Page 42 of Booked for Theft

Everyone exchanged looks, and for some reason, everyone focused on Mr. Tawnlen.

“I mean, I know Dr. Castor wants us to acquire information from certain politicians, but it’s not really stealing if they’re trying to give it to us,” I added.

“We need to find out what the secret bills on the docket are, and we need to do so in such a way not one politician is blamed, which means we need multiple copies of the bills. We know the documents are trapped, and we also know the documents aren’t the same depending on who received them,” my boss stated with a rather troubled expression. “What we don’t know is which documents are going to be the ones that break the United States, and we need to find out—and spread news about the secret bills—before we hit the point of no return. We know that point is coming. We just don’t know when. But my guess would be election day in November. That does not give us long to act.”

With a little over seven months to work with until the election, we would have to get a move on if we wanted any hope of manipulating the vote in the favor of all Americans. While I wanted to make Senator Thaddens’s hopes for the future a reality, I doubted a campaign founded strictly on positivity and the praise of corrupted politicians would change anything.

Somehow, someone would have to plant the seeds of peaceful rebellion.

Knowledge might help, but I feared what the past would tell us if we found some way to dredge out the true facts about what had happened to the United States.

“Is the media going to bite?”

“The media has as much to lose as we do. We will make use of mail drops, couriers, and so on to anonymously submit the paperwork to every news outlet we can. The government can’t silence them all,” my boss replied. Then, heaving a sigh, he shrugged. “As long as a few post the pieces, there’s a good chance it’ll spread across the country. It might be too late to make a difference, but we’ll do what we can. I’m already looking into options for getting everyone to Europe if we can’t make this work. I’m thinking we’ll be taking a transatlantic cruise. There are two that will be leaving out a week before the election, and we should all book a ticket to be on board. The cruise will, for a fee, allow most animals, including horses and goats. It’s rather expensive. Mr. Hampton did the preliminary work for it, and he fully intends to fill most of a ship with his staff. Overseas employees will handle monitoring his operations here. There are three other cruise ships with departure dates a week prior he will book for most of his employees. We will also be booking a return voyage for a month later, but depending on how things go, we may not be on board.”

Escaping by cruise and paying out for the return fare would make it look as though the Hamptons were working on our wedding plans. “We can use the trip to celebrate a year of post op for my foot.” I thrust out my healed foot for everyone to see. “You’re sentimental. Play your part.”

My fiancé laughed at me. “I think it’s a good idea. We can do it as our bachelor and bachelorette parties. That’s to be expected. And no matter what happens during the election, it’s a good idea. Everyone will know we booked the event today, which will make it clear we don’t have political aspirations. Dropping off the radar and letting the politicians think we aren’t a threat is wise. Clearly, if we’re planning a trip for when the election is happening, we’re not playing their game.”

Except we were, we were just playing their game using different rules while willing to cheat on behalf of the people the government betrayed. “All right. After we handle our clothing shopping, we’ll book this cruise. I’m not sure how we’re all going to get time off for this, though.”

“That part is easy.” Bradley refused to meet my gaze, which told me all I needed to know: he was about to make an expensive decision. “I’ll pay for everyone’s unpaid leave, that way the library can just bring in temps for while everyone is out. We’re giving sufficient warning.”

Beatrice nodded. “He’s right. With this much lead time, it won’t be a problem, especially since New York is considering opening a new branch. I’ll propose that your branch be the tester branch for the new librarians. If everyone at your branch takes leave at once, it’s perfect; we get to train the new employees, and we won’t have a situation of too many people working the floor. It was going to be a problem, and this solves that problem, especially if the Hampton family is paying everyone attending.”

There was only one person who could stop the plan, and that was my boss. I turned my stare onto Mr. Tawnlen.

“I’m not going to say what you like, Janette. Just surrender. It’s easier that way at this stage.”

“All right. Do I want to know how much this cruise venture will cost?”

“More than I care to think about, less than you likely think.” Bradley dug out his new phone and tapped at the screen. “If I do some good work for the next six months on the stock market, I’ll recover within a year on the spending for my share. Dad will have no problem paying for his share. Honestly, I’ve already started working on this, aware we might need to flee the United States. Dad is willing and able to move his operations overseas, and he’s already begun the expansion process. We’ll be able to get all our families out of the country if we play our cards right. And we’re playing this game to win and survive. If we lose and stay, it’s probable none of us will survive all that long afterwards. We’re already in the line of fire.”

It pained me to realize he was right.

Living to fight another day mattered.

“So, we stage our escape for in late October, making it look like we will return to the country sometime in late December or early January. And if the election goes poorly, we just stay in Europe? How are we going to pull that off?”

“More money,” my fiancé admitted. “More money and refugee status usage in Europe. Leave the issue of immigration to me and my father. I’m sure we can handle those issues with little fuss, especially if the United States continues to deteriorate during the election cycle. Just trust me on this one. If we need to get out, we’ll be able to get out. Life might not be ideal for a while, but we’ll be alive and safe.”

In a world gone mad, alive and safe was the most I could hope for. “Then it’s a plan. We’ll use our marriage as an excuse to do a group trip to Europe, and if things don’t go quite the way we want, we will have some hope for the future at least.”

“And if things don’t work out as we want, we’ll continue to fight for our country. It’ll just be from overseas for a while, until we can figure out how best to save our home from its government.” Bradley offered a smile, and he waved his new phone at me. “In a world where I willingly get a new phone and retire my old car in the same week, anything is possible.”