Page 107 of The 9th Man

But he’d always believed that the key to success was failure.

And Lincoln had a long list of those.

In 1832, defeated for election to the Illinois legislature. In 1833, failed in business. In 1835, the woman he loved died. In 1836, had a nervous breakdown. In 1838, denied being the speaker of the Illinois legislature. In 1843, defeated for Congress. In 1848, lost his bid to be reelected. In 1849, rejected for land officer. In 1854, lost the election for the U.S. Senate. In 1856, rejected for nomination as vice president. In 1858, defeated again for the U.S. Senate.

No question. Lincoln failed his way to success.

And the same could be said for himself.

Yet his failure bordered on the unthinkable.

Initially, the Warren Commission had not been interested in him. Of all the Secret Service agents there that day, only three were called to testify. The agency itself had protected its own. Of course, no one had a clue that the AR-15 had been fired and no one had checked the weapon. In the confusion he’d even managed to retrieve the spent cartridge from the limousine’s floorboard and change the clip so that, if anyone looked, there would be a full load. Eventually, though, he and the other agents there that day had been required to submit written statements that ultimately appeared in the final report, buried deep among the nearly thousand pages. All of them were general and vague. What happened the night before in Fort Worth had been mentioned in the report, but the agency had downplayed the incident and assured the commission that all of its agents were ready to go on November 22, 1963.

All was good.

Only conspiratorialists persisted.

None of whom, though, had ever involved him until recently.

How could this be happening?

After six decades.

What purpose would be served by exposing all this now? No crime had been committed. Just a tragic mistake. Revealing it would do nothing but stain the Secret Service. Kennedy’s legacy too. Instead of being cut down by an assassin, the president of the United States died from an accidental discharge of a government weapon. But Oswald did, actually, try to kill Kennedy, and the accident would not have happened but for his malice. So everything was Oswald’s fault, not his.

Right?

The damn Warren Commission report was riddled with flaws and inconsistencies. So many that more questions were raised than answers provided, and the subsequent congressional investigations only made things worse.

Still the truth remained hidden.

“Listen to me, son,” his father said to him. “Here’s a story I was once told. One day, a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal grieved for hours while the farmer tried to do something to save it. Eventually, the farmer decided the donkey was too old and the well had been dry for a long time, so getting the donkey out just wasn’t worth it. So he called his neighbors, and each of them took a shovel and began throwing dirt into the well. The donkey, realizing what was happening, started crying and growling even louder. He clearly did not want to be buried alive. But then, to everyone’s surprise, the donkey stopped complaining. The farmer looked to the bottom of the well and was amazed at what he saw. With every shovel full of dirt,the donkey was hitting the ground with its hooves and standing on the growing mound. Soon the donkey came to the mouth of the well and trotted out. The moral of the story? Life knocks you down, but we can get out of the deepest pits if we just don’t give up. Use what’s thrown at you and move forward. Always forward.”

His father had been right.

So he’d left the Secret Service, joined the CIA, and made a career for himself. Along the way he became both important and relevant.

And that deep well he’d fallen into was long behind him.

Or was it?

He’d successfully eluded his fate for a long time. But Ray Simmons, Benjamin Stein, and now David Eckstein wanted something different.

Exposure. The truth.

Which could not be allowed to happen.

He had to be sure the past would finally end here.

Today.

Thankfully, he had a way.

54

LUKE LEANED FORWARD AND WAITED FOR ECKSTEIN TO EXPLAIN. BUTthe old man seemed far off, drifting. “It’s sad. My friends are gone. I’m the only one left. The only one who knows.”

“Can you prove that Rowland did it?” Jillian asked. “Or is this just more wild conspiracy crap?Tell me that my grandfather’s death can be avenged with the truth.”

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