The Lottery Council- Chapter XIX: Fear Creeps In

After dinner, Jim suggested that he and Ann take Bart for a walk. The ever-enthusiastic dog practically lept at the door when he saw the leash, his signal that it was time to go. It was just getting dusk and Jim thought it might be easier to converse surreptitiously given their ever-present company. When he believed they were out of earshot of the van, Jim told Ann about Leyland's note.

"Do you think you can trust him?" She asked with a puzzled look.

"Why would he take a chance of giving it to me?" Asked Jim. "He's putting his neck in a noose too if he gets caught."

"Unless he's trying to make you trust him so you'll open up," Ann had her eyebrow arched the way she did when she was suspicious of something. Jim knew the look all too well.

"But there was something in his manner," Jim said. "He acted afraid himself, as if something was wrong. Also the tone of the note..." He stopped to let Ann digest everything... she was smart and he valued her opinion.

At his hideaway above the garage, David was immersed in a chat with Jack on the dark web. Jack wanted Jim and Ann to have encrypted phones as well... just in case. It was apparent that Jack thought something was going to happen soon- things may come to a head.

'Remember, I'm watching. But I can't be everywhere at once. I want to be able to get you guys out if the SHTF,' he wrote. 'If I have to get you guys out of there, timing will be everything. You need to be able inform your sister and her husband at a moment's notice. Once you have the phones, you'll be able to text back and forth without any eavesdropping. I'll let you know where to pick them up... be careful you're not followed on the way.'

David wrote back that he understood and signed off. He headed back to the house to find Jim and Ann back from their walk. "Well, Bart's loving all the exercise, I'll bet." His sister gave him the eyebrow. Jim spoke, addressing his wife, aware they were not alone.

"You know I've been thinking," he said. "These schools here are better than the ones where we were before, but if the kids are going to get into good colleges, they're going to need a leg up."

"What do you mean?" asked Ann. She could tell there was a deeper meaning to what he was saying.

"We've got the money now to pay for good universities for the kids... somewhere like Harvard, or Yale, not some state university and I don't know if the schools they're in will give them the advantage they'll need."

"What's wrong with state run universities"You went to one, so did I." Ann was looking at him directly. He gave her an exasperated look. "Oh," she said. "I see."

"Maybe, a parochial school," Jim suggested knowing that his wife would never go for that.

"What about boarding school," Ann said. "We can afford it and the kids are old enough now to handle it now."

"Get some names. The semester is more than half over, maybe we can get them in after Christmas."

"Ok," she agreed. David sat listening, approving. It would make things much easier not to have his niece and nephew there when the SHTF as Jack put it.

The next morning at work, Leyland got a not altogether unexpected phone call... "I have Mr. Metzger on line 3, Mr. Masters," his secretary said. "I'll take it," he said.

"Leyland," came the voice over the line. "How's every little thing?"

Leyland never liked him, but now he not only feared him... He was beginning to actually hate him. "Bill," he said. "What can I do for you." As if he couldn't guess.

"Nolan has to go... One way or another." Metzger said.

"You're not going to..." Leyland stopped, thinking better of saying it.

"Nobody said anything like that- but it's a possibility."

Leyland could tell Metzger was enjoying this... "What about his wife and family?"

"No reason," Metzger said. "They're not privy to any sensitive information. No guarantees about that asshole brother-in-law though. He's the one that started all this."

Leyland wasn't too worried about david, he barely knew him. "This might all be unnecessary, Jim told me he's going to resign from the Council- effective immediately. Says he wants more time with his family... not to mention he's very valuable here at the office."

"Ok, for now... we'll wait and see." Metzger hung up leaving Leyland to stare into the handset.

Back online with Jack, David learns where the drop is to take place and how to proceed. Jack went on- 'It's too bad we can't have these scumbags arrested. We've got enough already, thanks to your brother-in-law to put these assholes away for years.'

'What about going to the media?' David wrote back.

'They're all a part of it... part of the cover-up. This is so huge, you have no idea! This isn't a few bad eggs, this is government agencies, high-profile nonprofit institutions, pharmaceutical giants, doctors, hospitals... How are you going to take all them down? Nobody would believe it anyway. I gotta run- take care and don't forget what I told you.'

In the lap drawer of his desk, Jim found another note from Leyland that he read when he stopped on the way home... It warned him to be careful of Metzger and stay alert. Jim was beginning to trust him more now... if it was a trap, why would he be warning him to be careful? Jim made up his mind to try and save Letland and his family too, if at all possible. When he got home, he suggests to David to take Bart for a walk with him.

"Leyland has been sending me notes. I guess Ann told you," Jim said.

"Yeah," David replied.

"I want to help him. Will you contact Jack and tell him?"

"I'm going to go pick up some encrypted phones for you and Ann. Jack thinks it's important you have them. You'll be able to communicate directly with him," David told the somewhat relieved Jim.

After David departed for the phones, an exhausted Jim went to bed feeling a little more secure. Ann would find out about schools where they could get the kids out of harm's way and now he and Ann would be able to contact Jack should something go wrong. He fell into a fitful but much needed sleep. The next morning at work, he got an unexpected call.

"Jim, it's Bill Metzger. We need to meet," said the voice on the other end of the line. "Someplace public, a coffee shop or something."

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