Article XII

There have been almost 100 faithless electors in U.S. history—members of the Electoral College who have not voted for a candidate they’d solemnly pledged to support. Of all the elections these faithless electors were involved in, none of the outcomes was affected, and none of the electors faced criminal charges or public censure. But what if the outcome of an election were affected by the subversion of the Electoral College? In Article XII, business magnate Dwight Burrell, unhappy that the House of Representatives will have to elect a president for the first time since 1825, a process he believes will result in the presidency being handed to the candidate he can’t stand, plans to do whatever it takes—bribery, blackmail, abduction, murder—to persuade at least two electors to vote against their pledged candidate, thereby preventing the vote from going to the House. This, he is convinced, will ensure that his candidate wins outright when the Electoral College vote is tallied. When Mike Ianelli, Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney, catches wind of the conspiracy, he rushes to find out who’s involved and how he can preserve the integrity of the U.S. election machine, however imperfect he thinks it is. Ianelli, along with his lover, drinking partner, and Washington Post investigative reporter Lauren Baxter, faces constant choices between his supposed core values and his self-interest, as do infamous Detroit crime baron Santerio DeLuca, the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of the FBI, and a slew of lowlife noir characters such as informer Spud Lewis and South Side thug “Too Cool” Menendez, not to mention the targeted electors themselves. Who will look the other way, facilitating evil? Whose consciences will be awakened by what they discover? Who will follow orders and who will wind up making new rules?