Murray McDonald - Assassin

“I’m just putting things back where they were Sir,” replied Walker, his voice quivering.

“Why would they need to be put back if I never moved them in the first place. A bit quick off the mark weren’t we Walker?”

“No, no, Sir, it wasn’t my decision, the President himself phoned me to tell me to move into your office asap.”

“So you scurried in on a Sunday and started moving my things out?” Powers began to smell an even bigger rat.

“Well that’s good,” said the General, “because you have a new command post. I understand that your previous post has already been filled,” smiled Powers.

“Only on an interim basis Sir. I was just moving back to my office,” said Walker who was now very nervous. He knew Powers had never liked him.

“No, no, you were right to put Michael in your old role, he’s a very good man.” Powers had always preferred Michael, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to Walker.

“So where are you putting me?” asked Walker meekly.

“I’ve had to think long and hard about this. A man with your skills is wasted behind a desk. I mean, you’ve got what, 30 years service behind you? All that naval experience stuck in here.”

Powers could see the look of fear on Walker’s face. He was a lifetime desk jockey. Powers could not believe Walker’s personnel file. He had managed to get to the top job in the Navy despite never seeing any action. The biggest sea command he had held was cruising around the Caribbean looking for drug smugglers which had raised a few serious questions in itself.

“I’m very settled in Washington, it would be hard to move now,” squeaked Walker barely able to breath.

“Oh, what I have in mind won’t require you to move house,” replied Powers smiling. “We need a new Commander for the Second Fleet.”

“But that’s a Rear Admiral position, I’m a Four Star Admiral, that would be ridiculous,” blurted Walker whose fear gave into anger.

“Correction, you were a Four Star Admiral,” said Powers letting the words hang for a second. “Not anymore, Rear Admiral.”

“But you can’t possibly do this, I mean you just can’t. I’ll speak to the President,” said an exasperated Walker, his heart pounding. The US Second Fleet was in the middle of the Artic and would remain there for some time.

“It’s covered, I’m afraid, you’re my payback. I can do whatever I want with you,” smiled Powers.

From the day he had taken on the Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs, Walker had made things as difficult as he could for him and had seemed untouchable. The President had refused many of Powers’ requests to replace the useless Chief of the Navy.

“I’ll resign,” Walker informed him.

“You wish,” said Powers.

“What do you mean ‘you wish’? I’m perfectly within my rights to resign.”

“Fine but if I receive your resignation, I will immediately launch an investigation into your command of the anti drug ship in the Caribbean. I’m sure I’ll find out why, on your command, drug seizures were 80 % less than any other commander.”

Powers had noted the discrepancy while reading Walker’s personnel file and adding this to rumours at the time, he couldn’t help but wonder.

Walker didn’t know what to do. The 20 % seizures they had made were while he was on holiday. The actual truth was that while in command, he had made no seizures whatsoever. Powers had it in for him and Walker was fairly certain that Powers could ensure that testimony would come to light which would incriminate him in some pay-off scandal. He could spend the next ten years in jail. As a matter of fact, he had never taken a pay-off from the drug runners. He didn’t need to, his family were very wealthy. The simple truth was that he was a coward who needed a stint at command to progress his career and had managed to wangle the easy task of cruising around the Caribbean for 18 months.. He hadn’t realised until he arrived that the drug runners were as dangerous as they were. Ten sailors had been injured prior to his arrival and an anti-tank missile had narrowly missed the ship two weeks before that. He decided if drug runners wanted so badly to navigate their waters, then he would just make sure his ship was nowhere near them.

“Well?” Powers knew Walker was a coward and had more than likely never taken a kick-back but his crew at the time had certainly thought he was. They didn’t know his daddy was worth a few billion. Whoever was watching out for Walker was very good. The rumours had been quashed quickly and effectively, a difficult thing to do in the navy.

“When do I leave?” he said resignedly.

“Now. The car’s outside and your transport plane awaits,” replied a triumphant Powers.

“Right this second?”

“Yes, right this second. Oh and you may want to stop and buy some sweaters. I hear it’s rather cold up there. Now get out of my office before I throw you out.”

Walker took his box of personal belongings and walked out. Powers picked up the phone and dialled the Interim Chief of Naval Operations.

“Michael?”

“Yes sir, General Powers and may I just say how relieved I was to hear that you’re OK. It was a terrible accident Sir.”

“Thank you Michael,” said Powers as it struck him that neither the President, Beaumont nor Walker had made the same remark. He thought that perhaps they were too embarrassed by their stupid actions.

“Two things, Michael,” resumed Powers. “One, congratulations, you are confirmed as the new Chief of Naval Operations and secondly, I just sent Rear Admiral Walker to command the Second Fleet.”

“Sorry Sir, did you just say that I have been confirmed as the new Chief and Rear Admiral Walker is in command of the Second Fleet?” He paused for a moment and then added, “I don’t know which is more shocking, my promotion or the thought of Walker leading the second fleet.”

“I know the thought of what he could do to it is worrying and that’s why I’m calling. I was very angry when I gave him the post. I remember reading that they were on Arctic manoeuvres and I couldn’t think of anything he would hate more. So we need to cover it. Please put your best second-in-command with him, somebody who’s ready for their own command and tell him to lead the fleet. Walker will just want to keep a low profile. Give your guy the authority to over-rule him if he believes it’s necessary. In other words, Walker is a figure-head only.”

“Understood, no problem. I know just the man for the job. He hates Walker and will relish the opportunity. And Sir, thank you for the promotion.”

“Not at all Michael. The job should always have been yours, I don’t know how the hell that idiot ever got it.”

Walker continued down the corridor with his box in his arms thinking of what he needed to do. He had to call his wife and let her know he wouldn’t be home that night, nor the next few months. He was supposed to have been going to his club that night for a game of poker with the boys. He’d have to cancel that as well. It then struck him. He suddenly realised that he would have to miss the committee meetings. He couldn’t possibly use the equipment on a naval ship, it was full of electronics, or could he? He would have to call The Chairman and check. It wasn’t going to be an easy call. The Chairman did not tolerate members missing meetings. In fact, members didn’t miss meetings, ever.

Max Marshall was the owner of Global Media having built the business over the previous 40 years from nothing. It was now one of the largest media organisations in the world, with interests on every continent and every media, including newspapers, radio, TV, film, publishing and the internet.

He had been made aware of the story on Donald Kennedy just after the revelation of his arrest. He had received a phone call from his Washington Bureau who had received a file detailing astonishing claims against Donald Kennedy. At first, they took the file as an elaborate hoax and highly defamatory. None of the content was printable. However, when news of his arrest was announced, they began to investigate the story more seriously. It all seemed to check out. Understanding the enormity of the news, they contacted Max. He was very nervous, it was not every day you launched an attack on the world’s richest man. A mistake could ruin the company.