To Kill a President (45 page)

As the Bishop finished speaking there was a yell from the back of the ambulance.

“Come on James you’ll be fine.”

“What’s wrong with him?”  Jane screeched.  As she looked back his body was shaking.

“His temperature is a little high, it is perfectly normal, he is having a seizure.  It looks worse than it is.” The doctor replied as she turned him onto his side.

Chapter 95

As Faraday sat at the desk he was writing.  He had been writing for a long time, his hand began to shake and he lost his focus.  What was I writing about?  He wondered.  As he looked around the Oval Office he began to wonder how it was that he had arrived here.  He sat behind the desk looking towards the door.  Am I the President?  The door opened and two men entered the room the first man was Jack Kennedy, he was followed by Abraham Lincoln.

They approached the desk and both took their seats facing Faraday.

“What’s going on?”  Faraday asked.

“You summoned us.”  Lincoln replied.

“I did?”

Both men nodded.

“Am I dead now?”

“Not yet.”  Kennedy replied.

“Am I going to die?”

“Everybody dies James.  It is just a matter of when.”  Lincoln replied.

Faraday nodded his understanding.  He glanced to his left and saw the hourglass, the top bulb was now empty.  “Have we run out of time?”

Kennedy looked unsure, he turned towards Lincoln who shook his head.  “I don’t know James.” 

“Are my friends okay?”

Both men shook their heads.

Faraday suddenly felt a shooting pain in his stomach and he let out a groan.  “I don’t think I’ve got long left.”  He said.

“It can be very disconcerting.”  Lincoln acknowledged. 

“Will I see Jane again?”

“Of course you will, one day.”  Kennedy answered.

“I can’t believe I’m going to die because I tried to save some cop I don’t even know.”  Faraday looked down glumly.  His eyes caught the piece of paper he had spent hours writing on.  It only said one word.  “War”.  He looked up confused at both men, it was Lincoln that spoke first.

“If you could go back to that day on the Loch.  The day when you followed the light would you follow it now?”

“How do you mean?”

“Well if you could change things so that you never came back here would you?”

Faraday considered this for a moment.  “No I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”  Kennedy asked.

“Because if I’d never come back here then I would have lost Jane.  I would never have known that she survived.  I would give my life a hundred times over to spend a minute in her company.”

Both men smiled.  “Would you like to know a secret James?”  Lincoln asked.

“Yes.”

“Jane didn’t survive.”

“What?”  Faraday asked panicking.

“What he means is that last time, the first time you came back in time Jane died.”  Kennedy clarified.

“How?”

“Well if you hadn’t had the eagle head with you then David would have attacked you.  It was because you had the eagle that Bobby told David not to attack you.  You were led straight into her room and when she was sick David turned her onto her side.  If he had been attacking you she would have choked.”  Lincoln answered.

“You are a hero James.”  Kennedy said.

“Does that make you feel better about the choices you have made?”  Lincoln asked.

Faraday smiled.  “Yes I suppose it does.”

“So what would you have done differently?”  Lincoln asked.

Faraday thought for a moment.  “Well I wouldn’t have lost my eye or been shot.”

“But don’t you remember how those things happened?  You were trying to save your friends and a police officer.”  Kennedy said.

“I should have shot Billy when I had the chance.”

“And yet you gave him the chance to live instead of taking your revenge.  I always say if you look for the bad in people you will surely find it, but I can’t find any bad in you.  Everything you have done has been out of love and compassion for your fellow man.  Your friends have tried to do the right thing as you have, but they all took a life.”

“Even Jane?”

“Yes.  They were all doing the right thing, but only you did it in a peaceful way.  Which is the right way James, mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”  Kennedy replied.

“Is this real?  Are you really here?”

“We are as real as you perceive us to be James.”  Lincoln answered.

“So I’m dreaming?” 

“Do you perceive democracy to be real James?”

“Yes.”

“And yet we do not live in a democracy.  America is the land of the free but the only people that are free are the people that control the country.  The men that think power, money and war are measures of success.  These people do not believe in freedom in equal rights in love.  They don’t care about the very people that they are supposed to be representing.  They are simply doing what the rich want them to do.  The rich get richer and the poor get sent to war.”  Kennedy said.

“So what do we do now?”

“You need to stop them James.  Napoleon once said that history is written by the winners.  That means that history has not been written yet James because you have not lost yet.”  Lincoln said.

“But I think I’m dying, what can I do?”

“You are stronger than you know James, your friends cannot do this without you.  The world will remain corrupt and unjust if you don’t stop it.  The people that control the world will continue to do so if you can’t stop them, the people that stand up to them will continue to be silenced if you can’t stop them.  The media will continue to report what they are instructed to report by the people in power.  Elected officials will not be able to change anything of significance while they have no power.  People that see this is the case and speak out will be ignored and marginalised by others calling them conspiracy theorists, there is a conspiracy and it can be stopped.  Give them back the power James.  Bring back democracy!”  Kennedy said.   

As Jack Kennedy finished talking he stood up and walked over to the hourglass he picked it up and looked at Faraday. 

“It’s time to go back now James.”

Chapter 96

When Clint checked his watch it was 03:00 they would be there in the morning.  Faraday had stopped shaking and Jane had gone into the back beside him and the two doctors.  Nancy had fallen asleep on Clint’s shoulder.  Clint was beginning to feel tired now but he couldn’t rest, not yet anyway.

