The Illuminati (17 page)

The phone rang in the Washington, D.C., office of Cal Rutland later that afternoon.

“Rutland,” the aide said as he answered the telephone.

“It's under way, just as you asked.”

“Good. You're sure they will go through with the protests?”

“Yes. The group is committed to the demonstrations, permits or not,” Warner said, trembling.

“Excellent,” Rutland said as he hung up. “Excellent.”

Rutland rang the private number of Jason Franklin.

This time the phone was answered by a voice he knew well. It was the Leader, Amir Razzak. “Good evening, Cal,” the heavily accented voice said. “Are we ready?”

“Phase Two is in place. The protests are scheduled for next Friday,” Rutland assured him.

“Very good. Execute the Judas Plan immediately.”

With that, the line went dead.

Later that day, President Hunt was meeting with his top advisers. The discussion centered around the recommendation the president had just been handed by Russell Siever.

“I can't do this, Russ,” Hunt insisted. “If I try to cut off funds for operating the Congress, I'll be impeached.”

“Not so, Mr. President,” Siever responded. “The budget amendment gives you the ability to line-item veto any spending necessary to balance the budget.”

“But it was never intended to shut down the Congress,” Hunt said, a little less emphatically. “What do you think, Pat?”

Attorney General Patrick McMillan sat silently for a few moments before he responded. “It's probably legal, Mr. President, but it'll raise the biggest stink in Congress you ever saw.”

“But it will send a clear message to the Congress that you can play hardball when it comes to appropriations,” Siever said confidently as he glanced up at Hunt. He wondered if Hunt was smart enough to see through the smoke screen they were laying down.
Probably not
, he concluded. What they had planned was so radical, nobody would ever guess it.

“I don't know, Russ,” Hunt said, for the fourth time. “To suspend Congress . . . It's never been done before.”

“These are difficult times, Mr. President. It will take some imagination to make the changes needed.”

“I can see Grant's face now,”Hunt mused, warming to the idea.“He'll have a stroke over this.”

Siever and Rutland knew they had won. The president was a politician through and through. He would never pass up an opportunity to stick it to the Congress.

“After all, a sabbatical won't do any of them any harm, will it?”Hunt laughed as he thought about Senator John Grant's reaction. His old nemesis would croak.

“When are we talking about doing this?”Hunt asked, enthusiastic now.

“Well, first you will need to get your Supreme Court nominees approved,” the attorney general said as he considered the proposal. “Since only the Senate can do that, we need them in session. Then, with the three new members you appoint, the Court will affirm your actions.”

“I love it!” Hunt said, slapping McMillan on the back. “The Senate passes on the men who will approve their furloughs—I love it. Grant will get an ulcer over this.”

“What are the chances the Senate will pass all three?”Hunt asked his attorney general.

“I think Billings and Stroud are certain. We should have approval by early next week. Cummings probably won't make it. But that's okay, we've got Anderson as a substitute.”

“Won't that cause a problem? What if he votes against this congressional appropriations thing?”

“It's Ms. Anderson, sir. She's the district judge from Mississippi. I doubt she'll side with Congress. But, even if she does, we still have the votes.”

The president stuttered a bit over his mistake. “I have no objection . . . if we still have the majority in the court.”

“We will,” Siever assured him. McMillan confirmed it with a nod.

“What's happening with the terrorist thing?” Hunt asked as he glanced at the FBI's report.

“We have the leaders of the group from Atlanta,” McMillan replied guardedly. He had told Rutland that Hunt didn't totally buy the FBI report.

“Have they been arraigned yet?” Hunt demanded.

“No, sir. We felt it would be better to hold them until we have rounded up the other leaders around the country. In the current climate this thing could get real nasty.” The attorney general began to sweat. He knew they were legally on dangerous ground. He had been instructed by Roland to transfer Elder to D.C. and hold him in solitary until notified.

“Listen, this is not Russia, Pat,” the president said angrily. “I want those people to have the right of counsel and the courts. My detention order didn't mean you could hold them indefinitely.”

“No, sir, we just want to be sure that the FBI doesn't find itself confronted with a terrorist army when it rounds them up.”

“You keep me informed on this thing, Pat,” Hunt said emphatically. “I don't mind pulling the Congress' chain a little. They're big boys. But I don't want this country to become a police state.”

“Yes, sir, we'll keep you up to date. It shouldn't be too long now.”

“See to it!” Hunt ordered. His mind was trying to focus on something, but he just couldn't bring it together. This paranoia in the press about terrorists had him concerned. Other than the threats and the killings of the justices, he couldn't see any evidence of a terrorist organization at work. The FBI reports were vague and, he suspected, contrived.
I wonder if Randall is a part of the Society?
he thought. The very thought of his FBI director being in the Society alarmed him.
If that's so, I can't trust anything I read!

