he infiltrated the Terezin concentration camp and befriended Youkelstein in preparation for his future existence in the United States. He referred to it as “research.” The tape then morphed into a conspiracy theorists dream, including one of the world’s biggest mass murderers—Himmler—rising up the financial ladders of the United States, under the alias of Jacob Sterling. And Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller working for the CIA.
And the grassy knoll kept growing—Bormann, Rudolf Hess, and the rest of the Apostles were revealed. But Sterling’s most disturbing claim was that he helped finance 9/11 as part of a strategy to blame Israel for the tragedy—in what he believed would spark a revolution, while he himself would serve as the sacrificial lamb.
When the tape shut off, Baer’s voice was filled with smugness. Veronica’s own satisfaction came from Zach keeping his word, by not mentioning Maggie and Jamie. They were so engrossed in their card game that they wouldn’t have noticed anyway. Jamie’s disinterest didn’t surprise her, but Maggie had been front and center in this thing, and often the driving force. Maybe she realized the adult stuff couldn’t compare to being a kid. Veronica sure hoped so.
“I applaud your courage, Mr. Chester, to come out against the powerful Kingston machine,” Baer’s voice roared. “But I’m sure you’re aware that Aligor Sterling will deny that it was him on the tape. He will also attack your credibility—trust me, I know first hand—and he will focus on how your once promising career is now in the toilet, and accuse you of trying to make a big score at any cost. He will also go after the fact that your wife is a crackhead who is doing time in prison.”
Veronica wanted to jump into the radio and knock Baer in the teeth. That was a total cheap shot!
But Zach stayed composed. “It was crystal-meth, not crack.”
“Whatever—you see my point—can you prove that it’s Sterling on that tape?”
“The tape was provided to me by Ben Youkelstein, his longtime partner.”
“Who had a falling out with Sterling, so his motivation could be questioned. And like most of your sources, he was born during the Woodrow Wilson administration, so his cognitive abilities might come into question.”
Whose side was he on?
“I’m sure you can get a voice expert to test it against Sterling’s voice,” Zach said.
“Funny you say that, because we had the world’s premiere voice expert do preliminary tests on the tape, and their initial report is that it is a match.”
“So you are saying it’s a match?” Zach repeated. There was something about his voice—he was up to something.
“Did I stutter? We will do more extensive tests today, but in the meantime, I’d advise Mr. Sterling and Mr. Kingston to get a good lawyer. Good thing I didn’t throw out my acceptance speech, huh?”
“Now that you’ve confirmed that it is indeed Aligor Sterling on the tape,” Zach said, “there’s one other part of it that I’d like to play.”
“The more the merrier.”
When Baer hit play, Youkelstein asked Sterling, “But for your plan to work, Kingston has to win—what if he loses?”
“He won’t lose,” Sterling said firmly, “I’m so confident I bet a billion dollars on it.”
“What are you saying?”
“You know I never leave anything to chance, Ben. That’s why I provided Theodore Baer a billion dollars in a bank account in Zurich. All he had to do to make his money was to make sure he didn’t win the election, even if that self absorbed imbecile couldn’t understand the implications of doing so. But while dumb, he still wasn’t stupid enough to make those anti-Semitic comments the day before an election. And it wasn’t a coincidence that his college term paper suddenly showed up.”
“So the election is fixed?” Youkelstein asked, sounding surprised.
“You fix a sink, an election is bought!” Aligor shouted.
Ding, ding, ding ...
Baer had always bragged about not working with the standard five-second delay because he, to use his words, “wouldn’t want anyone to wallow in ignorance for five seconds.”
Guess he could throw out that acceptance speech, Veronica thought. She smiled at the radio, and she could feel Zach smiling back.
Chapter 84
As much as the last two days seemed as long as centuries, the day after the election flew by at warp speed. The fallout to Zach’s appearance on the Baer Cave came with an equal swiftness.
Veronica spent the day at the hospital—it seemed like the safest place to hide out from the feeding frenzy. Youkelstein fell in and out of sleep, while Flavia continued to keep her bedside