Freedom 25 - EPILOGUE
Everything was anticlimactic. While they slept, everything unfolded across the pond. Sara, Catherine, Martha and surprisingly Philip, alongside the PM, petitioned the government for the fast and swift removal of Queen Mary from the throne on the grounds of mental capacity. Even with an overwhelming majority of politicians in support of the Crown, Catherine's plea, alongside the PM's accounts of Mary's mental state during their weekly meetings, managed to sway enough votes in their direction and the motion was granted. Catherine was sworn in as Queen of England in a matter of minutes and a decree was immediately sent out to the media.
While the PM was sending out his own statement in support of the new Queen, Catherine sent Ellen a discreet text message, as promised. It was very early morning in the States, and she wasn't even sure if the President was awake yet; let alone having have been to bed. Catherine could only imagine how Ellen must be feeling. She knows if it were her in that position, she would be constantly checking on everyone from their sleeping beds.
Sara and Martha had been combing through phone records, bank records; taking into particular consideration the old accounts that Mary had shared with her late husband, her late sister and the account belonging to her late nephew, if which she was the sole trustee. That one was the goldmine.
They discovered from there that the Queen's personal Equerry, Tommy Lazerick had been nominated as an advocate to act on behalf of the Queen. There, alongside Catherine's personal contact in the MI6; a man named Dale whom she and Arthur had been associated with before they wed, were able to see that the account had recently been emptied in person, with no forwarding transaction. A cool one point six million pounds.
From there, Dale and half of his team at MI6 followed the money, which was difficult to trace because Tommy had requested for it to be dispensed in cash. Being such an odd request, the bank manager had personally made sure that the notes were sequential bills and made a note of the bill numbers in case anyone came asking questions.
The other half of the team tracked Tommy's movements through CCTV, his own bank transactions and the GPS in the car that Mary had loaned him. A car belonging to the Crown, which was fitted with a full GPS state of the art satellite system.
By close of business, they had discovered that Tommy had hired two assassins that were formerly on the payroll for the Crown. Assassins that had been previously dismissed due to overzealousness in their psych assessments. Diving further into the assassins' lives, Dale and his team found that they were also members of a small terrorist group in the US, who saw their "small assignment" from the Crown as blanket permission to go after the President and her family too.
When all the nuts and bolts were stripped back and laid bare, the former Queen Mary ordered a hit on the son of the president of the United States. Her plan was that they would kill Alex, kidnap Henry and return him to England, where she would keep him at one of her private estates and have her staff 'reprogram' him into believing he was straight. So, he could join the military, get married to a woman of her choosing and produce the required offspring.
Her plan had not included the threat to Henry's life on the island. Her plan had not included the attempted murder of Senator Oscar Diaz, June Claremont-Diaz, Alex Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Percy Okonjo, Shaan Srivastava, or her grandchildren, Henry and Beatrice. Her plan had not included the cold-blooded killings of the two Secret Service Agents on the front gate of Oscar's property. Her plan had not included the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) drone surveillance of the lake house. It had not included the attempted murder of six other Secret Service agents, including the injured Agent Amy Gupta. It had not involved packing a UAV drone full of explosives and deliberately flying it into the lake house, hoping to kill the president.
The FBI worked on the investigation on the other side of the pond, with the intelligence provided by MI6, managed to locate the rest of the cell. Thankfully, they were a homegrown cell and not a splinter cell of a larger group. The FBI compiled more evidence, including the location of their UAV and the stockpiled arsenal of explosives. They got their warrants in order and raided the cell's warehouse, where they also located the missing CCTV footage of Michaels and Macklin's murders.
In a synchronised coordination with MI6, the FBI made their early morning raids and managed to collect and arrest the entire cell, in one fell swoop. With the interrogations having firmly been undertaken in accordance with International Law, Prince Philip was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony against the former Queen Mary and her equerry Tommy Lazerick.
Tommy's wife fulfilled a promise she had made to her husband out of loyalty to the Queen and had set Mary get the best psychiatrists that money could buy. That money bought her an overwhelming number of psychological assessments that all said the same thing; almost verbatim. Mary Mountchristen-Windsor was found to have an onset of early dementia and a form of PTSD from her grandson's sexuality being outed in the media, citing that she identifies Alex Claremont-Diaz as a trigger for her manic behaviour.
