Chapter 2
6:20 AM EST New York - The Network Morning Headlines Studios
Michelle led me down the hall of the studios to a holding room called the Teal Room. Why it was called this, I did not know. The room was relatively small with a few couches, chairs, a TV monitor, telephone, and miscellaneous tables with an array of beverages and snacks on them. The most striking images were the pictures on the wall of famous guests; and of course, the hosts of the shows past and present. At the moment, there was no one else in the room. I assumed Mark, my attorney, would be here soon. I was somewhat hungry so I grabbed a donut and a cup of coffee. I poured in some coffee creamer and sat down on the couch facing the door to wait for what would come next.
As I sat looking around the room, I thought of all the people I had seen on this show in my lifetime; realizing of course that they, like me, probably sat in this same room waiting for their interview. Some interviews I had seen on this show were depressive, others upbeat, and then some were plain disastrous. These anchor people became good at getting people to slip up and say things they should not say. That was a definite concern of mine today.
Brad Williams was the one interviewing me today. I knew he was an egocentric who thought that the world revolved around him. According to some, he had not earned his place at The Network, but due to family connections, he was groomed for the job and, almost overnight, held the top anchor spot by the time he was thirty-one.
Brad was not a big person. He stood about five feet eleven, weighed around a hundred and sixty to seventy pounds, and was in good shape. His English heritage showed in his dishwater brown hair, brown eyes, and rather sharp features. He was, I thought, about forty-eight years old, but I was not sure. He had been voted best-looking man on TV a few years ago by a popular TV magazine and had won several awards. Moreover, for all intents and purposes, he was the most watched news anchor in America. He was also the most ruthless.
For the past two weeks, the public relations company we hired and my attorney rehashed each word of the questions I would be asked by Brad, and my responses to them. We had insisted that we get a copy of the questions prior to agreeing to the interview and were given a list of them. We went over each one and then decided at what point I would drop the ‘bombshell’ into their laps. We were sure that they were not going to like it. That was part of the plan. Push Brad to the edge and get him to lose his temper.
I pulled out the list of questions and started reading all the notes prepared for the interview. In my mind, I rehearsed the answers and my lead-in, when I would change the whole outlook of the interview. I still had my doubts about what I was about to say and what it meant to me, my family, let alone the rest of the world. This entire situation had begun with a job interview. I was in this particular predicament because I was a Christian. I suppose that over the years, my faith in God had prepared me for today, but I still did not understand why I was chosen. I guess, as the messengers had said, I was selected a long time ago; longer than I could imagine, and that very soon I would understand. I had to get past today first then they would explain more to me. So here I was, operating on absolute blind faith, in front of a national – soon to be worldwide – audience to announce something to the world nobody was going to be ready or willing to accept.
I reached into my other breast pocket and pulled out another sheet of paper. I unfolded it then read it thoroughly. I would be handing this to Brad, the Anchor, after my statement, or as I called it, my “bombshell.” I reread the information printed on the paper. It was very detailed and the contents should be easily understood. Once I stated what was on these pages, winning the two lotteries back to back would seem pale in comparison to the gift I had been given.
The door opened and Michelle entered, “Your attorney is here,” she said as she stepped aside and Mark Anderson walked in. I refolded the paper, putting them back into my breast pocket. I got up, walked over and shook Mark’s hand, “Good morning, Mark. Did you have a safe trip?”
Mark simply answered, “Yes. Let me get a cup of coffee and then we can talk.”
As Mark was getting his coffee, I moved over to the two easy chairs, which faced each other in the far corner, and waited for him to come over and sit. Mark Anderson was a bit dumpy, not at all what you would expect for a high-priced defense lawyer. Standing about five eight, balding, and well over 300 pounds; no matter what he wore he would look dumpy. However, his firm in Chicago was the largest defense firm in the country, specializing in federal prosecutions, primarily, as well as high profile criminal defense.
When we had first approached Mark and his partners, we informed them of our fears since winning the lottery that the Government may try to investigate my winnings, being that it was close to impossible to have won. After listening to us, he asked directly if we had fixed the lottery and we told him no. He then said he needed a twenty-five million dollar retainer and we said fine; and at that point, he was all in. I then figured we had hired an attorney, but then Gabriel and Ariel wanted to speak with Mark alone so I went back to the reception area and waited.
After we left Mark’s firm, I asked Gabriel about what had transpired while I was waiting. Gabriel told me that he had outlined with Mark the basic plan and then questioned his faith in God.
It turned out that Mark was Jewish, even though his last name did not indicate that. He was very religious and was definitely a Christian Jew. Mark was also a leader in Cicero, Illinois and quite respected in the Jewish Community in Chicago. Gabriel went on to say that Mark, like me, understood that he was chosen by God to be a participant. Mark would be either with me or watching over me almost 24/7 over the next few months as our plans unfolded. I was to listen to him and take his advice.
Mark also connected us with a public relations advertising company. We were going to need one to get our plans to work. Based on Mark’s recommendation, we hired Anthony and Williams Information Services. They initially had some difficulty understanding what we wanted, but quit asking questions once we offered a ten million dollar retainer. Therefore, we laid out our plan and they started putting the pieces together the way that we wanted. However, they had very little knowledge of our real overall plan, except for the steps we outlined that we wanted them to handle.
Mark was able to convince Anthony and Williams to do as we told them, no questions asked. I guessed that he was used to having a PR firm handle the media to feed information in the favor of his criminal clients. So for the most part, all the media exposure we needed and other things that were to happen in the next few days, were being orchestrated and handled by Mark Anderson and Luke Willard, President of Anthony and Williams.
Mark sat down, took one sip of his coffee, then looked up at me and asked, “Are you daydreaming?”
“Yes, just thinking about the past few days is all.”
“Do you think this room is wired?”
“I doubt it.”
He shook his head and said, “Well, let’s keep our voices low anyway. I assume you are ready and prepared?”
“Yes, and I just hope you are too. As we have discussed, they will probably edit the interview and will not broadcast it and kick us out of here. It is very important that you transmit the video to Luke at Anthony and Williams, immediately. Without this being done, none of this will work.”
Mark looked at me. He did not seem sure whether he should say anything or not, he asked, “What exactly are you going to say in this interview that is so important that you need me and all this setup?”
I looked directly at him and said, “After what happens in this interview, everything will begin to make sense to you, Mark; as well as why it is so important that you are here.”