. I never had wanted Tamara to endure that.

And that, of course, led to the question of just what the Swamp Frogs were up to. Why was Brendan Chapel and Robin Isley doing this? Why were they sending their highly-trained agents to wipe us out, like they obviously intended to do? What was Chapel's next move in the Game, that required my removal, and maybe Laura's, too?

And yes, I'd acted decisively and for the right when confronted with the Election fraud. Unfortunately, I knew I was in a vast minority of people willing to do the right thing in the face of a Government very willing to destroy our sacred, cherished rights by Force and by Fraud. And one day, our Nation would inexorably pay the price for that, by ceasing to exist as the last, greatest hope on this earth.

The fight seemed futile. We faced overwhelming power wielded by evil people with the intent to destroy all that is good about us, people eager to destroy individual freedom and the right of self-determination. Evil people that cannot be negotiated nor compromised with. People who just want to watch this great country burn.

But I'd rather fight them to the bitter end than submit to their unspeakable, relentless evil. And I was called upon and uniquely empowered to do so. I would continue the fight, and perhaps in doing so inspire others to continue that fight, to hold true to those words written in a great Declaration by a great man, the man who built Monticello and the University of Virginia, our third President for whom this County was named:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Finis.