Essentially, she blames Alex for Henry's outing in the media. He may have been outed as part of a political pawn in an election race, but to Mary it didn't matter. The blame rested with Alex. Unfortunately for Catherine, the judge on the case was a traditional monarchist and sided with her mother, blaming the half American, half Mexican kid on the whole incident. Mary got off; punishment free. Tommy Lazerick was jailed for his part, as an accessory and he probably will die in prison. The cell of assassins will be tried at a later date.
Philip had immunity that could not be tried for his knowledge in the plot. But not with the American's as such, Ellen Claremont had instilled her own form of punishment on the prince, under the guise of a grueling military training stint with the US Marine Corp in the Arizona desert in the middle of summer. He barely coped with it. He came back to the United Kingdom with a broken spirit, dirty, grimey, sore. His body sported various cuts and contusions from the "exercise". Under the circumstances, Catherine had agreed and signed off on the punishment and when Philip had whined about it, she reminded him that if he continued to whine, she would personally hand him over to MI6 and revoke his immunity. That he could be tried for his crimes. That had shut him up.
Martha had been pleased with the outcome for her husband and had thanked Ellen for her kindness and generosity in not pursuing legal charges against him. "I didn't do it for you, or even for him." Ellen had told Martha sternly over the video link. "I did it for Henry. We all know he does not want, nor need the life of being the heir. I understand that under the monarchy law, Prince Philip would be removed from the succession line, and he could never be king, if he were tried for a crime. That the burden of being next in line to the throne would fall to Henry. I could never do that to Henry."
"Henry doesn't want to be king?" Martha had asked, surprised. She hadn't known Henry's feelings on the monarchy and felt guilty when she had heard Ellen explain her choice. "Henry always seems to take his role as a prince seriously."
"He doesn't." Ellen confirmed. "I also cannot let the heir to the throne get away with his part in the planned assassination of my son. My son, who is his own brother's boyfriend. Your husband should thank his lucky stars that he had no physical hand in it. That his only crime was not reporting what his grandmother and her personal equerry were planning."
With daily updates coming in thick and fast and most of the last week spent in briefing rooms, or in video conference with the Crown, the six youngsters, Oscar, Cash, Amy and Shaan were mentally exhausted. Even though Amy was on medical leave, after everything had gone down and the causalities of the case being her colleagues, she had insisted in staying updated on the case. Ellen had temporarily transferred her into an administrative job, so she could continue to claim a paycheck while she recovered.
Alex and Henry had given up all pretenses Henry had previously had of staying in a separate bedroom to Alex, which Oscar had argued the point with his ex-wife. Zahra and Shaan had Alex's therapist come in to the White House and talk to Alex. Lots of sessions. She also had sessions with June and Nora. Percy had also had a few sessions with Carmen, Alex's therapist as well.
Catherine flew Henry's therapist out to them and put her up in a hotel near the White House. She had mandated that both of her children speak to her. Bea had found it slightly challenging opening up to a stranger, before Lucia had disclosed to Bea that she herself, was a former addict and understood Bea's feelings of being triggered by trauma. Lucia was surprised with Henry and how well he was coping in the aftermath. When pressed, Lucia honestly gave Catherine the assessment that she was certain that Henry was not severely affected by this event. Most likely due to the fact that Henry had PTSD from the email leak and was already on medication for depression. That he had access to additional tools to help him cope because of his years in therapy already.
Alex and Henry had given Lucia and Carmen permission to discuss and compare notes about each of them for their shared trauma. It was quickly suggested by Shaan and agreed upon that Lucia and Carmen would conduct joint therapy sessions for Alex and Henry as a couple to deal with the outing, as well as the assassination attempt.
It was a week before Henry, Pez and Bea are set to return to the UK and resume royal duties. Although Henry's load will be lightened to allow him time to visit with Alex. At least that is what Catherine had promised them on the video conference last week when they had been talking to their mother.
Everyone is in the residence for what Ellen has dubbed "Friday Family night". Meaning Oscar has come to visit from his apartment that he usually uses when he is in Washington DC for work. Bea, Pez and Henry were overwhelmed and in awe to see the first family in their true element. Sitting on the floor eating pizza and watching television. Henry and Bea tried to imagine doing this with their mother or anyone in their family. A memory from years ago eats away at Bea; she remembers their father doing this with them when her mother was pregnant with Henry. But not afterwards.
