Novel Excerpts–The Boaz Stenographer, Chapter 55

The primary aim of the "Novel Excerpts" blog category is to showcase my creative writing, specifically from the novels I've written. Hopefully, these posts will provide a glimpse into my storytelling style, themes, and narrative skills. It's an opportunity to share my artistic expressions and the worlds I've created through my novels.

The Boaz Stenographer, written in 2018, is my fourth novel. I'll post a chapter a day over the next few weeks.

Book Blurb

Walt Shepherd, a 35 year veteran of the White House’s stenographic team, is fired by President Andrew Kane for refusing to lie.

Walt returns to his hometown of Boaz, Alabama and renews his relationship with Regina Gillan, his high school sweetheart, who he had ditched right before graduation to marry the daughter of a prominent local businessman.  Regina has recently moved back to Boaz after forty years in Chicago working at the Tribune.  She is now editor of the Sand Mountain Reporter, a local newspaper.

Walt and Regina’s relationship transforms into a once in life love at the same time they are being immersed in a growing local and national divide between Democrats and traditional Republicans, and extremist Republicans (known as Kanites) who are becoming more dogmatic about the revolution that began during President Kanes campaign.

Walt accepts two part-time jobs.  One as a stenography instructor at Snead State Community College in Boaz, and one as an itinerant stenographer with Rains & Associates out of Birmingham.

Walt later learns the owner of Rains & Associates  is also one of five men who created the Constitution Foundation and is involved in a sinister plot to destroy President Kane, but is using an unorthodox method to achieve its objective.  The Foundation is doing everything it can to prevent President Kane from being reelected in 2020, and is scheming to initiate a civil war that will hopefully restore allegiance to the U.S. Constitution.

While Walt is writing a book, The Coming Civil War, he is, unwittingly, gathering key information for the Constitution Foundation.

Will Walt discover a connection between the Foundation  and the deaths of three U.S. Congressmen in time to save his relationship with Regina, prevent President Kane from being reelected as the defacto head of a Christian theocracy, and the eruption of a civil war that could destroy the Nation ?

Chapter 55

An out-of-the-blue phone call from Zel had revealed Andrew Kane arrived on the Foundation’s radar back in April 2011 when many polls indicated that he would be the preferred Republican presidential candidate.  They concluded he was a legitimate contender the more he called for President Obama to release his long-form birth certificate.  At that time, the Foundation began to see how potentially dangerous he was.  What was truly enlightening was he appeared to be a mere reflection of a large swath of the American male population.  Ultimately, Kane chose not to run and went on to endorse Mitt Romney.  However, Kane’s decision did not deter the Foundation from developing and executing a plan to investigate Kane.  It did so because it deeply feared this wasn’t the last time Kane would appear on the national political scene.

The Foundation’s plan included hiring an international private investigative firm to learn more about Kane, mainly who he is connected to.  This led to Anton Romanov.  It took some digging.  The lead was indirect.  It was to a Russian popstar by the name of Emin Agalarov.  In 2013, he and his father, Aras Agalarov, were discovered by the investigative firm at the Miss Universe Pageant Competition in Moscow, Russia. The Agalarovs had purchased the rights to the Pageant from Kane, who was also present.  Later that night, the three men, Emin and Aras Agalarov and future president Kane were seen by our investigators at a swanky restaurant owned by Aras.  During that meal, another man and woman approached them and ultimately sat down.  It was later determined the couple was Anton and Maria Romanov.  Anton has since divorced his wife. 

The investigators later learned that Anton was a professor of Political Science at Harvard University and had been since 2001.  In February 2015, he moved to Toronto, Ontario Canada as part of a professor exchange program with the University of Toronto.  It was also learned that Anton’s brother, Anatoly was Chief Director of Technologies for the Russian government and had been since 2000.  Fortunately, the investigators wire-tapped both Anton’s and Anatoly’s cell phones.  What they heard triggered interest in Anatoly and led to further investigate his work with the Kremlin.  In the Fall of 2015 the Foundation’s investigative team turned one of Anatoly’s co-workers into an agent.  This is how the Foundation learned of Putin’s operation to infiltrate the U.S. presidential election process. 

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