Free Agency:
“…the philosophical and eventually political difficulty comes when one comes to believe and insist that the image that one has created is in fact the way that the world is.” iii
-Tracy Strong
If any person truly believed in the free agency of people, that each one has the ability to choose his or her next action freely, then what should he believe about the human written laws? Gravity enables a person to travel by holding him close to a surface where his feet can produce friction and move him forward, or to the side or even backwards.
Aerodynamics and jet propulsion enables the man to fly even between surfaces in the vastness of space. The laws of physics optimized the free agency of the person. In the same way the laws of logic optimized the free thinking of the man and enabled him to reason well. What of written law? Why did it seem so contradictory? Physical law and logic were both weaved into the very fabric of the universe to be discovered and labeled by people, but civil law was undoubtedly the product of the human race. Laws produced in the universe, written by God Himself at the inception of it all and coming from the very nature of God, optimized free agency in the universe while the laws written by people optimized tyranny.
Two months passed and the primary race was close. Hardin had won on the conservative side and he would now turn his attention and his focus solely to defeating his more liberal opponents. Zack was now an asset with the FBI and Melissa had disappeared. The case was quiet; not closed, but quiet. The FBI had come to a place where they couldn’t move any further because they did not know where Melissa was and they couldn’t figure out whose body they found on the rooftop.
Zack turned on his television, he was now back in his apartment, and saw something he never dreamed to see. There was a news report with partial video showing the infidelity of the sitting president. The video could not have been doctored and was sure to be followed by a demand from the public for his resignation even though his term was almost complete.
He got dressed and made his way to the local police station where the FBI was still running an investigation on Melissa. When he arrived, every person in the building was gathered around the only t.v. Sure enough, the president had called a press conference and was announcing his resignation effective immediately. The guy in the suit, Calvin was his name, and detective Casey quickly exited the building, motioning Zack to join them. He did, and they drove to New York where the national news headquarters was for this particular network.
Several hours later, they arrived and retrieved security camera footage from the network. They did not see what they expected. There was an older guy in a trench coat and a hood shown entering and exiting the building around the time the video was delivered to the network.
“Why did you air parts of this video without contacting the authorities?” Casey asked as he sat down with the president of the news channel.
“People deserve real news,” he replied, “not the filtered content that the government would have given us if we would have turned it in first. I okayed it because I wanted people to see that there are those who see themselves as above the rest of us and these are the people who most often sign laws that the rest of us have to abide by.”
“Who provided you with the footage?” Casey asked. The man answered, “We don’t give out sources’ names.”
Casey shook his head, “In this case you will be interfering with a federal investigation if you don’t. This may be connected to the attempt on Senator Hardin’s life late last year.”
“Okay, okay,” the man threw his hands up, “The truth is I don’t know who they guy was. I barely even saw his face. He said something about there being great consequences if I didn’t air the video. I did what I could to keep it minimal, but I don’t take chances! He told us not to contact the police.”
“Do you have the full copy of the video?”
“Yeah,” he replied, “but I’m not sure you want to see it.”
The two detectives and Zack walked into a back room where the news man pulled up the video and played it for them. The detail was not what you would expect from a blackmail video. The president and his mistress could clearly be seen in detail and identified. There was no question and considering the president’s quick response, he must have known that such a detailed video existed.
They took the disk and the camera footage so that they could continue to investigate. They would borrow an office here in New York. Chances were, the person who delivered this video was hiding somewhere in this massive city.
Melissa opened her eyes and saw that she left the TV. on the night before. There was a reporter on the screen with a banner across the bottom that read, “Breaking News!” Melissa reached for the remote and turned the volume up so she could hear it.
“Earlier today, President Brennan announced his resignation. Though he only had a few months left in office, he said he felt this would be best for his family in light of his actions sometime last year. Vice President Fitz will soon be sworn in and will give his address. We will be covering that address live. Fitz’s term will be the third shortest in U.S. history unless is party nominates him so late in the race and he is able to win re-election. His term will be slightly longer than that of President Garfield, who was assassinated 199 days after being elected. We are going now to the swearing in of Vice President Fitz.”
Melissa watched as someone motioned for the Vice President to raise his right hand. He did and the Chief Justice started:
“I Edgar Joey Fitz, do solemnly swear...” Fitz repeated.
“That I will faithfully execute…” Fitz repeated him again.
“The office of president of the United States…” “and will to the best of my ability…” “preserve, protect and defend…”
“the Constitution of the United States…” “So help me, God…”
Fitz repeated every line, then he was the leader of this great nation. Fitz stepped up to the microphone on the front steps of the White House:
“Let me begin by saying that not one person on this earth today is perfect. I will not stand here and condemn a man for making a mistake. President Brennan was a fine man and a good president and I only hope that my few months in office will live up to his great legacy. Throughout this nation we’ve been talking about issues like education, gun control, same- sex marriage and immigration. I want you to know now that all of these issues will remain for the next president of the United States. My objective, now, is going to be to prepare the way for that president. My goal will be to make things the way that they ought to be for the future of this nation, and I think that begins with education reform. The smarter our citizens are, the better prepared we are to make good decisions for our future!”
The crowd applauded and Melissa turned off the television. How did that video get out? She still had it hidden. The organization didn’t end with Brent and now the new President of the United States sounded as if he was going to push Elliot’s education bill through congress, giving government more control over its people. This was not in the interest of liberty, but it would be called liberty all the same.
The former detective picked up her keys and her bag and walked out the door.
Hardin took his phone, dialed a number and held it up to his ear. After waiting for someone to answer, he said, “Did you see the news today?”
