Stone nodded. “I am.”
“With this entity called the Triple Six?”
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s amazing to me that we engaged in that sort of thing.”
“It wasn’t amazing to me. I was just following orders. It was only later that my conscience got the better of me.”
“But to kill your family. To come after you like that. I’m sorry, Alex, it just doesn’t sound like the people I knew.”
Stone held up the box. “Do you mind, Mr. President? I have something here that might convince you.”
Brennan hesitated but then nodded.
Stone opened the box and took out the small recorder. He hit the play button and a voice came on loud and clear. It was Carter Gray. At Murder Mountain.
“I thought you had to give that recording back to Gray,” said Alex as he hit the stop button. “And Finn said they had a device there that could tell if it had been duplicated, and it hadn’t.”
“Before I gave the phone with the recording on it to Gray I just held this recorder up to it and copied it. Sometimes people forget all about the low-tech ways.”
He hit the play button and as they listened they came to the part that Stone had particularly wanted the president to hear. When it was over, Brennan stared at them, his face flushed.
“He was going to kill me. Carter Gray was going to kill me so he could start an all-out war with the Muslims!”
“Yes, sir,” said Stone. “He was.”
“And you were the one who saved me,” he said to Stone. “That was your voice on there convincing him not to do it. After the woman was killed. Who was she?”
“She was my daughter, Beth.”
Alex quickly explained to the president how Roger Simpson and his wife had come to adopt Stone’s daughter.
Brennan sat back in his chair, his mind obviously whirling. “They killed your wife and took your daughter. The man who had your wife murdered and tried to have you killed took your daughter and raised her as his own? And Gray, what he did to you. What he almost did to me. It’s . . . it’s beyond horrible, John. I’m rarely at a loss for words but I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s something else I need to tell you, sir.”
Knox and Alex both took deep breaths and then held them, their bodies tense as boards.
“What’s that?”
“Carter Gray and Roger Simpson were both murdered, Mr. President.”
“Yes, I know that—” He broke off and locked gazes with Stone.
“I see,” he said. “I see.” He sat back and looked over at the fireplace.
Nearly a minute went by and no one broke the silence.
Finally, Stone said, “Thank you for your time, sir. I plan to turn myself in to the authorities. But I wanted you to hear the story from me first. After thirty years of lies I thought it was finally time for the truth.”
As Stone and the other two rose to leave, Brennan looked up at him.
“Listen to me, Carr. You’ve put me in a difficult position. Probably the most agonizingly difficult spot I’ve ever been in, and that’s saying something for a two-term president. And yet with all that, I don’t think it approaches the pain that you’ve suffered at the hands of a country that should have known better.” He paused and stood. “I tell you what I’m going to do, since I wouldn’t even be alive now and this country would be in the middle of a disastrous war but for your efforts, I’m going to take this under advisement. I don’t want you mentioning this to anyone, much less turning yourself in. Do you understand me?”
Stone looked at Alex and then Knox and then back at the president. “Are you sure, sir?”
“No, I’m not sure,” he snapped. “But that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t condone vigilantism. Never have and never will. But I also have a heart and a soul, and a sense of honor and decency despite what some of my political opponents claim. So until you hear from me you are to do nothing except carry on with your life. Understood? I know you’re no longer technically in the military, but I am still the leader of this country. And you will obey that order.”
“Yes, sir,” said an obviously surprised Stone.
As they turned to leave Brennan added, “Oh, and it’ll be a long term of taking it under advisement. So long in fact and with all the other issues I’m confronted with as president, it is highly likely that I may completely forget all about it. Good-bye, Carr. And good luck.”
As they closed the door behind them, both Knox and Alex exhaled in relief.
“Holy shit, do I need a drink,” said Knox. “Come on, I’m buying.”
CHAPTER 83
OLIVER STONE OPENED the gates to Mt. Zion Cemetery and walked up to his cottage. The front door was unlocked, and when he went in he saw that the changes Annabelle had made were no longer there. Everything was just as he had left it.
He sat down behind his desk and ran his hand over the old wood, squeaked back in the chair and gazed over at his wall of beloved books. He made a cup of coffee and carried a mug with him as he explored the grounds of the cemetery, noting where work needed to be done that he would get to the next day. He was once more the official caretaker of hallowed ground. It was where he belonged.
That evening, the others came by to see him. He hugged Reuben, Caleb and Annabelle, thanking each in turn again for what they had done for him. Reuben brought a few six-packs while Caleb had a nice bottle of red wine. Later, Alex, Finn and Knox joined them.
As Knox and Stone sat in front of the fireplace, Alex and Annabelle were engaged in animated conversation in one corner of the room. She held a glass of wine and he had a beer.
“Why did you really come to help us?” she said suddenly.
“Friends don’t let friends die by stupidity.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He drew closer to her. “Well, actually, I did it because it occurred to me that we had left things on the wrong foot. And I wanted to tell you that despite all the mean, nasty things you said about me, I’d still like to hang out with you on occasion.”
“Oh, is that right?”
“That’s pretty right, yeah.”
“Is that the best ‘please come back to me’ line Secret Service agents are taught?”
“We’re more the strong and silent types.”
Annabelle hooked her arm through his. “What you did was pretty wonderful,” she said into his ear. “And I am sorry for the things I said.” She glanced over at Reuben. “He really set me right on things.”
“Let’s just start over and see where it goes.”
Reuben, who was watching all this from the other side of the room along with Caleb, said, “Oh, man, I’m going to puke.”
Caleb replied, “Don’t be jealous, Reuben. He’s younger and much better-looking than you are. And besides, I don’t have anyone either. I’m as big a loser in the female department as you are. I hope that makes you feel better.”
Reuben drank down his entire beer and stalked off muttering.
Everyone looked over when Alex’s cell phone began to ring. He answered it.
“Hello? What?” He suddenly snapped to attention and almost dropped his beer. “Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir. I’ll make sure he’s there. You can count on it, sir.”
He clicked off and looked at the others in complete astonishment.
Knox said, “Who was that? Not the president?”
> Alex slowly shook his head and walked over to Stone and put a hand on his shoulder. “That was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”