The Return of Elliott Eastman by Ryan Ignatius

Author:Ryan, Ignatius [Ryan, Ignatius]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Telemachus Press, LLC
Published: 2012-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

The following morning a fleet of chocolate brown mail cars left an old warehouse yard and sped towards Capitol Hill, the Beltway and the Senate offices. James Lally had briefed the men about how he’d approached the job and felt they would perform admirably. They were given three addresses each to visit. The senators in question had been chosen because they were seated on a committee or subcommittee that was going to be deeply affected by the proposed legislation and therefore were likely to be in a position to vote or amend SB 1190. According to the thick dossier compiled on each of them they had certain weaknesses that might be exploited, but this was to be the initial salvo; a simple invitation.

Each man carried a parcel which contained a glossy invitation to a brainstorming session at the Four Seasons hosted by American Defense International, Rodesta Group and Potomac Advisors. The lobbying companies had been chosen because they represented Lockheed, Raytheon and a number of other major players in the defense industry as well as the powerful big banks. The invitation spoke of a general evening of fine food and strategy sessions dealing with current affairs of special interest to senators. The first went to Jim Johnson, Democrat from South Dakota who sits on the Appropriations Committee, and specifically on the sub-committee for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. Another invite went to Robert Durbin, Democrat from Illinois who sits on the Financial Services and General Government Committee, and another to Brian Nelson, Democrat from Florida who sits on the Armed Services and chairs the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Sub-Committee. Brent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota who chairs the Budget Committee, and James Bingham, Democrat from New Mexico who sits on the Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth Committee were invitees as well. All told fifty eight senators, all sitting members on key committees such as the Appropriations, Finance, Foreign Relations, Armed Services and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs received the gaudy invites for the meeting at the Four Seasons two nights from now. At the same time they were signing the United Parcel receipt book a microscopic bug was dropped on each of their desks near the phone. The feeds from the bugs were set up to transmit to ‘Backspace’ Conner’s set of servers down in Atlanta. Within an hour of the invitations being delivered, Senator Jim Johnson called Senator Brian Nelson and his secretary immediately patched him through. ‘Backspace’ was listening in.

“I saw your name on the invite guest list. Did you open yours yet?”

“Yeah, just did,” replied Brian. “What do you think?”

“I’m not going to miss it. I’m sure the food will be terrific, and those guys are some heavy hitters. It could pay some big time dividends down the road.”

“It seems a little strange to me. What does ‘dealing with the current affairs’ mean? Normally these invites are a little vague as to the topic, but this is down right mysterious.”

Jim laughed. “Now what

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