The Freshman
Copyright 2005 by EC

Chapter 28 - A playbook for the opposing team

The following several weeks passed uneventfully for the residents 
of Huntington Hall. Cecilia continued telling Jason to push Ken 
and Lisa in their studies, and made herself available to various 
residents who were having problems with their midterms. Of 
course, there were the inevitable crises over panicked freshmen 
and failed tests, but the RA's tight grip over her residents 
ensured that the 2nd floor had the fewest academic problems of 
the entire dorm.

Lisa and Ken were forced to take a break from their sexual 
adventures for a week while they waited for their welts to heal. 
However, the party changed both their characters and how they 
treated each other. As a couple they had endured a very strange, 
but very powerful experience that drew them much closer together 
and intensified both their personalities. 

Lisa now understood why Ruth Burnside had wanted her to undergo a 
switching herself before inflicting a punishment on Ken. The pain 
they both had endured became a shared experience that made them 
much more serious about their relationship and about life in 
general. It greatly strengthened their feelings toward each other 
and brought about a psychological commitment that neither felt 
prior to the beginning of March. The change was especially 
noticeable in Lisa, who was forced to respect Ken after he made 
it through a 25-stroke switching without any noise or crying.

Cecilia and Jason noticed Ken and Lisa spending much more time 
together during the weeks following the Mardi Gras party. The 
most obvious change was their workout schedule, because Ken 
dropped working out with Jason and Lisa dropped working out with 
Cecilia. Instead, they went to the gym together. 

Both the RA and her boyfriend felt a bit put-off by being 
ditched, and the only solution was for Cecilia to start working 
out with Jason. The change in the workout routine led to another 
change in their relationship. Jason was determined to teach 
Cecilia how to swim. Now that he had her in the gym to himself, 
he told her that after working out, they would change into 
swimsuits and meet at the pool. When Cecilia hesitated Jason 
commented:

"Look, this means enough to me that I'm willing to buy a swimsuit 
and actually wear that stupid thing in the pool. I need your 
cooperation on this, because I don't want to see you drowning. I 
think that's reasonable, to not want you to drown."

Cecilia complied, reluctantly showing up at the university pool 
in a one-piece swimsuit. The first time she saw Jason in swimming 
trunks, she thought he looked a bit odd, given that she was so 
used to seeing him naked. However, she quickly set that thought 
aside as he handed her a swimming board and continued the lengthy 
process of teaching an adult how to swim.

The swimming lessons became an important part of the over-all 
change in the relationship between Cecilia and her boyfriend. She 
had to struggle with a deep-seated fear of taking her feet off 
the bottom of the pool, and at the same time make herself 
completely dependent on another person to avoid any mishaps in 
the water. As long as she did exactly what he told her, she was 
fine. If she deviated from what Jason was telling her to do, 
invariably she found herself struggling in the water and her 
boyfriend immediately grabbing her and guiding her back to the 
edge of the pool to catch her breath and calm down. The water 
taught her a hard lesson; that she was not to disobey him while 
they were in the pool.

Over time the helpless child-like feeling Cecilia suffered while 
in the water diminished, as she slowly learned how to stay afloat 
and not panic the moment her hands or feet weren't touching 
something solid. Then, right before Spring Break, Jason gave her 
a major test. She had to swim the entire width of the pool on the 
deep end, taking no breaks and not touching anything. He swam 
alongside her, but offered no assistance other than being there 
to help her if she panicked. She didn't panic. She made it all 
the way across and didn't panic! When they made it to the other 
side she hugged him, because she had just overcome one of her 
biggest fears. She still had a long way to go, but for the first 
time in her life, at age 20, Cecilia finally was swimming.

----------

Spring Break came just a few days after Cecilia's successful 
first swim. For most students Spring Break meant fun and a break 
from classes. However, for Jason and Cecilia, Spring Break meant 
nothing more than being separated for a full week. For him it 
meant a bleak sojourn at his parents' house in Wisconsin. For her 
it meant a long week trying to get caught up in her studies and 
night after night of lonely sessions masturbating in her room.

