Gus inserted his key into his office door but turning the knob he discovered it was already unlocked. He opened the door and found the maintenance crew busy at work replacing his carpeting and hanging two new mahogany doors.
“Good morning senator, welcome back,” said the supervisor of the small crew as the other three men nodded their heads in agreement. “We’ll be out of your hair within the hour. We weren’t expecting you until Monday.”
“It’s no problem,” said Gus, pausing and leaning to read the man’s name badge he continued, “Marshall. I am rather amazed at your promptness. I would have guessed those doors would have been a special order.”
“Oh no, we have many on hand sir,” replied Marshall.
“That’s a little frightening, I had no idea we had so many shootings in the building.”
Unsure of how to respond to Gus’s light-heartedness over his near assassination, Marshall stuttered “Well, no sir, I mean not many sir. I’m, I’m very sorry – sir.”
“Well, carry on then. If you don’t mind, I am expecting my committee momentarily. Could you please just shuffle them my way?”
“Of course sir, nice to see you doing so well sir.”
“Thank you, I am feeling very well indeed,” said Gus. Walking into his office and picking up a scrap of carpeting as a souvenir.
Gus sat down in his comfortable but well-worn executive leather chair that could have also been replaced but it was now like an old favorite t-shirt that defined the meaning of comfort. I am feeling very well indeed? he thought, rehearsing in his mind what he had just said to Marshall. He spun his chair around so that he could peer through the slightly open door at the workmen and reflected on the very formal and respectful conversation he had just had with Marshall. He couldn’t remember a time when he had such an interaction with any of the Capital Building staff. He was even more surprised at his word selection. It was as if they were both exchanging phrases from a Patrick O’Brian novel. He smiled and said aloud chuckling, “Well, that is very nice–indeed.” There is certainly nothing wrong with a little respect and formality in the proper situation, thought Gus.
Gus’s was senior to all his committee members by at least 20 years and over the past two years, they had become very close friends. The Faris investigation committee consisted of four members besides Gus: Theodore (Ted) Schuyler, Matthew Hector, Shay Naoki and Jess Erdem. Gus had carefully chosen his committee members since he knew the investigation into Abdul Faris was going to yield much more than campaign financing fraud. In fact, it took a fair amount of convincing for most of the members to consent to being on such a paltry committee, with the exception of Shay Naoki.
Shay was a third generation Japanese immigrant representing the State of Hawai’i. Shay’s grand-parents moved to Hawai’i in the fall of 1941 as migrant workers for the thriving Dole Pineapple Company which then owned the entire island of Lāna’i. Their timing couldn’t have been more off as the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor just eight months later. Shay’s grand-parents were part of the 150,000 Japanese that were relocated in 1943. Because of his grand-parent’s arrival to Hawai’i, just months before the attack they were seen as special interest detainees and were shipped off to Fort Missoula, Montana which was one of eight Justice Department detention camps in the U.S. The conditions were poor in the Fort mostly since the Fort was originally built in 1877 and was a make-shift processing and interrogation center before the quasi-prisoners were relocated based upon their threat to the war effort. In mid-1943, they were returned to Hawai’i but detained in the Honolulu Internment Camp until their release in 1944.
Shay’s grand-parent’s wartime experience had a big influence on him and was the main motivation for Shay going into politics. In 1988, his father was working as an intern in Washington when President Ronald Reagan issued the official Interment Apology, a little late but an appreciated gesture from the government. Shay’s father died young and never was able to fulfill his dream of running for the Senate, which also propelled Shay into public servitude. Shay was on the quieter side, but perhaps just calculated and very deliberate than just merely quiet. He always chose his words carefully and his word was as iron. Shay quickly accepted to be on Gus’s committee because of his great respect for him and figured that anything Leroy Guiscard undertook was of extreme importance.
Gus heard the voices of his committee members enter the front office and heard Marshall sending them his direction, in very formal and respectful tones again. Being so impressed with Marshall, he grabbed a Post-it note from his desk and wrote down Marshall’s name and a note to contact the maintenance department and provide a positive reference for Marshall. Just finishing his note, his committee entered his office and he stood up to greet them.
“There he is the hero of the year!” cried Matt, one of his committee members, as he took Gus’s hand and pulled him into a strong embrace.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” said Gus. “I have not saved anyone, not really ‘er I don’t think.”
