A Year to Forget (The Accidental Time Travellers Book 2) (26 page)

It wasn’t just King, the file on Jack Kennedy was appalling.  It had detailed transcripts of twelve affairs that Kennedy had had whilst in the White House.  There were transcripts of conversations Bobby Kennedy had had in the Oval Office.  There was even a file on Charlie Chaplin detailing links that he had to communism.

Bobby moved the box and decided to examine the one beneath it.  He was stunned when he saw the label on the box, it read “COINTELPRO National Security and Major Crime Prevention”.  He removed the lid from the box and looked inside.  He had individual files on everyone.  Instinctively Bobby chose the one labelled “Robert Stinson”, he opened the file and saw his whole life detailed before him.

There were even sections on Bobby’s life before he had travelled through the wormhole.  It read that “Bobby became severely depressed and helpless following the death of his grandmother, Nancy Stinson.”  How could Hoover have amassed this information?  There was an entire section based on Bobby’s relationship with Derrick Stinson, or Billy Beane, his grandfather.  “Billy Beane has agreed to go undercover using the alias Derrick Stinson in order to infiltrate the offices of Bobby Stinson.”  Next came a section entirely based on Bobby’s relationship with Meyer Lansky, he didn’t read it, he decided to put his file back before he became too angry.

He pulled out the file labelled Will Carter next.  The first page was a photograph of Will, when he had returned to America in the aftermath of World War Two, Bobby felt ill looking at the photograph.  Will looked beyond dead, his body was covered in scarring and his bones looked as though they were beginning to pierce through the skin.  He looked absolutely nothing like he did now.  The next photograph was of Will receiving his World War Two Victory Medal, Bobby presumed it had been taken shortly after the first photograph, as Will still looked dreadfully ill.  Bobby turned the page and found a transcript of a conversation between Will and Jane.  Hoover must have known about the affair, the bastard.  Bobby could not resist reading the transcript.

Will:  “Are you going to tell him?”

Jane:  “No of course I’m not, they would kill you.”

Will:  “Thank you Jane.”

Jane:  “I’m not doing it for you, I just don’t want my husband or my friends to end up in jail.”

Will:  “You can’t pin all of the blame at my door Jane, you were asking for it.”  

Jane:  “You make me sick.”

Will:  “You weren’t saying that at the time.”

Jane:  “No I was saying get off me, let me go.”

Will:  “You wanted it.”

Jane:  “No woman wants to be raped Will.”

Will:  “Well why don’t you tell them?”

Jane:  “I’ve already told you, they would kill you.”

Will:  “And you love me.”

Jane:  “I pity you Will.  I think after what you went through in Auschwitz you are mentally screwed up.”

Will:  “Don’t you dare fucking call me crazy.”

Jane:  “That’s why I’m not going to tell them, because the work you are doing is important and if they find out, you will be killed and the Nazis will get away.  But don’t you ever delude yourself and think it is because I like you.  You repulse me, but I don’t want to ruin my marriage, or the work we are doing.  So we will never discuss it again.”

Will:  “Tell yourself whatever you like, it wasn’t rape.”

Bobby was incensed by the time he had finished reading, he needed to kill the bastard.  He put the file back into the box and was then interrupted by the ringing of the telephone.  He lifted the receiver.

“Mr Director, how is your first day in office?”

“Very funny Meyer, what do you want?”

“I’ve been looking into this Jacob Cohen, he is in Cuba.”

“Yes I know.  Do you know why?”

“He’s with some Cubans that worked on Operation Mongoose.  He is trying to incite an uprising against Castro.”

“How is he doing it?”

“From what I hear, it is some project called “Elimination by Illumination.”

“Never heard of it.”  Bobby conceded.

“I wasn’t able to gather all of the details, but from what I am told it has something to do with the second coming of Christ.”

Bobby managed a laugh.  “Even Jacob couldn’t pull that off.”

“No I wouldn’t have thought so.  For what it’s worth, you may be better allowing him to carry out his plot in Cuba.  A world without Fidel Castro is a better one.”

“No selfish motives there Meyer?”  Lansky hated Castro for forcing the mob out of Havana, Lansky had previously owned a casino there.

“It would benefit your friend Kennedy.”

“Which is why there must be more to it.”

“I’ll keep looking into it.  Any news on Howard Hughes?”

“No, none.”

“I may have to deal with that myself.”

“Well you probably shouldn’t inform the Director of the FBI in that case.”

“Perhaps not.”

The line went dead and Bobby replaced the receiver.  He didn’t know what he should do first, he wanted to go after Will but he wouldn’t be at home, he would be wherever David was.  Instead he lifted the receiver and dialled Clyde Tolson.

“Clyde I need you to bring Sarah Salmond up to my office.”

“I’m not your lackey!”  Clyde barked, clearly offended.

“No but you are my employee, so either go and get her, or get whoever is my lackey to go and get her.”

He replaced the receiver and decided he was long overdue a cigarette.  He pulled it from the packet and lit it.  The first puff was a relief, he was so angry for so many reasons that he had no idea what he should be focusing on.  He wanted Will dead, he wanted whoever broke into Hoover’s dead and he wanted whoever planted the bomb dead.  Not to mention the situation that would be developing in Cuba.

It was a few minutes later that Sarah Salmond was led into his room by Clyde Tolson, she was wearing handcuffs and looked as though she hadn’t slept in days.

“Clyde why is she in handcuffs?”  Bobby asked.

“We believe she has been involved in an act of treason.”

“Remove them!”  Bobby barked.

