Chapter 111

111
THE WHITE HOUSE

"Why is the woman after me, Tom? How does she get off jumpin' on my ass for Christs' sake? I'm the damned President!" Robert Haskill asked his political advisor incredulously. "She has just as much as said that she was going to turn the whole lot of them over to the Democrats. Can she do that? That was an empty threat wasn't it?"

"I don't think so. The UCFC is amazingly unified. Hell, a few weeks ago they were fighting like an army in the streets until the rains came. If she can control the vote of say seventy-five per cent of them, it still means about one hundred million hostile ballots." Tom Hanneman calculated.

"We need a way to push the UCFC a little. You know, influence them. Scare them a little so they won't be so anxious to follow that woman into destruction." Robert Haskill was asking for answers.

"I suppose that means a repeat of kidnapping Jesus Robeles' girlfriend. That didn't work out so well did it?" Hanneman was becoming confrontational.

"What did you expect me to do? Robeles is like some kind of UFO thing. There's no telling what He can do if He gets mad. Martha Stratton, on the other hand is completely an earth woman. The President of the United States ought to be able to push her around at least a little." Haskill had conveniently forgotten the Brenda Teal incident. "They have to be afraid of something. Come on, Tom. We need an idea here."

"Well one thing every bunch of do-gooders is afraid of is losing their tax status. The whole UCFC was audited two months ago and came up clean as a whistle -- even the state organizations. Even all their charities appeared to be well managed. They've got more charity work going on that the Federal Government. Dumping on that will not win votes." Hanneman reported.

"So where's the opportunity in that?" the President asked impatiently.

"If you were to be able to sort out enough folks at the Justice Department with the Mark of God, you could order some kind of investigation. Those Fundies will be so nuts with it that they might turn something. At the very least it'll be a big enough stink to cast some doubts among her true believers. Probably shake off some of the marginal members of the church. Smaller would be better." Tom Hanneman proposed even while he was listening to his head set. "Just keep yourself at arm's length. It's not going to be much of a question where all this is coming from. You need to paint it as a gang from the U. S. Attorney's office running off out of control before you could stop them. Then you come off as saying it's not your place to stop a legitimate investigation. That's the best idea I have to offer."

"Alright, Tom. I'm going to do this even though it makes me nervous." President Haskill said uncertainly.

"It should make you nervous, Sir. Be careful. Call me anytime." Tom Hanneman rose to leave, preoccupied with the voice on his headset.