Time passed, adding to the anxiety. Donald was a prompt man, so this delay was uncharacteristic. Little did they know that it was strategic. Inside his private limo, Donald watched everyone's behavior on a laptop.
"Good work, son," Donald said to Barron. He patted him on the head. "You have a real gift with these technologies. That's the key to success- find something you're good at and stay focused."
"Thanks dad," the boy replied.
Donald reached for the door and paused. "You watch them close. We'll watch back over the recording together later. This is very important, son. You're doing me a great service."
"Good luck, dad."
"I don't need luck. I'm Donald J. Trump."
"And don't you forget it," Barron quipped with a smile.
"That's my boy," Donald grinned. He left the limo and walked over to the tour bus.
Everyone inside jumped when the door flew open. There before them stood their boss, looking sour as ever.
"Good morning, everyone. I'll keep this brief. You all remember Paul Manafort's recent departure, I'm sure." Heads nodded. "But how many of you know why he left our campaign?"
"His ties to dirty Ukrainian money," someone offered.
"That's the story being sold by the press but, as is usual, they don't know the whole truth." He let everyone react to this cryptic news for a minute before continuing.
"Paul Manafort is a good friend and close ally. But the Paul Manafort that we had been working so closely with for months was not the real Paul Manafort." Another pause. He wanted Barron to get a good look at everyone's reactions.
"The man we thought to be Paul Manafort was actually Lawrence O'Donnell, a dirty rotten socialist news guy from MSNBC." Bewildered looks flooded the bus. Head shaking and gasps of disbelief carried on for a over a minute. Questions came from all directions but Donald just raised his hands, commanding silence.
"O'Donnell had had some work done to make him look more like Paul. I found this all out just a few hours before he offered his resignation. That son of a bitch thinks he made a clean break and we're going to let him continue thinking that. He doesn't know it but we're watching. Boy are we watching him closely. Believe me, very closely.
"I'm sure several of you have questioned the things that the fake Paul Manafort recommended during the course of this campaign. Now you know why some things may have seemed a little off. He was a spy, a plant, a saboteur. I've had plenty of time to think about this and I have reached the conclusion that O'Donnell was not acting alone." Once again, he paused to let his words sink in and simmer.
"There have been information leaks and poor judgement on policy stances and speech content. But no undue influence on this campaign comes from outside this Inner Circle."
"Dad, what are you saying?" asked Donald Jr.
"What I'm saying, Donny, is that I believe that some of the people on board this very bus are Democrat plants trying to hurt this campaign.
"Every single one of you is being issued new phones, computers, and tablets. Until we ferret out any remaining spies, consider yourselves under surveillance. We're going to meet daily to discuss this matter and work to rid ourselves of any more shenanigans. I expect to see all of you this evening at dinner, where we'll discuss our opinions on who needs to be let go first. You're all dismissed."
You have 48 hours to remove someone from the Inner Circle.