She lowered the cable closer to the bowl, letting the tension build.
Einhorn screamed as loud as he could. She wasn't sure what he was saying, but the desperate noises sounded like he was trying to say, "I'll talk."
"You ready to talk now? Is that it?"
He nodded his head as fast as possible. His eyes boiled over with terror.
"Good."
She set the cable on the ground next to the hole and tore the tape from his mouth again.
"Yes!" he said. "Yes! I'll tell you everything you want to know. Just… just don't do this." His voice trembled on the verge of sobbing.
"That's much better. Now tell me. Who do you work for? Why did they want the president dead?"
"I… I don't know why they wanted the president dead," the cop muttered.
She tilted her head to the side and pressed the gun into Einhorn's kneecap.
"Honest!" he shouted. "I swear! I don't know why they want him dead. He must have stumbled onto something he wasn't supposed to see. Dawkins is a puppet, okay? Just like you and me. You think you live this life based on your own free will and your hopes and dreams? Doesn't work that way, lady. They run everything. Everything! You don't cross a street without them knowing about it."
"Who? Who is behind all this?"
"I don't know who is pulling all the strings."
Her finger tensed on the trigger.
"I'm telling the truth. Me and the others, we got a call about the guy who tried to kill the president."
"A call from who?"
His head twisted back and forth. "I don't know his name. We don't know any names. All I know is when they call, I have to answer."
"And this mystery caller sent you to take out the assassin?"
The cop nodded. "Yes."
"Why? Wasn't that guy on the same team?"
Einhorn snorted a laugh. "Yeah, but these guys aren't the types to leave loose ends lying around. Our orders were to take him out, and if any of our own were causing problems… well, you saw what we did."
She did see. For all his talking, though, this cop was being relatively unhelpful. She needed to expedite things.
"Who do you work for?" she said, redirecting the conversation back toward what she hoped would be useful information.
"I don't know who they are."
His words drew her ire, and she reached up to grab the cable. Holding it over his feet, she stared blankly into his eyes. "I can see you don't know anything. Sorry, Officer."
Her fingers loosened on the cable, and it dropped toward the water.
"No! Wait!" he yelled. She clutched the yellow wire coating before the clamp hit the liquid.
"What is it now?" she shouted at him. "You keep stalling like someone is going to come to your aid. We are in the middle of the Patuxent Refuge. No one is around to hear you scream."
A puzzled expression washed over his face for a moment. "What's with the duct tape, then?"
"For my own sanity. Now tell me everything. And no more stalling."
He gasped for air for another ten seconds before he spoke again.
"They're the Knights of the Golden Circle. They run everything, own everything, and everyone. Okay?"
"Knights of the Golden Circle? The same group behind the Lincoln assassination?"
"Yes. Yes," he said with a voice full of desperation. "The very same."
She shook her head. Growing up in Spain, Adriana's knowledge of United States history was scattered at best. She'd read enough books on the subject of Lincoln's murder to know a little about the KGC. The last thing she remembered reading was that they'd ceased to be active in the years following the Civil War.
"That order hasn't been around in more than a century."
A sickly laugh escaped the cop's lips. He shook his head at her like she'd just made the most ridiculous statement of all time.
"That's exactly what they wanted everyone to think. Meanwhile, behind the curtain, they pulled all the strings."
Adriana's head turned side to side. "That doesn't make sense. The KGC was working with the Confederacy."
Einhorn shook his head. "Yeah. Of course they were. But when they saw there'd be no beating the Union… well, you know the old saying."
Things still weren't adding up. Adriana wondered how much of what was coming out of the man's mouth was truth and how much was a lie. She pushed through the doubt and kept him talking.
"Why would they work with the Union? It was against everything the Confederacy stood for, everything the South wanted."
"No," the cop shook his head. "The Confederacy, the KGC, all of them wanted the same thing."
"And what was that? Money?"
"Sure, money. It's the great driver of all things, isn't it? But behind the quest for money is a search for something else."
"Power," she said, realizing where he was going with all this.
"Bingo. The KGC knew the South's cause was done. There was no way they were going to win the war. So, they joined the winning side, infiltrated the government, and spread like a virus."
Adriana let the information sink in.
The Knights of the Golden Circle, an old secret society from the South, was behind the Dawkins assassination attempt and — according to this guy — behind a great many other things as well. If what he was saying was true, their reach could be unending.
"CIA? FBI?" she asked.
"NSA, you name it. They've got their fingers in all the pies. Even the police."
"Why Dawkins? Why kill the president? You said he must have found something."
"Look, lady, I have no idea why they wanted to kill the president. Like I said, he must have found something on them. What that could be, I have no idea. I swear. I'm just a low-level errand boy for them. They don't tell me much, almost nothing. I just get a little bonus money every quarter for doing as they say."
"So, you sold your soul to the devil."
"Did you hear anything I said? They own everything. These aren't the kind of people you say no to. You either get on board, or they erase you. Simple as that."
Adriana crossed her arms. "Like you did with your cop friend and the would-be assassin?"
His eyes wandered away from her, focusing somewhere in the treetops for a moment.
"Oh, grow up. You think that's the worst thing we've done for them? We all know the score. We know what happens. When you're in, you're in. And you only get out when they say so."
"Sounds like an uncertain way to live life. Never know when the guy next to you is going to stab you in the back."
He returned his gaze to her, his eyes mere slits. "Life is uncertain, sweetheart. You might as well get something for your trouble while you're here."
"Mmm," she said with a nod. "That's a good point. And this whole talk has been great, except you haven't really told me anything. Have you? This entire time you've been jabbering all you've given me is something I could have read on some crackpot's blog. So, you know what? I think we're done here. Honestly, I'm shocked. Actually, that would be you."
She dangled the cable over the water, nearly skimming the surface.
"No! Please! There's one more thing I can tell you!"
"It better be good," Adriana said. "I'm done wasting my time with you."
His lips quivered. She wasn't sure if it was from fear, the cold, or both. Probably both.
"All… all I know is they're trying to hide something. Okay? I don't know what it is, I swear."
"Hiding something?"
"Yeah. Something they found a long time ago. None of the people in charge have told me what it is. I've only ever heard rumors. Whatever it is they're hiding… it's big. Supposedly, it's the source of the KGC wealth and power."
Adriana narrowed her eyes, sizing up the cop's story. What could the Knights be keeping from public view? This guy clearly didn't know much about it.