[Chapter 350: United by Interests, Divided by Crisis]
In Beverly Hills, the villa where the team of Kerry and Edwards had settled was in complete chaos.
Fox News had just aired a special program when Kerry and Edwards received the news. At first, they brushed it off, believing that the blood bank and plasma sales issues could be managed.
But when the nas of several state legislators from the donkey party appeared on the organ transplant list, the team realized they were in deep trouble.
Before they could devise a response plan, a more significant public crisis erupted.
The forr speaker of the California Assembly, Willie Brown, the current speaker Nunez, and other legislators appeared on screen in videos with girls and boys.
The first two had not only been involved with these minors but had also used abusive thods. In particular, the older Willie Brown had reportedly killed a young girl.
For politicians like Kerry and Edwards, such scenarios were not unheard of; Washington insiders often engaged in even wilder escapades.
But such overtly scandalous content airing publicly? That was a different story altogether.
"George Walker!" Kerry could only think of this outco. "For the sake of reelection, he's lost his mind!"
His gaze quickly shifted to another person. "What does the Ackerman family want? It's one thing to film these events, but why let them leak?"
Edwards felt a twinge of hope; he had visited the Ackerman family's club and had managed to keep things under wraps.
Now, contact with the Ackerman family was lost. After reaching out to Willie Brown and Nunez, they too were unreachable.
When they sent a team to North Sunset Boulevard, aside from so servants and security, all others had vanished from the Ackerman estate.
Reports indicated that a helicopter had flown towards the xico-U.S. border, while a convoy had headed to the Santa Monica Pier.
Willie Brown and Nunez arrived on the scene, and after a quick discussion, they determined that intercepting Buddy Ackerman was crucial.
If they had him, they had soone to take the fall.
Nunez quickly leveraged his connections to try to stop the aircraft and vehicles.
Just as arrangents were being made, more alarming news ca in. The FBI had launched a large-scale operation, raiding the Avalon Club owned by the Ackerman family on Santa Catalina Island. They were rescuing dozens of boys and girls and had already confird the discovery of over thirty frozen bodies, with the actual number likely higher.
Even soone as composed as Willie Brown felt a slight panic inside. How would they extricate themselves from this?
Nunez's face soured, leaving him montarily speechless.
Edwards plopped down on the sofa.
Kerry glanced around at his allies and asked, "Have any of you been there?"
Willie Brown and Nunez didn't need to answer; they had already appeared in the Fox News footage that aired.
Kerry directed his question at Edwards, his campaign partner.
Edwards slowly replied, "I went, but I shouldn't have been caught on cara."
Kerry sighed inwardly, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over him.
New information arrived, as the campaign manager offered a hefty sum to the FBI agents on Santa Catalina Island to gather intel. He had just learned that the leading agent, Jennifer Huey, had reached a dia cooperation agreent with a Fox News reporter who had arrived on the island.
"Fox? Again, it's Fox News!" Kerry exclaid. "Why are they always ahead of the ga?"
Nunez responded nonchalantly, "Jennifer Huey is engaged to Brian Ferguson now."
Kerry reflexively raised his voice, "I hope you're not talking about the Mayor of Los Angeles!"
"It is him," Nunez confird, not misleading.
Kerry closed his eyes and turned to the PR manager. "Get the team to formulate a strategy quickly. We need to prepare for a major public relations crisis."
He was almost certain that Jennifer's raid on the Avalon Club was targeting key figures in their campaign.
Kerry understood that if the problems involved Willie Brown and California donkey party mbers, they could easily cut ties and, at worst, lose California's 55 votes.
But if sothing happened to his campaign partner, the losses would extend beyond California.
What about the swing states? They couldn't afford to hesitate at this mont. Kerry looked at Edwards, "You prepare a speech, take full responsibility, and resign voluntarily."
Edwards protested, "I only had relations with two girls."
Kerry demanded, "Were they of legal age? Were they consensual?"
Edwards was rendered speechless because he hadn't told the whole truth; beyond the relations, there had been coercion involved.
Kerry quickly exited the sitting room and entered the conference room to discuss counter-strategies with his campaign team.
They quickly established four points:
1) All responsibility would fall on others since it wasn't his fault;
2) They would assess the unfolding events; if California was beyond saving, they'd abandon it and leave by tomorrow;
3) Create new dia chatter to divert public attention;
4) Dig up dirt on George Walker to ensure his downfall.