When Jason got back to Wisconsin, the mood in his family's house 
was more sinister than ever. Cassie did not look good at all and 
was completely uncommunicative. Mrs. Schmidt didn't look good 
either, but Jason almost didn't see her at all during the entire 
week. She had quit overseeing the preparation of the family 
dinners and now spent all over her time at the country club, 
right up until it closed. 

No one in the house was speaking to anyone else…at all.

The changes Jason noticed in his mother and sister were nothing 
in comparison with a subtle change Jason noticed in his father. 
The change was not something that was obvious on the surface; Mr. 
Schmidt was as overbearing and belligerent as always, but still, 
something was not right. There was something odd about his 
father's behavior, a weird vindictive look in his expression, as 
though he were concealing some evil secret. It almost seemed as 
though the secret was something Mr. Schmidt really wanted to brag 
about, but couldn't. It seemed as though…as though there was some 
crime or awful deed he was about to commit.

Jason was quite intimidated by the cruel satisfaction radiating 
from his father every time he talked to him. He presumed that Mr. 
Schmidt was about to strike at some business associate, which 
certainly would not be the first time. Mr. Schmidt already had 
ruined several people's lives and always felt deep satisfaction 
whenever he managed to incapacitate a rival or, better yet, take 
down someone stupid enough to trust him. 

Jason knew something evil was coming.

----------

On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, the first full day of his 
Spring Break, Jason stepped outside to contemplate how thoroughly 
his family was contaminated. The lives of Cassie and his mother 
were ruined. Even his father's life was ruined. Whatever was good 
in Mr. Schmidt's soul had long since drained out, leaving behind 
nothing but greed, not just for money, but also for the ability 
to control as many people as possible and ruin their lives. Greed 
and meanness, that was all that was left in the soul of Jason's 
father. Mr. Schmidt had become a sociopath, a cruel caricature of 
the American Dream that had turned into the American Nightmare. 

Jason went back inside, his thoughts in turmoil over the 
psychological poisoning of his family. They had arrived all 
right, not to any state of happiness or security, but quite the 
opposite. He felt as though Hell had surfaced to engulf the 
oversized house and the four miserable people trapped inside. He 
yearned for a happier time, or at least for a time when he had 
the illusion of happiness, when the future seemed open to him and 
he could enjoy the other people in his life. 

Jason's thoughts drifted to his junior year in high school and 
that wonderful summer that followed, a time before the events 
that ruined his senior year began to unfold. He thought about his 
high school memorabilia, wondering what he might still possess 
that he could take a look at. He went into the basement and dug 
through a couple of boxes he remembered packing last year before 
going to college. He found some certificates from his time as a 
track team member and his high school annuals. He opened the 
annual from his junior year, and several photos and cards fell 
out. A pain shot through his heart as he opened up the picture 
from his junior year, a prom portrait of himself and Amanda 
Galloway. There were various holiday and birthday cards from her, 
and several small studio portraits. He thumbed to the page of his 
annual she had written into, forcing himself to read her message. 
The words from his old high school partner were the words of 
someone who thought the relationship would be permanent, written 
about four months before Jason began pursuing Heather Jones. 

Amanda…she was gone…completely gone from his life. There was no 
way he ever could face her again, nor any way he ever would want 
to. What a waste…but that was the reality he had created for 
himself. He had lost Amanda due to his own stupidity, and as a 
result had ended up with Cecilia. There was an irony in what had 
transpired over the past year. Amanda, as nice and affectionate 
as she had been, could not save Jason from his character flaws. 
Cecilia, not so nice, never tolerated the weaknesses that had 
destroyed his relationship with Amanda. Thus, it was Cecilia, not 
Amanda, who was destined to share her life with him.