Gus wondered if the security guards present on the day of the shooting had said anything about Veronica being revived in his arms. The experience had troubled him greatly because he couldn’t place it into any of his mental schemas and in any realm of what he considered believable reality. Certainly miracles happened all the time where people who were supposed to be dead, lived and defied medical reason, but Gus knew what he felt just before Veronica opened her eyes, and he also knew that Veronica was stone-cold dead in his arms. She had received a shot through her brain and another straight through her heart. The shooter was no amateur and his aim was deadly perfect.
Laughing, Matt continued, “We’re talking about your heroics on the floor last week. It’s a shame you have not been here to reap your spoils. The Speaker called a special session on Saturday and continued where you left off and went on for hours. We can fill you in on the details later of course, but you can watch it for yourself on the recordings. Abednego, Devadas and Gilchrist have all been indicted. It seems your rampage knocked some dirt loose in the Senate and it’s all a little bit of a witch hunt at the moment. Everyone is hanging a little low right now.”
Relieved and at the same time extremely surprised, Gus cried, “Oh! Oh, wow. Really? I thought I might have been handcuffed today and hauled off to my own tribunal after what I did the last time I was in this building.”
“So did we to be honest,” said Shay, “that was the damnedest speech I ever heard.”
“Here, here!” cried the rest of the committee.
Gus took another deep sigh of relief, “I thought you were talking about the extra-curricular activities that happened in here after the show.”
“Oh, well as far as that goes, we have all decided to just call you Lazar-Gus,” said Matt. The committee all erupted into a hardy laugh until they saw Gus’s strait and very sober face.
Quickly regaining composer and recovering for the rest of the committee, Jess interjected, “Very sorry sir. That was completely out of turn and callous.”
“Not at all, not at all it is very humorous indeed.” He stopped and laughed again at his quite involuntary use of the word indeed. The committee regained a sense of relief at Gus’s laughter and the room returned to its usual warmth and light-heartedness that was customary in Gus’s committee meetings.
Gus got up and walked over to the newly hung doors, shut and locked them. Turing around, the feeling in the room was again a little tense and all faces were on Gus in anticipation of what he was about to say. Returning to his chair he rubbed both hands on his face, then folding them in front of him on his desk, deep in thought and carefully choosing his next words, he turned to Jess and asked, “Speaking of Lazarus, what do you know about the raising the of the dead?” Those were about the last words Jess thought would come out of Gus’s mouth at that moment.
Dumbfounded, Jess responded with a very unrehearsed, “Um–that it only happens in the Bible and possibly–I–guess I don’t know how you
mean–sir.”
Matt chuckled, “Sir—What’s with the formalities Jess?” More confused than ever and feeling quite out of control with the situation and his own speech of all things, Jess looked at the other members of the committee for help feeling lost and stupid.
Jess had a Masters of Divinity degree from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and had every intention of becoming a Diocesan Priest. Jess formally became a candidate for the priesthood but was never recommended by his bishop. While he waited for his recommendation, he became interested in law and decided he could do a lot of good if he was both a lawyer and a priest. Wanting to stay in consort with the same diocese and bishop, he attended Tulane University. By the time he graduated the writing was on the wall that he was probably not ever going to get his recommendation and returned to his home State of Texas and did what lawyers do. He became the general counsel for an oil firm that had been granted one of the two domestic new drilling contracts in the United States. The only such contracts issued since 2010. His time as a lawyer had turned out very well for him financially after selling his shares. He left the private sector a multi-millionaire and in his mind, running for a public office was as close as he was going to get to being a priest. He won a Texas Senate seat in ‘32 after being defeated in the previous election. Now in his second term, Jess was known for his strait-talking sermons in the Senate and Christian scriptural fluency, of course.
As Jess was struggling for an appropriate answer to such a bizarre question, Ted reluctantly volunteered what he knew about the reanimation of death, which wasn’t very much. “Well, there was Bede.” Jess gave him a relieved thankful glance for coming to his rescue. “The Venerable Bede in the first century England recorded in his history a very matter of fact description of a Lazarus moment.”
