Chapter 18: Keep your friends close, your enemies closer

"Stacks on deck, Patrón on ice, and we can pop bottles all night…" The music was bumping as Farheed Davi entered the seedy Baltimore strip club. He made his way through the dimly lit establishment and walked up to the bar. "…Baby, you could have whatever you likeeee…." crooned the voice of T.I. over the club's sound system. Davi ordered a rum and coke and swiveled on his stool to look at the thick female wrapping her chunky torso around the pole. After the song finished and the well-endowed stripper finished her pole dance, he got up and went to sit in a booth. Davi was nursing his drink when the person he was waiting for finally arrived.

"When you said you wanted to meet in a place where no one would recognize us, I didn't picture this cesspool," said Billy Chambers sliding into the booth. "You and I here together is like the beginning of a bad joke….a Muslim and a Christian conservative walk into a bar…All that's missing is a rabbi."

Davi rolled his eyes. "What's the alternative? That we meet at the D.C. Capital Grille surrounded by congressmen and congressional aides?" he asked Billy sarcastically.

Billy took out his cell phone and put it on the table. "Look, I can't stay here too long. I'm afraid I may pick up a STD just sitting here. Why'd you call this meeting?"

"We've entered Phase 2 of Operation White Hawk Down and I need to know whether or not your boss is going to be ready to move when the time comes," Davi said.

A busty red-haired waitress with buckteeth came over to the booth. "Are you guys going to be needing a lap dance this evening?"

Billy grimaced. Davi replied, "No, no thanks. Just bring my friend here a Bud Lite and try not to interrupt us again, OK?" He slipped the waitress a $20. She smiled and nodded her head. "I'll bring your drink order right away."

"So, Chambers, I need to know, is your boss ready to implement that change we can believe in?" Davi said with a little chuckle.

"Of course! She's been ready," Billy remarked. "But you still haven't told me how you plan to elevate my boss to her rightful position as president of the United States."

"What do you care as long as it happens? All you need to worry about is staying close to that Cyrus Beene character and pumping him for as much info as possible about what the President is doing," Davi said. "That info you provided me about Olivia Pope was perfect."

"OK, but if this plan of yours goes south, I don't want there to be any blowback on me or on my boss. She is a fine, upstanding God-fearing Christian woman and completely in the dark about this," Billy replied.

The bucktooth waitress came back to the table and slid the bottle of Bud across to Billy. She hovered for a second and then asked, "Will there be anything else?"

"No!" replied both men in unison. She turned around and left.

Billy took a swig of beer and looked intently at Davi's expressionless face. "You still haven't told me what's in this for you? Why do you want to see Sally Langston as President?"

"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" said Davi irritated. "As you Americans say, the ends justify the means. As long as you get what you want in the end, why do you care what my motivations are for doing this?"

"Because I'm sticking my neck out to help you. In fact, I could probably be tried for treason if this Operation White Hawk Down doesn't go according to plan. Don't you think I have a right to know what's driving you to do this? I know what my motivation is. What's yours?" Billy asked.

Davi sighed and said, "Pres. Grant is too progressive. My government hates his support for Israel. With him gone, we hope that your Sally Langston will withdraw or reduce financial support to Israel, which will ultimately undermine and weaken that country. And when Israel is vulnerable, my country will swoop in and claim that land for the Palestinians."

Billy just nodded. "But how do you plan to get Pres. Grant out of office? You're not plotting an assassination attempt, are you?"

"Of course not, you idiot, and keep your goddamn voice down!" Davi hissed. "The plan isn't to make Grant a martyr, which is what would happen if he got killed. No, the plan is to smear his reputation to the point where he will be forced to resign in disgrace. The plan is to damn Pres. Grant if he does and to damn him if he doesn't."

"What do you mean?" Billy asked, confused.

"Guilt by association. We've already started planting the seeds in the media that Olivia Pope is a Taliban sympathizer and the whole world knows that she was a valued and trusted member of the Grant administration before she quit. There were even rumors that they had an affair during the presidential campaign. You Americans reject your leaders at the slightest hint of a sex scandal. Now imagine a sex scandal combined with a terrorist sympathizer storyline as the cherry on top. It's a surefire way to push Pres. Grant out of office," Davi said.

"But there's no way anyone is going to believe that an upper-middle class African American female who is also a registered Republican and Stanford-educated lawyer is a supporter of the Taliban. Get real!" Billy exclaimed.

Davi gave a little smile and said, "You Americans are like sheep and fear trumps common sense. With enough time and money, we could convince your countrymen that even Mickey Mouse was a terrorist! The American public will believe whatever we tell them to believe."

"Well, color me skeptical," Billy said. "I still don't think your plan is foolproof."

"It is, because I've got a fail-safe," Davi replied.

"A fail-safe? What do you mean?" Billy asked.

"Olivia Pope is the key to this whole thing. If we get her to publicly declare that she's a traitor, it will force Pres. Grant's hand. If he tries to rescue her, we can play it in the media that he's rushing to protect a traitorous American. And if he doesn't try to rescue her, we can still tear down Olivia Pope's reputation and smear Pres. Grant in the process. With the 24-hour news cycle, there will be continuous negative press about his former connection to Olivia Pope and, as a result, the Republican party will demand his removal and he will be pressured to resign or face impeachment. Trust me, this is a perfect plan," Davi said smugly.

A/N: So now we know who has been feeding Davi info about the White House and about Olivia Pope. But we still don't know which country Davi is working for. (Congrats to Juicyj28 who predicted that Billy would "rear his ugly head soon" in this story. Well, here he is, the official snake in the grass has arrived...right on schedule! LOL!)

I know I promised you a Huck update, but the Davi chapter flowed out of me first. Will get to Huck in either the next chapter or the one after that. Hang in there! We're making progress, little by little!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Hugs,

Neo