ton of money doing it. I assume you didn’t do so badly yourself.”
“I did well. What else?”
He stared at her strangely. “Why do you want to hear something you
already know? Is Buchanan somehow mixed up in all this?”
Now it was Faith’s turn to scrutinize Lee. If he was playing dumb, he
was doing an exceptional job, she thought.
“Danny Buchanan is an honorable man. I owe him everything I have.”
“Sounds like a good friend. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“People like Danny are rare. A true visionary.”
“And you?”
“Me? I just help implement his vision. People like me are a dime a
dozen.”
“You don’t strike me as so ordinary.” Faith took a sip of coffee and
didn’t respond. “So how does one become a lobbyist?”
Faith stifled a yawn and sipped her coffee again. Her head was
starting to pound. She had never needed much rest, galloping the
globe, catching only plane catnaps. But right now she felt like
curling up under the table and sleeping for the next ten years. Maybe
her body was reacting to the last twelve hours of horror by shutting
itself down, throwing in the towel. Please don’t hurt me.
“I could lie and say I wanted to change the world. That’s what
everyone says, isn’t it?” She pulled a bottle of aspirin from her bag,
popped two and washed them down with coffee. “Actually, I remember
watching the Watergate hearings when I was a kid. All those very
serious people in that room. All these middle-aged men with wide ugly
ties, puffy faces, over-easy hair, talking into these clunky
microphones, and all the lawyers whispering into their ears. All the
media, the whole world focused right there. What the rest of the
country apparently found appalling, I found extremely cool. All that
power!” She smiled weakly into her coffee cup. “My demented soul. The
nuns were right about me. One in particular, Sister Audrey Ann, truly
believed my name was a blasphemy. “Dear Faith,” she would say, ‘live
up to your Christian name, not down to your devilish urges.””
“So you were a rabble rouser?”
“It’s like if I saw a habit coming my way I just turned evil. My dad
moved us around a lot, but I did well enough in school, even if I
raised hell outside it. I went to a good college, ended up in
Washington with all those memories of absolute power dancing in my
head. I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do with myself, but I
knew desperately I wanted to get into the game. I did a stint on
Capitol Hill for a freshman congressman and caught the eye of Danny
Buchanan. He snatched me up, saw something in me, I guess. I think he
liked my spirit-I was running the office with all of two months’
experience behind me. The way I sort of refused to back down from
anyone, even the Speaker of the House.”
“I guess that is impressive for somebody right out of college.”
“My philosophy was, after the nuns, politicians weren’t much of a
challenge.”
Lee cracked a smile. “Makes me glad I went to public school.” He
glanced away for a second. “Don’t look now, but the FBI is
circling.”
“What?” She whipped her head around, looking everywhere.
Lee rolled his eyes. “Oh, that was good.”
“Where are they?”
He lightly smacked the tabletop. “They’re nowhere. And they’re
everywhere. The Feds don’t walk around with their badges pinned to
their foreheads. You won’t see them.”
“So why the hell did you say they were circling?”
“It was a little test. And you failed. I can spot the Feds,
sometimes, not always. If I ever say that to you again, I won’t be
kidding. They will be there. And you can’t react the way you just
did. Normal, slow movements. Just a pretty woman on a holiday with
her boyfriend. Understand?”
“Okay, fine. But just don’t pull that crap on me again. My nerves
aren’t well rested.”
“How are you paying for the tickets?”
“How should I pay for them?”
“Your credit card. Under your other name. Don’t want to flash a bunch