Page 102 of Broken Wheels

“Because Americans will always do what is necessary to come out on top.”

Okay, what does that mean?

The next one appeared similar: Spencer on a stage, microphone in hand, thanking the people of Tulbanks, Arkansas for the award, and how proud he’d been to step in and help with the poisoned ground that had contaminated the food grown in the town. Josh did a bit of digging. The report was a few years old, but as far as he could ascertain, there hadn’t been any sicknesses prior to that, which he would have expected if the problem lay in the ground. What was also strange? The government had stepped aside and ceded the cleanup to Spencer. Josh dug a little deeper, but there’d been no response from any other agency that he could find. It was as if they knew Spencer would take care of it and let him get on with it. All of this added up to what amounted to a pile of stinky baby diapers.

Something—or someone—was full of shit.

Josh clicked on more links. Over the course of the next few years, Spencer appeared more frequently to garner greater accolades. What had initially been small towns had grown to bigger cities, with Spencer and company stepping in and taking care of whatever problems cropped up. It didn’t surprise Josh that eventually someone asked Spencer the question that had been burning in Josh’s mind.

Based on your popularity, Mr. Spencer, are you considering running for office?

Spencer said no. In fact, he said it over and over again. He had no interest in politics, he swore. He only wanted to help people. Josh understood that. His lawyer paid out about a hundred million dollars every year to various charities, more if they’d had a good year. Josh didn’t believe in making profits. He wanted to fulfill his Grandma’s dreams of taking care of people.

Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. Maybe Spencer isn’t AS after all. Maybe he’s nothing more than a really good man. Josh clicked on one more video link, resolved that this would be the last. But as he listened, cold inched its way through his veins, spreading to all his extremities.

The national award ceremony had taken place earlier that year. Spencer had been named “Humanitarian of the Decade” for all of his charity work. He got on stage, giving everyone an “oh shucks” look, but Josh wasn’t looking at Spencer’s body language.

He was looking at his eyes, and hoping to God he was reading them wrong.

Once he’d listened all the way through, Josh went back to the start, still cold, still shaken. Spencer gripped the mic and stared at the clutch of reporters gathered in front of him.

I thank you for this award. It means more to me than I can say, but I’m not accepting it on my behalf. No. This is for everyone who’s been involved in trying to make the country better, one community at a time. And as I stand before you now, I recall the question someone asked a couple of years back. “When are you going to run for office?” At the time, I blew it off. I had no interest. We were doing good work, without the regulations that would stifle us.

And then, late one night while watching the news, I had an epiphany. Very few people in politics—local, state, or national—are actually working for the people. They bicker like children, while Americans suffer poverty, hunger, homelessness. The ones in control would rather quibble over things any logical person would know were meaningless, instead of tackling the big issues. And we see this repeated everywhere. Why? Because too many members of both parties are compromised. They’re in the pockets of special interest groups, being paid to present their corporate masters’ lies and make them respectable. Palatable, even. I don’t need those people. I can do this on my own, with one clear, concise line of thinking, plus the goals and the means to achieve them. Now, while I would rather we do it together, it can be done without anyone’s help if we have to. But it’s got to be something people want. Real, legitimate change. Growth for all, not just the one percent. And I honestly believe that I’m the person to do that.

At first there was a hush, then a swell of noise rose as the audience screamed his name. Through it all, Josh noted Spencer’s smug expression, as though he was about to be handed the keys to the empire. Cold swiftly gave way to ice.

That’s what Spencer’s been doing all along.

Building up his credibility with people, showing them he was good and benevolent, and now, in that final video, the mask came off, revealing who—what—he really was.

A snake, waiting to strike.

Chapter 30

Dix had a bad feeling about this.

One, he couldn’t figure out why Doc wanted Chalmers present. Two, the fact that Doc wasn’t sharing whatever was on his mind until Chalmers got there?

That was scary as fuck.

As soon as he’d walked into their apartment, Dix had known something was wrong. He felt it, almost like electricity. And when Doc asked him to bring in Chalmers, that nailed it. Once he’d made the call, he’d expected Doc to calm down, but his agitation increased.

This is bad, isn’t it?

“Can’t you even give me a hint?” Dix asked.

Doc stopped pacing up and down the living room for a second. “I went through Chalmers’s boss’s files. They know I’m doing it.”

“What do you mean?”

Doc sighed. “They left a very obvious trail for me to find, I think. I guess three failed attempts on my life were getting a bit frustrating.”

That chilled him to the bone. “Disengage now, Doc.”

“Oh, it’s too late for that. They already know I’m in. Whoever they are, they’re way better than me. The thing is, I think they’re so confident in their ability, they’re letting me take a peek.”

“Why would they do that?”

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