Chapter 30

 

 

Driving back to my office I call the President to let him know about how everything has become unraveled before he reads about in the newspaper. After I finish he says, “This guy is full of surprises. What’s your next step?”

 

“As of this moment, sir, I haven’t a clue. Don Ericson, Janet Vanderhill and I are going to get together tomorrow to discuss that. We’ll probably cut back on the media blitz to 30 second spots during prime time but keep the signage up with respect to billboards and mass transportation. The number of phone calls coming into the FBI has diminished drastically, so Don has disbanded the special Crusader Sighting Response Force he set up. We’re going to have to come up with some new tactics. Our full court press blew up in our faces.”

 

“Keep me posted.” Click.

 

When I get back to my office, Felicity, Bob and Shirley surround me and bombard me with questions about what happened at Walter Reed. At first I think they want to know if the trap worked, but when Felicity asks me about the explosion I know I’m out of the loop on something.

 

“How do you know about that?”

 

“It’s all over the news. All the commentators have been saying is there was a big explosion outside of the hospital and to stay tuned for more details which will be aired as soon as they receive them. No one at the hospital can be reached for comment and they have no word on what caused it or whether or not anyone was injured. What happened to your face? Come on, spill it!”

 

“No one at the hospital will make a comment because the FBI told them to make none.”

 

I proceed to fill them in on what happened after which Shirley says, “Chet, you were lucky you weren’t blinded or worse. How’s Janet doing?”

 

“She’ll be fine. She’ll probably be stopping by here tomorrow when she’s released from the hospital for a telephone brainstorming session with Don Ericson. We’ve got to come up with some new ideas.”

 

Shirley says, “When the Crusader reads Janet’s account of what happened at Walter Reed this morning, I’ll bet he’s going to flip out in a big way when he finds out the President survived. Maybe he’ll do something really stupid and it’ll be game, set and match.”

 

“It doesn’t cost anything to hope, but I’m not going to hold my breath. We believe he’s willing to take greater risks to kill the President, but I don’t think he’s going to do anything to make his capture a slam dunk.”

 

Bob chimes in with, “Since you two are in a sports metaphor mood, I think it’s going to take a three cushion bank shot to sink this eight ball in the corner pocket. As desperate as this screwball is, he’s just too smart to do something to make it a six inch shot into the side pocket. It‘s going to take something clever like you tried to pull off this morning to end this game.”

 

“If you’ve got any ideas, I’d like to hear them.”

 

“Alright, take a seat, sit back, try to relax and I’ll expound.”

 

I head for my desk, the others gather around and Bob sallies forth. Hey, fox hunting is a sport in England and why not stay with the sports metaphors? It’ll help keep me in a competitive mood instead of slipping into a funk over our failure to score a victory earlier today. Hey, way to go Dawson.

 

“Aldrich wasn’t always a killer. He was a loving family man and there is every indication that his morals and ethics were above reproach. It took a tragedy to turn this man into a one man vigilante posse bent on the annihilation of his perceived enemies. He had to love his son a lot; he has to be experiencing a lot of deep down hurt to evolve into what he has become today. The ability to have these kinds of feelings doesn’t necessarily cease to exist just because you react violently to a situation.

 

“I’ve been trying to get inside this guy’s head to get an insight on how he might react in different scenarios. One idea crossed my mind that I think is worth considering. If Aldrich learned that his wife was under intense investigation for complicity in his killings and that the authorities feel that the issuance of an arrest warrant is imminent, how do you think Aldrich would react to that?”

 

Thoughts of sports metaphors have evaporated as Bob now has our undivided attention.

 

“That’s a rhetorical question. I think I have the answer. I believe his love for his wife hasn’t dwindled one iota even though he knows she doesn’t agree with his taking the law into his own hands. At first, I think he’ll make every effort to communicate with the authorities that she has played no part in his vendetta. When the authorities refuse to be convinced that she’s innocent of any wrongdoing, I think he’ll start thinking of ways to prevent her from being arrested. If the authorities make an offer of leniency for the wife if Aldrich agrees to cease with the killings and surrenders to the authorities, there’s a good possibility that he’ll try to contact her by phone or email to let her know that he won’t comply with the authorities’ request, but he won’t let them arrest her, that he’ll find a way to prevent that.

 

“I think there’s a better than even chance that he’ll try to persuade her to clandestinely meet with him so that they can flee somewhere he thinks they will be safe. I’m assuming the tap on the wife’s phone is still in place. If not, it can be reinstalled. That way the authorities will know first- hand what he’s planning if he phones her. The authorities can also tie in to her computer if email is used to contact her. A tail can be put in place on the wife when she goes to meet him and when they meet up the good guys can move in and arrest him. Of course, his wife will have to agree to go along with this, but she was willing to let you put a tap on her phone before so she probably will agree to play her part.”

 

There’s no immediate reaction from any of us as we’re all deep in thought about the viability of what he’s suggesting.

 

After weighing what I see to be the pros and cons, I conclude that it has a decent chance of working and say so. Felicity and Shirley hop on board shortly thereafter. I say, “After the failure of our brilliant idea this morning, I don’t know how willing the FBI will be to get involved in another off the wall idea. I like it, but I have my doubts about how amenable Don and company will be. I’ll run it by Don and Janet tomorrow. Okay everybody, back to work and putting some money in my bank account.”

 

I spend the rest of the day attending to much more mundane issues compared to the Crusader and his lust for blood, but they’ve been paying the bills month after month and it hurts my wallet big time when I’m remiss in addressing them which I’ve been a lot lately.