The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology (62 page)

“I do, don't I? CB can't do it quite so good.”

“You mean well, JB.”

“Some of the time; sometimes I don't.”

“No, I meant --”

“Gotcha, Carie Berry.”

“Oh, geez.”

“Look, girls. I'm glad I finally got the chance to meet you,
and thanks for the recommendation. I'm glad I'm here.”

“So are we.”

“Glad you're here?”

“No, that you are.”

“Gotcha.”

“Oh, Pam, that you did. Welcome. We are gonna have so much
fun.”

“Could be, could be. We'll see what happens next. By the way,
what's the boss like?”

“Don't know; never met.”

“Really? How long have you been with O-P?”

“Six years.”

“Wow. And you've never met him?”

“Or her.”

“Or her; hmm. Guess I've got some male stuff still kicking
around in there,” Pam said, tapping her temple.

“Or maybe somewhere else --”

“Ssst, Jillybean.”

“Sorry. What?” Pam asked, holding a palm over an ear
against the cacophony in the room.

“I said --”

“So, Pam,” Carie cut in, “when are you going back
to Bonita?”

“I'm not sure if I will. Rona and Joel didn't tell me; they
got the tickets and had me pile all my stuff in the --”

“In the middle of the room,” said Carie.

“Right.”

“They're doing a cleanout; you'll get all your stuff soon.”

“Oh, really? Why would --”

“We loved our time there,” Jill cut in. “It's a
great place.”

“I love it there; it's so peaceful, most of the time. How come
you left? I haven't seen you since the spring.”

“Oh, we had a situation.”

“A situation?”

“Yeah. Can't say anything more abou- --”

“Pamela?” A raspy, smoky voice intruded.

“Yes?”

“Could you come with me for a minute?”

“Uh … sure, Sharon.”

“Okay. Follow me.”

Pam glanced back at the twins, who both held up crossed fingers and
smiled, mouthing “Good luck,” and winking. The Merry
Spinsters moved in on them.

Pam followed Sharon, still carrying the rifle, out of the salon, down
a paneled inside hallway and into a smaller, but still spacious and
opulent, office-type room, where she was greeted by a woman in her
late fifties, stocky, with graying hair in a loose ponytail.

“Hi, Pamela; I'm Amber. So nice to finally meet you. I've
heard tremendous things about you, all good.”

“Do you need anything else, Amber?”

“Nope, Sharon; thanks. Go back and enjoy the party.”
Sharon nodded and left.

“Sit, sit, Pamela.”

“Thank you.”

“I'm the boss's chief of staff, been with him for --”

“Ah-ha,” Pam thought, “good.”

“--nearly forty years, since we were both just young shoots.”

“From what I've seen of O-P and this beautiful yacht, you've
both grown up successfully.”

Amber laughed, a deep, throaty laugh, and said, “Oh, good one,
Pamela.”

“Please, call me Pam.”

“Okay. Pam,” Amber said, still chuckling.

“He's got a beautiful office,” Pam said, looking around.

“Oh, he doesn't use an office, Pam. This is mine.”

“Wow,” Pam blurted.

“It's pretty comfy for a marine setting. I'm usually in one of
the onshore ones.”

“More than one?”

“Oh, sure; we're worldwide, as you know.”

“Ah, right. Makes sense.”

“Oh, it makes more than that. We make dollars and euros,
millions of them a year. But he doesn't much care about money, just
what good he can do with it.”

“I guess when you reach a certain point, you --”

“Exactly. He especially likes to support micro-loan programs,
one in India and a couple in the States. And now he's getting into
some crowd-funding things, as well.”

“I've heard about those; pretty cool ideas.

“So can you tell me anything about him, what he's like?”

“Let's wait till he – oh, here he is now.”

Pam turned in her chair, looked at the man who had just come in from
a side door, a broad grin on his face, and gasped.

“Hi, Pam. Welcome to the inner inner inner circle.”

Now Pam was totally perflutzed; she could only gape. “You?”

“Gotcha.”

-124-

Friday, January 5, 2035

8:30 p.m.