As Jason consolidated the items he wanted to keep into a single 
box, he heard his father's voice through the air duct. Hmm…that 
was interesting…so the air duct in the basement seemed to carry 
sound directly from his father's home office. He was vaguely 
curious to know what his father was doing; spending all that time 
on the phone behind the room's locked door. He moved closer to 
the duct and listened.

"Look…I'm telling you we've got it covered here in DC. That shit-
bag and his crew don't have any friends here at all, except for a 
couple of Liberals in Congress. Well…and the Foundation, but who 
cares about that fucking batch of welfare-state shitheads? We'll 
handle all the press releases and the news items…we'll just run 
it all through our friends and that's the story everyone will be 
hearing…Look, I'll send you the drafts and then you can see for 
yourself that we're ready to roll…No, I'm telling you we've got 
it taken care of...we're defending free markets, that'll be the 
party line. Who's going to argue with that, except for the 
Foundation's fag professors, and who gives a shit about them?"

There was a long pause, then another call.

"Alright Cutter, I think we're good to go on the press stuff. 
We've got our people ready on this end, once the shooting starts. 
Now, you're sure you know where their Prime Minister is going to 
be on the 23rd…you're totally sure? Damn…so you're taking out his 
kids as well? The kids, huh? Fuck…and I thought I was 
ruthless…OK, I'll write that in... What about Dukov…so he's still 
going to Athens? You're still good to go on the plane crash? 
OK…good. Good. Let me secure fax you what we have so far, and 
then you tell me if we're not ready....OK...OK...Great! The 23rd 
baby, the 23rd…I just wish I could be there pumpin' rounds 
myself. Yeah…we'll show them. By the way, how many people do you 
think you got storming their capitol? Sounds good…Danube 
City…OK…OK, Cutter, that's great!"

Jason stood in the basement in a stupor. What the fuck…was there 
going to be some sort of attack on Upper Danubia? All his 
father's talk of "everything being ready" and "the plane crash" 
and "people storming the capitol" and "Danube City…"

Jason's father picked up the phone again and began talking in 
German. Unfortunately Jason did not understand German, but the 
tone of his father's conversation was similar to the two English 
conversations. He thought he could make out several place names 
related to Upper Danubia or its southern neighbor. Yes, most 
definitely Mr. Schmidt was up to no good.

Jason was faced with a dilemma. If his father's associates were 
planning something evil, wasn't it his duty to try to stop it? 
But then, wouldn't that entail betraying his father?

Fortunately Jason did not pause long to ponder the moral dilemma 
he was facing. He could worry about that later. What he needed 
was to find out exactly what was going on. He sneaked upstairs 
and passed near his father's workroom, but couldn't hear anything 
through the door. He would have to return to the basement and put 
his ear near the air vent. Then, he had an idea. He didn't 
understand German, but his grandmother did. Would it be possible 
to get a tape recorder and record what his father said, then have 
his grandmother translate it? He had a tape recorder in his room 
that was pretty sensitive, so perhaps the idea of recording his 
father's conversations would work.

Jason grabbed the tape recorder, checked to make sure the 
batteries were still working, and carried the device back to the 
basement. He followed the air vent to find the spot where his 
father's voice was the loudest and keyed the machine to start 
recording. For the next half-hour Mr. Schmidt chatted confidently 
in German, blissfully assuming no one could hear him. Even if 
they did, no one in his family would understand what he was 
saying. He hung up and there was a very long silence. Then he 
picked up the phone yet again, and started talking in English 
about his work as a lobbyist and discussed several payments being 
made to various re-election campaigns for congressmen. There was 
another long pause, and some more talk about Upper Danubia. Then 
Jason heard the following:

"You know, my idiot son's little crack-whore girlfriend actually 
likes that fucking commie bastard. You should've heard her last 
Thanksgiving…it was kind of funny to listen to her, when you 
think about it…" 

Imitating Cecilia's voice he continued: "'Isn't that up to the 
Danubians? It's their country. Don't they get to choose who's 
gonna lead 'em? Isn't that what democracy's supposed to be all 
about?' Well, at any rate, it's gonna be a hoot looking at that 
little cunt's expression when you guys have things wrapped up. 
I'm gonna have to get my moron son to bring her back just so I 
can see that little bitch's face."