Theodore Schuyler was a scholar and was among the sharpest men Gus had ever met and Gus had chosen him to be on his committee for that very reason. Ted was a graduate of USC and was on his third term representing the State of Nebraska. Unlike most members of the Senate, Ted had an MBA not a law degree, with two undergrads in medieval history and psychology. Gus never trusted lawyers which was something he probably picked up from his grand-father. In Gus’s estimation, lawyers were one of the main reasons why governments were corrupt. Having attended many pre-law and philosophy courses in his college career, Gus couldn’t see how someone who subscribed to the ideal that there was no moral right or wrong, only law wasn’t fit to live in society let alone run it. Over the years, Gus was careful to align himself with non-attorneys. The one exception to this guiding principle was Jess Erdem.
Frustrated, Gus responded, “Yes, yes, yes. There are bookshelves of experiences of this sort all of which I used to see as poppy-cock. What I must know is how is it accomplished?” Realizing how absurd the words that just left his mouth must have sounded, he hung his head in his hands and groaned in frustration feeling as if he were slipping into insanity. Gus had always prided himself as being very rational and clear-headed, but what was swirling around in his mind now was anything but.
Matt, who was always the relief to tense situations in the committee, responded light-heartedly, “Um, Gus–maybe one of those damn slugs knocked a wire loose dude, I mean, sir.” He said laughing, making fun of Jess.
Matthew Hector was the youngest member of the committee and more than a few times Gus wondered why he had invited him to participate. Matt was the proverbial definition of a loose cannon. His aim was often off but his might was deadly. When Matt got behind something you could put it in the record books as a victory. Matt was a former football player who played Safety for San Francisco for a few seasons but after a championship win and a career-ending knee injury he returned home to a local hero’s welcome. For a time, he attended the University of Montana to work on an MBA but never finished. With only an undergrad in some kind of ridiculous Sport and Fitness degree, Matt assailed to the U.S. Senate on charisma alone. He was in his first term now for the State of Montana and his contagious and somewhat coarse personality made him very popular with the media and his fans. He was the only senator Gus knew who had a concealed weapons permit and he packed every day. He was also the only senator who referred to his constituents as his fans, but it was emphatically true. His fan mail often clogged the Capital mailroom, especially after a misaimed endeavor and he was by far the senator with the most media time. The public loved him and it was easy to see why. He was the people’s candidate and he–most often crassly–called the plays of the government as he saw them. He had a sort of humble-ego that people loved and he made a six-figure income off the sales of his Safety-Senator apparel, capitalizing on his rise from playing Safety to serving as a senator.
Gus had gone too far now to retract what he had said and the committee and his dear friends needed an explanation. He took a deep sign and said, “Have any of you seen my Veronica and how she is doing?”
They all nodded and Jess replied, “Sure, we all saw her when we came to see you that night at Georgetown Med Center. The ER was giving her a once-over to make sure she was alright since she was so completely covered in blood. They determined that it must have been yours since they didn’t find any bullet wounds and they estimated you had lost over two pints while you were attending her–pure chivalry heroics by the way. Why, has she taken a turn for the worse?”
“No, no she is perfectly fine,” pausing, still in complete unbelief, “I expect her back today as a matter of fact.”
Matt took his hand off from supporting his head on Gus’s desk in a questioning gesture and said emphatically, “Then what Gus? Are you sure you’re OK?”
“What I am about to tell you, you all must swear to me by everything sacred in this world and in God’s heaven that you will never repeat it.”
Every eye in the room widened and they all sat-up in attention and slowly began to nod. Matt was the only one to verbally respond with what everyone else was thinking, “Oooooo-kaaaaay.”
Collecting his thoughts and courage, Gus began, “After security shot the gunman they banged on my door and I got up since the doors were locked. When I opened them, Veronica was lying in her OWN blood outside my door. I held her, I took her pulse several times and noticed she had been hit twice once in the head and the other through her heart.”
“But,” started Shay.
Gus interrupted, “I know, I know, she was alive and well when you saw her in the ER and without a single scrape. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. She was a damn corpse a week ago and it was nothing I imagined and I can prove it.”
