“Some.”
“You know who set up the Cayman Island account used to funnel private contributions to the Contras?” Landon didn’t wait for an answer. “Anston. By using 501(c)(3) organizations.”
“As though they were charities like the Red Cross?”
Landon smiled. “Fund a war, get a tax break.”
“What about the money from the Iranian arms sales?”
“He did those through Switzerland.” Landon settled back in his chair again. “See? Anston was the perfect guy to set up the offshore TIMCO payoffs. There was absolutely no reason to involve my brother in anything.”
“I think he may have involved Brandon at least in this one. The payoff money for the OSHA inspector and welder came from a Cayman account somehow connected to Brandon.”
“Is that true?”
“Are you asking whether it’s true or whether anyone can prove it?”
“Both.”
“I don’t know,” Gage said. “There’s no way to force the Cayman lawyer who runs the company to disclose anything. But I’m at least sure Charlie Palmer managed it.”
“For Brandon or Anston?”
“I don’t know that either. Probably both. And I do know that TIMCO wired money to that company. It’s called Pegasus.”
Landon shrugged.
“About a million and a half went in and out of Pegasus to take care of the TIMCO witnesses,” Gage said.
“That looks bad. I received money from TIMCO executives in my first senatorial campaign, but it was-”
“Before the explosion. I checked.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you check? You don’t think I was somehow mixed up with what they were doing?”
“It crossed my mind.”
Landon shook off the implication.
“So TIMCO is the reason for the mugging?”
“It wasn’t a mugging.”
“But Brandon said-”
“I’m pretty sure Brandon got into a scuffle with Porzolkiewski and the wallet just fell out of his pocket.”
Landon narrowed his eyes toward Gage.
“So there really is a connection between Brandon and Porzolkiewski? Why did Brandon lie to me about what happened?”
“My guess is there was something in the wallet that would give away the scheme.”
“Do you know what was in there?”
“I’ve seen it all,” Gage said, “but I don’t know what it all means. Some of it’s a little bizarre.”
“Like what?”
“A list of star names and dates that seem to match Cayman Exchange Bank transactions in Palmer’s account.”
“So Brandon has some connection to whatever Anston is doing.”
Gage could hear Landon’s breathing start to accelerate.
“I may have to get ahead of this one. If it’s true Brandon was involved in hiding witnesses and suborning perjury in TIMCO, I’ll probably have to go to the press first and he’ll have to take his chances.”
“Not probably. You’ll have no choice. It’s all going to come out in Porzolkiewski’s trial and it’ll slop over onto you.”
“I know that. But I can survive it. Robert Kennedy survived Ted Kennedy leaving that poor woman in the Chappaquiddick River. George W. Bush survived his brother’s involvement in the savings and loan scandal, Bill Clinton survived Roger’s cocaine conviction, Jimmy Carter survived his brother becoming a lobbyist for Libya.”
“I see you’ve thought about this.”
“With a brother like Brandon, you have to think about every possibility.” Landon paused for a moment, then asked, “How much of this is in the search warrant affidavit?”
“You mean how much is going to come out before trial?”
“To be specific, between now and when the Supreme Court nominations go to the full Senate.”
“Not as much was in the affidavit as I know now.”
“But what you think you know is only what Porzolkiewski believes.”
“I know a lot more than he does. And part of that is in the affidavit, but it’s still sealed.”
Landon rose and interlaced his fingers on the back his neck and paced back and forth between the bed and dresser. He finally stopped and lowered his hands to his waist.
“So that’s how it started.”
“How what started?”
Landon squinted up toward the ceiling. “Who said it?”
“Said what?”
“ ‘Every empire was founded on a great crime.’ ”
“Is that what your presidency is supposed to be, some kind of empire?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“I’ll tell you what I do understand-”
“TIMCO would have done that whether or not they’d contributed to my campaign. They didn’t do it for me.”
“But you were the beneficiary and I’m sure it was in Brandon’s mind when he set it up.”
Landon flared. “You keep saying Brandon, but your evidence says Anston.”
“Do you really think anything went on in the firm that they didn’t discuss during their lunches at Tadich Grill? My guess is that most of the strategy was hashed out over those crisp white tablecloths.”
“But you can’t prove it.”
“No. I can’t prove it.”
Gage heard a cash register ring in his head. Every empire was founded on a great crime. He remembered Landon’s shrug and silence when he’d mentioned the name of the offshore company.
He stared into Landon’s eyes, and said, “You’ve heard of Pegasus.”
Landon looked away, then back.
“It’s called capitalism. The logical political conclusion in a capitalist society.”
“No, Landon. It’s called fraud.”
Landon glared down at Gage. “You just don’t get it.”
Gage felt a shudder through his body. Landon was wrong. He got it. He got every bit of it and he said it aloud:
“All the money you’re putting into these campaigns is from fake insurance premiums corporations paid into Pegasus.”
“Why do you think they’re fake?”
“None of those companies needed the extra insurance, and Brandon and Anston sure as hell never paid out any claims.”
Landon drew himself up and squared his shoulders.
“First, it’s not Brandon, and second, companies buy insurance year by year, whatever isn’t paid out in claims is profit.”
“Well, has Pegasus ever paid out on an insurance claim?”
“It’s not insurance. It’s international reinsurance. It only pays out once a company exceeds its domestic insurance limits.”
“That’s not an answer. The question was whether Pegasus ever paid anything out.”
“I wouldn’t know. It’s not my company.”
Gage then began to see Pegasus though Anston’s lens: Pegasus was simply a political replica of the CIA front companies Anston set up in the 1970s to fund covert actions-
