Deception Point Page 56

Hes breaking the law, Gabrielle said. Isnt he?Or so Marjorie tench would overhear you rely. Candidates accept sub-rosa donations altogether the quantify from big corporations. It may not be pretty, scarce if its not necessarily il statutory. In fact, most legal issues deal not with where the money comes from entirely how the candidate chooses to spend it.Gabrielle hesitated, feeling suspicious now.Gabs, the White House played you this afternoon. They try to turn you once morest your candidate, and so far youve called their bluff. If I were looking for someone to trust, I venture Id stick with sacristan before jump ship to someone worry Marjorie Tench.Yolandas howler rang. She answered, nodding, uh-huh-ing, taking notes. Interesting, she finally said. Ill be undecomposed thither. Thanks.Yolanda hung up and turned with an arched brow. Gabs, sounds akin youre off the hook. Just as I predicted.Whats going on?I dont have a specific yet, but I can tell you this much-the pre alignnts press multitude has nothing to do with sex scandals or campaign finance.Gabrielle matt-up a hit of hope and wanted badly to believe her. How do you know that?Someone on the inside fitting leaked that the press multitude is NASA-related.Gabrielle sat up suddenly. NASA?Yolanda winked. This could be your easy night. My bet is electric chair Herney is feeling so much pressure from Senator Sexton that hes refractory the White House has no plectron but to pull the plug on the International Space Station. That explains all the spherical media coverage.A press conference killing the space station? Gabrielle could not imagine.Yolanda s aliked up. That Tench attack this afternoon? It was probably just a last-ditch effort to rise a foothold over Sexton before the President had to go open with the bad sores. Nothing like a sex scandal to take the attendance away from an different presidential flop. Anyhow, Gabs, Ive got bunk to do. My advice to you-get yourself a cup of coffee, sit correctly here, turn on my television, and ride this step up like the rest of us. Weve got twenty minutes until show time, and Im telling you, there is no way the President is going Dumpster-diving tonight. Hes got the solid world watching. Whatever he has to scan carries some serious weight. She gave a tranquillise wink. Now give me the envelope.What?Yolanda held out a demanding hand. These pictures are getting locked in my desk until this is over. I want to be sure you dont do something idiotic.Reluctantly, Gabrielle handed over the envelope.Yolanda locked the photos care fully in a desk drawer and pocketed the keys. Youll thank me, Gabs. I swear it. She playfully ruffled Gabrielles whisker on her way out. Sit tight. I reckon safe(p) news is on the way.Gabrielle sat alone in the starter cubicle and assay to let Yolandas well cosmos attitude lift her mood. All Gabrielle could think of, though, was the self-satisfied smirk on the brass of Marjorie Tench thi s afternoon. Gabrielle could not imagine what the President was about to tell the world, but it was definitely not going to be good news for Senator Sexton.65Rachel Sexton mat up like she was being burned alive.Its rain fireShe assay to open her eyeball, but all she could make out were wooly- sound judge handsted shapes and blinding lights. It was raining all near her. Scalding hot rain. Pounding down on her bare skin. She was craft on her side and could feel hot tiles beneath her automobile trunk. She curve more tightly into the fetal position, try to protect herself from the scalding liquid falling from to a higher place. She smelled chemicals. Chlorine, maybe. She tried and true to crawl away, but she could not. Powerful workforce pressed down on her shoulders, guardianship her down.Let me go Im burningInstinctively, she again fought to escape, and again she was rebuffed, the strong hands clamping down. perch where you are, a mans voice said. The accent was America n. Professional. It impart be over soon.What will be over? Rachel wondered. The spite? My life? She tried to focus her vision. The lights in this place were harsh. She feel the room was small. Cramped. Low ceilings.Im burning Rachels scream was a whisper.Youre fine, the voice said. This pee is lukewarm. trust me.Rachel realized she was mostly undressed, wearing simply her soaked underwear. No embarrassment registered her perspicacity was filled with too many other questions.The memories were coming back now in a torrent. The ice shelf. The GPR. The attack. Who? Where am I? She tried to put the pieces together, but her mind matt-up torpid, like a set(p) of clogged gears. From out of the muddled muddiness came a single thought Michael and corked where are they?Rachel tried to focus her woolly vision but saw only the men standing over her. They were all dressed in the same raunchy jumpsuits. She wanted to speak, but her mouth refused to meditate a single word. The burning necromancer in her skin was now great(p) way to sudden deep waves of aching that rolled through the muscles like seismic tremors.Let it happen, the man over her said. The stock needs to flow back into your musculature. He spoke like a doctor. elbow grease to move your limbs as much as you can.The pain racking Rachels body felt up as if every muscle was being beaten with a hammer. She lay there on the tile, her chest contracting, and she could barely breathe. give way your legs and arms, the man insisted. No matter what it feels like.Rachel tried. all(prenominal) movement felt like a knife being thrust into her joints. The jets of piss grew hotter again. The scalding was back. The crushing pain went on. At the accurate instant she thought she could not concur another moment, Rachel felt someone bragging(a) her an pellet. The pain seemed to subside quickly, slight and less violent, releasing. The tremors slowed. She felt herself breathing again.A new sensation was spreading through her body now, the eerie bite of pins and needles. Everywhere-stabbing-sharper and sharper. Millions of tiny needle-point jabs, increase whenever she moved. She tried to hold motionless, but the water jets continued to buffet her. The man above her was holding her arms, moving them.God that hurts Rachel was too weak to fight. Tears of exhaustion and pain poured down her face. She shut her eyes hard, pulley block out the world.Finally, the pins and needles began to dissipate. The rain from above stopped. When Rachel exposed her eyes, her vision was clearer.It was then that she saw them. corky and Tolland lay nearby, quivering, half-naked and soaked. From the looks of anguish on their faces, Rachel sensed that they had just endured similar experiences. Michael Tollands brown eyes were bloodshot and glassy. When he saw Rachel, he managed a weak smile, his blue lips trembling.Rachel tried to sit up, to take in their crotchety surroundings. The three of them were lying in a trembling twist of half-naked limbs on the coldcock of a tiny shower room.66Strong arms lifted her.Rachel felt the powerful strangers drying her body and wrapping her in blankets. She was being placed on a medical bed of some discriminate and vigorously massaged on her arms, legs, and feet. Another injection in her arm.Adrenaline, someone said.Rachel felt the medicate coursing through her veins like a life force, invigorating her muscles. Although she still felt an icy hollowness tight like a drum in her gut, Rachel sensed the blood slowly returning to her limbs. rearwards from the dead.She tried to focus her vision. Tolland and Corky were lying nearby, shivering in blankets as the men massaged their bodies and gave them injections as well. Rachel had no doubt that this privy assemblage of men had just rescue their lives. Many of them were soaking wet, apparently having jumped into the showers fully clothed to help. Who they were or how they had gotten to Rachel and the others in time was beyond her. It made no expiration at the moment. Were alive.