Call to Treason - Tom Clancy [61]
You only need the last two groups to stay in the race."
"As far as public relations are concerned," Rodgers said.
"Right. It doesn't help if you're actually guilty."
Lucy O'Connor caught up to the two. She looked tired. Rodgers noticed the red light on her microcassette recorder was on. The tape was still turning.
"Good morning," the reporter said. "That was a terrific speech."
"Thanks. I'll tell the senator you thought so," Kat replied.
"Is anything new, on or off the record?" Lucy asked. She looked at Rodgers, and he looked at her. She repeated the question with her eyes.
"Apart from the senator running for president of the United States?
Nothing," Kat said. "What are you hearing?"
"A lot of backlash from the rush-to-judgment mentality everyone had yesterday," Lucy replied.
"Did people really think Senator Orr was behind the assassination?"
Rodgers asked.
"I would categorize it as a perverse hope," Lucy replied.
Rodgers shook his head. "Perverse is a good word."
"A story like the Hypo-Slayer is where above-the-fold by lines and book deals come from," Lucy added. "Speaking of stories, General, are you ready to tell me what you're doing here?"
"There will be a press release at the appropriate time," Kat told her.
"You will have it early, of course."
"Any word on a likely running mate?" Lucy asked. "I noticed Kenneth Link was here."
"The ticket will not be announced before the convention," Kat said.
"Come on, Kat. Off the record. I promise."
"Sorry," Kat replied.
Lucy turned to Rodgers. "What about the Op-Center investigation, General Rodgers?"
"What about it?"
"I hear that a gentleman named Darrell McCaskey is on his way over to talk to Admiral Link."
"What?" Kat said. She stopped, took her cell phone out, and speed-dialed the admiral's number.
"How do you know that?" Rodgers asked.
"Friend of mine with the postal police was talking to him. McCaskey wouldn't tell him what it was about. Ed thought I might know." Lucy smiled. "He wanted to help."
Kat had turned her back to the others. She was only on the phone for a few seconds when she snapped it shut. "I'll see you later," she said to Rodgers and Lucy, and hurried off.
"Come on, Katherine," Lucy said, running after her. "I just gave you a major heads-up "
"I know that, and I appreciate it."
"Show me!"
"When I can," Kat promised.
That did not make Lucy happy. Rodgers started after Kat, and Lucy tugged his arm. "General, I can help you," she insisted.
"Thanks."
"It doesn't work like that," Lucy said, giving him another tug. "You have to help me, too."
Rodgers withdrew his arm and started walking after Kat. Lucy followed him. Her persistence did not bother him. That was her job. What frustrated him was something that was roiling in his gut.
"General, talk to me. Just tell me what you're doing with Senator Orr.
Are you working for him or for Op-Center?"
"What do you think?"
"I think that if you were working for Op-Center, Kat would have known about the Darrell McCaskey interview," she said.
"Makes sense," he said.
"I know. That's a direction, but it isn't a story. Give me something I can use. Anything. A lead, an off-the-record observation, a quote I'll attribute to an anonymous source "
"The Hypo-Slayer," Rodgers said.
"Beg pardon?"
"Is that what you came up with last night when you said you needed a name for the killer?"
"Yes," Lucy said. "It was the best I could do before deadline."
"It's good," he said.
"Thanks. Now, how about it? Lend me a hand here."
Rodgers stopped. "You know what? I'm out of the hand-lending business. It's nothing personal, but I helped Japan. I helped the United Nations. I helped the entire Indian subcontinent. Do you know what it got me?"
"Not a lot of personal press."