Even though Willie Brown and Nunez weren't present at the eting, savvy politicians could read between the lines and knew the collaboration was crumbling.
They didn't linger, departing their own ways.
---
In Brentwood, Fox's news had reached Leonardo's ears.
He imdiately called his assistant. "Book a flight out of North Arica for tomorrow... no, a flight for tonight. I need to leave North Arica before midnight."
The assistant, confused by Leonardo's sudden change, followed the instructions nonetheless.
Before long, she called back.
Leonardo, packed and en route to Los Angeles International Airport, was not connected to the Ackerman family.
His real ties to the donkey party were through Clinton's wife, having attended a gathering that included buddies from the party; he had no direct dealings with the Ackerman family.
However, he possessed a sixth sense for politics, especially after nearly being pulled into a public break-up recently staged by Hillary.
If he didn't leave North Arica now, there was a chance he might receive a call from Hillary tomorrow.
Creating scandals couldn't just target him alone!
Leonardo arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, boarded the plane into first class, and imdiately turned off his phone.
Soon, the aircraft soared into the sky, bound for Europe.
Until the election results were finalized, Leonardo wouldn't be returning.
---
In the Silver Lake community, a car parked in front of the specin villa.
Hierro stepped out and was led inside the villa by security.
He t Hawke and handed over several USB drives. "Boss, this is data from the Avalon Club."
Hawke handed him a bottle of water, asking, "How did it go over there?"
"Very smoothly, the FBI SWAT team was top-tier..." Hierro provided a brief summary before leaving.
...
Hawke plugged in the USB drive to his laptop, located the video featuring Edwards, and played it back.
The video was crystal clear, showing Edwards in full view.
Hawke handed it to Edwards and said, "You should publish this."
Fox News had already raced ahead, creating huge buzz, and it was ti for Twitter to follow suit.
...
Edwards quickly edited the news and uploaded the video to Twitter.
Lacking education, he simply wrote a headline: "Suspected John Edwards Participated in Special Gathering of the Ackerman Family."
The video accompanied the post, unfiltered, clearly showing Edwards having sex with the two girls and beating them up.
Using a fake Avalon citizen account, Edwards tweeted the video link.
...
Hawke picked up the phone and called Brian: "Check Twitter and share the article about Harley."
Brian acted quickly, responding shortly after, "The video is riveting. I'll retweet once I finish watching."
...
After hanging up, Erica entered from outside.
She glanced at Hawke and said, "Confird, there were no Buddy Ackerman in the convoy at Santa Monica Pier."
Hawke moved to the map, pointing to the xico-U.S. border. "The helicopter hasn't landed yet?"
"No," Erica replied. "It's uncertain whether anyone was on board."
Hawke continued, "Have we tracked the private jets that applied for routes in the past two hours?"
Erica pulled out a notebook with her earlier logs: "It's late, and there are very few private jets taking off at this hour. I found only three that filed flight plans."
She added, "The registered owners and locations of those three jets have been verified; none are linked to the Ackerman family. However, California regulations require private jets leaving North Arica to file three days in advance, while routes to xico or Canada only require two hours' notice."
Hawke stated, "The information couldn't have leaked early; Buddy only called Sean back tonight, and these flight paths must have just been filed."
Erica marked sothing in her notebook, turning to Hawke. "Only one private jet fits the bill."
Hawke glanced at it: "It's flying from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles to the La Paz International Airport in the southern xican city of La Paz."
"The Ackerman family has a dical center in Rosarito, xico, so they likely have connections there. Buddy probably will choose this route."
Erica put the pen and notebook away, asking, "Should I send soone to La Paz imdiately?"
Hawke made the decision, "Send more elite personnel. If they stop in La Paz, follow them. If they change planes there, find a way to delay them."
He added, "We also need to keep an eye on that helicopter."
Erica nodded and went to make the call.
...
Hawke took out his phone and called Campos, "How's the arrangent going?"
Campos responded, "He's locked in an underground room, and we've injected him with drugs -- he's still unconscious."
"Good work," Hawke continued, "Gather all reliable personnel; we could be deploying at any mont."
Campos replied, "We're all prepared, boss."
Hawke instructed, "Get in touch with the rcenaries we collaborated with last ti."
...
Finishing that call, he dialed Caroline, who was on Twitter duty tonight, activating the whole security departnt to prevent any retaliatory actions.
*****
/Sayonara816.
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