Gus took out the piece of carpeting he picked up on his way in that morning. It was crusted and dry, but had been drenched in blood a week ago. “Here is a scrap of the carpeting that was outside my door last week. Have it analyzed and you will find Veronica’s DNA all over it. You can obviously see it is completely covered clear through to the backing.” He said as he turned it over. There wasn’t a piece of the scrap that wasn’t now dark red both front and back. “For someone to lose this much blood and not have a scratch is, I’m sure you would agree, impossible.”
They all nodded at random as Ted reached out to take the carpet scrap, “If what you say is true Gus,” Ted paused and added, “all of it. We have a potential problem on our hands if the FBI has also taken a DNA sample. I can’t even imagine how the Feds would handle a case of a woman who lost that much blood and is alive,” said Ted.
Considering Ted’s concern, Gus responded feeling very out of control with the situation, “Agreed, but since everyone seems to be so convinced that I was the only bleeder there that day, there would be no need for a sample. If they did take one, we’ll just have to hope that the stigma of the inefficiencies of the government holds true and the right hand doesn’t talk to the left.”
Gus and his committee often referred to the Feds as a separate body completely since they saw themselves opposed to the way most of the government conducted themselves, even though they were technically Feds themselves. r />
Resuming the meeting, Gus continued, “Alright, with that out of the way, let’s discuss why I invited you here today.” Ted placed the carpet scrap into his coat pocket and leaned back into is chair as did the rest of the committee. “Homeland Security and the FBI visited me at my home after I was released from the hospital on Monday and said they had the identity of my shooter. As it turns out–he was a security guard here in the building and worked here for the better part of 10 years, had an impeccable record, never even missed a day–robotic bastard. He was out of uniform which is why I didn’t pick-up on it. However, in the aftermath as you can imagine I was less than sharp. They were able to identify him easy enough through the security footage. He wasn’t carrying any ID only a disposable cell phone. I asked if I could see the phone but as you can imagine the Feds have this investigation pretty buttoned-up. However, they did tell me there was only a single text message in the phone’s history. Of course the origin was unknown but the message was only a five digit number.”
“What was the number?” asked the committee almost in unison.
“12345.”
“What the…” responded Matt.
Ted and Jess both whispered the number to themselves as their minds tore through a lifetime of memorized facts. Jess, who was well read in Hebrew, offered the suggestion, “In some languages, numbers have meaning beyond their numerical value, Hebrew for example.”
“What do 12345 mean in Hebrew?” asked Shay.
“Nothing that makes any sense,” responded Jess, disappointed and frustrated.
Shay pulled out his phone and compared the letters associated with each number of the dialer and worked the variations out in his mind, but didn’t find anything remotely intelligent.
“Maybe it was just a wrong number?” said Matt in his playful demeanor.
Gus looked up over his glasses and said to Jess who was sitting next to Matt, “Will you kindly take Einstein out to the wood shed and show him some Texas lovin’.”
Just then there was a knock at the door and Veronica’s voice calling,” Senator, are you in there?”
Gus was thrown back to a week ago when he was lying on the floor in pain and pleading to hear her voice or any sign that she was alive. He jumped out of his chair in a shocked start and raced to the door, and embraced Veronica for several moments. He released her after the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind him in his office and they stood and looked at each other for a moment longer as a tear rolled down Veronica’s cheek and she said, “It’s very good to see you today Senator.” In a slightly more formal tone than Gus was used to.
They hadn’t had the opportunity to talk since the incident and Veronica knew this was not the place or time to lash into a conversation about cheating death, so she just looked at Gus with sacred admiration.
Breaking off their unspoken conversation Gus said, “Come in, come in Veronica. I believe no one here needs introduction.”
The committee rose to professionally shake her hand and give her a kiss on the cheek. Coming to Matt, Veronica took a polite step back and just shook his hand. Gus had never noticed any enmity between the two and he made a mental note to address it with Veronica at a later time.
“Well gentlemen, I believe we are done here. Think over those 5 digits and see what you can come up with. In the meantime, let’s see if we can track down Senator Faris.”
“Oh,” said Shay, “I meant to tell you, he has not been seen since he walked out last week and his office has been empty.”
“Hum,” responded Gus. “Not all that surprising I suppose. All the more reason we should track him down then, hum?”
The committee shuffled out the door, leaving Gus and Veronica alone. For a moment they stared at one another, not sure where to begin with the long list of things they needed to talk about. They began to speak at the same time then stopped and then apologized simultaneously.
