“I’m sure that’d be totally unnecessary.”
“No, really, go ahead. We’ll wait outside.”
The man made the call and after that he suggested they had a talk while walking through the Carl A. Kroch Library, for privacy’s sake. The place was not only state-of-the-art but it occupied three floors underground and was used to house rare books and manuscripts.
“I’m sorry about this, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, this is where I do most of my research, it’s quiet and secret. This is one of my assistants right there. I tell them specifically what to search for so they never really know about the big picture.”
Spicer followed the man’s pointing finger and spotted a grad student at a table, engrossed in a book.
“And what is the big picture?”
“For the last two years, I’ve been researching dictatorships throughout history and the effects of such a regime on the population. I’ve written just over two thousand pages so far, and I’m only half way through. It’s fascinating work.”
“Tell me professor, don’t you find it an odd research. I mean, don’t you ever ask yourself why a foundation would give you the mandate of researching such a topic?”
The man stopped and turned up to face his two visitors. “Look, I love my job. I have a Ph.D. in political science and one in history. This is a dream job. But I’ve seen weirder. Hell, at the height of the Cold War my uncle was recruited by the government to look into the use of torture in interrogation. Now, that’s far out.”
An hour later, the two CIA men were walking back to their rental car. Ned was silent and Spicer picked up on it.
“What is it?”
“I’m a bit uncomfortable with what we just learned, Spicer.”
“Are you?”
“I’m sure there’s a reason why we didn’t know any of this, why our personal files only read Cornell University, history research. We weren’t supposed to learn what we just did.”
Spicer stopped to face his partner. “Look, you can’t expect a guy to go down in the woods to chop off trees only holding his dick in his hands. That’s what they’re doing with us. We’re supposed to find the guy who wrote the article but they don’t tell us shit. Don’t you find this the least bit strange?”
“We’re messing with deep classified shit, here.”
“Only one guy’s idea of it.”
“You seriously need to blow your nuts, man. Please, go jerk off in the car, I’ll wait for you.”
Spicer walked off and the McGraw Tower chimes started ringing.
Chapter 10
Unable to believe he was actually doing it, Spicer left his apartment and walked over to Esther’s. He was feeling like a teenager which was silly. He had done unimaginable things, shown courage dozens of time, and his stomach fluttered at asking his neighbor out on a date.
And she said yes.
They went out to dinner and then, when he asked her what they should do next, she suggested the FDR Memorial. Designed over more than seven acres, the monument consisted of four outdoor rooms filled with sculptures representing the highlights of Roosevelt’s presidency. The evening was mild and Spicer enjoyed walking along with Esther.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been here before,” she said.
“I used to live in Miami, I only came out here for meetings and such. I never really had the time to hop on a tour bus.”
“Okay, we’re getting somewhere. All evening we’ve only talked about me. You’ve learned I spend my days at the Common Sense Alliance, that I took a sabbatical from the law. I told you about growing up in South Dakota, about high school. You’ve told me you used to live in Miami and work for the government.”
“I told you I was married before,” he said.
“Okay, that’s right. But does it really count as personal information if it was 20 years ago?”
“It does if my heart is still broken.”
“Is it, Gene?”
He looked at her sideways and grinned before shaking his head. He had indeed been married in his 20s but it hadn’t lasted more than a few years. His wife couldn’t cope with his deployments. The silver lining was that they hadn’t had any children to get caught up in the storm of divorce.
Spicer remained silent for a minute before deciding to give her a small dose of personal information.
“I work for the CIA.”
That took her aback. “Is that why you can’t talk about it, you’re a secret agent?”
“No, I can talk about it. I work for what we call the Office of Security. I check on people’s background, that sort of stuff. Phone job, really. I used to work out of Miami but with the budget cutbacks they’re bringing everybody back to DC.”
They passed by a sculpture of FDR sitting in a wheelchair and Spicer glanced at it. He felt a bit like him right now, vulnerable and on display.
He continued. “You haven’t told me what you do at the Common Sense Alliance.”
“I recruit volunteers, train them.”
“That’s right, it’s an election year.”
“You say that like it just occurred to you.”
He nodded. “It did just occur to me.”
“How can that be? It's a presidential election year. That’s all the news talk about. There are posters, ads everywhere. It’s especially exciting since our little third party is neck and neck with the Democrats and Republicans.”
He shrugged off what sounded like an accusation. He hated politics on principle. Politicians had dictated his life for the past 30 years. The Common Sense Alliance had started out as a loose think tank of libertarian intellectuals and exploded into a widespread grassroots movement. They had done what the Tea Party had failed to do by straddling the fence between liberalism and conservatism, cherry picking the best of both parties.
“You thinking about getting into politics yourself?” he asked.
“Actually, I haven’t decided yet.”
“It’s a dirty world.”
“Doesn’t have to be.”
They reached the end of the monument. By a common accord they dropped the subject. He liked how feisty and passionate she was about the subject. There were still glow of idealism in her eyes. It was something to admire. For a long minute they walked in silence.
“I’ve had a really nice time, Gene.”
“Me too. I hope I didn’t screw up anything.”
She arched her eyebrows, puzzled. “No, why?”
“I haven’t been on a date since the Hundred Years’ War ended, and I wound up marrying her.”
“Let me assure you that you did just fine. I won’t say yes to your proposal just yet. So you know.” They both smiled. “What happened with your wife anyway?”
“She left me for a cheesy lounge singer.”
She chuckled, unsure if it was a joke or not.
“I’m glad you asked me out tonight.”
“So am I.”
He stared into her eyes for the longest time. He could have kissed her — he should have kissed her — but he was rusty. Besides, it was probably best to take it slow.
Chapter 11
Spicer was getting tired of visiting universities. At least the weather in Lubbock, Texas was far more pleasant. It was a nice 70 degrees on the Texas Tech campus and sunny as well. This made him forget his plight for a moment but at the same time it made him miss Miami.
With Ned, he went into the Engineering & Technology Lab, part of the Whitacre College of Engineering. They followed a middle-aged professor around the sizable research facility. There were lasers, transmitters, a whole bunch of widgets in glass-enclosed compartments.