Failed State (A James Winchester Thriller Book 1) (James Winchester Series) James Samuel (best book clubs txt) 📖

“What are you doing, May?” asked Jack.

“The senator could be useful to us. We should question him before we decide what to do next. It might be our only chance.”

“Fine.”

Scott removed the gag from George’s mouth. The rancid smell of human faeces rose from the politician. “Senator Black, we have a few questions.”

George coughed and spat as tears ran down his face. Tears of relief or tears of sadness, he wondered.

“My God…” Scott muttered. “The smell.”

“I had to sit in the car next to him,” said Jack.

“You’re both with the FBI?” George stuttered. “This whole time, Jack?”

“I made a deal with the FBI. I’ve reported on every deal you’ve ever made, George. They approached me a long time ago and I decided to cooperate with Agent May here. It’ll clean my record.”

George slumped on his haunches. He had no smart rebukes or intelligent defences to offer. This time, the career politician realised he’d been caught.

“George,” said Jack, almost tenderly. “It had to be this way. They had enough on us to send us down for life in a Federal penitentiary. I wasn’t going to go down with you. I was only getting the scraps anyway. There was no big mansion in the country for me.”

Scott tapped Jack on the shoulder and gestured to him to follow.

They moved further away from George, leaving him alone in his soiled suit. Scott looked back to find the fallen senator weeping where he sat. He couldn’t even use his hands to hide his tears. Scott felt no pity for him. George would have taken every penny in his greasy hands and headed straight for the Bahamas.

“Jack, we have a few options, and I’ll give you a choice here. You’ve proven your worth in nailing the senator. Only you know how much evidence you have against him, so use your common sense here. Do you think you have enough?”

“I mean, I’m no lawyer…”

“Then we have two options. We can kill him where he sits and blame it on Romero. That way I can continue going undercover. You’ll be taken into protective custody. The second option is we can question him and, if we feel like he has something to offer, take him into protective custody. Romero will never know both of you are still alive until it’s too late.”

Jack screwed up his face. “I’ve worked with him for a long time. Killing him wouldn’t feel right, no matter what he’s done.”

“I agree with you. Romero’s a problem. He’s rich and a big flight risk. For now, we need enough to nail the former majority leader’s son. We want that whole family behind bars now his father’s dead. If the senator is willing to serve up Phelps on a plate, we can bargain with him.” Scott stopped as he mulled it over. “The problem he’s isn’t getting any younger. He will see jail time. He’s in too deep. If he doesn’t think he’ll ever get out, why would he cooperate at all? You must help me with that.”

“May.” Jack screwed his face into a dark scowl, “I’m not a lawyer. How can I know whether he’ll ever have a hope in hell of getting out?”

Scott shrugged. “Make it happen. No deal and we’ll have to kill him. The Bureau will move on Romero soon. We have to make damn sure he doesn’t make a run for it. We have Newton, Black is finished. Now we only want Phelps before he can get into Congress.”

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but Scott only glared at him. He was prepared to kill both if it meant taking down this whole rotten circle. The FBI had given him a blank check. If the means led to the right end, nobody would make a fuss.

They returned to George, who sat mute.

“Hewitt,” Scott prompted.

“George, this is me speaking from the heart.” Jack squatted down in front of his former boss. “I’m not going to promise you that you’ll never go to jail. No, you’re going to go to jail, but the way I see it is you have a choice. You can spend the rest of your life there or you can get out and enjoy a few years in retirement.”

Scott inclined his head when Jack looked back at him. He wasn’t a lawyer, either, but he’d been on enough cases to know what happened to white-collar criminals.

“You won’t get to keep any of what you took. The Feds will take the second home, the cars, and the boat. You’ll get to keep your primary home and a little money. As long as your wife and family had nothing to do with this, they won’t be touched, that’s all I can guarantee.”

Jack looked away for a moment at the abject fear on George’s face.

“It’s worth a shot,” said Jack. “It’s something. All you have to do is cooperate with us. Tell us everything and they’ll give you a great hearing in front of the judge.”

George raised his head to the sky, like he hoped God would come and strike him down. Tears still flowed from his bloodshot eyes and down his cracked cheeks.

Jack tried to raise a smile. “Hey, and remember, politicians always get off light.”

George croaked like he was on the edge of laughing through the pain. He nodded in submission.

Scott stepped forwards to begin his questioning.

“What do you want to know?” George swayed like he was about to faint.

“We already know a lot about you, Newton, Romero, and Phelps. Romero’s going down sooner or later. We’re just waiting for the right moment to strike. The Bureau doesn’t want to do this quietly. It wants to send a message. Do you have anything that can prove Phelps’ influence in Congress? Phone messages you’ll give up