“Victim of Circumstance..”
As the overcast slowly transitioned to a bed of blue, a magnetic chill swept the city. Walter stood at the podium of the Omnicare event giving his speech as citizens stood in the wind absorbing the false rays of hope from his healthcare proposal. Melissa stood to the left of him gazing at a reporter in the crowd, caught up in an intimate scandal with her husband. Carrie Anderson.
Carrie was a beautiful woman in her late 20's with a beautiful head of long dark hair, full inviting lips, and a classic coke bottle figure complemented by her incredible set of breasts that stood at attention like any good soldier would. She was the perfect competition for Melissa, and this is what Melissa feared the most; anxieties brought to fruition due to the fact that Carrie was the splitting image of a younger Melissa. The advantage of being a good fuck for potential financial oportunities, in the political arena. Royalty.
As walter spoke, Melissa seized every modicum of opportunity to gaze at Carrie given the three second window, almost piercing her consciousness with each look. Walter finally wrapped up his speech. "With Omnicare we will establish affordable healthcare and re-establish social responsibility here in the great state of Washington! Affordable medication for depression and pain disorders. Cancer, Alzheimers, and HIV; rehab clinics transforming and reestablishing our addicted citizens in the wake of reform! We are entitled to a healthy new beginning as opposed to being a victim of circumstance by this pressing global economy. Washington I promise you that! Thank you!" The crowd began to applaud as Walter made his way down to shake hands, escorted by his entourage. Melissa strategically walked two paces ahead of Walter, grabbing his hand as he headed toward the vehicle formation passing Carrie in the crowd. Carrie smirked at Melissa's insecurities as she walked closer to the car hand in hand with Walter.
As they approached the sedan Walter noticed Agent Paul Lundy sitting on the trunk of his government issued Chevy, lighting a cigarette across the parking lot. Being both alarmed and fearful from Lundy's ill-timed appearance, Walter stood oblivious to the reporter and kept trying to get his attention. " Mayor Cartwell! Mayor Cartwell!" Walter looks at the reporter, completely out of sync.
"Yeah. Yes?" He replied. "Sharon Wright of the Pelican Press. With recent cyber attacks on several financial institutions and federal compounds, and given the methods of these hacks, there's current speculation of a possible hacker group or groups, maybe established in Western Washington, specifically in the King County metropolitan area?. Groups that might be responsible for the recent attack on your campaign; care to comment on the situation?"
Walter continued to look over the shoulder of the reporter, his sights fixed on Agent Lundy. Lundy lit the cigarette sliding off the car, entered and began to drive off, sending walter from a state of worry, to paramount anxiousness. "Uh, the details of the investigation are confidential, for obvious reasons but the matter is being looked into by both the Olympia and Seattle FBI field offices" Walter said, while eyeing Lundy, who made his way back into his car.
"Mr. Mayor, Shannon Calahan, Fox-13. What about the leaked documents that imply your alleged investment in a pharmaceutical company that manufactures paradoxone, which is now being abused by a mass population of addicts in Washington and Oregon-, street named, Anthem? Care to comment?" She asked. "He's not going to justify that accusation with a comment. The details of the investigation are and will remain scarce to the press" Phil quickly responded.
Walter quickly entered the sedan, and stopped Melissa before she got in. "I'll catch up with you, head back with Phil" Melissa rolled her eyes and shut the door as Walter directed the driver to follow Lundy. "Follow that black Chevy, Walker" Walter said.
The sedan separated from the crowd of citizens and reporters, trailing the car into the city until it stopped at a local cafe a few minutes away, in a quiet Queen Anne neighborhood.
Agent Lundy parked alongside the street and exited his vehicle, making his way into the cafe as Walter's black sedan pulled up behind Lundy's vehicle. "Pull up behind it, right over here" Walker put the car in park. "You need me to come with you, Sir?" Walker asked. "No, stay here. I'll be out back in a second" Walter said before entering the underpopulated cafe. He walked in line behind Lundy.
Lundy turned his head slightly before the waitress helped him. "Good Morning, would you like to try our triple vanilla espresso?" "No thank you sweetheart, just give me a black coffee with four sugars. I don't want to start the day off on edge, there's no way to live. Old heart." The waitress smiled. "No problem sir, that'll be $3.50. Will that be cash or credit?" Lundy hands the cashier his credit card, which she then tapped on the payment terminal, before handing it back to him.
"Thanks" he responded in a sarcastic tone.
