Alice's Point of View
"All clear," read the text from Dick. The rookie had been standing watch so Becky and her boyfriend could get busy without interruption, convenient for her. He could just as easily inform Alice once they were gone.
Careful to leave no traces of her presence, Alice gathered up the hidden cameras and calmly walked out of the hotel room like she had every right to be there. She linked eyes with Richard. "You were right," she said simply.
He didn't seem particularly happy his suspicions were confirmed. "So what now? This thing is bigger than both of us."
Alice thought for a moment. The intel department needed to be informed, as well as Dahlia, her handler. She needed guidance. "Follow me to the safe house. Best if we take two cars."
Dick didn't argue. She pulled out of the parking lot in her Toyama Caliber with him following at a discrete distance. Not being too obvious about it, either, she thought with approval. Maybe he was cut out for this line of work after all.
Once they left the hotel on Broad Street she led him on a circuitous path towards her home base for this mission, a small suburban home with a convenient two-car garage, the Corps' safe house. Alice pulled in and waited for her partner, shutting the door behind him.
The house was small and sparsely decorated, but that didn't bother her. All the appliances worked and the bed even had clean sheets.
"This place blocks cell signals, but we've got a hard line to headquarters." Alice walked into the living room and turned on a desktop computer that was plugged directly into a router with an ethernet cable. From there, she began the task of manually uploading the raw video footage from her hidden cameras. Dick just watched her silently. Perhaps he was one of those people who only knew how to use a cell phone? When the uploading finished she pinged Dahlia on their encrypted communication program.
Her boss answered instantly and the middle-aged woman's serious face appeared in a window. "Alice, what's wrong?" She sounded worried, as well she might be. Alice had never had to call for help before.
"I'm not compromised," she said in an attempt to put Dahlia's fears to rest. "However, there's been a development. To put it simply, Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper and Aaron Hacker are lovers."
A slight widening of the eyes was Dahlia's only reaction. She remained silent, waiting for more.
"They've been sleeping together for an undetermined length of time. Furthermore, we have verbal confirmation that Rodriguez-Cooper plans to throw the election and marry President-Elect Hacker after divorcing her husband. Whether Hacker agrees with this course of action is unknown."
"What?" asked Dick sharply.
Alice smirked. "That's right, I didn't tell you. Sorry, Dick."
Dick looked deeply troubled. "Fuuuuuck," he drawled.
Dahlia's familiar manner was completely gone. It was all professionalism now. "You have evidence?"
"Yes, Ma'am. I've taken the liberty of uploading visual confirmation over the network. You can pass it to intel?"
"I certainly will. You did well to bring this to me. Stay at your present location for now. Further instructions will follow over the secure line. Dahlia out."
The window went black.
"It's the Illuminati," Dick said worriedly.
Alice gave him the side eye. "This again?"
"It's too perfect!" Dick ranted. "Don't you see? It all makes a painful amount of sense! It's a narrative, a story line, something to feed the common people and manipulate them. Aaron Hacker is single and Rebecca-Rodriguez Cooper is unhappily married. He's a Republican. She's a Democrat. He's white. She's Latina. They are opponents in the election but the Powers That Be will trickle out clips of them flirting, joking around with each other, cooking up a drama that social media will eat up."
What did Richard know about the Powers That Be? Alice had been working for the Corps for years and she barely knew anything about the leadership.
"The chemistry will be obvious to everyone!" Dick continued. "There will be memes, couple edits, shippers, everything! The story line will reach a climax when Hacker wins the election. He will be so sweet to Rodriguez-Cooper when she calls to concede it will go viral. Then, when everything lines up? He'll propose! 'If you can't be president, why not first lady?' he'll ask her. They'll get married in the White House! It'll be like a royal wedding, but American, uniting the country together as one family. Just in time for World War three!"
His voice was hoarse and his body was trembling, absolutely convinced of the truth of this fantasy scenario he'd cooked up. It made for a good story, Alice could admit, but really, wasn't this whole thing a little far-fetched? It was mutual attraction of people who just happened to be political opponents. Republicans and Democrats hooked up all the time in the district. There wasn't anything crazy about it.
"You worry too much, Dick," Alice said lightly.
"You don't worry enough!" he replied heatedly. "Remember the country after September eleventh? Everybody got behind Busch and even super liberal Democrats were howling for the Iraq war. They want that again, but things are too divided, too partisan. An inter-party marriage at the highest level will be like official permission to come together. God, I wonder who we'll be fighting? China? Russia? Iran? All of the above? This is scary, Alice! Why aren't you scared?"
Nothing I can do even if it is true, kid.
The world played dirty; the powerful played dirtiest of all. Alice had no illusions on that line. Her orders came from people who saw her as tool, nothing more. At least it was better than being seen as a doll, a thing that existed just for them to play with. Yes, being a plaything was worse. Better to be a tool. She was speaking from experience.
Alice sighed. "Just focus, Richard."
Use of his real name seemed to concentrate his mind. "What will we do?"
Alice turned back to the computer monitor. "That's what we're waiting to find out."
It was over an hour before they heard back from Dahlia. Usually, things were pretty clear cut. Disagreements among the leadership?
Dick kept trying to check his phone. "No signal," he complained.
I told him the safe house blocks signals. Was he even listening?
The window opened again and Dahlia was back, looking as grim as Alice had ever seen her. "Alice, Richard, it's good you're both still there. The mission is being aborted and Alice is being recalled to Washington. As for you, Richard, you are to remain with the Rodriguez-Cooper campaign until the Democratic National Convention. At that point, the Corps will arrange a cover story for you to resign, a job offer, perhaps."
No small talk, just tactical instructions, something must've happened.
"What about Dean Cooper?" Alice asked. "Dick here suggested we inform him that Becky is cheating. That would blow up their marriage for sure."
"Negative," Dahlia replied shortly. "This is a complete withdrawal. Richard, you are not to inform Dean Cooper of anything or interfere in the campaign in any way. Simply do you job as an economic policy advisor and wait for extraction."
Huh. Did the bigwigs want the Hacker/Rodriguez-Cooper marriage to go through? Maybe they were just satisfied that she was planning on losing and decided to leave it at that.
"So I'm just supposed to sit tight here? RRC is using me to stand watch when she meets Aaron Hacker, you know. What am I supposed to do about that?" Dick asked helplessly.
Dahlia stilled. "Continue as you are, Richard. Do whatever work the Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper campaign assigns you to the best of your ability. Headquarters will be in touch with further instructions if anything changes. You have the number to call if you need assistance?"
Dick's face fell. "Yes, Ma'am."
Dahlia smiled, but it looked more like she was trying to reassure them than an indication of genuine happiness. "Excellent, you two. This mission has been highly irregular, but I don't want either of you to consider it a failure. Valuable intelligence has been gained, intelligence that may be followed up on at a later date. You'll both, of course, be compensated appropriately. For the purposes of your records with the Corps, the Rodriguez-Cooper assignment will be marked as a success. I'll see you promptly back in Washington, Alice. Dahlia out."
The screen went blank again.
Alice sank back in her chair. "It's too late for me to drive back. I'll get on the road tomorrow morning. You want to get dinner, little brother? My treat." She looked at him expectantly, wondering if he was one of those skinny guys who could actually eat a lot.
"I guess I am a little hungry," he agreed. They both went back to their cars.
"Just follow me," she said out her window. "There's a well-reviewed barbecue place not far from here."
"Fuck my life," Dick said under his breath, but Alice caught it.