Page 8 of A More Perfect Union

“Talk to me,” shesaid to the room, before turning to her senior associate, Blake Wyatt. “What dowe have so far?”

“The FBI showed up atthree o’clock,” Blake said, reading from the notes in her right hand, while sheran her other hand through her short blond hair. “They had the Capitol Policewith them and carted out a couple of boxes and four computers from Jenkins’soffice. As of right now, Jenkins has not been arrested.”

“Is he going to be?”Rook asked.

“Too soon to tell,”Harry Etheridge, her other associate, said. “We have a copy of the warrant butnot the underlying affidavit, so nobody knows what the allegations are yet.”

Rook’s phone pingedand she glanced at the screen. “Well, we know now.” She tossed her phone at theman seated to her right, Eric Pryor, their resident computer expert. “Theaffidavit is attached to that email. It’ll be encrypted.”

“Gimme just a sec,”Eric said as he typed on her phone, and then his computer. A moment later, hepointed at the front of the room. “There you go.”

Rook digested thewords on the screen and waited for the rest of her team to catch up. Theaffidavit to the search warrant accused Buster of texting nude photos ofhimself to an underage girl he’d met in an online chat room. Suddenly, hismarital infidelity and reelection prospects were the least of his worries sincehe was looking at possible prison time and sex offender registration.

“Holy shit,” saidHarry. “Did anyone else see this coming?”

“Sure,” Blake, thealways skeptical former CIA agent, said. “I always thought he was a littleskeevy, but I figured if Farah was married to him, then he must have someredeeming quality. Guess I was wrong.”

“We need to get outin front of this. Harry, get Paul Hanson on the phone,” she said, referring tothe managing partner at one of the top law firms in DC. “Tell him we want afemale partner assigned to the case. Get whoever it is a copy of this affidavitand tell her all statements need to be vetted by us before they go public.” Sheturned to Eric. “You cloned Buster’s computer, didn’t you?”

“I did, but only hispersonal one and the one he uses at his office. From what we can tell, the fedsseized several others.”

“Those probablybelonged to his staff. Someone needs to talk to them as soon as possible.Blake?”

“On it. I’ve gottheir names and addresses, and I’ll head out as soon as we craft thestatement.”

“Go now.” Rookpointed at her head. “I already know what we’re going to say. Senator Jenkinsis fully cooperating with law enforcement, and he trusts in the criminaljustice system to ensure justice is done. No press conference, just issue thestatement through the usual channels.”

“Doesn’t sound like avery vigorous defense to me,” Harry said. “You sure we want to be that blaséabout these allegations?”

“I’m certain we don’twant to overstate our case. I don’t expect we’re going to be on this one muchlonger, and I don’t want to put Hanson’s firm in a box by promising somethingno one’s going to be able to deliver. Farah’s exact words were ‘do no harm.’She’s telling us she’s ready to move on from the not-so-honorable BusterJenkins. We’re here for triage and that’s it.”

“Such a shame,” Harrysaid. “I love a good kiddie porn case, said no one ever.”

“Once the statement’sout, let’s go full tilt on opposition research for Farah,” Rook said. “I wantto know every little, itty, bitty thing anyone has on her. We’ve got one monthbefore she has to file and our job is to clear a path. Understood?”

The three of themnodded, and she knew she could count on them to make miracles happen. “Eric,can I see you in my office in five?”

“Sure, boss.”

She left the group totheir work and walked back to her office, waving off Lacy who tried to waylayher at the door. “I need a few minutes alone. Let Eric in in five.”

Lacy looked at herwatch and nodded.

Rook shut the doorand paced in front of the windows that looked out over the courtyard in thecenter of her building. The offices of the Daniels’s Agency occupied the entirethree floors of the historic New Orleans style brownstone, choice real estateshe’d purchased several years ago. She and her team didn’t need an entirebuilding, but she’d steadfastly refused to parcel out the spacious officesdespite the enormous financial benefit she could reap from renting out theextra space. Her clients expected privacy, and being the only occupant of thebuilding afforded them that. Besides, she was a firm believer that theappearance of success attracted more of it. Since they’d relocated from theirsmaller offices in Arlington, the caliber of their clientele had grownexponentially.

Farah had been one ofher first clients, and her needs had been simple back then. Opposition researchto help Farah’s young, handsome, but not the brightest guy, husband get electedto the House of Representatives. Rook had found a few murmurs of office flings,but nothing anyone was willing to substantiate at the time. She’d given all theinformation to Farah and let her and Buster make the call about whether to riskthe rumors turning into prime time news stories. One woman came forward andtold her local news affiliate she’d slept with Buster in exchange for promisesof career advancement, but she quickly retracted her story when Rook visitedher to discuss her frequent use of cocaine at campaign parties, a tale herassociates had been only too happy to tell. Rook hadn’t threatened or bribed.She’d merely pointed out that if Jenkins really was a philanderer, the newsoutlets would find out as easily as she had been able to find out about thewoman’s drug use. She wasn’t particularly proud of the method, but in the endshe figured she saved the woman from an embarrassing public ordeal.

“Eric’s at the door,”Lacy’s voice boomed through the intercom. “You ready?”

“Yes, send him in.”

Eric, dressed inskinny jeans, a tweed vest, and a vintage tie with a full Windsor, was not yourtypical Mountain Dew sipping, basement dwelling hacker, but no one was betterat busting through secure systems than he was.

“Diamond Credit,”Rook said without preamble. “I met with their president today.”

“Last I heard, almosta quarter of a million accounts compromised.”

“They think it mightbe twice that. The FDIC is all over them, and they need some cover. Only thingI can think of is to find out who did the hacking so we can start pointingfingers in their direction. Maybe even file a lawsuit.”

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