With that comment Mr. Schmidt resolved Jason's moral dilemma. He 
was sick of being referred to as an idiot and a moron, and he 
certainly did not appreciate his girlfriend being called a 
"crack-whore" and a "little cunt". He no longer owed any loyalty 
to his father. Whatever it was that his father's associates were 
planning, he would try to stop it.

Jason went into his own room, put the tape recorder under his 
blanket, and turned it on. Sure enough, it had recorded his 
father's voice. The recording was barely audible, but if turned 
up to maximum volume it was possible to make out what he was 
saying. Jason wrote the date and time on the tape's label and put 
it in a tape box. He then made sure he had several more cassettes 
and extra batteries. Whenever his father was on the phone, he 
would be in the basement trying to record what he was saying. He 
would be patient, gather as much information as possible, share 
it with his grandmother, and then figure out what to do.

Jason spent the next three days watching his father. Whenever he 
went into his office, Jason was at his post in the basement with 
the tape recorder. When his father was not at home, he spent time 
on the Internet and with an atlas trying to learn as much as he 
could about Upper Danubia and its neighbors. His father was 
mentioning a bunch of place names that seemed important. Very 
quickly Jason educated himself about the politics and geography 
of various countries, to be able to recognize names and places 
that came up in his father's phone conversations.

By Tuesday morning Jason had six cassette tapes full of his 
father's ramblings in both English and German. During the entire 
time he was making the recordings he kept his eye on the office 
door, wondering if there was any way he could get in. The door 
was always locked, whether Mr. Schmidt was in the room or not. 
However, the very fact that it was locked hinted that items were 
in there that might solve the mystery of what exactly was going 
to happen in Eastern Europe on the 23rd. Jason absolutely had to 
get in and see if there were any papers to supplement what he had 
recorded. Then, he had an extraordinary piece of good luck.

The house was totally empty except for Rita, one of the Schmidt's 
two maids. Jason slept in, after having been up most of the night 
in the basement with his tape recorder. When he woke up, he 
wanted to see if his mother was still at home to ask her 
something. He went into the Master bedroom and saw Rita standing 
at the dresser, next to one of his mother's jewelry boxes. The 
box was usually locked, but she must have picked it open. He 
quietly moved up behind her, curious to see what exactly she was 
doing. The maid was looking over several items, apparently trying 
to see if she could take something that would not be missed. 

Rita squealed in terror when she realized her boss's son was 
standing right behind her. 

"Mr. Jason…I just clean…I no…"

A large batch of keys tumbled to the floor; the keys Mr. Schmidt 
had given her to be able to access the rooms to the house. The 
keys, and the maid's terrified expression, gave Jason an idea.

"Rita, about those keys. Do you have a key to my father's 
office?"

"Cómo?"

"Do you have a key to that office? Can you get in there?"

"Yeah…I got key, but your father, he say me, you no open door."

"You let me in there, and we're even."

"I open door? But your father, he say no."

"You let me in there, and I won't say anything about the jewelry 
box. If you don't let me in, I will."

With a very nervous expression Rita unlocked the door.

"You no say…?"

"I won't say anything about the jewelry box. And you won't say 
anything about me being in this room. Get it? You won't tell 
anyone I was in this room."

"Yes, Mr. Jason. I no say nothin'. Thank you."

Jason set about exploring the room. He was careful to remember 
how everything was arranged; concerned that when he left the room 
would look exactly as it had when he entered. He calculated he 
had about four hours before his mother or sister might return. 
His father would not be back until much later, so Jason had 
plenty of time to go through the office and see what was going 
on.

