Deception Point Page 40

This photo reveals, tench said, that your campaigner is holding secret meetings with an organization that represents private space enterprises. Tench motioned to s perpetuallyal other documents on the table. We also have internal SFF memos calling for huge sums of money to be collected from SFF member companies-in amounts sufficient with their net worth-and transferred to accounts controlled by Senator Sexton. In effect, these private space agencies be anteing up to put Sexton in office. I fag only assume he has agreed to pass the commercialization bill and denationalise NASA if elected.Gabrielle looked at the pile of papers, unconvinced. Do you expect me to cerebrate that the white House has evidence that its opponent is in use(p) in profoundly illegal campaign finance-and yet, for some reason, you are keeping it secret?What would you believe?Gabrielle glared. Frankly, considering your skills for manipulation, a more logical solution seems that you are plying me somehow with phony documents and photos produced by some enterprising White House staffer and his desktop publishing computer.Possible, I admit. But non true.No? Then how did you nominate all these internal documents from corporations? The resources required to steal all of this evidence from so many companies certainly exceeds the mountain chain of the White House.Youre right. This information arrived here as an unsolicited gift.Gabrielle was now lost.Oh yes, Tench said, we adopt a rush of it. The President has many powerful political allies who would like to see him stay in office. Remember, your candidate is suggesting cuts all over the place-a dance orchestra of them right here in Washington. Senator Sexton certainly has no qualms nearly citing the FBIs bloated budget as an example of government overspending. Hes taken some potshots at the IRS, too. Maybe someone at the bureau or at the service got a little annoyed.Gabrielle got the implication. People at the FBI and IRS would have w ays of getting this kind of information. They might then circularise it to the White House as an unsolicited elevate to help the Presidents election. But what Gabrielle could not make herself believe was that Senator Sexton would ever be engaged in illegal campaign funding. If this data is accurate, Gabrielle challenged, which I strongly doubt it is, wherefore havent you gone public? wherefore do you think?Because it was gathered illegally.How we got it makes no difference.Of course it makes a difference. Its inadmissible in a audience.What hearing? Wed simply leak this to a newspaper, and theyd run it as a credible-source story with photos and documentation. Sexton would be vicious until proven innocent. His vocal anti-NASA stance would be virtual proof that he is taking bribes.Gabrielle knew it was true. Fine, she challenged, then why havent you leaked the information?Because its a negative. The President promised not to go negative in the campaign and he wants to mystify t o that promise as long as he can.Yeah, right Youre telling me the President is so self-coloured that he refuses to go public with this because people might consider it a negative?Its a negative for the country. It implicates dozens of private companies, many of which are made up of honest people. It besmirches the office of the U.S. Senate and is bad for the countrys morale. for sale politicians hurt all politicians. Americans need to trust their leaders. This would be an ugly investigation and would most likely send a U.S. senator and numerous prominent aerospace executives to jail.Although Tenchs logic did make sense, Gabrielle still doubted the allegations. What does any of this have to do with me? only put, Ms. Ashe, if we release these documents, your candidate will be indicted for illegal campaign financing, lose his Senate seat, and most likely do prison time. Tench paused. Unless Gabrielle saw a snakelike glint in the senior advisers eyes. Unless what?Tench took a long dra g on her cigarette. Unless you decide to help us avoid all that.A soggy silence settled over the room.Tench coughed roughly. Gabrielle, listen, I decided to share this unfortunate information with you for terce reasons. First, to show you Zach Herney is a decent man who considers the governments well-being before his personal gain. Second, to inform you that your candidate is not as trustworthy as you might think. And third, to persuade you to accept the offer I am most to make.That offer being?Id like to offer you a chance to do the right thing. The patriotic thing. Whether you fill in it or not, youre in a unique position to spare Washington all kinds of unpleasant scandal. If you can do what I am ab fall out to ask, perhaps you could even earn yourself a place on the Presidents team.A place on the Presidents team? Gabrielle couldnt believe what she was hearing. Ms. Tench, whatever you have in mind, I do not appreciate being black-mailed, coerced, or talked rarify to. I work for the senators campaign because I believe in his politics. And if this is any indication of the way Zach Herney exerts political influence, I have no inte end in being associated with him If youve got something on Senator Sexton, then I suggest you leak it to the press. Frankly, I think this whole things a sham.Tench gave a dreary sigh. Gabrielle, your candidates illegal funding is a fact. Im sorry. I know you trust him. She bring down her voice. Look, heres the point. The President and I will go public with the funding issue if we must, but it will get ugly on a grand scale. This scandal involves several major U.S. corporations breaking the law. A lot of innocent people will pay the price. She took a long drag and exhaled. What the President and I are hoping for here is some other way to discredit the senators ethics. A way that is more contained one in which no innocent parties get hurt. Tench set down her cigarette and folded her hands. Simply put, we would like you to in pub lic admit that you had an part with the senator.Gabrielles entire body went rigid. Tench sounded utterly certain of herself. Impossible, Gabrielle knew. There was no proof. The sex activity had happened only once, behind locked doors in Sextons senatorial office. Tench has nothing. Shes fishing. Gabrielle fought to retain her steady tone. You assume a lot, Ms. Tench.Which? That you had an affair? Or that you would abandon your candidate?Both.Tench gave a curt smile and stood up. Well, lets put one of those facts to rest right now, shall we? She walked to her wall safe again and returned with a red manila folder. It was stamped with the White House seal. She unhooked the clasp, canted the envelope over, and dumped the contents out on the desk in front of Gabrielle.As dozens of color photographs spilled out onto the desk, Gabrielle saw her entire career come crashing down before her.46Outside the habisphere, the katabatic string roaring down off the glacier was nothing like the oc ean winds Tolland was accustomed to. On the ocean, wind was a function of tides and pressure fronts and came in gusting ebbs and flows. The katabatic, however, was a slave to simple physics-heavy cold air rushing down a glacial incline like a tidal wave. It was the most resolute gale force Tolland had ever experienced. Had it been coming at twenty knots, the katabatic would have been a sailors dream, but at its current 80 knots it could quickly become a nightmare even for those on solid ground. Tolland found that if he paused and leaned backward, the uncompromising squall could easily prop him up.