The Oval Office

The White House

via a 24-hour news channel

Gordon Donne, dressed in his usual casual clothing, his fringe of
hair much, much thinner and grayer, smiled into the camera. His
complexion and demeanor gave a picture of general good health, even
at his age of 75.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans, and Happy New Year.

“It's been a little over 23 years now that I've been working
for y'all, and, as usual, I have some good news to report.

“But before I start on that, I want to take a moment to
remember Wesley T. Farley, my COO at DEI, who has done phenomenally
well running that company and all its subsidiaries in my absence, who
passed away last month from a lingering case of vegetarian poisoning.
I told him over and over again to try at least a cheeseburger or a
grilled ham and cheese from time to time. Would he listen? No. But
he had a wonderful and successful life, raised a happy family and
left the world a better place for his time here.

“First, as usual, on the economy, I'm pleased to tell you that
GDP grew at about 13 percent last year, and our unemployment rate is
consistently running at about 3.1 percent, so inflation is staying
below our acceptable rate.

“Our revenues amounted to eleven percent of GDP last year, and
our budget is now down to a bit over eight percent of GDP. I'm now
confident that we can get the total cost of your government down to
less than six percent of GDP by the year after next, 2037.

“Our Sovereign Wealth Fund is now worth 15 trillion dollars,
and with our population now over two billion, out of a world
population of 16 billion, we are now able to reduce our income tax
rates, for both individuals and businesses, by cutting them by two
thirds, effective this year.

“I've also got to comment, if only briefly, on the incredible
and astounding leaps and bounds our private sector has made,
especially in the last seven years, in the agriculture, technology
and energy sectors. We are less than a decade away from making all
our roads and bridges completely obsolete and less than a year from
getting a full hundred percent of our energy needs from nuclear power
and sustainable resources, and building a huge export market in
energy.

“I'm going to end with that and let you all know that you can
find more information about the state of the country on our web site,
________.gov.

“So I'll now simply wish you all a very happy and prosperous
2035. Good night.”

-125-

Sunday, September 16, 2012
10:27 a.m.
Bonita
Beach, Florida

When Norm and Janet arrived at the beach, Norm with his long-shafted
drill and umbrella in hand, they noticed that Jake Devlin's three-way
lounge, bag and cooler were in Jake's usual spot, but there was no
Jake.

Norm glanced at Janet and said, "That's odd."

"Maybe he's taking a walk," Janet replied.

Norm, stomping on the ground and digging with his hands before
positioning the drill, shrugged and said, "Ah, he'll be back
soon."
But an hour later, Jake still had not returned.
Janet asked, "Do you remember seeing his car in the lot?"

Norm, engrossed in his crossword, mumbled, "No idea. Hey,
Janet, what's a nine-letter word for subterfuge or beguilement, D,
blank, C, blank, P, ends with N?"

"I'll go check, see if it's there."

"Good luck."

A few minutes later, Janet returned, "His car isn't there. I
looked all over the lot. I'm worried, Norm."

"Oh, relax; he'll be back when he's ready."

But Jake never returned. In fact, he was never seen again. Sergeant
Dooley, when he was finally called in, was unable to find any clues
as to his disappearance; in fact, he and his team couldn't find
anything in Jake Devlin's name, no real estate, no lease, no bank or
brokerage accounts, no auto registration, no passport, not even a
driver's license. There were no fingerprints or DNA on his lounge,
his cooler or his beach bag, all of which were left abandoned on the
beach. It was as if Jake Devlin had never existed.

After that frustration and being demoted for never having checked
Devlin's ID the many times he'd had the chance, now-Deputy Dooley
could never hold his head high again; four years later, at the age of
43, he retired, became a mall cop and was given the nickname
"Hangdog." Six years later, just before his 50th birthday,
he ate his gun and was buried without honors.

-126-

Monday, September 17, 2012
Cyberspace

In the Drafts folders of nineteen different email
accounts, the same message was posted: "Done; body will never
be discovered. Closing payment due." By the close of business
the next day, fifteen separate deposits of ten million euros each
were made into fifteen different accounts scattered throughout the
world. Upon receipt, each deposit was automatically moved into
another account at a different bank, then another, then another and
another and another, until all 150 million euros wound up in one
account, with the 190 million euros already on deposit there, for a
total of 340 million euros Despite two additional notices, four final
payments were never sent.

