'Deception Point Page 40\r'

'â€Å"This photo reveals,” Tench said, â€Å"that your vista is holding privy(p) meetings with an organization that represents private space enterprises.” Tench motioned to nigh(prenominal) another(prenominal) documents on the table. â€Å"We also wipe out interior SFF memos c tot every(prenominal)ying for huge sums of money to be salt away from SFF member companies-in amounts commensurate with their net worth-and transferred to accounts controlled by Senator sexton. In effect, these private space agencies are anteing up to jell Sexton in social function. I can just hook on he has agreed to pass the commercialisation bill and privatize NASA if elected.”\r\nGabrielle looked at the pile of papers, unconvinced. â€Å"Do you expect me to believe that the white-hot House has take the stand that its opponent is engaged in pro nominately unratified weigh finance-and yet, for some reason, you are keeping it out of sight?”\r\nâ€Å"What would you believe?”\r\nGabrielle glared. â€Å"Frankly, considering your skills for manipulation, a more than logical resolving power seems that you are plying me somehow with phony documents and photos produced by some enterprising White House staffer and his setting publishing com launcher.”\r\nâ€Å"Possible, I admit. But non true.”\r\nâ€Å"No? Then how did you master all these internal documents from corporations? The resources essential to steal all of this evidence from so many an(prenominal) another(prenominal) companies surely exceeds the grasp of the White House.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre secure. This affirmation arrived here(predicate) as an unsolicited gift.”\r\nGabrielle was now lost.\r\nâ€Å"Oh yes,” Tench said, â€Å"we define a fix of it. The ch barewoman has many flop political allies who would identical to see him get in arrive atice. Remember, your candidate is suggesting cuts all everyplace the place-a lot of them rig ht here in Washington. Senator Sexton certainly has no qualms about citing the FBIs bloated budget as an archetype of government overspending. Hes taken some potshots at the IRS, too. perchance someone at the bureau or at the service got a little annoyed.”\r\nGabrielle got the implication. People at the FBI and IRS would have ways of getting this kind of information. They force hence send it to the White House as an unsolicited favor to help the chairmans election. But what Gabrielle could not make herself believe was that Senator Sexton would ever be engaged in illegal sweat funding. â€Å"If this data is accurate,” Gabrielle challenged, â€Å"which I strongly doubt it is, why havent you done for(p) existence?”\r\nâ€Å"Why do you conceptualize?”\r\nâ€Å"Because it was gather illegally.”\r\nâ€Å"How we got it makes no difference.”\r\nâ€Å"Of course it makes a difference. Its inadmissible in a hearing.”\r\nâ€Å"What hear ing? Wed simply leak this to a newspaper, and theyd run it as a ‘credible-source story with photos and documentation. Sexton would be guilty until proven innocent. His vocal anti-NASA spot would be virtual proof that he is pickings bribes.”\r\nGabrielle knew it was true. â€Å"Fine,” she challenged, â€Å"then why havent you leaked the information?”\r\nâ€Å"Because its a proscribe. The chairwoman promised not to go negative in the campaign and he wants to stick to that promise as keen-sighted as he can.”\r\nYeah, right! â€Å"Youre telling me the President is so upstanding that he refuses to go public with this because people might consider it a negative?”\r\nâ€Å"Its a negative for the country. It implicates hemorrhoid 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. Dishonest politicians hurt all politicians. Americans aim to trust their l eaders. This would be an ugly investigation and would close to likely send a U.S. senator and numerous boastful aerospace executives to jail.”\r\nAlthough Tenchs logic did make sense, Gabrielle still doubted the allegations. â€Å"What does any of this have to do with me?”\r\nâ€Å" plain put, Ms. Ashe, if we release these documents, your candidate depart be indicted for illegal campaign financing, lose his Senate seat, and near likely do prison time.” Tench paused. â€Å"Unless… â€Å"\r\nGabrielle apothegm a snakelike glint in the elderly advisers eyes. â€Å"Unless what?”\r\nTench took a long drag on her cigarette. â€Å"Unless you decide to help us avoid all that.”\r\nA murky silence settled over the room.\r\nTench coughed roughly. â€Å"Gabrielle, listen, I decided to share this unfortunate information with you for three reasons. First, to show you Zach Herney is a justly 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 about to make.”\r\nâ€Å"That offer being?”\r\nâ€Å"Id like to offer you a chance to do the right thing. The patriotic thing. Whether you survive it or not, youre in a unique position to spare Washington all kinds of unpleasant scandal. If you can do what I am about to ask, perhaps you could even earn yourself a place on the Presidents team.”\r\nA place on the Presidents team? Gabrielle couldnt believe what she was hearing. â€Å"Ms. Tench, whatever you have in mind, I do not appreciate being black-mailed, coerced, or talked down to. I work for the senators campaign because I believe in his politics. And if this is any trait of the way Zach Herney exerts political influence, I have no interest in being associated with him! If youve got something on Senator Sexton, then I suggest you leak it to the press. Frank ly, I think this whole things a sham.”\r\nTench gave a sour sigh. â€Å"Gabrielle, your candidates illegal funding is a fact. Im sorry. I know you trust him.” She lowered her voice. â€Å"Look, heres the point. The President and I bequeath go public with the funding issue if we must, moreover it go forth get ugly on a grand scale. This scandal involves several major U.S. corporations breakage the law. A lot of innocent people will pay the price.” She took a long drag and exhaled. â€Å"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. â€Å"Simply put, we would like you to publicly admit that you had an affair with the senator.”\r\nGabrielles wide-cut body went rigid. Tench sounded utterly certain of herself. Impossible, Gabrielle knew. at that place was no pro of. The sex had happened only once, behind locked doors in Sextons senatorial office. Tench has nothing. Shes fishing. Gabrielle fought to retain her steady tone. â€Å"You assume a lot, Ms. Tench.”\r\nâ€Å"Which? That you had an affair? Or that you would abandon your candidate?”\r\nâ€Å"Both.”\r\nTench gave a curt smile and stood up. â€Å"Well, lets put one of those facts to rest right now, shall we?” She walked to her wall in effect(p) again and returned with a red manila folder. It was stamped with the White House seal. She unhooked the clasp, tipped the envelope over, and dumped the contents out on the desk in front of Gabrielle.\r\nAs dozens of color photographs spilled out onto the desk, Gabrielle saw her entire passage come crashing down before her.\r\n46\r\n right(prenominal) the habisphere, the katabatic wind roaring down off the glacier was nothing like the ocean winds Tolland was accustomed to. On the ocean, wind was a function of tides an d 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 shift like a tidal wave. It was the most brave gale force Tolland had ever experienced. Had it been coming at cardinal knots, the katabatic would have been a sailors dream, but at its current eighty knots it could quickly become a nightmare even for those on solid ground. Tolland found that if he paused and leaned backward, the stalwart squall could easily shore up him up.\r\n'