Jane was sitting staring at Faraday wishing that he would come back to her.  She just wanted to kiss him, to talk to him.  She wanted him to tell her everything would be alright.  She didn’t want to have to be strong anymore.  She took out her gun and examined it.  The doctors sitting beside her looked suddenly worried.

“You’d be better putting that away.” 

“Its fine, I’m just looking at it.”  She replied.

Sandy was beginning to tire behind the wheel, it had been a long drive.  As he looked in the wing mirror he saw that they were being pulled over.  He had probably been all over the road, he was sure he had fallen asleep at some stage.  He pulled over to the side of the road and watched as the officer walked towards him.  He looked to be in a foul mood.

“What are you doing Sandy?”  Clint asked.

“We’ve been pulled over.”  He replied sleepily.

“This is an ambulance we can’t get pulled over.”  Clint advised.

“He’s almost here now it won’t take a minute.”

“Just drive Sandy.”

“I can’t they’ll just follow us.”

The officer knocked on the window.  Sandy lowered it.  “Is there a problem officer?”

“Could you step out of the vehicle sir?”  Sandy went to get out when Clint shouted.

“No, this is an ambulance and I am a Secret Service agent.  You cannot pull us over.”

“I think you’ll find that I can.  Please step out of the vehicle sir.”

Sandy did as he was told. As he stepped out he saw that the officer was joined by two other police men that were not in uniform.  There was nothing around for miles in any direction.

“You were all over the road there.”  The officer stated.

“Yes sorry it’s been a long drive it won’t happen again.

“A long drive?  Where did you begin your journey?”

“Dallas.”  Sandy replied.

“That’s a long way for an ambulance?”

“Yes just transferring a patient.” 

“How many people are in the ambulance?”

“Six including me plus the patient.”

“And you’ve been driving all the way from Dallas?”

“That’s right.”

“Strange.”  The officer commented.

“Why’s that?”  Sandy asked.

“Because I’ve been driving since Dallas too.”

Sandy was suddenly worried.  “Who are you people?”

“I’m Officer White and these are my friends Charles Harrelson and Charles Rodgers.”  Roscoe White pulled the gun from his holster and shot Sandy in the face.  Charles Harrelson and Rodgers ran to the back of the ambulance and opened the doors.

When Jane saw the grassy knoll gunmen she gave out a scream and dropped the gun.  They began firing shots into the ambulance, she saw both doctors getting hit in the heads and fall to the ground.  There was a shot from the front of the ambulance as well and Clint gave out a scream of pain.

“Get out of the vehicle now.”  Roscoe White shouted.

Jane struggled to her feet and exited the back of the ambulance.  Clint struggled holding his shoulder as he went.  The blood was pouring from it.  Nancy who had been asleep moments earlier followed Clint out the side door.  They were all led to the side of the ambulance that could not be seen from the road.

“Where is the tape?”

“We don’t have it.” Clint yelled.  Roscoe White raised his gun and shot Clint.  Nancy let out a scream as Clint fell backwards against the ambulance.

“Where is the tape?”

“It’s in the ambulance.” Jane spoke through tears.

“Well lets go and get it then, is it in the front or the back.”

“The back.”  She replied.

“Lead the way.”  Roscoe demanded.

Jane and Nancy walked towards the back of the ambulance followed by the three men.  Roscoe stood closest to the side of the ambulance where Clint lay so that he could see both Clint and the inside of the ambulance.  Charles Rodgers and Charles Harrelson stood by the doors with Nancy in the middle.  Jane climbed into the ambulance towards where the camera had been lying.  She looked around for her gun but it was gone.  She fell to the side as the first shot was fired.  She looked back and saw Roscoe fall to the ground.  Clint’s alive!  She thought.  She saw Faraday suddenly sit up and fire four shots at the two men.  Both men fell to the ground alongside Roscoe.

There was silence for a moment, no one seemed to know what to do.  Faraday lay straight back down.  Nancy rushed over to see Clint, he had been shot twice in the left shoulder.  She managed to help him to his feet.  “Let’s get you back inside.”  She said.

“We can’t leave Sandy.”  Clint replied.

“Okay let’s get you in first though.”  She walked him round to the passenger door and sat him in the front passenger seat.  She went to the back of the ambulance and saw Faraday and Jane embracing.  She was telling him how worried she had been.  He seemed to have a smile on his face beneath the beard.  For the first time since Friday he didn’t look like a corpse.

“Jane can you help me get Sandy into the ambulance?”

Jane tore herself away from Faraday with a smile on her face.  They walked back to Sandy’s lifeless body and opened the side door.  They managed to lay him along the seats where they had previously been sitting.  They closed the side door and Jane walked in through the back doors to rejoin Faraday.  As Nancy closed the back doors she looked down at the murderers that lay dead at her feet.  How many more people needed to die?  She hopped in the driver’s door and saw the key was still in the ignition.  She had never driven anything this big but there was no choice but to go for it.

Chapter 97

As Bobby was led into the office he was greeted by the bulldog face of J Edgar Hoover.  The officer stepped outside and left Bobby and Hoover alone in the office. 

“Please take a seat Bobby.”  Hoover said with a smile.  They were in the same room that he had met Meyer Lansky yesterday.  The only difference was that the desk was now covered by piles of paperwork.  Bobby sat down across from Hoover who was facing towards the door.  He was wearing a black pinstriped suit and a white shirt.