Deception Point Page 55

A leviathan was rising from the water beside the iceberg, breaching the surface with an sinister hiss. Like approximately mythical sea monster, it came-sleek, black, and lethal, with water foaming around it. Tolland compel himself to blink his eyes. His vision cleared slightly. The animal was close, bumping up against the ice equal a huge shark butting a vitiated boat. Massive, it towered before him, its skin shimmering and wet.As the wooly-minded image went black, all in all that was left were the sounds. alloy on metal. Teeth gnashing at the ice. feeler closer. Dragging bodies away.RachelTolland felt himself existence grabbed roughly.And therefore everything went blank.64Gabrielle Ashe was at a in force(p) jog when she entered the third-floor production room of alphabet News. Even so, she was moving slower than everyone else in the room. The intensity in production was at a fever pitch 24 hours a day, but at the split second the cubicle grid in take care of her l ooked like the stock exchange on speed. Wild-eyed editors screamed to one another all over the tops of their compartments, fax-waving reporters darted from cubicle to cubicle equivalence notes, and frantic interns inhaled Snickers and Mountain Dew between errands.Gabrielle had produce to first rudiment to see Yolanda colewort.Usually Yolanda could be found in productions high-rent district-the trash-walled private offices taciturn for the decision makers who actually required some quiet to deliberate. Tonight, however, Yolanda was pop on the floor, in the thick of it. When she saw Gabrielle, she let out her usual shriek of exuberance.Gabs Yolanda was wearing a batik body-wrap and tortoiseshell glasses. As always, several(prenominal) pounds of garish costume jewelry were clad off her like tinsel. Yolanda waddled over, waving. HugYolanda Cole had been a content editor with ABC News in Washington for sixteen years. A freckle-faced Pole, Yolanda was a damn, balding fair sex w hom everyone affectionately called Mother. Her matronly presence and equitable humor disguised a street-savvy ruthlessness for pee-peeting the story. Gabrielle had met Yolanda at a Women in Politics mentoring seminar shed attended shortly afterward her arrival in Washington. Theyd chatted to the highest degree Gabrielles background, the challenges of being a woman in D.C., and in the extensive run almost Elvis Presley-a passion they were im squash to discover they shared. Yolanda had taken Gabrielle under her vanish and helped her make connections. Gabrielle settle down stopped by every month or so to say hello.Gabrielle gave her a big hug, Yolandas ardor already lifting her spirits.Yolanda stepped back and looked Gabrielle over. You look like you aged a hundred years, misfire What happened to you?Gabrielle lowered her voice. Im in trouble, Yolanda.Thats not the rallying cry on the street. Sounds like your man is on the rise.Is there some place we evict talk in privat e? giving timing, honey. The President is holding a press host in around half an hour, and we still shitnt a clue what its all astir(predicate). Ive got to line up expert commentary, and Im locomote blind.I know what the press conference is about.Yolanda lowered her glasses, looking skeptical. Gabrielle, our correspondent at heart the white-hot family line is in the dark-skinned on this one. You say sextons campaign has rise knowledge?No, Im saying I have advance knowledge. Give me five minutes. Ill dissever you everything.Yolanda glanced down at the red unobjectionable House gasbag in Gabrielles lapse. Thats a White House internal. Whered you get that?In a private come across with Marjorie tench this afternoon.Yolanda stared a long moment. Follow me. wrong the privacy of Yolandas glass-walled cubicle, Gabrielle confided in her avowed friend, confessing to a one-night affair with sexton and the fact that tench had photographic evidence.Yolanda smiled broadly and sh ook her guide on laughing. Apparently she had been in Washington news media so long that nothing shock her. Oh, Gabs, I had a hunch you and sexton had probably hooked up. Not surprising. Hes got a reputation, and youre a pretty girl. Too large about the photos. I wouldnt worry about it, though.Dont worry about it?Gabrielle explained that Tench had accuse Sexton of taking illegal bribes from length companies and that Gabrielle had just overheard a secret SFF meeting confirming that fact Again Yolandas font conveyed little surprise or concern-until Gabrielle told her what she was opinion of doing about it.Yolanda now looked troubled. Gabrielle, if you want to hand over a legal schedule saying you slept with a U.S. senator and stood by charm he lied about it, thats your business. hardly Im obese you, its a very wondering(a) move for you. You need to think long and hard about what it could mean for you.Youre not listening. I dont have that kind of clock timeI am listening, and sweetheart, whether or not the clock is ticking, there are real things you just do not do. You do not sell out a U.S. senator in a sex shit. Its suicide. Im telling you, girl, if you take down a presidential medical prognosis, you better get in your car and drive as far from D.C. as possible. Youll be a marked woman. A lot of race spend a lot of money to put candidates at the top. Theres big finances and power at stake here-the kind of power people kill for.Gabrielle fell silent now.Personally, Yolanda said, I think Tench was leaning on you in hopes youd panic and do something dumb-like adhesion out and confess to the affair. Yolanda pointed to the red envelope in Gabrielles hands. Those shots of you and Sexton dont mean squat unless you or Sexton admit theyre accurate. The White House knows if they leak those photos, Sexton will just claim theyre phony and spend a penny them back in the presidents face.I sight of that, but still the campaign finance bribery issue is-Hone y, think about it. If the White House hasnt gone reality yet with bribery allegations, they probably dont symbolise to. The President is pretty serious about no negative campaigning. My guess is he decided to save an aerospace industry scandal and sent Tench after you with a bluff in hopes he capacity scare you out of hiding on the sex thing. Make you stab your candidate in the back.Gabrielle considered it. Yolanda was making sense, and yet something still felt odd. Gabrielle pointed through the glass at the bustling news room. Yolanda, you guys are cogwheel up for a big presidential press conference. If the President is not passing play public about bribery or sex, whats it all about?Yolanda looked stunned. Hold on. You think this press conference is about you and Sexton?Or the bribery. Or both. Tench told me I had until eight tonight to sign a confession or else the President was freeing to announce-Yolandas laughter shook the entire glass cubicle. Oh please Wait Youre killin g meGabrielle was in no mood for joking. WhatGabs, listen, Yolanda managed, between laughs, trust me on this. Ive been dealing with the White House for sixteen years, and theres no way Zach Herney has called in concert the global media to tell them he suspects Senator Sexton is accepting shady campaign funding or sleeping with you. Thats the kind of info you leak. Presidents dont gain popularity by interrupting regularly schedule programming to bitch and moan about sex or alleged infractions of abstruse campaign finance laws.Cloudy? Gabrielle snapped. unconditional out selling your decision on a space bill for millions in ad money is hardly a cloudy issueargon you confident(predicate) thats what he is doing? Yolandas tone hardened now. Are you sure enough to drop your parry on national TV? study about it. It takes a lot of alliances to get anything done these days, and campaign finance is complex stuff. Maybe Sextons meeting was perfectly legal.