Page 17 of Blackmailed

“You’re late,” Kalkin said.

"Mr. Sloan..." Adrian stared at both Jefferson and Jochi, his gunmetal grey eyes wide with surprise. "Thank you for the invitation to spend Thanksgiving with your family." Then in a lower voice, as he stared at Jochi, he murmured, "I didn't know you'd both be here."

"Well, as you know, I'm Senator Winters assistant. It's my job to help him when he needs me most." Jochi slid his emerald green gaze in Kalkin's direction while placing the evidence box on the table. "It's my fault we're late."

Adrian screwed up his face in confusion. “Why would it be your fault the Senator is late?”

Kalkin rolled his eyes. "Kid, if they have to explain, you're not picking up body language as quickly as I thought you would."

Adrian glanced between Jefferson and Jochi then back to Jefferson. Whatever the boy saw between them, had a pink tinge covering to tops of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. “Oh. My bad. Sorry.”

Jefferson snorted in amusement. “No need to apologize, my boy. Thank you.”

Kalkin cleared his throat. “Is this the stuff?”

Jefferson nodded, ready to get their conversation from the night before back on track. "All of it. We have it separated into what's important and what can hang out in the peripheral for a bit."

Kalkin joined Jochi. “Great, then let’s get to work compiling a takedown case.”

"I'll take these." Keeley grabbed the thumb drives rubber-banded together and headed out of the conference room. "I can decipher the information quicker with my personal computer."

Jefferson gathered up the accounting documents from Senator Brawborn and Tory first. They were part of the FICA warrant obtained after the auction at the zoo. He also pulled out ten years’ worth of IRS documentation, including hidden accounts made public during the Panama Papers scandal in 2016.

Being able to use anything he found on Senators Beltran or Roberts would be harder. He didn’t have warrants for them. Which meant any information he discovered might be inadmissible in a court of law. He understood he walked a tight rope between lawful and unlawful activity. However, if what he uncovered ended up in say, oh, a reporter’s hands, and they ran with the story, well, not his problem—right?

“Senator Beltran and Roberts are both concealing funding for certain PBH activities. One of which was the auction a year ago where Tory and Brawborn were also found. The problem is, I can’t fully put them there, due to getting this information in not so legal ways.”

Kalkin frowned. “Sources?”

Jefferson nodded. “Deep sources with forensic accounting ties.”

“Okay. What else you have?”

Jefferson grabbed the stacks of documents and handed them to Kalkin. “Another was the study of children with abilities, i.e. Mikey and the children like him who were found at the Zoo. They also had sexual studies. Each one had money funneled to these study groups by an offshore account, listed in the Papers. The money from these transactions were conclusively found to be actual pork-eared amounts for different scientific programs that didn’t exist.”

“Does the public know about this yet? At least where Brawborn and Tory are concerned” Jerome asked, joining them.

“No, probably won’t either. The trials for both senators will be held behind closed doors, due to the nature of the infractions and because of PBH’s involvement.” Jefferson scrubbed his forehead. “I’m surprised the judge in Holly’s case hasn’t put a gag on anything yet.”

“We could put a bug in the judge’s ear,” Rapier said. “If it’ll help you.”

“I’m not sure it would, even if the judge did,” Jefferson said. “She was the ways and means for PBH to continue in the dark. Like with the NRA, and who gets money from the organization, it’s a dirty secret that’s not so secret anymore on Capitol Hill. Nine chances out of ten, when the shit starts rolling downhill, there will be more senators than not who have some kind of connection.”

“The problem isn’t the expulsion or the censure of the senators, it is the fact three men decided to blackmail Jefferson.” Jochi frowned as he pulled three more thumb drives from his pocket. “They want to expose our relationship and they’ll do whatever they can to do so, including the dubious audit. Well, I have my own set of documents we don’t need a warrant for.”

Jefferson sighed. “I should have known.”

Jochi gave him a smug grin. "On these drives, you'll find everything you need to take all of them down. Brawborn, Beltran, Mr. Davis, Roberts, and Tory."

“What is it?” Jerome took the black and red USB sticks.

“Everything from parties with underage girls, to drug habits, to gambling habits. It pays when you can walk through society as someone else,” Jochi said.

Kalkin whistled. “You got this all on your own?”

Jochi nodded. “Yes, I did. I’d do it again to protect what’s mine.”

“Well, the best way to prevent that from happening is—”

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