The first thing he noticed was a box of passports. The passports 
were not Danubian, but instead from its southern neighbor. Each 
passport had multiple stamps and visas, including Danubian visas 
that Jason suspected were forged. He went into Cassie's room, 
grabbed her digital camera, and began taking close-up pictures 
the front page of each passport. There were folders of documents 
in various foreign languages, including Danubian. Jason did not 
have clue which ones were important, so he spent an hour scanning 
them in Cassie's computer and then saved the images to a 
temporary folder in her hard drive. When he returned to his 
father's office, the next thing he noticed was a box of floppy 
diskettes sitting near the folders. He took the diskettes into 
Cassie's room, and, without opening any files, simply copied the 
contents of each diskette into a new directory created for that 
purpose. He transferred the passport photos as well, burned 
everything to a CD, and then returned to the office with the 
camera.

Jason found maps of several cities, full of handwritten notes, 
times, and other markings. Jason scanned the maps and burned a 
second CD. Then, he found what he was looking for, printed drafts 
of several press releases concerning a coup in Upper Danubia's 
southern neighbor, covered with his father's handwritten notes. 
The press releases were dated April 23. There were some drafts of 
official correspondence, apparently intended for various 
diplomats and US congressmen, explaining the setting up of a 
provisional government and justifying the shooting of several 
officials and their families. There were other documents, 
including drafts of future contracts between Mega-Town Associates 
and several Eastern European officials. Jason recognized some of 
the names, but none of them were people currently in power.

The question about Vladim Dukov's trip to Greece was answered 
when Jason came across several papers related to a water-
conservation conference to be held in Athens. Dukov and several 
other Danubian officials were slated to attend and were planning 
to fly home on the 23rd. Apparently that trip was the reason 
April 23rd had been chosen to launch the coup. Jason did not find 
anything specifically discussing a plane crash, but he suspected 
that Dukov's plane would be targeted as the delegation flew home. 

After about three hours Jason stopped collecting information. He 
burned a final CD with the newest scans and decided he needed to 
quit. Undoubtedly he was overlooking plenty of important items. 
He knew better than to try to turn on his father's computer, or 
even touch it. Perhaps what he had was incomplete, but most 
certainly it would be of tremendous value to both the Danubians 
and their southern neighbors, should he chose to turn the 
information over to them. 

He carefully put everything back in order. He went through 
Cassie's room to make sure no papers or other items from his 
father's office remained, and finally checked the office to make 
sure nothing was out of place. Then he locked the door and shut 
it. His next step was to clean up Cassie's computer as best he 
could. He deleted the history files and logged onto a couple of 
her book-marked websites to over-write his own recent activities. 
Then, he checked the camera's video card to make sure none of the 
pictures he took were still on it. He put away the camera and 
shut off her computer, just in time. He stepped out of his 
sister's room as he heard her coming in through the garage door.

Jason looked over what he had: three CD's and six cassette tapes. 
He sat in numb horror as he contemplated what his father's 
associates were planning to do: assassinate a Prime Minister and 
overthrow his government. He knew why: his father's partners in 
Mega-Town Associates still were hoping to log Upper Danubia's 
forests and build that road. There were some other contracts 
pending as well, if he understood what was in the documents from 
his father's desk that now were scanned onto his three CD's.

It was time to call his grandmother. He told her that he needed 
to go over to her condo right away, that he had something 
important that he needed to tell her. For the next hour he paced 
nervously while he waited for her friend to come get him. 
Carrying his cassettes and CD's in a backpack he left the house, 
suddenly very fearful Mr. Schmidt might come home and find him 
with the evidence.