Chuckling, Gus, took the lead and said, “Let’s start with Senator Hector, shall we? He is an unpredictable sod at times but he is not without his virtues.”
“Yes, of course and I suppose I shouldn’t have treated him so coolly today, I am very sorry.”
“Well now, I don’t think there was any harm or any real foul and since Matt isn’t made of glass I’m sure he is fine. I am more concerned for your well-being, especially while you are in my house.”
Veronica paused a moment as she collected her thoughts. Her eyes looked toward the floor and being an excellent reader of non-verbal behavior, Gus could tell she was recalling something from memory.
“I’ve thought a great deal about my life over the past week and I decided to stand up for myself a little more since life can be painfully short. Actually I suppose I didn’t just decide life was short, it was forced upon me. Anyways…”
Gus interrupted her, clearing his throat. He was a stickler for proper grammar and anyways was one of those words that had the effect of nails on a chalkboard.
“Oh, sorry sir, I forget myself,” replied Veronica with a quick head bow.
Veronica had never called Gus, sir and she had never bowed to anyone. They both just looked at each other for a moment, not sure whether the title reference and bow required any discussion. Veronica raised her eyebrows and shook her head and continued. “During my first week here, Matt came by to see you and you were out. He was very pleasant but quickly become flirtatious, on a benign level mind you, but I still thought it unbecoming of a U.S. Senator.”
“Indeed!” interjected Gus, then rolling his eyes and shaking his head at another use of his new favorite word.
“When I recoiled at his advances, he said, you don’t remember me do you?”
“Remember him? Remember him from where?” asked Gus.
“That’s what I said and he just insisted that we had met before and left it at that.” There was a pause in the conversation as Gus was waiting for Veronica to continue.
“That was it?” asked Gus a little confused?
“Well, it’s what I don’t remember that concerns me. I’ve only ever been fall-down drunk twice in my life, once in my college dorm with my roommates when I was a freshman and once in Petaluma, California about two years ago. Both experiences I blacked out and don’t remember much. I think I can rule out my dorm room, but there is a haunting chance that we met in Petaluma. I have an aunt there and she invited me and my roomies up for the Harvest Festival. Have you ever been?”
“No, I have not,” said Gus.
“Well, anyways–anyway,” she corrected herself, “It really is a great time, lots of gourmet food and lots of wine, lots of wine–and you know me. “
“But you don’t remember meeting him?” asked Gus.
“Not even a fuzzy hung-over dream,” replied Veronica shaking her head.
“Well, the last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable, would you like me to speak with him?”
Veronica paused, responding slowly in thought, “No, thank you. I’ll just woman-up and deal. When the time is right I’ll question him about it when we can both speak freely. I feel more empowered than I ever have in my life.”
“Fine,” said Gus smiling and effectively putting a period on that topic and moving on the next. Gus chose to talk about his speech in the Senate next, mostly since he still had no idea how to approach the topic of mortal resurrection. “About my–apparently–now famous rant last week, I wondered…”
Veronica interrupted him which was very out of place for her and Gus was as equally surprised, “I beg your pardon sir, but I have to ask you a question.”
Gus made it clear that she need not call him sir and she said, “About that–for the life of me, I can’t understand why I have now done it twice. Obliviously I have never done that before except maybe in my initial interview but the word just comes to my mind, along with other words, actions and phrasing that I don’t normally use.”
Nodding Gus responded, “It has been a strange day that way. It began with
my conversation with the clean-up crew in here this morning and continued with my committee meeting and now us. I am in agreement with you, the words and phrases seem to just move to the forefront of my tongue. It seems my new favorite word in the whole world is indeed,” He said laughing.
“Indeed!” said Veronica, both of them now laughing. I’ve never heard you use that word either until today.” They both laughed together again for a moment that died out into a quiet pause.
“It has been a strange week, starting with my rant on the Floor.”
Veronica smiled and said, “I saw the recording and I have to say, I’m not at all surprised Senator Faris has disappeared or that anyone is still in the building for that matter. With all due respect sir, you really can lay out the lumber.”
Gus smiled, “Looking back on it now, I felt so compelled to say what I did much the same as we struggle now with our word selection. Something is afoot, but to say so just seems ridiculous. I mean, what could possibly be happening that could affect such a change in human–or at least our behavior? At least it doesn’t seem to be affecting anything else thank goodness.”
