Seduced By The Candidate (The Candidate, #1) (23 page)

The man was so cold and efficient that it actually made
Goulding uncomfortable at times. Still, he was on the payroll, a long-standing
personal friend and Goulding had absolutely no desire to make an enemy of
him—ever!

“Morning, boss,” grinned Jake and slumped into the vacant chair
without waiting for an invite. “Today’s the day then.”

“Yes it is.
You up for a change of address?”

“Depends, boss.”

“On what?”

“I couldn’t possibly commit until I saw what the resettlement
package entailed!”

They laughed and despite the importance of the day, Goulding
felt calm and reassured.

“Impressive job you did there Jake. I didn’t know you were so
proficient with fireworks!”

“Ah, you know me, Bill. Man of many talents, master of none.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure mate. Everything you’ve touched since
working for me has turned to gold.”

“Better watch myself when I take a piss then, eh?”

They laughed again. Goulding relished the return of banter that
had been so free and easy when they had both been enlisted men. But he knew
that he had to steer the conversation back to the matter in hand. After all,
they had plenty of time to catch-up and ‘shoot the shit’ when the day was over
and the war had been won.

He settled himself more comfortably in his chair and focused
his gaze on the grinning man-mountain in front of him.

“Okay buddy, as much as
I’m loving
the
camaraderie we both know that we have something that needs to be discussed
further.”

Jake nodded and withdrew a plain brown envelope from his inside
jacket pocket.

“The information you have in that envelope includes all of the
hard copies of the documents that those fuckers showed you at the bible thumper’s
dinner. It also includes a memory stick that contains the electronic file
containing the same information, and a random selection of additional files
that cast the good directors at Quest Realtors in a, how shall we say, less
than savory light!”

“What about the bank records?”

“Done.
It’s a patch-up job, but good
enough to stand up to anything other than a detailed search by someone that
knows exactly what they are looking for.”

Goulding let out his breath and slumped back into his chair.

“You’re sure you got it all?”

“As sure as I can be given the prep time I
had available.
There was no safe and I got everything I needed from the
filing cabinet. The computer files were a joke and I cleared them out too. Even
the bank shit was a piece of piss.”

Goulding nodded his assent.

“What about being traced?”

“Please Bill! How green do you think I am? As far as anyone
will ever know, the reason for that…unfortunate accident was an iffy control
knob on an aging gas appliance. Trust me.”

For a long time Goulding merely sat contemplating the big man.
When he did finally speak, it was with a quiet, calm voice that exuded emotion
and sincerity.

“I do Jake, I trust you with everything…even my life.”
         

* * *

With all of the pieces of the puzzled laid out before him, Goulding
began the task of assembling them. He rang Brian Kennedy, who despite having a
substantial hangover and a great deal of barely repressed anger at being
‘stood-up,’ Goulding found him to be in pretty good spirits.

“Broke, let-down and no further forward with your story, yet
you’re still upbeat and happy…that Cristal…sorry…Melanie must have a damn good
touch!”

For a second, the line went dead and Goulding could almost hear
the sweat beading on Kennedy’s forehead.

“I-I…I don’t know what you mean, Senator.”

“Oh please, Brian. Give me some credit, would you? I know all
about your little…liaison. Looks like we both have a secret we’d prefer
remained undisclosed.”

Another silence.

“You bastard.
You fucking low-down
blackmailing bastard…”

“Really Brian, do you want to go down THAT particular route?”

“Fucking politicians, you’re all the fucking same, you…what? No
love, it’s no one…it’s just work, don’t worry about it…”

Goulding could make out the sound of a woman and the raucous
laughter of young children in the background and despite the necessity of his
actions,
he couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt at having
to put Kennedy in this position.

“Bill…Senator, I can’t talk now. I…just don’t do anything
hasty…please.”

“Brian, you probably don’t believe me, but I really do care
about the sanctity that people find in loving relationships and caring families.
I have no interest in ripping yours apart.
Unless you leave
me with no choice that is.”