Clyde looked at him as though he wanted to kill him, he reluctantly removed Sarah’s handcuffs, and they both took a seat on the other side of Bobby’s desk.

“Is there a reason you sat down Clyde?”

Clyde certainly wasn’t use to being ordered around, he rose to his feet and almost stomped from the room.

Sarah seemed to be buoyed by Clyde’s departure, she looked at Bobby almost as a friend.

“So I see you’ve had a promotion?”

As Bobby watched her speak he was struck by how beautiful she was despite how awful the past few days had been for her.

“And I see your friendship with Jacob has landed you in the shit.”

“He’s not my friend.”  She answered defensively.

“He’s no one’s friend Sarah.  It’s time for you to do the right thing.”

“I have done nothing wrong, in fact I have been held in custody without being charged.  I have not been allowed a lawyer, phone call, or even a change of clothing.  When I am released there will be an article in the Washington Post detailing my traumatic experience.”

“When you are released?  You are aiding and abetting a terrorist, you are being made aware of terrorist activities before they happen, and you are then telling the people of the world lies.”

“What lies?”

“I’m asking the questions.  Who told you of the ship sinking?”

“You mean the Russian submarine attack?”  She smiled smugly, but she was still incredible.  Bobby had noticed that she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, but he questioned whether this was the best way to start a romantic relationship, he also thought that dating a woman he considered to be evil was unwise.

“No the ship was doing marine biology research and caught fire.”

“That’s not what Jacob said.”

“So it was Jacob that told you?”

She blushed slightly.

“How did he know?”

“I don’t know.”

“He could only have been told by someone on the ship, unless Howard Hughes is involved in this and they planned it together.”

“He doesn’t tell me where he gets the information.” 

“What is he doing in Cuba?”  Bobby snapped.

“Cuba?”

“Yes I know you are only interested in your news stories but you need to talk to me.  He and whoever he is in league with, are trying to get rid of Kennedy by inciting some sort of war between America and the Soviet Union.”

“Why would he want a war?”

“I don’t know he is crazy!  But you need to help me, because if you don’t we are headed for nuclear war.  Do you really want to be responsible for millions of deaths?  Do you think you will survive the nukes, because no one will!  Even if you escape the explosion, then you will still end up dying from the radiation!”

“Is that really what he’s doing?”  Sarah asked, horrified.

“Yes!  He is insane, he escaped from Alcatraz, but do you know why he was there?”

“He told me he was falsely imprisoned.”

“He murdered thirteen Vietnamese civilians and then he bit out a prison guard’s throat.”

“You already told me that, it must be a CIA cover story.”

“I can assure you it is not.  You have been helping this psycho!”

“I haven’t been helping I’ve been doing my job.”  She said defensively, she was beginning to show signs of self doubt.

“Call it whatever you want, but if you don’t tell me what you know then I can’t stop him.”

“He doesn’t tell me what he is planning, he just tells me what he wants me to report.”

“Hoover said that Jacob had told you about Cuba?”

“He only mentioned that he would be going there.”

“He didn’t say why?”

“No.”

“Do you know anything that could help us?  You know we are trying to save lives!”

Sarah was silent for a moment, Bobby seemed to be getting through to her.  “I think Mengele lived in Cuba, he might know?”

“Mengele was in Cuba?”

“Yes I’m certain.”

“Well that’s a start.  When I spoke with Mengele previously he mentioned anti-Castro Cubans.  Do you think Jacob would try to overthrow Castro himself?”

“I don’t know, he’s not exactly predictable.”

“How did you become involved with him?”  Bobby asked, genuinely curious.

“He approached me about Oswald, he said I would get an exclusive interview with the man.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m a journalist, I follow the story.”

“You honestly have no way of contacting him?”

“I swear I don’t!”

Bobby considered the situation for a moment, it looked as though Mengele was his best lead.  He glanced at his watch, it was 17:30.

“Will you let me go?”  Sarah pleaded, interrupting his train of thought.

“I don’t think you would be safe Sarah.”

“Why?”

“He will find out that we have you in custody, his mole will tell him.  When he finds out that we know he is in Cuba, he will know that you talked.”

The remaining colour in Sarah’s face drained away.  “You bastard!  You have got me killed!”

“You have done this yourself, I am trying to help you!”  Bobby yelled back, he felt exhausted.  

Sarah looked to be on the verge of tears.  “I was just doing my job.”

“I know you think that, but you have listened blindly to the accusations made by a psychopath and you have destroyed the President’s reputation.  If we do end up at war then you will be partially responsible.”

Sarah could not hold back the tears any longer.

As Bobby watched the woman cry he suddenly felt guilty for having caused it, even though he knew that she deserved it.  “But you have done the right thing today and I appreciate that.”

She smiled slightly.

“Sarah, do you want to help your country?”

“Of course I do.”  She sobbed.

“If I send agents to accompany you to the Washington Post, will you write an article telling the truth?”

“What do you want me to say?”  She asked through the tears.

“I want you to say that there was no Soviet involvement in the ship sinking, I want you to say that the story was fabricated by Jacob Cohen, who is now the most dangerous man in the country.  Tell the people that he coerced Oswald to come forward and that Oswald committed suicide because of the guilt he felt.  We can give you a picture of Cohen so that the readers can get in touch with the FBI or the police if he is seen.”

She looked sceptical.  “You want me to retract my own story?”

“As you yourself have said, it is your job Sarah.”

“Will you let me go home?”

“No.  It is not safe, you will stay in our custody for the time being.  But I assure you that your stay will be far more comfortable.”

“Can I stay with you?”

“How do you mean?”