At a meeting held at Jason Franklin's home later that day, Cal Rutland said, “We're going to have to move a little faster than we had planned. It would seem our president isn't quite the idiot we thought.”

“We're close to putting it all together. We can't move too fast or we'll draw attention to ourselves,” Franklin said as he paced nervously back and forth. “What does Siever think?”

“He says most of what we need is in place. The Europeans say Wells' program is remarkable. They think the system can be implemented worldwide in weeks instead of months,” Rutland commented with just the slightest touch of respect in his voice.

“Does Wells know how the system is to be used?” Razzak asked.

“He's a bright kid,”Rutland answered. “I'm sure he's smart enough to figure it out. But he's totally engrossed in the nuts and bolts. He won't give us any problems. After the system is up and running, we'll have several people capable of managing it.”

“That's our one weak point right now,” said Razzak as he stood looking out the window at the rain. “Tell Siever to keep a close watch on Wells.”

“What about the demonstrations?” Fred Lively of the NCLU asked. “Are we sure they will start this week?”

“Judas tells me that everything is progressing normally,” Rutland said. He had no respect for the skinny lawyer, who looked oddly like a cadaver.
The NCLU has a real surprise coming too
, he thought.
It's funny, really. They're destroying the only system that will tolerate them
.

“Are you sure Judas will be able to deliver?” Lively asked in a commanding tone. He had great ambitions when this whole thing came together. He would be part of a new system, a founding father, so to speak. Plus, he would be in a position to teach his archenemies, the Christians, a real lesson.
God, how I hate them. No wait
, he thought,
not God
. . . he didn't believe in God.
Anyway, I hate them
, he concluded.

“Judas will deliver. This has been in planning for a long time,” Rutland said in a condescending tone.

“Is everything ready?” Archie Warner asked the rally organizers. They had chosen the term “rally” because they didn't want their groups to be thought of as demonstrators.

“It would seem so,” Bob Bierson replied. “I just wish we could talk to Pastor Elder. I'm still not certain this is what he would want.”

“Well, we can't just leave him and the others to rot in jail and not do anything, can we?” Warner sometimes wished he had never gotten involved in this mess. He thought back to the time when he had first been approached by Elder, asking for his help. John was an up-and-coming pastor with a nationwide television program. He was beginning his campaign against the government and needed some legal help in filing briefs. Warner had welcomed the work then. He had practiced law in Atlanta for nearly twenty-five years and didn't really have anything to show for it. He had invested in the Atlanta real estate market before the depression and had been wiped out long before the rest of the country.

Right after he did the work for Elder, his fortunes picked up. Unbelievably, he was contacted by Jason Franklin's real estate firm about handling some transactions for him. Jason Franklin had been almost a mythological figure to Warner up until that time. He could afford to hire the best legal help available, and Warner had no illusion that it was him. The two-hundred-dollar-an-hour fees Franklin paid helped Warner to survive financially.

When Franklin's accountant approached him about handling an offshore deal involving several millions of dollars he was skeptical at first. Why would they want him and not someone adept at international law? Then he was told that the transaction was to involve some Colombian banks and he knew it probably involved drug money. At first he refused, but when Franklin withdrew his other business he was right back where he started—broke. So he took the work. The fee for the very first project was nearly two hundred thousand dollars, more than twice what he had ever made in his best year. He quickly salved his conscience about the source of the money, and adjusted to the lifestyle he had always wanted.

Then, two years later, Franklin had called him to a meeting at Jekyll Island to discuss a new position. What he heard there had visibly shaken him. It was believed that a group of terrorists calling themselves the Constitutional Rights Committee was operating under the guise of a Christian organization. Their leader was reported to be a well-known television evangelist, John Elder.

Warner was told that the FBI wanted to force the group out in the open, to make them openly violate the law. To accomplish this, pressure would be put on the CRC and their leader, John Elder. Since Warner had done work for Elder previously, he would volunteer to handle the legal work the group would need.

Soon Warner was being provided with tens of thousands of dollars to feed the CRC. Elder voiced his concern once that Warner was tapping his rich friends for the funds they so desperately needed. But then the battle with the government, including the IRS over the group's tax exception, was on and the funds were thought to be a godsend.

Periodically Warner would be given the names of individuals to be recruited by Elder as contributors in each district. Warner would suggest these people as sympathetic to the Christians' cause. Their level of giving quickly helped them to gain positions of leadership in each group. When the tax-exempt status of churches was threatened, they were the first to contribute several hundred thousand dollars to a defense fund. Warner's firm was the leader in each defense effort, always careful to defend, not win.