Read Online Presidential Shift by C. G. Cooper - Free Book Online

I’ll call you back.”
    Stricklin killed the call. What was Stokes up to?
    +++
    Neil had all the information Cal needed by the time he and Daniel walked into their shared room with a bag of half-eaten fast food. They had SSI’s tech genius on speaker phone.
    “You’re not gonna believe this, Cal. This guy tried accessing both of your records.”
    Cal glared at the phone. “Did he get in?”
    “Who do you think I am?” came Neil’s exasperated voice. “Of course he didn’t get in. I wrapped them up tight.”
    “I thought you’d already taken care of that,” said Cal.
    There was moment’s silence. It wasn’t often that someone got around Neil’s tricks.
    “I hadn’t really taken into account that someone from their Internal Affairs Division might want to see our files. IA agents get more access. What’s this guy got against you anyway?”
    “It’s a long story. Did you find out why he’s down here?”
    “Yeah. Looks like it’s just dumb luck. He volunteered to augment the Bureau’s pre-event investigation staff. He left Birmingham last night after a couple days hammering the local agents about some whistleblower claim.”
    “Why do you think he volunteered?” Daniel asked.
    “I’ll send you his personnel record, but I think it’s to be around VIPs, or maybe just to chill at the beach. From what I was able to scan of his profile assessment, this Stricklin guy is a real piece of work. You should see the things the FBI psychologist called him. Bet you a million bucks he wanted to pick up chicks at the beach and stand next to the first lady.”
    “That sounds like Stricklin,” growled Cal. “Any way you can get this guy reassigned?”
    “When’s the event?”
    “Ten tomorrow morning.”
    “If I had a little more time, maybe. I could drop a note to a couple of our contacts…”
    “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to waste your time on this guy,” said Cal. “We’ll take care of him if he becomes a problem.”
    “You’re not thinking about…” Neil started.
    “I’m not that stupid, Neil. We’ll just avoid the guy.”
    “Oh. Okay.” Neil sounded relieved. He was one of a small cadre within SSI that knew what Cal and Daniel had been doing over the preceding months, namely killing people quietly.
    “Did you send over Stricklin’s file?” asked Cal.
    “I did. Let me know if you need anything else.”
    Cal asked about the progress of what Neil had dubbed Operation Pest Control. The two Marines listened to Neil’s report, thanked him, and ended the call.
    “You need me?” Daniel asked.
    “No. Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll scan through this stuff on Stricklin. I won’t be up long.”
    “Wake you at zero five?”
    “Yeah.”
    As Daniel got ready for bed, Cal read Stricklin’s file. Memories came rushing back from his time in the Marine Corps. To those uneducated in Marine lingo and performance review, Stricklin’s record would seem satisfactory, if not above average. There were, however, indirect ways for reviewing officers to insert traits like ‘indecisive’ and comments like ‘more training suggested in X area,’ or the absence of a ‘recommended for promotion’ that were red flags to those in the know. Cal wasn’t surprised to see Stricklin’s fitness reports peppered with such subtle verbiage. To someone like Cal, Stricklin’s entire Marine Corps personnel file, minus the mind-boggling recommendation from some major, screamed “SHITTY OFFICER.”
    Cal wasn’t as familiar with the FBI ranking system, and yet he saw similar currents of politically correct wording used to describe Special Agent Steve Stricklin’s performance. If he hadn’t been so annoyed at Stricklin’s appearance, Cal might have laughed at the private evaluation by the FBI shrink that Stricklin had never been given access to. It included words like conniving, self-aggrandizing, calculating and sub-par.
    If he’d had time, he would have sent the evals to SSI’s resident head