Chapter 20

Since this was the first use of TCIA against an agency, there was going to be a learning curve and I had no time to learn.

Isaac was escorted off of the White House grounds and carried to clean out his office by the US Marshal. The President, Troy and the other directors left quickly, not giving me a chance to ask questions. Hanging on to the cliff by my finger nails came to mind.

Senators Harrison and Whitby both stayed and when the door closed Senator Harrison spoke, “Since you’re not a politician - as if I really believe that - there are some things I would like to discuss with you about the IRS procedures that I’m sure you can expedite changes to. Call me when you have things sorted out and we will talk; in the meantime, Hank and I will try to keep the wolves at bay.”

“I’m sure I will be calling; I have a lot of questions. I suspect that pack of wolves is going to grow fast,” I said.

I went to my office to give orders to Anne, Andy and Ben on what I needed to be done. Forty five minutes later we had a plan worked out. OSHA and Labor were already working on the puzzle and had called Ben for guidance.

Maybe shaking one tree hard rattled some others. Calls were coming in from several other agencies that had slowly developed a ‘ho hum - so what’ attitude when replying to requests from the task force since Ben had taken over.

Frank called to tell me the CIA was in the process of redirecting a satellite over Harrisburg but not to expect a continuous feed until tomorrow morning.

I was just stepping into the Suburban with Secret Service special agents Greg Archer and Donald Gardner to go to the IRS building when my phone rang.

“What the hell have you done now? The TV news is continuous coverage on you. The reporters are furious - calling what you did a breach of government and demanding a federal investigation. Some of them are Senators and Congressman. The phones are crazy with the media wanting statements and interviews. ZNN is lining up senators for comments,” Jenny said.

“I will fill you in when I get home; it may be a while - make no statements to the media. Obviously I am busy; I have to run,” I said as I hung up.

On the way to the IRS I turned on the TV to see what ZNN was saying. Harry was making the official statement. The media was not nice to him. It had already turned into an ‘oh crap’ afternoon for him.

I walked into the IRS building as Isaac was walked out, “I should have known better than to tangle with you. Foolishly I didn’t believe all the rumors. They were obviously not rumors. Good luck,” he said as the door closed.

Greg, Donald and I walked to the security desk, “I need to go to the Commissioner’s office and meet his staff,” I said.

“Yes ma-am, follow me, by the way my name is agent George Conrad. Ma-am what should we call you, Commissioner or Ambassador?” he said.

“Ambassador will be fine,” I replied.

The other agent at the desk must have called ahead; when we walked through the office door, there were four secretaries standing waiting.

Susan Fisher introduced herself as Isaac’s personal secretary and the other three as general secretaries, Della Street, Sue Albertson and Mable England.

“I’m Roberta Jones - my friends call me BJ. In the public government arena most people call me Ambassador; BJ is fine behind closed doors. I need to see Isaac’s calendar for the next thirty days. Where is the assistant commissioner - I need to see him in thirty minutes,” I said.

Susan and I went over the calendar of meetings before Hapfield McCoy made his appearance.

We went through the calendar again with all speaking appearances canceled. There were several meetings that were reassigned to Hap as I assumed - probably wrong again - that he would be promoted by the President to the top spot. There were several we would attend together and several I would attend myself.

There were several meetings listed as ADP that caught my eye, “What is ADP? Sounds like a kinky sex act,” I asked Susan.