The Candidate ✓ (Book Two)

Chapter Two

I continue to read the file that was compiled for me, the investigative team waiting on me to finish up. According to the evidence they've gathered- it started almost a year before President Williams's election. His bank statements show direct payments to election officials, text messages and phone calls explicitly asking them to ensure his victory. The crazy part is how many agreed- There had to have been some threat to their lives.

President Williams has always been rich enough to make anything he wants to go away do exactly that. He was born into a rich family- but became even more powerful as he got into politics. I'm only surprised that he's managed to get away with it for this long. "And why was this investigation not brought to my attention sooner?" I ask, crossing my arms. "Cause this is pretty fucking important."

"I didn't want to risk your life by showing this to you until we had undeniable evidence- which we have now." My field investigator says. I stand up, moving over to the information screens.

"Okay.." My voice trails off. "Why hasn't he been arrested yet?"

"The logistics of arresting a former president are still... complicated." He says.

"How?" I roll my eyes. "The accountability act should have taken care of that."

"But it didn't-" My legal advisor replies. "There are still loopholes in the legislation. The government organization responsible for the arrest still must inform secret service of the warrant so they can start planning out their protection detail for prison."

"And a former president's never been arrested before. They still need to work out all of the details- like if they can put him in solitary in a standard prison or if it needs to be a max, if he'll get his own prison ward or not- if he'll be on house arrest instead or if he'll get special privileges other inmates don't... you get the point." My legal advisor continues.

"About how long is that gonna take?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Could be anywhere from three weeks to five months." My deputy director states. "Depends on wether or not he cooperates.. which we know he won't. Secret service has left the decision up to you as to wether or not to bring him out in handcuffs or no-"

A notification from a CIA representative pops up on the main info screen, interrupting him. I quickly tap on it, pressing my finger to the password scanner when it asks. As a security measure, only a very small group of individuals can now open secure emails from other government agencies. When I read it, my mouth hangs open for the second time today.

Cc: CIA director for the department of national security and secure information

President Williams suspected to have given national secrets to Ukraine, Greenland, and France. More details to follow and more details attached.

-Dr.Monsen

"Jesus Christ." I mumble under my breath. This has been the most exciting day in a while. The Greenland one is really surprising- they're just about the last country anybody would think of when you hear the word "spy". I can tell now that today's going to be even longer than I thought.

  I open the video attachment she's sent and press play. In it- on a security camera outside of a hotel he stayed in on his "vacation" to France, you can clearly see him talking to the suspected head of the last remaining terrorist organization in the entire world. We have to assume- of course, that there are still some in hiding- but for now, we're focused on this one, which presents an immediate and constant danger.