investment opportunity in Dubai that as of now was looking more and more like a shady deal.
He and his dad shared a lot of qualities, but lately Jack had been taking stock. At just about his age, his father had already been medically discharged as a lieutenant from the Marines, married his mom, had two kids, earned a fortune as a trader at Merrill Lynch, completed a Ph.D. in history, taught at the Naval Academy, and joined the CIA.
If life was a race between him and his dad, his dad was lapping him badly. Heck, Jack felt like he was still stuck in the starting blocks. He pulled off his reading glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, willing away the headache boiling up behind his blue eyes. His desk phone rang. Surprising, given the hour. It was Gerry Hendley, his boss. His dad had persuaded Gerry to found Hendley Associates and The Campus years ago.
“Hello, Gerry.”
“Jack, I was wondering if you could spare a few moments.”
“I’ll be right up.”
* * *
—
Gerry Hendley, the former senator from South Carolina, clapped Jack on his broad back as he stepped into the fourth-floor office. He pointed him to one of the two chairs in front of his spotless desk and took the other one himself.
“Thanks for coming up, son,” Hendley said, in his honey-baked southern drawl. “I know you’re on a deadline on that Dubai deal. How’s that squaring up?”
“Dad always said when something looks too good to be true, it probably is. I just can’t quite put my finger on it yet.”
“I know you’re as stubborn as your father, which is a virtue in this line of work. Coffee?”
“I’m fine, thanks. What can I do for you?”
Hendley’s tailored shirt with French cuffs and diamond links was as immaculate as his mane of silver hair. The former senator was a shrewd financial expert in his own right, and Hendley Associates was one of the most profitable firms in its industry. But the ex-senator’s passion was still national security. Like Jack’s father, Hendley was an old-fashioned patriot, and unashamed to say so. More important, he was willing to back up his sentiment with something more than words. The one hundred presigned presidential pardons sitting in his office safe were for the protection of his employees, not himself.
“I just had a long and interesting conversation with Arnie van Damm. Did you hear about what happened on Dixon’s committee today?”
“No, sorry. I’ve been buried in reports.”
“I won’t bore you with the details, but the long and the short of it is our shared concern that Senator Dixon might be playing ball for the Red Chinese.”
Jack frowned. “That’s quite an accusation.”
“More of a hunch, actually.”
Jack nodded. If his father had actual proof, the woman would already be in jail awaiting trial, senator or not.
“She’s probably not the only one. There’s a lot of Chinese money floating around D.C. these days.”
“But few are as powerful as Senator Deborah Dixon. If it’s true, it’s a real problem.”
“How do I fit in?”
“I know your plate is full right now, and you’ve got a leave of absence coming up in a few days, but I’m asking you to put everything aside and take a look at Senator Dixon’s financial situation.”
Jack shifted in his chair. Finishing the Dubai project was a high priority for him, but his leave of absence was essential. He’d made a promise to Cory and he was determined to keep it.
“We have a deep bench of financial analysts who are every bit as good or better than I am. Can’t one of them take this on?”
Hendley flashed a wide smile. His perfectly aligned teeth sparkled with porcelain veneers. The effect was a cross between a kindly grandfather and a great white shark. “You have a unique skill set in this regard, my boy. You have a doggedness to you that can’t be taught, and, more important, the political savvy to know when to tread lightly, if you catch my drift.”
“In other words, snoop inside her sock drawers, but don’t get caught doing it.”
“Not even a whiff of suspicion. Especially after the Chadwick fiasco. We need to keep as low a profile as possible.”
Nobody in the Ryan family was particularly fond of Chadwick. Her irrationally unjustified personal animus toward the President had been expressed frequently in private and public venues until just recently. Her accusation that the President maintained a “personal assassination squad” was almost comically stupid and unbelievable to all but the most intractable Ryan haters,