Fatherless: A Novel by Dobson James & Bruner Kurt

Author:Dobson, James & Bruner, Kurt [Dobson, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781455513123
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Four

Kevin sorted and deleted a sequence of inane Monday-morning messages while listening to Troy’s daily briefing: the usual rundown of subcommittee sessions and scheduled meetings with lobbyists to hear, allies to thank, and opponents to woo. But he heard nothing about the one item he really cared to know about.

“Anything on the revised projections?”

“Nothing yet,” Troy said. “We just made the latest round of changes to the proposal in Thursday’s session and our guy in the budget office promised to number-crunch all weekend. I’m hoping to get something this afternoon.”

“I have to know that what we’re selling can be sold before tomorrow’s presentation,” Kevin said apprehensively.

Troy looked up from his notes to silently rebuke his boss for stating the obvious.

“Sorry.” Kevin shielded his head in mock defense against his friend’s favorite form of revenge.

“You’ll also want to know that I plan to speak personally with each member of the subcommittee today. Every one of them will deny leaks. But you know as well as I do that it could be any of them, or a spouse, or a staff member, or the friend of a friend who heard something from someone who promised not to say anything to anyone else. Rumors and speculation will happen right up until the moment Franklin goes public with the proposals. So don’t sweat it. You’re doing everything you can.”

“I know,” Kevin said with a hint of resignation. “Anything else?”

Troy took two steps backward to open the door. “One more thing.” An intern entered carrying his tablet at an awkward distance, like a child inching toward the table with an overfilled cup of milk. Afraid of spilling the biggest assignment of his tenure, the young man appeared eager to finally hand over whatever information he had gathered.

“Relax, Shaun.” Troy placed his hand on a tense shoulder. “Just tell us what you found.”

“Yes, sir.” Shaun stood at attention, a habit difficult to break after four years in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.

“At ease, son,” Kevin jibed. “Let’s hear what you’ve got.”

“As you’ll recall we received the largest reelection campaign donation to date last week. Mr. Simmons here asked me to learn what I could about the donor and update you before today’s lunch meeting with Mr. Evan Dimitri.”

Kevin and Troy shared a smile. The lad’s voice matched his stiff posture.

“Mr. Dimitri has a long history of supporting fiscal conservatives, but very few of his donations come close to the amount he donated to Congressman Tolbert’s campaign.”

“What was the donation amount again?” Kevin could not recall details of a conversation held on the heels of learning about Leah’s condition.

“A quarter million,” said Troy.

“Only two others have received as much from Mr. Dimitri,” Shaun continued. “Including Senator Josh Franklin.”

Kevin accepted the news as a compliment. “Really? Franklin?”

The look on Troy’s face deflated the moment.

“What’s wrong?” Kevin asked.

“Nothing.” Troy tried sounding upbeat. “I just want to withhold judgment until we know more.”

“What’s more to know?” Kevin pressed. “It makes sense that a Franklin supporter who backs fiscal

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.