The last nine words were said with an icy menace and they had
the desired effect.

“I understand Senator. You want me to back off.”

“No Brian, I want you to bury everything that you know, or
think you know and forget you ever uncovered it in the first place.”

“Okay,” said Kennedy feebly, no doubt seeing his last chance at
financial security evaporating before his eyes.

“Brian, I may be a bastard, but I’m not heartless and I want to
throw you a lifeline. I want to give you something that might not be quite as
juicy, but will definitely give you something that will re-dress the balance in
your favor.”

“O-kay…I’m listening,” said the reporter suspiciously.

“Not now, Brian. Not over the phone. Come and see me in my
office. Shall we say thirty minutes?”

“I’ll be there, Senator,” said Kennedy in a clipped tone.
“Let’s hope that whatever you’re offering is indeed mutually beneficial shall
we.”

* * *

Brian Kennedy accepted the coffee readily enough, but his mind
was awash with a riot of possibilities and conspiracy theories. He found it
hard to sit comfortably without fidgeting in his seat. During the short bus
ride to Goulding’s offices he had considered ever angle that he might adopt in
an attempt to wrestle control of the situation away from the Senator. But try
as he might, he couldn’t think of one. Goulding had the upper hand. Not only
did he hold the better cards, he held ALL of the cards. Regardless of what the
deal was that he was going to propose, Brian knew that he would have to take
it.

Goulding shook his hand warmly and smiled as he seated himself
comfortably behind the desk. To Brian, the wide smile manifested itself with a
vulgarity that was almost obtuse, but he said nothing and waited for the
Senator to address him.

“Well, Brian, who’d have thought we’d be sat here today and it
would be me that was offering you a deal?”

Brian said nothing and grimly sipped at his coffee.

“I want you to stop all of your endeavors to uncover a story
about me and my dealings.”

“I think we’ve established that Senator,” said Brian bitterly.

“Oh come now, Brian,” replied Goulding. “Don’t be like that.
This doesn’t have to be so difficult. We both played a game of high stakes and
I ended up the victor. It could have gone either way you know.”

Kennedy sighed, Goulding was right. He had gone all-in from the
start and risked it all on a collection of patchy information and rumors,
hoping to bluff his way to a winning hand, never for a second seeing the ace
that was hidden in Goulding’s sleeve.

“I’m listening, Bill,” he said with a resigned air.

“I want you to drop the story about me and in return, I’ll make
sure that the details of your little night time escapade never leave these four
walls.”

Kennedy’s bowels clenched, but his face remained impassive.

“Just for arguments sake, let’s say that I did do something
improper. Who cares? I’m
a nobody
, so you can’t
directly benefit from the knowledge by slandering me even if you tried to use
it against my family. It would be my word against yours.”

Slowly Goulding passed the manila envelope across to Brian and
watched as he withdrew the pictures. As Kennedy thumbed through the pictures
one at a time, all of the color drained from his face and he slumped visibly in
his chair. He was utterly, utterly beaten.

“There are around three hundred of these Brian, as well as a
video recording of the whole thing. I think your wife would definitely care if
she was to receive a copy of them in tomorrow’s post, don’t you?”

“I…I…how?
Where did you take these
from?”

“Does it really matter Brian?”

Kennedy shook his head and returned the photographs to the
envelope.

“No, Senator. I don’t suppose it does. Was it all a set-up?”

Goulding had been ready for this and saw no reason to kick a
dead dog when it was down.

“No, Brian. I’m led to believe that the young lady’s lusty
affections for you were completely real and genuine. I’m just lucky enough to
have certain members of my staff that are very adept at getting me the
information I need, regardless of how difficult the scenario seems to be.”

“But you knew her name…”

“Hotel desk clerk was easy enough to bribe.”

“…and you called her, what was it…Cristal?”

“A moment’s distraction caused by a case of champagne that I
was buying as a present to my campaign team.”

“Really?” said Kennedy, almost pleading for
Goulding not to taint the memory of the single most exciting thing that had ever
happened to him.