That evening Jason and his grandmother sat listening to the 
tapes. The German conversations confirmed Jason's worst fears, 
that there was a pending coup being organized against not only 
Upper Danubia, but also it's southern neighbor. The plot would 
begin with the killing of Vladim Dukov's delegation by blowing up 
his plane. The plane crash would divert everyone's attention and 
be the signal to launch military operations in Upper Danubia. The 
assault would begin in Danube City with the seizure of the 
National Parliament and the National Police Station, as well as 
the King Vladik International Airport and Danube City's port and 
railroad station. The operations would be deliberately bloody and 
violent, to destroy the Danubian government and scare its people 
into submission. Once Upper Danubia was secured, a second 
operation would land mercenaries into the country's southern 
neighbor, where several paid-off local officials would be waiting 
with their own supporters. The double coup would place the 
plotters in direct control of both countries within a 24-hour 
period.

The assumption was that, with Dukov, his advisors, and most of 
the National Police officers dead, there would not be much 
organized opposition in the Duchy. A German subsidiary of Mega-
Town Associates was planning to provide much of the logistical 
support and fly in mercenaries. Jason's father was in charge of 
everything having to do with communications, public relations, 
and assuring the new governments received quick recognition from 
the US and other countries.

From the German conversations Jason's grandmother learned that 
Mr. Schmidt's lobbying firm apparently was not directly tied to 
the coups. The project was a private matter between Jason's 
father and several executives from Mega-Town Associates. It was 
something of a rogue operation, but if it succeeded as laid out 
in the conversations, it would leave the company in complete 
control of two countries in the center of Eastern Europe and 
allow the executives to then launch a hostile takeover of Mega-
Town Associates. The project would not end there. The takeover 
would place the largest corporation of the US under the control 
of the plotters. Using the company's wealth and influence, they 
would bankroll congressional and presidential candidates and try 
to take control of the entire United States.

Jason's grandmother was devastated as she sat listening to the 
tapes. In her mind there was only one option for her grandson. He 
had to get the information to the Danubian government 
immediately. There was no doubt about it whatsoever. The 
Danubians had to know. Jason hesitated.

"You're not worried about Dad, that maybe…"

"No. I could care less about him. If this is the way he wants to 
be, then he's not my son anymore. He's dead, as far as I'm 
concerned. Dead. I don't want to see him again."

She blinked back some tears and continued. "Do you know anyone… 
who you can get this to?"

"I…maybe Cecilia might know…"

Jason's grandmother immediately grabbed the phone and passed it 
to Jason. "Call her. Now. You've got only three weeks to stop 
it."

It was late, and Cecilia was asleep. Even though she was trying 
to wake up, she seemed very glad to hear from him.

"Jason...oh...you don't have any idea how much I miss you...I'm 
goin' crazy here..."

"I miss you too, but I...we've got a big problem. A really big 
problem. I need to get some stuff to Vladim Dukov right away."

"What do you wanna send?"

"I can't tell you over the phone, but it's important. It's some 
stuff I gotta get to him, and he's gotta take a look at it. It's 
not something he can sit on. He's gonna have to look at it right 
away."

"But we're startin' up next week and then..."

"It can't wait that long. It'll be too late. Is there any way you 
can get up here?"

"You fuckin' crazy? I can't get up to Wisconsin! I ain't got no 
car!"

"Well, I can't leave."

"What about a bus? If you come on a bus to Chicago?"

"I can't. I can't leave here because..."

"Your dad?"

"Yes, my dad. There's no way I can try leaving on a bus, 'cause I 
think he'd figure it out."

There was silence on the other end. 

"Cecilia..."

"Jason, you're tellin' me your dad's up to somethin'..."

"Exactly."

"Shit."

"...and it can't wait." Jason emphasized his last point "It 
cannot wait."

Cecilia thought about her options. The only realistic one was to 
call Cynthia Lee and ask her what to do. She could only hope that 
Cynthia was at home.

"Is it OK if I make a call, and get back to you?"

"Yeah. I'll be at my grandma's place."

Cecilia thought about that, and then figured it would be better 
to keep their phone conversations as secret as possible.

"Look, I'm not callin' you there. You go to one of those 
convenience stores and buy yourself one of those cheap phones, 
you know, with a callin' card. That's what Raul always used so 
the cops couldn't find him. You get yourself one of those phones 
and you call me."

