She paused, looked thoughtful, shook her head and said, barely audibly, “No, I shouldn’t say . . .”
“Say what?” he pounced. “What were you going to say?”
She bit her lip, hesitated, breathed rapidly to make herself flush. “I’m not sure it’s relevant, Senator.”
He almost screamed at her. “I’ll be the judge of that! Answer the question.”
She said, haltingly, as if she hadn’t planned it down to every pause and sigh: “I started to say that it … ah … probably wasn’t the envoys or the president who encouraged the predators.” Sigh. “It’s probable that the predators have sought or even made an agreement with some member or members of the U.S. Congress.” Sigh, again, look down, pick at the seam of her skirt, shake her head very slightly. “They do want hunting privileges on Earth very badly.”
Morse turned absolutely white.
“Hunt what?” cried one of the members.
“Why, people,” she said, looking up innocently. “There are more of us here than anything else.”
And at that point the committee room exploded, some yelling, some looking serious, some merely staring angrily at Morse while others focused their suspicion on Benita. There were only men on this committee, loud ones, and Benita put her hands over her ears. Chad leaned over to her and asked her if she wanted to take a break while they ranted at one another. She nodded. He whispered to one of the members, and they went out, Benita to the ladies’ room, Chad to a secluded corner of the corridor where he could use his phone. When Benita opened the door to come out, she saw reporters and cameramen in the hallway. She wasn’t ready to talk to them yet. They didn’t see her, and when she peeked out a bit later, they had gone.
“They’ll be downstairs when we’re finished,” Chad said, looking into her eyes with frank curiosity. “Did you have that bombshell all ready to drop on him?”
“Sort of,” she admitted, flushing. “I was angry at being harassed, first off, and when I got here I was even angrier at being accused of things, and I thought, well, that works both ways. Why not be the accuser instead of the accused? That contempt of Congress bit just made me furious, Chad. Just like the judge in Albuquerque. Let Morse be dropped in the you-know-what for a change.”
They went back to the committee room. Senator Morse was pale, his lips pinched, his jaw seeming set in cement, but he managed to speak without yelling.
“Why did you say said the predators had already made contact with members of Congress?”
She gave him her innocent look. “I said it was probable, Senator, because the Pistach told me that’s the predators’ usual mode of action. If they can get some level of government or even some individual associated with the government to make an agreement with them, like a senator or a representative or some member of the staff of a legislator, even if some other level of government or other individuals would oppose such an agreement, the matter then has to be settled in the Confederation courts, and it can take a very long time to sort out. Centuries, even. During which the predators go on hunting. The Pistach told me the predators always record such understandings . . .”
Morse turned, if possible, even paler.
“. . . so they have them for evidence in Confederation courts.”
A thoughtful-looking man at the end of the table asked, “Do you, personally, know anyone who might be involved with the predators?”
“I can’t swear to it,” she said. “But I think General McVane may be involved, along with a man named Dink Dinklemier, a man named Prentice Arthur, and a man named Briess. The man named Arthur approached my husband and the man named Briess evidently threatened my son. I also received an anonymous phone call early this morning threatening to hurt my family if I didn’t turn myself over to the person calling. I told the voice on the phone that I couldn’t because I’d agreed to appear before this committee.”
The place blew up again. The name Dinklemier led them straight to Morse, and he became the immediate focus of their shouted questions. Someone, presumably the vice chairman, grabbed the gavel out of his hand and declared a thirty-minute recess. Chad and Benita left, Chad remarking to the man at the door that they would be in the House gallery. They sat there, watching Congress at work, Benita remarking that on that particular day, it was not exciting.