“Really,” replied Goulding with absolute sincerity.

Kennedy took a deep swig from the coffee cup, dearly wishing
that it contained something far stronger. As if he had read his mind, Goulding
produced a bottle of Glenlivet from his desk drawer.

“How about we liven up your drinks a bit Brian? What do you
say?”

Without waiting for a response, Goulding poured a generous
measure of the whiskey into the reporter’s mug and then replaced the bottle in
his desk drawer.

“You not having any, Bill?” asked Kennedy.

“No, not for me Brian.
Haven’t touched the stuff in a long, long time.
Not really
sure why I keep the bottle to be honest. Perhaps as a reminder of
who
I used to be.”

Brian nodded, sensing that this was a topic that was best left
untouched.

Goulding sipped wistfully at his own mug and for a second Brian
wondered if he had actually forgotten that he was there at all.

“Senator, you said on the phone that there was something you
wanted to give me. I’m really hoping that you weren’t merely referring to those
pictures.”

Kennedy’s words seemed to snap Goulding out of his reverie and
in an instant he was back to being the focused professional that the world had
grown to know and love.

“Yes Brian…Sorry about that.”

As the reporter looked on, Goulding withdrew the memory stick
from his desk drawer and indicating for Brian to ready himself, he casually
tossed it across the desk.

Goulding had used the thirty minutes it had taken Kennedy to
reach his office to remove all traces of his own file from the electronic
device, as well as burning the hard copy evidence of his financial dealings
with Quest Realtors. All that remained were the files that he hoped Brian would
use to sink the fuckers once and for all.

“What’s on it Bill?” asked Kennedy curiously.

“How about I show you Brian.”

Goulding twisted his laptop around so that it faced the
reporter and inserted the memory stick. Moving around to Brian’s side of the
desk, Goulding spent the next hour navigating through the various files and
documents. All the while, Kennedy’s eyes grew wider and wider as he began to
see the magnitude of the gift that Goulding was offering him.

When they were done, Goulding unplugged the memory stick,
rotated the laptop and returned to his side of the desk.

“Holy shit!” said Brian. “That’s enough dirt to sink the
organization and all those involved.”

“It certainly is,” nodded Goulding sagely.

“Why? Why are you giving me this and what the hell have Quest
Realtors done to piss you off?”

“I think that it’s probably best if I don’t answer that Brian,
don’t you?”

“Fair enough,” agreed the reporter. “So you’re giving this to
me, completely free of charge, with absolutely no conditions whatsoever?”

“Not exactly, Brian. No.”

“Should have guessed as much.
I
thought it was too good to be true. What do I have to do?”

Goulding finished his drink and grimaced, he hated the taste of
cold coffee. Then his smile returned.

“Don’t worry Brian. It’s nothing difficult or onerous. All I
want is for you to send a teaser to the police and major television news
channels, with just enough background information and evidence for them to
bring the directors in for ‘a little chat’ and to ensure that there is a
primetime feature on every news channel by the end of the day. Then I need you
to follow all of that up with the full story, so that it runs in tomorrow’s
edition of every major national tabloid.”

“Oh, is that all?” said Kennedy sarcastically.

“Well, if you don’t think you can handle it Brian, I’m sure I
can find a reporter that can.”

He made as if to gather the memory stick from the desktop and
watched as Kennedy snatched it up jealously.

“No, no, that’s okay, Bill. I’ll do it,
it’s
fine.”

Goulding smiled.

“I thought you might.”

“Just one question though.”

“Yes, Brian. What is it?”

“How close was I? How close did I come to actually finding out
your story?”

“You’ll never know Brian,”
grinned
Goulding ruefully. “You’ll never know.”
  

* * *

Despite the fact that all of Goulding’s previous worries were
one by one resolving themselves, he simply could not settle. Maybe it was the
subconscious worry regarding the election. Maybe it was the fact that despite
the seeds of so many of his plans having been firmly planted, they had yet to
come to fruition. Maybe it was a number of different factors, but Goulding was
restless.