Chapter 23
Skip’s Torment
Back in L.A., Skip was having trouble sleeping but wasn’t answering his phone. He heard Rocky’s message and processed that along with his other thoughts:
– He should go to the authorities with what he knew;
– He should talk about it with Ken first – why wasn’t Ken going to the authorities?
– He should get a hold of Susie in Boulder – see if her son Joey had said anything more about Furbush or his Vancouver connections;
– Maybe Rocky was right, just keep moving on the Rump idea.
– Damn it! I miss those guys already, and the simple life of just playing tourist.
– Well, have to at least stay for a possible World Series game;
– Let me sleep on it.
Trump was not sleeping either. He was tweeting the whole world: “If the election hadn’t been stolen, this never would have happened – never would have happened. People are pissed – really pissed off I’m not President. The Democrats need to quit trying to lock me up – go after the real criminals.”
Meanwhile President Biden was trying to reassure a worried nation, especially baseball fans, saying he was flying out to attend the re-scheduled game in person, and that the LA Police, FBI & Homeland Security had evidence this was a one-off connected to foreign terrorists, saying “We’re on to them, they won’t have a chance to regroup.”
Sunday night, Skip finally called Rocky and said he was fine . . . “going to stick around to see if the Dodgers make it to the World Series . . . and Ken and I are talking about having a Rump session. What’s up with you guys?”
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Earlier in the day, when Ken woke up, Skip couldn’t help himself, he just erupted, “What the fuck is going on!? I’m going to the cops if you aren’t. I don’t want to know anything more except you’re going to the cops.”
“Calm down,” Ken said. “Listen to me. The authorities are already in on this. They don’t need your name. Stay out of it.”
“What do you mean the authorities are already in on this? Since when did you start trusting the cops?”
“Again, the less you know the better. Gordy, up in Sacramento, the guy you stayed with, knows a guy who has infiltrated a terrorist group operating out of Canada. It’s part of a clandestine CIA operation that Biden might not even know about. We’re flippin’ terrorists one at a time, convincing them the Islamic State has nothing to do with religion. I’m telling you – just let it go.”
With a troubled mind, Skip found Sally poolside at Rosie’s and acted like nothing much had happened. But he did say he’d gotten a call from Rocky and was thinking of joining back up with the Land Yacht if the Dodgers lost tonight. “Do you think you guys – you, Jack and Ken – can get a Rump session going without my help?” he asked. “Just see how everybody is feeling about terrorism and the best ways to defeat it. If you want to get a little bit edgy, talk about terrorism and hate crimes being two sides of the same coin.”
Sally replied, “You know I sorta feel like getting back on the bus too. I’m scared I’m falling in love with Jack. Maybe he and Jesse can figure out a way to do all this by remote, and we can change Ken’s assignment to just raising money. Jack has put a budget together and this is not going to be cheap. Maybe ask Ken to hit up his Hollywood friends before we go – I’m coming with.”