The Lincoln Myth (8 page)

His gaze met the younger man’s. “Hard not to notice.”

Luke raised his arms and feigned being upset, but his words did not match his actions. “Tell me, Pappy, do you have a rear door into this place?”

He played along, pointing, showing irritation, but nodding his head.

“What’s happening?” Kirk asked.

The two men outside moved.

Toward the shop.

Then a new sound could be heard.

Sirens.

Approaching.

NINE

S
TEPHANIE LISTENED TO
D
AVIS
’
EXPLANATION
.

“The American Revolution was not a revolution at all. At no time was its goal the overthrow of the British government. None of its stated aims included conquering London and replacing the monarchy with a democracy. No. The American Revolution was a war of secession. The Declaration of Independence was a statement of secession. The United States of America was founded by secessionists. Their goal was to leave the British Empire and fashion a government of their own. There have been two wars of secession in American history. The first was fought in 1776, the next in 1861.”

The implications fascinated her, but she was more curious as to the information’s relevance.

“The South wanted to leave the Union because it no longer agreed with what the federal government was doing,” Davis said. “Tariffs were the big revenue raiser. The South imported far more than the North, so it paid over half the tariffs. But with more than half of the population, the North sucked up the majority of federal spending. That was a problem. Northern industrialists owed their existence to high tariffs. Eliminate them, and their businesses would fail. Tariffs had been fought over since 1824, the South resisting, the North continuing to impose them. The newly created Confederate
Constitution specifically outlawed tariffs. That meant Southern ports would now have a decisive edge over their Northern counterparts.”

“Which Lincoln could not allow.”

“How could he? The federal government would have no money. Game over. In essence, the North and South fundamentally disagreed on both revenue and spending decisions. After decades of this, the South decided it just didn’t want to be a part of the United States anymore. So those states left.”

“What do Josepe Salazar and Senator Rowan have to do with any of this?”

“They’re both Mormon.”

She waited for more.

By the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January 1863, Lincoln was in a panic. After winning at the Battle of Manassas in July 1861, the Union army had been handed a string of defeats. The decisive Battle of Gettysburg was still six months away, when the tide of the war would turn. So in the winter of 1863 Lincoln faced a crisis. He had to hold both the North and the Far West. Losing the Far West to the Confederacy would mean certain defeat
.

To hold the Far West meant making a deal with the Mormons
.

They’d occupied the Salt Lake valley since 1847. The area had been known as the Great American Desert before their arrival, and the nearby dead lake had discouraged settlement. But they’d labored sixteen years, building a city, creating the Utah Territory. They’d wanted statehood, but it had been denied, a reaction to their rebellious attitude and unorthodox beliefs, especially polygamy, which they refused to denounce. Their leader, Brigham Young, was both determined and capable. In 1857 he faced off against President James Buchanan when five thousand federal troops were sent west to restore order. Luckily for Young, that invading force was not led by military strategists. Instead politicians called the shots, and they ordered a march across 1,000 miles of harsh wilderness, ending short of Utah just as winter took hold, stuck in the mountains where many died. Young wisely determined it would be futile to fight such an army head-on, so he adapted guerrilla tactics–burning supply trains, stealing pack animals, scorching the earth. Buchanan was eventually backed into a corner and did what any good politician would do—he declared victory and sued for peace. Envoys came with a full pardon for Young and the Mormons. The conflict ended with not a shot fired between the opposing sides and Young once again in total control. By 1862 both the railroad and telegraph lines ran straight through the Utah Territory to the Pacific. If Lincoln did not want them severed, which would cut him off to the far west, he had to reach an accommodation with Brigham Young
.

“It’s a hell of a tale,” Davis said. “Congress had passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in mid-1862, which targeted polygamy. The Mormons did not like that at all. So in early 1863, Young sent an emissary to meet with Lincoln. The message was clear.
Mess with us and we’re going to mess with you
. That meant a break in the railroad and telegraph lines. Mormon troops might even enter the war for the South. Lincoln knew this was serious. So he had a message for Brigham Young.”

“When I was a boy on the farm in Illinois there was a great deal of timber which had to be cleared away. Occasionally, a log was found that had fallen down. It was too hard to split, too wet to burn, and too heavy to move, so we plowed around it. Tell your prophet that I will leave him alone, if he will leave me alone.”

“And that’s what happened,” Davis said. “General Conner, who commanded the federal troops in Utah, was ordered not to confront the Mormons on the issue of polygamy, or any other issue for that matter. He was told to leave them alone. It wasn’t until 1882 that the next federal criminal act on polygamy came along. That one was a problem, and thousands were prosecuted. But by then the Civil War was long over and both Lincoln and Young were dead.”

“How do you know about this deal?”

“Classified records.”

“From 1863?”

Davis sat silent for a moment, and she could see that he was troubled. He was legendary for his poker face, but she knew better. She’d seen him at his most vulnerable, and likewise. Pretense did not exist between them.