“Be prepared to run against Fitz if it comes to that. No name calling and don’t attack his character. Let’s get together tomorrow so I can shoot a commercial about the Education bill.”
A few more seconds passed and Hardin hung up.
Sitting in a chair, he picked up a very large document and a highlighter and continued studying it.
“We found something on our dead man!” One of the medical examiners came running into the main investigative office. A couple others followed them to the lab where they saw what had been found.
“Is that a…”
“Yes,” the M.E. interrupted, “and we are about to see what’s on it.”
What they saw was the remainder of a zip drive that had been grossly eroded. It had been pumped from the man’s stomach before but just appeared to be a part of his recent food intake. This was ingested in a hurry. Swallowing a storage device was a rash move made when there was no other option of disposal.
“Can you get the information off?”
“I don’t know yet,” admitted one of the techs in the room, “I just hope that the plastic that used to be there protected it well enough for us to read.” He took the remainder of the drive and stormed out of the room. Behind the container with the man’s stomach contents in it was a television and the Senator’s add came on. In it, Hardin stood in front of the white house:
“Here’s the truth about the education bill that President Fitz wants to push through Congress. It will place education under the direct control of the federal government. This is contrary to the constitution and contrary to a person’s individual liberty. This is an act that tramples on the rights of the states. Like affordable health care and like the federal government telling us what we can and can’t do with marriage, we are seeing, once again, big government treading on the American citizen. We live in a universe where the individual’s ability to chose is optimized, and our new president wishes to conform that universe to a new paradigm where people have less opportunity and less freedom to choose. This is not the America I know and love. I support freedom of choice and freedom of opportunity. These cannot exist with the newly imposed regulations we’ve been forced into in the recent months. Vote for me in November and end Tyranny.”
The officers walked into another room where the drive was being looked at, “Anything?”
“No, not yet. There’s a crazy level of encryption here. The good news is, if we can get passed the encryption we will be able to read it.”
“Yeah,” another, younger tech inserted, “It’s actually like CIA level black ops like encryption.”
“What would that mean?” one officer asked. “Whoever put this data on here has to be in the government,” the tech responded, “Not only that, but high up.” “Keep this to yourselves,” the officer commanded as he took his phone out of his pocket.
Casey answered his phone, talked for a few minutes with the officers back home and hung up. He, Zack and the man in the suit were still in New York going over video footage, which had now been enhanced. If this was the work of a government official, there were many conspiracy theorists who would have a field day. Was this a conspiracy to give the government more power? If so, to what end? Why did people go to such lengths to try and form the very fabric of reality to their own agendas, rather than the agenda of the natural world?
He turned to both Zack and the suit and shared the news with them.
“So we are looking for someone with authority in the government?” Zack asked.
The suit leaned in toward the monitor on which the security footage was playing over and over. “Look,” he pointed, “Is that a man in a suit standing guard at the door?”
Despite the enhancements, the image was still unclear.
Casey looked with him, “I don’t know, Clark. Let’s pull up the blackmail video and see if we can see any connections this time.”
They did as Zack rested in the corner. This had become a game he was no longer interested in. He fought to clear his name, but this went much farther than he ever had dreamed.
Now he was helping the FBI and he wondered if he had the option to say no. If he did, he imagined that they would charge him with assault on an officer and obstruction of the law. Both charges would be accurate.
“I don’t believe it,” Clark announced. Zack stood up to se what revelation he might have had. As the camera was moved, it showed a man in a suit with seemingly the same posture as the one standing outside on the security camera. He also appeared to have the same height and the same build.
Casey looked away from the incriminating video and at Clark, “It’s time to bring in the Secret Service Agent.”
Clark nodded and Zack, like a child excited about going to Disney, inquired, “Does this mean we finally get to get out of New York?”
The three gathered everything they needed and went to the car. This was going to end in D.C. They could all feel it.
Or perhaps they were just anxious about finding a possible break in the case that may or may not lead somewhere.
D.C. is where everything would happen. You know those climaxes in life that you can feel? It’s either an interview for a needed job, the heat of the most important battle in any war, that moment before you squeeze the trigger or when your professor is about to hand your test back with a grade on it.
This is what Melissa felt as she drove into the nation’s capitol. She had burned all of her bridges, but couldn’t stay away. She needed this. She needed to set things right. In her mind, she felt as though this new president was connected. She couldn’t know how, but it was just too coincidental that he would promise to reform education from the start. Education reform was what started this malapropos journey that she was on. All the players were here and everything that would happen from this point forward would have massive consequences for the future of the greatest nation on earth.
Senator Hardin’s office phone rang. “This is Gary,” he answered.
“Hello Mr. Hardin,” the voice came from the other end of the line, “This is President Fitz. I wonder if you’ll come have a drink with me so we can talk about this education bill that’s been drawn up. I’d like to know what you think.”
It didn’t matter what anyone had planned. When the president called, no matter who he was, people cleared their calendars. If for nothing else, it was out of respect for the office.
“First thing tomorrow?” the President answered the silence.
Hardin swallowed his pride, “First thing tomorrow sounds great.”
“Perfect,” the president answered, “I will see you then here at the White House. None of those middle of nowhere diner meetings that happened before me. Everything is above board.”
“See you then,” Hardin assured before hanging up the phone. Why did the new president feel it necessary to reassure him that he was going to remain above board? It might have been a good idea considering recent events.
Hardin pushed one button on his phone and his secretary picked up, “Yes, Senator?”
“Cancel everything before lunch tomorrow. I will be out of the office.”