Heartless People |Book 3|

Chapter 5

"We have the best government that money can buy."

—Mark Twain

LISA

"Good evening, I'm Stan Mercy."

"And I'm Toni Blake."

"This is KW4 Evening news. Tonight, we will be running live coverage on the story that has captivated the nation. The Manoban name has been heavily gossiped, and in national news for years, but no more than in the past few months. In a surprising turn of events, the Manoban name is now synonymous with national security. For the past few months, federal agents have been conducting an investigation that has resulted in the deaths of Joseph Williams and two other homegrown terrorists responsible for bombings across the Mexican border and Europe.

"Five months ago, government agents uncovered information, through the help of a witness, which led to this discovery. The world knows her as Mrs. Jennie Manoban. After an attempt on her life, she was placed into witness protection. The only people knowing of her whereabouts were her wife and those of the highest clearance. This operation required a great deal of sacrifice from a great deal of people. At the latest report, the total casualty count has reached six. These were all government agents that unfortunately lost their lives protecting their country. Roger Kane, Kimberly Green, Beatrice Sinclair, Adam..."

"Holy shit," Bambam whispered as he stared at the six agents on the screen. "Did she really kill them for the cover up?"

All of us, with the exception of Jen, Evelyn, and Victoria who were in Ethan's room, were watching the news coverage. We watched as the President, the one I had spent a fortune creating, covered for Jen...covered for us all.

"I wouldn't put anything past her," Nickhun came around, and handed me a glass of brandy on the rocks. Taking in the scent, I almost moaned as I took a large gulp.

"How did I live without this?" I asked him. "I should have had it smuggled in instead of the rocks. I could have made a whole lot more money."

"You shouldn't have needed anything to be smuggle in," Mina snapped, crossing her legs in the chair as she glared at the President on the screen.

"Thank you for your concern. Five months without a visit, I wouldn't have thought you cared." Downing all of the brandy, I walked across the room to the mahogany bar in the corner.

"This cover-up...it's deep. Why did she choose terrorism?" Bambam asked, looking at the television as the President went on.

"Because there are only two wars in this country that people care about," I muttered, "the war on drugs and the war on terror; she'd rather them focus on the latter, for obvious reasons."

What a smart wife I had, she'd planned it all out perfectly.

"We're going to have to do press conferences, and a lot of them, this isn't just going to go away. We'll be in the news for weeks, if not years," Nickhun moaned, and I was there with him. The last thing I wanted do was sit in front of the same sharks who were calling for my blood only a few hours ago.

"Did Jennie speak about any of this with you?" my father asked.

"Talk to me about something? What do I look like, her wife?" I laughed bitterly as I drank.

"Lisa?" he questioned me again.

"Why the hell did you let me get married?" I sighed, as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "She didn't say anything about it, and I didn't give her the chance."

"What are you going to do?" Bambam asked.

"Right now I'm going to try to wash the stench of jail off of me. Then I'm going to drink...actually I'm going to do both at the same time and only after that I may speak with her." Or strangle her...Walking out the room, a few maids curtsied as I passed them, which reminded me that I needed to do another background check and establish some sort of leverage on all of them.