House Divided. Джек Марс
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Название: House Divided
Автор: Джек Марс
Издательство: Lukeman Literary Management Ltd
Жанр: Политические детективы
Серия: A Luke Stone Thriller
isbn: 9781640291966
isbn:
Lucy stared into the screen. Next to her, Stephen Lief’s owl eyes went deer-in-the-headlights wide. Suddenly, he looked like this meeting was not such a hot idea, like he might even prefer to be somewhere else.
He needn’t have worried. The day after meeting his friend’s corpse in Texas, he was going to be in Cincinnati, surrounded by TV cameras and well-wishers, with a bib around his neck, eating hot beef and tomato gruel off the top of a frankfurter.
“Women can easily waste their youth chasing a mirage, when they could have spent that time getting married, creating a home, and building a family. You and I can help them by developing new incentives like tax credits for in-home child care, expansion of food programs to help with grocery bills, even one-time federal payments per childbirth.”
Lucy was putting forward a strange mix of right wing and left wing ideas. She wanted white women to get married and have more babies, and she wanted the federal government to pay for it. Susan wondered if in Lucy’s mind, that sort of largesse would be extended to women of color.
Susan was on the verge of asking that question, but shook her head instead. “I’m not the Appropriations Committee, Lucy. I don’t make the budget, I just sign it. You know how these things are done.”
“If you championed this cause, you don’t think people would sit up and take notice?”
Susan half-nodded. If she suddenly began to champion the cause of women staying home, pumping out babies, and making dinner for their husbands, people would definitely notice. Mostly, this was because it would go against everything she had ever stood for. It was time to cut this off.
Susan had never become accustomed to lobbyists and their over-the-top pitches during her time in the Senate. When she was Vice President, she was widely seen as powerless, so the lobbyists left her alone. And as President, she mostly kept them at arm’s length. If she ever needed a reminder why, this conversation would serve.
“Lucy, I can promise you we’re going to do everything we can.”
Lucy was an old hand at this. She must have caught the tone in Susan’s voice. “I hope so, Susan. I hope so. Thank you for listening. I’d love to buy you lunch one day.”
Susan smiled. “I’d love it, too. I’m a big admirer of yours. I always have been. We’ll do it just as soon as I’m out of office.”
Lucy nodded. “Okay.”
Kat went to the monitor and turned the device off. She let out a long exhale and looked at Susan. She raised her eyebrows. The rest of her dark, pretty face was carefully neutral. She pursed her lips, but didn’t crack a smile.
“I got a text from Kurt during that. People are assembling in the Situation Room in half an hour. He needs you there. There’s been new intelligence about the plane crash.”
The air went out of Susan like a tire with a knife plunged into its side. “Okay. But before I do that, we need to talk about Stephen Lief’s schedule for the next few weeks. I’ve got something important I need him to do.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
2:55 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
The Situation Room
The White House, Washington, DC
The gathering was much smaller this time.
Haley Lawrence, the Secretary of Defense, was there, with two aides seated behind him. General Frank Loomis of JSOC was there again. Luke Stone was there, this time sitting in a leather chair at the conference table. Half a dozen others were there, along with a few aides and assistants sitting along the walls behind them.
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