Page 62 of A More Perfect Union

“I can’t, but I don’tsuppose that matters.” Rook raised her glass and her smile was forced. “It wasa pleasure knowing you, Colonel Granger.”

She touched her glassto Zoey’s, took a drink, and walked away. Zoey stood, torn between chasingafter Rook, and standing her ground. Before she could decide, GeneralBloomfield appeared at her side.

“Colonel, may I havea word with you?” he asked, effectively making the choice for her.

Duty called and she’dpledged her life to it. Someday Rook would understand or maybe she’d justforget her. Zoey wasn’t sure which one she wanted most.

* * *

Rook sat across fromJulia’s desk and pretended to listen to her fill in the final details of theinvestigation into General David Sharp, but she was distracted by thoughts ofwhen Julia had first called her here and she’d learned she’d be working thecase with Zoey.

“Are you listening toa word I’m saying?” Julia asked, her raised voice cutting through Rook’sthoughts.

“I heard you. Sharpwas a Russian spy. I thought you’d already figured that part out.”

“Yes, but we didn’tknow why. Contel,” she said, referring to the attorney general, “agreed tooffer Sharp a life sentence in exchange for a full accounting of all the leakshe’s been responsible for over the years. Aren’t you the slightest bitinterested?”

“Sure.” She wasn’t,but she knew Julia didn’t want to hear that. Rook hadn’t been interested inmuch of anything since she and Zoey had parted at the reception followingZoey’s promotion ceremony over a week ago. Since then she’d started, but hadn’tsent, over a dozen texts to implore Zoey to reconsider her decision to gooverseas, but every time she was paralyzed by doubt.

Maybe she just neededto focus on something else to take her mind off wondering about Zoey. “Tell meeverything.”

“Turns out thealleged act of heroism that got Sharp the Medal of Honor was the same thingthat got him caught up with the Russians,” Julia said. “The KGB had officers inGrenada at the time of the US invasion, and one of them witnessed what reallyhappened when Sharp’s squad was attacked. Sharp threw an injured man, one ofhis own, into the line of fire to avoid being hit himself. He may have actuallysaved them all in the end, but only because he sacrificed one of them to savehimself. Hardly a hero.”

“So what, theRussians blackmailed him?”

“Exactly. They waiteduntil after he received the medal and then started sending him messages. Theyhad photos seized from local journalists and alleged witness accounts that theythreatened to release if he didn’t work with them. Who knows if they really hadany evidence, but apparently, he believed they did and that was enough. A better man would have faced the consequences of his actions, buthe worked with them over the years, providing mostly small bits of intel tovarious Soviet spies. They were careful to keep it small until lately when hewas poised to either be the right hand of the Head of the Joint Chiefs or be thenominee himself.”

“And Louden?” Rookasked. “How did he fit in?”

“We may never knoweverything, but it appears he was a sleeper agent, activated to work Sharp asan asset once Sharp was assigned to the Pentagon.”

“Unbelievable. Andmost of this information will never see the light of day, correct?” Rook asked.

“Not for a long time.The files have been ordered classified. ThePostis no longer interestedin the McNair sex scandal since Bloomfield is retiring, so we dodged a bulletthere.”

“Is this the partwhere you try to get out of paying me because you don’t need me to spin thestory?”

Julia leaned forward.“Actually, this is the part where we play let’s make a deal. Would you like tocollect your fee for this case or see what’s behind door number two?”

Rook felt a surge ofanticipation at the prospect of a new case, but her excitement was temperedwith apprehension. But she quickly realized she was being silly. What were thechances whatever Julia was proposing involved another beautiful woman in uniformwho’d steal her heart? Still, she proceeded with caution. “I’m willing to hearyou out. That’s the best I can do.”

“Fine. I want you tocome work with me.”

“Didn’t we just dothat?”

“I’m thinking ofsomething a little more permanent. We’ve been rocking along without acommunications director since Timmons retired. The president hasn’t been happywith any of the names I’ve floated for consideration until I happened tomention yours. You’d be doing me a big favor.”

Rook’s mind startedspinning in a dozen different directions. “A few things come to mind startingwith, working for you would hardly be permanent since you only have a few moreyears left until you’re all out of here.”

“Exactly my point.”Julia started talking faster. “When you’re done here you can go back to fixingthings for regular people, but in the meantime, your team can handle yourcurrent clients. Turn the firm over to them and come work with us. You’ll be incharge of crafting the official White House message for everything from climatechange to the economy to civil rights. When we’re done, you can start anotherfirm or whatever else you want. You’ll be able to write your own ticket.”

“Stop.” Rook playedback Julia’s pitch in her head and examined every crazy word of her proposal.But was it really that crazy? She had been grooming her team to take the leadon her cases and she was growing weary of pulling people out of the holesthey’d dug with their own stupidity. Granted, the White House had its share ofthose, but this second-term, well-liked president had an aggressive,progressive agenda, and the job Julia was offering meant she’d have theopportunity to be a part of some major change-making. “You don’t need to sellit anymore, but you do need to give me time to think about it.”

“Fair enough,” Juliasaid, raising her hands in surrender. “I promise not to call you untiltomorrow.”

Rook stood. “Then I’mgetting out of here now so I can have some peace between now and then.”

“Wait, there’ssomething else.” Julia reached into her desk and pulled out a folder. She slidit across the desk, but kept a hand on it. “The president declassified thisreport this morning. The official declassification won’t go into effect for afew weeks, but counsel said we could provide you, as a family member, with anadvance copy.”

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