know that won’t stop you.” We both laughed, said our good-byes, and I hung up.
“I’m allowed to come with you?” Oliver asked.
“I think you need to come with us is more like it. Your car was torched and your place was tossed. You’re in danger, clearly.”
He nodded. “I wish I had more information to impart. I know Mister Reynolds is going to ask for more.”
“Well, you have something you haven’t really told us. I mean, not that I doubt for a moment that you’d like to get exclusive photos of my baby, but I have to think you were lurking outside my Mommy and Me class to do more than share that you were being followed.”
“True enough. I feel there’s something wrong with the intelligence I’ve gotten.”
I groaned. “Chuckie will not want to hear that.”
Oliver shook his head. “The threat is very real. It’s the lack of a clear target that seems suspicious. I dug deeper with my most reliable sources, and they can’t pin down anything more than the President’s Ball.”
“Maybe that just means the would-be assassins are really good.”
“No one’s actually that good. If your people weren’t able to do what they do with photographs and the like, everyone would know what American Centaurion really was. Even the stealthiest and most clandestine organizations have leaks. Normally, this close to an operation of this magnitude going down, some names would be popping.”
“But there are no weasels so identifying?”
Oliver gave me a blank look.
“Pop goes the weasel,” Len supplied from the driver’s seat.
“Oh!” Oliver chuckled. “I didn’t catch that. Also, I doubt we’ll end up considering the target or targets weasels.”
“You never can tell, though it’s usually the good ones who die young, true.” I looked around again. “Are we even moving?”
“We could walk faster,” Kyle said. “We definitely ran faster. They’re moving us down to one lane.”
I looked around. There were people in what looked like construction crew garb, but no officers of the law. “What is with the cops in this city? Isn’t this kind of major road issue something the police take at least a passing interest in?”
“Police funding has been cut recently,” Oliver said. “I did a full exposé on it a few weeks ago.”
“I don’t read your paper, sorry. Want to give me the CliffsNotes version?”
Oliver sighed. “Certainly. Due to the economic situation, funding has been slashed from a variety of programs, law enforcement being only one of them. Private security firms are attached to various Embassies and politicians, funded through something other than taxes.”
“You mean kickbacks or campaign funds.”
He shrugged. “Among other, legitimate means. There are several security firms who are trying to get contracts to protect our people in various unfriendly countries, versus having the U.S. military do it. D.C. is the test case.”
“I thought it worked the other way around.”
“Sometimes. Not this time. Titan Security has a lot of influence.”
“They’re the ones in charge?”
“Not in charge so much as assigned. Titan Security has the most contracts in place right now. There are others, of course, vying for the business; however, at this moment it’s Titan’s business to lose.”
“Is that good or bad?”
Oliver shrugged. “I personally feel that giving any private company that much power is a bad thing. But Titan’s leadership are very well entrenched within the political structure, and they have a strong lobbyist working for them. They’re here to stay unless they screw up very badly and publicly.”
“Lucky us. So, Titan has the bigwigs?”
Oliver nodded. “And some key properties, all the monuments, and so forth.”
“Then who’s protecting the regular people?”
“Supposedly there are enough police officers on the streets to do an adequate job.” Oliver didn’t sound like he agreed with this statement. After what had just happened to us with
“I’m allowed to come with you?” Oliver asked.
“I think you need to come with us is more like it. Your car was torched and your place was tossed. You’re in danger, clearly.”
He nodded. “I wish I had more information to impart. I know Mister Reynolds is going to ask for more.”
“Well, you have something you haven’t really told us. I mean, not that I doubt for a moment that you’d like to get exclusive photos of my baby, but I have to think you were lurking outside my Mommy and Me class to do more than share that you were being followed.”
“True enough. I feel there’s something wrong with the intelligence I’ve gotten.”
I groaned. “Chuckie will not want to hear that.”
Oliver shook his head. “The threat is very real. It’s the lack of a clear target that seems suspicious. I dug deeper with my most reliable sources, and they can’t pin down anything more than the President’s Ball.”
“Maybe that just means the would-be assassins are really good.”
“No one’s actually that good. If your people weren’t able to do what they do with photographs and the like, everyone would know what American Centaurion really was. Even the stealthiest and most clandestine organizations have leaks. Normally, this close to an operation of this magnitude going down, some names would be popping.”
“But there are no weasels so identifying?”
Oliver gave me a blank look.
“Pop goes the weasel,” Len supplied from the driver’s seat.
“Oh!” Oliver chuckled. “I didn’t catch that. Also, I doubt we’ll end up considering the target or targets weasels.”
“You never can tell, though it’s usually the good ones who die young, true.” I looked around again. “Are we even moving?”
“We could walk faster,” Kyle said. “We definitely ran faster. They’re moving us down to one lane.”
I looked around. There were people in what looked like construction crew garb, but no officers of the law. “What is with the cops in this city? Isn’t this kind of major road issue something the police take at least a passing interest in?”
“Police funding has been cut recently,” Oliver said. “I did a full exposé on it a few weeks ago.”
“I don’t read your paper, sorry. Want to give me the CliffsNotes version?”
Oliver sighed. “Certainly. Due to the economic situation, funding has been slashed from a variety of programs, law enforcement being only one of them. Private security firms are attached to various Embassies and politicians, funded through something other than taxes.”
“You mean kickbacks or campaign funds.”
He shrugged. “Among other, legitimate means. There are several security firms who are trying to get contracts to protect our people in various unfriendly countries, versus having the U.S. military do it. D.C. is the test case.”
“I thought it worked the other way around.”
“Sometimes. Not this time. Titan Security has a lot of influence.”
“They’re the ones in charge?”
“Not in charge so much as assigned. Titan Security has the most contracts in place right now. There are others, of course, vying for the business; however, at this moment it’s Titan’s business to lose.”
“Is that good or bad?”
Oliver shrugged. “I personally feel that giving any private company that much power is a bad thing. But Titan’s leadership are very well entrenched within the political structure, and they have a strong lobbyist working for them. They’re here to stay unless they screw up very badly and publicly.”
“Lucky us. So, Titan has the bigwigs?”
Oliver nodded. “And some key properties, all the monuments, and so forth.”
“Then who’s protecting the regular people?”
“Supposedly there are enough police officers on the streets to do an adequate job.” Oliver didn’t sound like he agreed with this statement. After what had just happened to us with
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