Very quickly and with surprisingly little encouragement; Bea, Henry and Percy quickly got in on the act. Shaan had gone out with Zahra. Zahra under specific instructions from Ellen to take extra care of him. Shaan had been staying in a guest room, not wanting to stray too far from Henry and Bea for their emotional support, stability and familiarity.
June and Nora are there too, sharing their own pizza. Leo had just joined them; his pizza was untouched on the buffet cabinet behind where they're all sprawled out. Bea is nursing her vegetarian with extra cheese. Oscar's sitting beside her, bogarting his own pepperoni pizza from Bea who keeps trying to steal pepperoni from his pizza. Alex and Henry are curled up with one another, sharing their own extra-large pizza. They don't say much, there isn't much to say. Pez was loitering by June and Nora, his own creation of a pizza that Henry and Bea referred to as an abomination, which had a bit of everything on it, including peanut butter and tobacco sauce.
"Ok, Ok. I'm finally free." Leo cried, as he snatched up the remaining pizza and joined his wife in the spare spot beside her. "That woman will be the death of me." Leo was of course referring to the woman in charge of an educational project he is currently working on as part of the foundation he had started to help kids from disadvantaged backgrounds get a good education.
Henry nudged Alex. Henry and Alex had been keeping a secret of sorts. For the last three days, when the email had come; Alex could scarcely believe his eyes. He was due to graduate in May and had been accepted into his law school of choice. Alex had wanted to wait until everyone was together before he told anyone else about his decision. Alex hadn't told anyone but Henry (and Cash and Amy, but mostly just Henry) He wasn't exactly sure his mom and Oscar were going to take the news.
"So, I have an announcement." Alex began. Henry dropped his slice, wiped his hand on his napkin and took Alex's hand in his for moral and emotional support. "Henry is the only one who knows this. But now that it's more official. I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted into Law School."
"Law School?" Ellen asked, stunned. "Sugar, you can't just decide to go law school on a whim. You have to sit the LSATs first and studying for them takes time." Ellen's voice had cut through the rest of them. "What about going straight into politics? That was always your future plan. From my campaigns, into your own. Senate by thirty. That's what you've always wanted to do."
"Geez, MOM!" June snapped in anger at Ellen. She could barely believe that her brother had actually taken her nagging and her whining about him having a fire under his ass for no reason on board. Even if it was a simple case of, he got fed up and did it on a whim. She knew he could do it and she was mega-proud of him. June always was his biggest cheerleader. "It's his life, Alex doesn't have to go into politics if he doesn't want to. He also doesn't have to do whatever the hell career that you tell him to. It's his life. Let him make his own decisions."
"Law is a good stepping-stone for politics, Ellen." Oscar reminded her. "We're both lawyers. Many of our colleagues are lawyers. Obama was a lawyer, you know?"
Alex didn't have the heart to burst their bubble. He wasn't one hundred percent sure he wanted to be a politician these days, anyway. His life had dramatically changed. This election had changed him. Henry had changed him. "Darlin', you're gonna have to get your rear in gear and study hard. You're gonna have to register to take those LSATs by at least December. You'll want to have all your ducks in a row, early. You need to get a good score to get into a good law school." Ellen advised him.
"We can get you a tutor, if you need, as well." Oscar added, trying to be helpful and outdo his ex-wife's advice. "You carve out some regular study time and focus on getting a good LSAT score. I'll help where I can, and I am sure your mom can help too."
"What if I told you all, I got fed up last year and already took the LSATs? Without any preparation or study time?" Alex asked sardonically, winking at Henry. Henry had been the only one Alex had told. He hadn't even told June and he always told her everything.
"Alex, you don't just decide on whim because you're fed up, to go and take the LSATS." Nora said softly to him. "It's not like any other test; you have to study and mentally prepare for them. It takes weeks and months of hard work. Some people study for up to a year. The odds aren't in your favour."
"Sugar, we all just want what's best for you." Ellen soothed over Nora's worries. "So, you took them, already? I am sure with some more study and prep time; you can get even a better score. You're allowed to re-sit them."
"Excuse me." Alex stood up angrily and glared at almost the whole table. "178 is a fucking great score." And he stormed out, slamming his bedroom door for good measure.