“You mean except for maybe bringing someone back from the dead?” interjected Veronica. She couldn’t believe what she had just said–but now that the words were out she continued, “Gus, I saw you take my pulse and brush back my hair. I saw you close my eyes! How is that possible?” Veronica began to cry as she continued and her voice rose to a higher pitch, “I heard you crying” struggling now to speak at all she continued, “and I cried with you. It was the most painful experience of my life. Not the bullets but watching you so broken and holding my lifeless body.” Recovering somewhat she continued, “That was when I noticed you were hurt as well and you had blood running down your face and all down the front of your shirt. It looked like you had been stabbed. How did that happen?” Veronica pulled a tissue from her desk and blew her nose.
“Oh, there was a rather large splinter that broke away from the door as one of the bullets passed through and lodged here on my right side,” He said pointing to show her. “I wasn’t even aware of it protruding out of my gut until we got you standing up and my shirt sleeve caught on it. They say I lost over two pints of blood before the paramedics arrived. I think I may have passed out since everything from then on is a little fuzzy.”
“You were pretty out of it when they wheeled you out but I don’t remember you losing consciousness,” added Veronica.
“So you could see yourself, and me?” asked Gus.
“Yes, plain as day, like I was in the air.”
“And you could hear as well?”
“Yes,” said Veronica under the muffle of her tissue.
“What happened next?”
“I was hoping you knew. I all remember now is trying to open my eyes and struggling to breathe and then coughing.”
Gus got up from out of the chair in front of Veronica’s desk and walked over to the window and stood for several minutes without speaking looking out on the city lights in the twilight of the evening. Turning around his eyes were met by Veronica’s in great anticipation of what he was about to say.
“I can’t explain it,” said Gus shrugging and shaking his head. “In my grief, I felt intense determination and power come over me. I wanted so badly for you to live and I whispered to you, or more to your soul I guess–Please live! The next thing I knew, you were shaking your head and trying to sit up.”
“So it was like magic,” Veronica responded enthusiastically.
Gus in a somewhat corrective tone said, “I haven’t stopped thinking about it over the past week, but I have made a point to not use that word because there is no such thing. Something else had to have caused this. I just can’t think of what.”
Digging deeper into her memory, Veronica asked, “I remember the man firing and hearing the shot but nothing else until I saw you holding me. Is it possible that I just fainted and maybe dreamed it?”
Sitting back down and shaking his head, Gus replied “No, not a chance. I saw where you were shot and I took your pulse three times. Your blood–and I suppose some of mine too–made a pool there on the carpet four or five feet round. You were dead Veronica, I am sure of it.”
Not sure if she really wanted to know, but couldn’t help asking the morbid question she said, “Where was I shot?”
Gus looked at her over his glasses as he always did when he needed further reassurance to continue. Veronica nodded.
“Through your forehead and your heart. The bullets then passed through the door and struck me, along with the splinter.”
In complete and utter amazement Veronica concluded, “It sounds like magic to me and you’re the magic man Senator. I’m good with it.” Laughing lightly Veronica said, “I owe a life time of servitude now you know,” trying to lighten up the heavy conversation.
Since there was no other explanation at the moment, Gus shrugged and said, “I’m just so glad you are here and we are having any kind of conversation at all. “
“So am I.”
“Well, seven ‘o clock is plenty late to be here on a Friday,” sighed Gus looking at his watch, “we can resume our conversation and where we go now with the Faris investigation on Monday.”
They both collected their things and shut down their computers.
As they walked out the door, Veronica stopped and turned to Gus but didn’t speak.
“What is it my dear?” asked Gus.
“Thank you,” said Veronica as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Those stupid words seem so inadequate in this moment, but thank you. Thank you for giving me my life back.”
Not sure what a proper or even adequate response should be to such an expression of gratitude, or if he was even the one she should be thanking, Gus just smiled and kissed her forehead.
Their footsteps faded away down the marble hallway and the north wing of the building was quiet and empty. In the silence, an office door next to Gus’s slowly opened and out stepped Abdul. Quickly but quietly, he closed the door behind him and ran down the hall and out the doors.