The Passengers(103)
‘Well, well, well,’ she began, ‘somebody has friends in high places.’
Jack let out a spurious laugh. ‘I had no doubt that justice would prevail in the end.’
‘You were probably in the minority there. Regardless, I wanted to congratulate you.’
‘What you mean is that you want to know what I plan to do next.’ Jack took another sip from his hipflask.
‘Well, it would be inaccurate to say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. The PM heard you mention your imminent return to politics.’
‘I didn’t use the word “imminent” but yes, I think I’ve spent long enough on the sidelines, don’t you?’
‘Are we perhaps being a little hasty?’
‘We or me?’
‘You. For your sake, it may be more prudent in the long run to allow some time for recent events to blow over.’
‘The public has a short memory.’
‘Don’t fool yourself, Jack. Not for something of this gravitas. They still require their pound of flesh. And they’re going to feel cheated if they can’t get it from you.’
Jack shook his head. ‘I’m sure my constituents will be on my side.’
‘They’re not your constituents anymore though, are they? We had to replace you and call a by-election.’
‘And you didn’t waste much time doing that, if I recall correctly.’
‘You left us with no choice.’
Jack felt his patience wearing thin. ‘I left you no choice?’
‘I meant the situation left us with no choice.’
‘Your knee-jerk reaction meant you lost my seat to the opposition.’
‘It was stained. Mother Teresa couldn’t have stopped that bloody seat from going to the opposition.’
‘Do I have to remind you, Diane, of the discussion we had some time ago during which I was told that upon my exoneration, I would be fast-tracked back into a seat at the table? And I don’t mean somewhere at the back of the room or on the periphery, but at the actual table. If that means removing someone else and having me run in some little two-bit safe seat, then it is yet another sacrifice I am willing to make for the good of the party. That is what I am owed.’
‘That wasn’t a decision that was set in stone. You were never promised anything. All I am suggesting is that we let sleeping dogs lie for the time being. It might not be the best time for us to announce your return to politics so soon after your trial.’
‘At which I was acquitted.’
‘Yes, but at what cost? A lot of sensitive information was exposed in that process, which we would rather have kept quiet. Like it or not, your defence has done potentially irreparable damage to the party.’
Jack balled his fists and resisted the urge to shout down the telephone. ‘Surely you didn’t expect me to be your patsy in all of this? To spend the next eighteen years of my life behind bars for something you, our current PM, and others in the inner circle, sanctioned? If you did then you don’t know me at all. You only agreed to my return when you thought I was going to be found guilty, didn’t you? Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but Jack Larsson doesn’t go down without a fight. And certainly not without taking others with me.’
‘Jack, perhaps we should speak another time when you are a little less … emotional?’
‘Or perhaps when you are ready to stop being a sanctimonious bitch?’
Instantly, he regretted his choice of words, but he could only be pushed so far. They reached an awkward stalemate.
‘I have recordings,’ Jack said soberly.
Diane’s tone was stern. ‘Perhaps you should self-censor now before you say something you might regret.’
But Jack knew that it was too late. He had shown his hand and he had nothing left to lose. ‘I have names, Diane. I have footage, satellite images, software programmes, dates, locations, witnesses. I have everything I need at my disposal to bring this Government to its knees.’
‘I’d think carefully about what you are about to do next.’
‘As should you,’ Jack replied, then removed his earpiece and hung up.
He drained the flask of whiskey and then threw it to the floor. How dare she speak to me like that? he thought. The party has no right to turn their back on me after all I’ve sacrificed for it. If they didn’t allow him back into the fold, they would suffer.
It wasn’t just the position that Jack craved, it was also the opportunity that came with it to use his power to line his own pockets. Despite the Hacker’s best efforts to bleed his accounts dry, Jack had been prepared. What the Hacker had encouraged the public to plunder amounted to less than a fifth of his overall wealth. The rest of his ￡70 million fortune was squirrelled away by asset management companies and venture capitalists in safe harbours including offshore renegade tax havens, hedge funds, trusts and shell companies and opaque holding firms. He remained an ultra high-net worth individual.
The majority of Jack’s fortune had been made at the beginning of the Road Revolution through investing in firms involved in vehicle production and offshoot industries. It was an illegal conflict of interest that, if discovered and exposed, would result in a life-long ban from politics and a lengthy custodial sentence. His unique position in driving the bill through parliament and convincing the public autonomous vehicles were a safe bet enabled him to cherry pick companies to invest in. Asphalt producers, manufacturers of electronic road signs, graphene engineers, opaque glass moulding, sonar and lidar software – his fingers were in many pies.