As Lundy walked over to the condiment counter, Walter walked up to the cashier. "Good Morning sir, would you like to try our triple vanilla espresso?" She asked, unbeknownst to who Walter is. Walter stumbled over his words. "Uh, um no thank you. I'll have a medium coffee with two cream, four sugars please" "No problem sir, that comes to $5.50 will that be cash or credit?"
"For a medium? Credit, please" Walter tapped the card on the payment terminal. "Thank you sir, you have an amazing day!"
Walter walked over to Lundy, hands in pocket.
"You always seem to pay a greater price for what you want Walter, why is that?" Lundy said as he grabbed the coffee from the counter.
Walter shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath.
"Victim of circumstance-- I guess" Walter replied calmly.
"No. I don't think there is a circumstance that we don't create ourselves, for the most part. I mean you don't accidentally fall inside of a twenty-six year old pussy with a body of Maxim magazine standards merely by coincidence" Lundy said. "You know what, you're a little out of your league right now, Paul. This isn't back in the day and I'm not Andrew. I think you should acknowledge who the fuck you're talking to, Agent" Walter said, harshly. Lundy took the jab on the chin.
"You know what Walter, you're right. I should be a little bit more respectful. So I'll do you a favor and spare you a smear campaign by finding the son of a bitch that seems so interested in your old financial records, your personal emails, your shaky case defending Andrew Sampson, almost twenty years ago. I mean Jesus Christ that fucker made Bernie Madoff look like Mr. Rodgers. But you remember, don't you Walter? It was around that time, you were under investigation by my people and they hit a roadblock. Except this time, we're not after you and yet you still have something to hide" Lundy said.
"Ok. We seem to be having a bit of a communication failure, you see, the situation is- someone is after me and I don't know why. I'm in the middle of a campaign for the Governor's seat but yet I'm standing in an empty coffee shop with you, discussing how me fucking a twenty something relates to the price of tea in China and that's ok- I respect your theory. Just know this will be the last time that we speak to each other without the company of my lawyer. Speak to him if you have any questions and spare me the dead conversation" Walter said.
As Walter walked away from the counter leaving his coffee, Lundy shouted "This is the no fucking around zone, Walter! They will get to your home. To your family" Walter turned around and slowly walked back over to lundy, his mouth slightly open. Subtle deep breaths.
He had his full attention. "You have something to tell me, I suggest you don't keep it to yourself" Walter calmly replied.
"Whoever hacked you, also got inside a few server farms between here and Tacoma; fortune 500 companies, Seattle PD, government field offices, multiple facilities breached using proxy servers, all under the same window of time. Now, this is just--dog food for the NSA but the Department of Justice thought to hand the case to us, given your history with the FBI. Can't say I don't take delight in seeing you rattle a bit but on the basis of being real, I figured I give you full disclosure. Someone has a hard on for your tribe"
"If they can hit your servers in such a small window of time, let alone AT ALL, why should I believe that you can help me?" Walter loudly whispered. " Well Walter, it's what we call a honey pot. Thats where they fucked up. It's only a matter of time before we audit those servers and cross reference the malware-"
"Bullshit. You expect me to believe that you anticipated this?"
"No, I don't. That's why we call it terrorism. I expect you to believe that I'll do my job. But I'm letting you know now, your future on the street is contingent upon what that son of a bitch tells us when we find him. Those emails, PDF files, receipts were all doctored, probably because he couldn't get to you, digitally. But it's only a matter of time before we find him, them, whatever. Or they find a way to get to you, which I highly doubt you will see coming-Walter" Lundy said.
(Brief silence)
The sound of smooth jazz continued to play in the background, followed by a fresh group of customers coming through the front door.
"So what is this a threat or a warning?" Walter asked. "It's an offer. A 5K1 Motion. In exchange for the German, funding your war chest"
Walter snickered and brushed the statement off. Remaining silent, staring out of the picture window, fixed in front of the cafe.
"You can't afford to pretend indifference here" Lundy said .
Walter stood nervously, trying his best to maintain a calm demeanor, masking subtle deep breaths and an essential tremor in his right hand, that reflected his awfully shitty circumstance. He wiped the sweat off of his lip with his left.
"You're not gonna charge me for having a cup of coffee with a colleague. If you have any questions you can contact my lawyer. I'm sure you remember the number" Walter said as he made his way out of the cafe.
"I'll keep my phone on for you Cartwell.."
As more people entered the cafe to take refuge from the brewing rainfall. Lundy focused his sights on the news, broadcasted on a flatscreen above the counter. Election statistics were in. Walter dropped -6% in the polls.