Fortunately there was a convenience store within walking distance 
of the condominium, so Jason went over to pick up a phone and a 
calling card. Once he keyed in the service number and activated 
his account, he called Cecilia.

"OK, so what's goin' on?"

"I got some stuff I got out of my dad's office...some recordings 
and I scanned some letters and whatnot...I think there's gonna be 
a coup against the Danubians and their neighbors. I mean...like 
they're gonna be shooting a bunch of people and taking over. And, 
they're gonna kill the Prime Minister."

"What? You're sure about this?"

"I've got the tape recordings and papers. I actually heard my dad 
talking about it. There's some serious shit that's about to 
happen over there. I want Dukov to see what I got, and then he 
can figure out for himself what he's gonna do."

Jason then filled in some of the details and convinced Cecilia 
the plans were both serious and well advanced. She replied that 
she had managed to contact Cynthia Lee, and would call her again 
to relay Jason's information.

Fifteen minutes later Cecilia called back.

"I'm not gonna be able to come up, but Cynthia's on her way."

"On her way?"

"She's leavin' right now. Can you meet with her?"

"Sure."

"She'll be at your grandma's place first thing tomorrow morning. 
She wants to see what you got. If it's important she'll take it 
and fly it out to Danube City herself."

----------

Jason spent the longest night of his life, unable to sleep as he 
waited for the morning and a phone call from Cynthia Lee. Words 
could not describe the turmoil going on in his mind. Why on earth 
was he doing this? Why was he risking himself to help a bunch of 
total strangers? The only answer he could come up with was that 
he did not approve of what his father's associates were planning 
to do and wanted to stop them. It was that simple.

Finally Jason dozed off, his cell phone at his side. No sooner 
had he fallen asleep than he was startled awake by its ringing. 
He picked up.

"Jason? It's Cindy. I'm in downtown Carterville. You got the 
stuff?"

"Sure do."

"OK, so where am I going from here?"

Jason gave Cynthia directions to the condominium. While they 
waited for Cindy to show up, Jason's grandmother fixed breakfast 
and made coffee. A few minutes later the very tired-looking 
graduate student stepped out of her car. Cynthia gratefully 
accepted the cup of coffee Jason's grandmother offered her. She 
quickly laid out a laptop on the dining room table and began 
looking through the CD's. Jason nervously tried to justify 
himself.

"A lot of this stuff I don't know what it is. I just scanned what 
I could, what I had time to scan. I kinda thought the passports 
would be important, so I did get most of those."

Cynthia flipped through several files, and finally responded. 
"It's what you say, Jason. Exactly what you say. There's gonna be 
a coup on the 23rd. They're gonna take the Duchy and then move 
south. How many people know about these CD's?"

"No one knows, except you, Cecilia, and Grandma."

"And you won't say anything to anyone else?"

"Of course not."

"I can take these?"

"That's why I called Cecilia. To get them to Dukov ASAP."

"Then I'm going straight to Milwaukee and flying out as soon as I 
can get on a plane. If I'm lucky I'll be in Danube City first 
thing tomorrow morning. It'll be my Easter present to the Prime 
Minister. A pretty fucked up Easter present, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"I'm...I don't know how to thank you. I...I mean to have the guts 
to do this for us...and go against your father. You're one of the 
bravest people I've ever met. No matter what happens next month, 
you remember that, what I just said. You were the one who had the 
courage to warn us."

She hugged both Jason and his grandmother and then quickly drove 
off, turning towards the freeway to continue on her journey to 
Europe.

Jason and his grandmother stood quietly in the chilly dawn as 
they watched Cynthia drive away. The enormity of what they had 
done struck home. She had betrayed her son, and he had betrayed 
his father, in an effort to change the course of history, save a 
bunch of lives, and thwart some extremely unsavory ambitions.

