The Aeschylus Read Online Free Page B

switched on behind her. She hadn't even noticed it was there. CNN flashed a view inside Capitol Hill, a gruff-looking man behind a podium. She recognized him immediately as Jack Fields, an old ex-marine built like a battleship with a voice just as tinny. “It is with great humility, but great honor, that I rescind my position here and rise to aid my commander-in-chief. Though we can never replace a man that was as stalwart and steadfast as—”
    “Sorry,” Merrie said behind them, hitting the Mute button on a remote.
    Fields went on as the sound cut out, gesticulating in silence. Kate knew what the speech was about, of course. Two days ago, Jack Fields had been Speaker of the House. Today, he was Kate's father's replacement. Or perhaps replacement was a poor word; he was his successor . She had met Jack twice prior to her father's funeral, and the most she could say was that there were worse men for the job.
    “My fault,” Merrie said. “I bumped the remote.”
    Was that jealousy Kate saw in her eyes? Dream on, honey.
    “No problem,” Michael said, unperturbed. Then to Kate, “This way.”
    The first stop was his office which, if possible, was even larger and more lavishly decorated than the corporate reception room. Like her godfather, it seemed her newest acquaintance was a collector of books, and he had the shelves to prove it. Kate thought of her own office three floors below—a cluttered mess of stacked folders and field reports that looked more like a college dorm room than a place of employment—and felt a tinge of embarrassment.
    He stopped just long enough to pick up the phone at his desk. “Yes, she's here. We're on our way down.”
    When he hung up, Kate thought he looked nervous.
    “I'm afraid things are a bit of a mess right now. My counterpart in Abu Dhabi wants us to get started immediately, and I don't blame him.”
    “Get started?” Godfried had told her about the meeting, but with all the hubbub, it had almost slipped her mind. “Oh, right.”
    “Walk with me. I'll try to get you up to speed.”
    Michael led her down a stairwell, through another concatenation of expensive-looking offices. “As you can imagine, this could be a public relations nightmare. Not to mention what it's going to do to our stock once this gets out. And we're not going to be able to keep it from getting out much longer.”
    Kate was trying to keep up with the details, but it was hard. Production stopped. Personnel missing. Disaster on the newest and most expensive platform ever owned by the company.
    “So you coming into the fold is a bit fortuitous. We don't want to break this to our public relations department until later today, but you're of that department. So your insights would be greatly appreciated.”
    “Hold on,” Kate said, stopping.
    Michael stopped. For a moment—just a moment—his stolid demeanor cracked. “Sure. What's wrong?”
    “I just... I want to know what's going on, here.”
    “I'm sorry,” he said, moving his hand to her arm. She didn't want to feel comforted by it, but somehow, she did. “I didn't want to put so fine a point on it, Kate, but the truth is, we have a bit of a crisis on our hands. I would love to stop and talk to you about long-term company goals, and maybe we'll get a chance later, but this comes first. I apologize that this is all happening so quickly.”
    “All right,” she said.
    “Good. Now, we only need to stop at the security desk down here for a moment, then we'll go in.”
    “The security desk?” Kate had never been to this floor, and moments later, she found herself face to face with another receptionist with a pen in hand.
    Five minutes and three non-disclosure agreements later, Kate walked into a meeting room, this one large enough to accommodate forty people or more. It looked just under half
full when she and Michael walked in.
    For the umpteenth time that morning, Kate found herself flummoxed. The room was littered with heavy hitters from the