Within three weeks, a London oil trader was found
dead in a seriously mussed-up bed in an hourly hotel in London's East
End, a used condom stuck in his mouth and a necktie, which turned out
to be his, wrapped securely around his neck, his wallet, jewelry,
cell phone, shoes and briefcase missing. His phone was found a day
later in the bed of a lorry traveling north from Leeds to Glasgow;
the driver said he had been in the East End a day earlier. The case
was never solved.

A lawyer was killed in a freak automobile accident
involving his top-end convertible Italian sports car and a wayward
elephant that had somehow escaped from the Dothan, Alabama Zoo. A
police official, who wished to remain anonymous, was quoted in the
local paper as saying, “Ain't never seen a human body that'd
been gored by a elephant tusk afore. Bulls? Yeah. Goats?
O'course. Sheep? Yup. Even a wahld boar oncet. But a elephant?
Never 'fore today. And it sho' ain't purty. In fact – 'scuse
me, ma'am. Urp.”

In Rome, a man later identified as a Vatican
security commander by the name of Gaetano was discovered in an
obscure apartment on Via Tigre, his death attributed unequivocally to
twenty-nine wounds made by a large kitchen knife found protruding
from his chest, bearing child-sized fingerprints which were never
matched to any on file anywhere, despite exhaustive efforts by
multiple law enforcement agencies, including Interpol. The case was
never solved.

In Medellin, Colombia, the heads of two of the
major Colombian drug cartels, despite their heavy security, were both
found dead on the same day in their separate swimming pools. The
COD, cause of death, in each case was ruled to be accidental
drowning.

But the man with many names knew better.

-127-

Friday, January 4, 2042

8:30 p.m.

The White House

Washington, DC

via a 24-hour news channel

Gordon Olin Donne faced the camera from behind the podium in the
Press Room, this time in a plain pale blue short-sleeved polo shirt,
a somber look on his aged face. The room was SRO, standing room
only, filled with both press and White House staff.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is perhaps the most important
announcement for you that I have ever made. For tonight, after more
than thirty years owning this country, I am turning a good part of it
back over to you, the people, with a new constitution that may …
and I can only say 'MAY' … give the US of A the chance to
continue the progress that we have made together over the last
generation and a half, for which I congratulate all of you who have
made it happen.

“Even with the China-India-Arab War and our ongoing embargo on
Chinese imports; even with atmospheric cooling, which has ended a
third of our agriculture in our northernmost states; with the loss of
Western California in the Great Quake of 2036; with the devastating
assaults by Hurricane Gabrielle in 2013, Hurricane Thornton in 2018,
Hurricane Mitzy in 2028 and Hurricane Bitzy in 2035; with the loss of
over seven billion lives in the Tofu Plague of 2037, bringing the
world's total population back down to ten billion; with the Church's
publicity stunt of the Antichrist in 2022 and the over six thousand
infanticides that resulted; even with all that and the hundreds of
other tragedies that have befallen us all, even with all that, this
country and you, its people, have conquered and prospered beyond my
and your own wildest expectations. Congratulations.

“You are now the proud owners of the largest economy in the
world, more than the total of the seventeen next-largest economies
combined, a debt of less than one trillion dollars, a continuing
large trade surplus, an unemployment rate of under two percent, an
annual budget surplus of nearly nine hundred and fifty billion
dollars, and a government that consumes less than six percent of GDP,
even with a budget of 7.8 trillion dollars. We also have the
strongest, meanest and leanest military in the world, and no one has
dared to challenge us since 2026, and that threat was totally
eradicated in nineteen days, like a bug on a windshield of one of
those antique cars that only drove on the ground.

“We have accomplished incredible things together these past
thirty years, and it is time for me to return from whence I came, and
leave the future in your hopefully capable hands.

“As you can see from this face and bald, wrinkled pate, time
has done its work on this now-frail body, but my spirit is still
strong and will endure for many years to come.