Deception Point Page 6

As the PaveHawk settled onto the caterpillar track beside the chairwomans plane, Rachel now tacit the references to Air get One being the commander-in-chiefs portable home act advantage. The machine was an intimidating sight.When the President flew to other countries to meet heads of state, he oft requested for security purposes that the meeting take place on the runway aboard his jet. Although round of the motives were security, certainly another incentive was to gain a negotiating edge through raw intimidation. A visit to Air Force One was far more intimidating than any trip to the colour House. The six-foot-high letters along the fuselage trumpeted UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A female English footlocker member had once accused President Nixon of waving his manhood in her face when he asked her to join him aboard Air Force One. posterior the crew jokingly nicknamed the plane Big Dick.Ms. Sexton? A blazer-clad cryptic Serv icingman materialized fall outside the chopper and opened the door for her. The President is wait for you.Rachel got out of the chopper and gazed up the steep gangway at the bulgy hull. Into the flying ph solelyus. She had once heard the flying Oval Office had oer four thousand square feet of interior floor space, including four relegate private sleeping quarters, berths for a twenty-six-member flight crew, and two galleys capable of providing nutrient for fifty people.Climbing the stairway, Rachel felt the Secret Serviceman on her heels, goad her upward. High above, the cabin door stood open like a minute puncture wound on the side of a gargantuan ash gray whale. She moved toward the darkened entryway and felt her confidence starting to ebb.Easy, Rachel. Its skilful a plane.On the landing, the Secret Serviceman politely took her arm and control her into a surprisingly narrow corridor. They turned decently, walked a short distance, and emerged into a luxurious and spacious cabin. Rachel immediately recognized it from phot ographs.Wait here, the serviceman said, and he disappeared.Rachel stood al sensation in Air Force Ones famous wood-paneled fore cabin. This was the elbow way of life used for meetings, entertaining dignitaries, and, apparently, for scaring the hell out of first-time passengers. The room spanned the entire largeness of the plane, as did its thick tan carpeting. The furnishings were impeccable cordovan leather armchairs around a birds-eye maple meeting table, burnished brass floor lamps beside a Continental sofa, and hand-etched crystal glassware on a mahogany wet bar.Supposedly, Boeing designers had conservatively laid out this fore cabin to provide passengers with a whiz of order mixed with tranquility. Tranquility, however, was the last thing Rachel Sexton was feeling at the moment. The only thing she could think of was the number of world leaders who had sit pour down in this very room and made decisions that figure outd the world.Everything about this room said power, fro m the faint aroma of fine pipe tobacco to the present presidential seal. The eagle clasping the arrows and olive branches was embroidered on throw pillows, carved into the ice bucket, and even printed on the cork coasters on the bar. Rachel picked up a coaster and examined it.thievery souvenirs already? a deep voice asked behind her.Startled, Rachel wheeled, dropping the coaster on the floor. She knelt awkwardly to retrieve it. As she grasped the coaster, she turned to see the President of the coupled States gazing down at her with an amused grin.Im not royalty, Ms. Sexton. Theres really no quest to kneel.7Senator Sedgewick Sexton savored the privacy of his Lincoln stretch limousine as it snaked through Washingtons morning traffic toward his office. Across from him, Gabrielle Ashe, his twenty-four-year-old personal assistant, read him his day-to-day schedule. Sexton was barely listening.I love Washington, he pattern, admiring the assistants perfect shape beneath her cashmere sw eater. Power is the greatest aphrodisiac of all and it brings women like this to D.C. in droves.Gabrielle was a New York Ivy Leaguer with dreams of being a senator herself one day. Shell kick in it too, Sexton thought. She was incredible-looking and sharp as a whip. Above all, she understood the rules of the game.Gabrielle Ashe was black, besides her tawny coloring was more of a deep cinnamon or mahogany, the kind of comfortable in-between that Sexton knew bleeding heart whites could licence without feeling like they were giving away the farm. Sexton described Gabrielle to his cronies as Halle Berrys looks with Hillary Clintons brains and ambition, although sometimes he thought even that was an understatement.Gabrielle had been a tremendous asset to his campaign since hed promoted her to his personal campaign assistant three months ago. And to top it all off, she was works for free. Her compensation for a sixteen-hour workday was learning the ropes in the trenches with a seasone d politician.Of course, Sexton gloated, Ive persuaded her to do a bit more than clean work. After promoting Gabrielle, Sexton had invited her to a late night orientation session in his private office. As expected, his young assistant arrived starstruck and eager to please. With a slow-moving patience mastered over decades, Sexton worked his magic mental synthesis up Gabrielles trust, carefully stripping away her inhibitions, exhibiting tantalizing control, and finally seducing her right there in his office.Sexton had little doubt the encounter had been one of the most sexually gratifying experiences of the young womans life, and yet, in the light of the day, Gabrielle intelligibly regretted the indiscretion. Embarrassed, she offered to resign. Sexton refused. Gabrielle stayed on, but she made her intentions very clear. The relationship had been strictly dividing line ever since.Gabrielles pouty lips were still moving. dont require you to be lackadaisical going into this CNN consider this afternoon. We still dont know who the flannel House is direct as opposition. Youll want to peruse these notes I typed. She handed him a folder.Sexton took the folder, savoring the olfactory modality of her perfume mixed with the plush leather seats.You arent listening, she said.Certainly am. He grinned. will about this CNN debate. Worst case scenario, the White House snubs me by sending some low-level campaign intern. Best case scenario, they send a bigwig, and I eat him for lunch.Gabrielle frowned. Fine. Ive included a list of the most presumable hostile topics in your notes.The usual suspects no doubt.With one new entry. I think you might face some hostile backlash from the homophile community for your comments last night on Larry King.Sexton shrugged, barely listening. Right. The same-sex brotherhood thing.Gabrielle gave him a disapproving look. You did come out against it pretty strongly.Same-sex marriages, Sexton thought in disgust. If it were up to me, the faggots wouldnt even digest the right to vote. Okay, Ill turn it down a notch.Good. Youve been pushing the envelope a bit on some of these hot topics lately. Dont get cocky. The public can turn in an instant. Youre gaining now, and you have momentum. Just ride it out. Theres no need to hit the ball out of the park today. Just keep it in play.Any news from the White House?Gabrielle looked pleasantly baffled. Continued silence. Its official your opponent has become the lightless Man.Sexton could barely believe his good fortune lately. For months, the President had been working hard on the campaign trail. Then suddenly, a week ago, he had locked himself in the Oval Office, and nobody had seen or heard from him since. It was as if the President simply could not face Sextons groundswell of voter support.