Less than 24 hours after slipping into his father's office, 
Jason's part in preventing the coup was completed. Now it was up 
to others to finish the task: up to Cynthia to safely make it to 
Danube City with the CD's and cassettes, then up to Dukov and his 
people to analyze the information and act on it.

A few minutes later Jason was on his way back to his father's 
house, his self-appointed mission completed. His grandmother's 
friend suspected that something very serious had just taken 
place, but did not ask. Instead he cheerfully bantered about 
restored cars and his latest project while Jason tried to pay 
attention. What he actually wanted to do was go to sleep.

He returned to the house and passed his father's home office. The 
room was locked, and his father was at his job in Chicago helping 
his unsavory clients. Later that night Mr. Schmidt would be back 
in the office, on the phone and with the door shut. However, 
Jason knew there was no further point in taking the tape recorder 
down to the basement. There was nothing left to do but wait, and 
hope that within a day or so the Danubian government would be 
analyzing the information he had collected. He did go back 
downstairs one final time, to retrieve the box of high school 
memorabilia he was planning to keep. He vaguely suspected it 
would be the very last chance he would have to take anything out 
of that basement.

----------

The remaining days of Jason's Spring Break were rather anti-
climatic. He went jogging through the neighborhood and spent 
hours in the pool, hoping to be ready to participate in several 
marathons over the summer, and perhaps even try to win the Tri-
Alpha 10-K run a second year. He carried his anonymous cell phone 
with him, just in case Cecilia needed to call.

Saturday morning, she did call.

"Jason...good news. Cynthia just called me from Danube City."

"So she made it OK?"

"Yeah, she made it in yesterday mornin', and that poor girl 
hasn't had any sleep since she landed. They got a bunch of people 
lookin' over your stuff and she's been translatin' for 'em. It's 
the first break anyone's had in two days. That's why she didn't 
call 'till just now."

"So they're taking it seriously?"

"Takin' it seriously? Yeah, they're takin' it seriously. You 
saved their asses, Jason. They didn't know shit about what your 
dad was plannin' till they got those CD's."

"So...did Cindy tell you what they're gonna do about it?"

"No, she didn't tell me that. That's not something you talk about 
over the phone. I 'spose we'll know more, when she comes back 
next week. She did say the Duchy's gonna do what they can to keep 
your name out of it, cause those people from the company are 
mean. If they find out it was you who turned 'em in, they're 
gonna fuck you up."

Jason's heart skipped beat. He hadn't thought of that. No wonder 
Cynthia Lee kept saying he was so brave... He drew a deep breath, 
but didn't know how to respond.

"Jason...Jason? Are you still there?"

"Yeah-yeah, I'm still here."

"I got somethin' else to tell you."

"What's that?"

"I love you."

It was the first time Cecilia had ever said that to him over the 
phone. She was not affectionate or loving when she spoke on the 
phone, so from her those three words meant very much. Hearing "I 
love you" from Cecilia gave Jason most of his courage back. He 
realized that no matter what happened to him, he already had 
defeated some of the most powerful men in the United States. They 
had been defeated, and nothing was going to change that, not even 
his own death.

That afternoon, a day before he was scheduled to return to the 
university, Jason glanced at his father as he sat in the family 
room. He was watching a couple of football games from the 
previous season that he had recorded but never had the chance to 
see. The cheering of the crowd on TV and the chatter from the 
sports commentators reminded Jason of his father's constant use 
of football terminology to refer to his life and his 
relationships in the business world. Winning 
team…rush…huddle…goal post…fumble…play-book…

Then, as he looked at the arrogant, abusive, domineering man 
sitting in front of the TV, Jason thought bitterly about all the 
terms his father used to refer to him: 
moron…idiot…wimp...loser... 

We'll see about that, Dad, he thought to himself. We'll just see. 

He resisted the urge to walk up to his father and announce that 
he had just given away his team's play-book to the coach of the 
opposing side. The linebacker had fumbled, without even knowing 
it yet. As soon as Cynthia Lee landed in Danube City, the 
defending team had taken control of the ball.