“The Mormons didn’t trust Lincoln,” Davis said. “They had no reason to trust anybody in Washington. They’d been ignored, put off, and lied to for decades. The government was their worst enemy. But finally here they were in the catbird seat. So they made a deal, but they also demanded collateral.”

She was amazed. “What could Lincoln have given them?”

“Here’s where we know only bits and pieces. But we know enough. Worse, though, is that Senator Thadeaus Rowan knows some of it, too. He’s an apostle in the Mormon Church and, besides us, they’re the only other people alive who have any clue about this.”

“That’s why you wanted Salazar scoped out? His connection to Rowan?”

Davis nodded. “We became aware of some things Rowan was doing about a year ago. We were then told of the connection to Salazar. When we made the request to you for the dossier, we realized we had a problem. Now it’s grown.”

She tried to recall what she could about the Mormons. She was not a religious person, and from what she knew about Edwin Davis, he was similar.

“Rowan is smart,” Davis said. “He’s plotted this through carefully and waited for the right moment to act. We need our best people on this. What’s about to happen could have catastrophic consequences.”

“All my people are good.”

“Can we keep Malone involved?”

“I don’t know.”

“Pay him. Do whatever. But I want him on this.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this anxious. Is it that bad?”

“I’m sorry that I deceived you. When I asked for the dossier on Salazar, I should have told you what I knew. I held back, hoping we were wrong.”

“What’s changed?”

“We weren’t wrong. I just heard from the secretary of the interior, who’s with Rowan in Utah. They found some bodies and wagons from the 19th century in Zion National Park. There’s a
connection to the Mormons. Rowan flew straight back to Salt Lake City and is meeting with the prophet of the church right now. What they’re discussing could change this country.”

“I still have a man missing. That’s my primary concern at the moment.”

Davis stood. “Then deal with it. But I need you in Washington tomorrow morning. We have to handle this quickly and carefully.”

She nodded.

Davis shook his head. “Thomas Jefferson once said that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical, a medicine for the sound health of government. Jefferson didn’t live in our world. I’m not sure that would be true anymore.”

“What are we talking about here?”

Davis stared at her with ice in his eyes.

“The end of the United States of America.”

TEN

C
OPENHAGEN

M
ALONE WATCHED AS
L
UKE REACTED TO THE MEN’S ADVANCE
, protecting Barry Kirk. He moved toward the front window, hand on his gun. He’d never answered Luke’s question about a rear door.

“What’s going on?” Kirk asked.

“We have visitors.”

“Where? Who?”

“Outside.”

He saw Kirk’s gaze dart past the window to the square beyond. The two men were nearly at the bookshop.

“Look familiar?” Luke asked Kirk.

“Danites. They’re Salazar’s. I know them. They found me in Sweden. They found me here. You people are useless. You’re going to get me killed.”

“Pappy, that back door. Where is it?”

“Just follow the aisle in front of you. But you understand, with all those people around out there, these two aren’t going to make a scene.”

“Okay, I get it. That’s why they want us out back. How many you think are waiting there?”

“Enough that one gun between us is not going to solve the problem.”

“Call the police,” Kirk said.

Luke shook his head. “Useless as teats on a boar hog. But it sounds like somebody already has. Those sirens are getting louder.”

“We don’t know if those are headed here,” Malone said. “But the last thing we need is to be bogged down with the locals. We’re going out the front and hope these guys don’t want a scene.”

“You got a plan after that?”

“Every good agent does.”

He’d ragged Luke for his rash decision to flee out the back, but he admired the young man’s cool under pressure.

And he’d heard what Kirk had called the men outside.

Danites
.

If that group existed at all—and there’d been much historical debate on the issue—it would have been two centuries ago. A reaction to a different time and place. An understandable way to counter the violence Mormons had routinely faced. So what was happening here?

He grabbed his keys off the counter, then opened the front door. Noise from the people enjoying the Danish night grew louder, as did the sirens. He stepped out and waited until Luke and Kirk joined him, then shut and locked the door.

The two men eyed them.

He turned right toward the Café Norden, which anchored the east end of Højbro Plads. The walk was fifty yards across crowded pavement. Between them and the café the lighted Stork Fountain flowed with splashing water. People sat along its edge socializing. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the two men following. He deliberately slowed to give them a chance to meet up. His pulse quickened, senses alert. He wanted any confrontation to happen here, in public.

The two men adjusted the angle of their approach and ended up in front, blocking the way. The cold weight of the gun beneath his jacket only partially reassured him. Beyond the square, back toward the canal, where the rental boat was moored and the street ended, four city police cars skidded to a stop.

Two officers rushed their way.

Another two headed for the boat.

“That ain’t good, Pappy,” Luke muttered.

The uniforms rushed into Højbro Plads and turned toward his bookshop. They gazed through the front windows and tested the locked door. Then one of them busted the glass and they entered with guns drawn.

“You killed my people.”

Malone turned and faced the two men. “Gee, I’m so sorry. Anything I can do to make it up to you?”

“You think this is a joke?”