The First Lady - James Patterson Page 0,90
have talked to him. When he called, you should have transferred the call to me. He and his company belong to me. I’ve been working to sign him up for months. Months!”
Tammy says, “Not my choice. He wanted to talk to me, and he made it quite clear: he and his company will do business with Pearson, Pearson, and Price, but only with me. Not you.”
She reaches for her phone. “Get the hell out of here. Now.”
“If you’re thinking about calling Lucian, I wouldn’t do it, Amanda. He doesn’t like you. His wife and mother don’t like you. The only reason they’re coming here is because of me.” Tammy steps forward for emphasis. “If you go around me and try to mess this up, within the hour, the board of directors will hear from me on how you sabotaged a deal worth millions of dollars.”
Amanda’s finely manicured hand is still on her phone. “Are you testing me?”
“Not a test, Amanda. A statement of fact. Lucian Crockett is coming aboard, and I’m supplying the ticket.”
She slowly draws her hand back. She looks at Tammy, looks out the window, then back at Tammy.
Something resembling a smile creases her face. “Well … I suppose some arrangement can be made … for the good of the company.”
“I agree, Amanda. For the good of the company. I’m glad you see it that way.”
Silence, and Tammy decides to push it. “That’s very understanding of you, Amanda. And I need to understand something else. Back when you … broke into my condo, and after I told you I had been in a car accident, you said traffic can be awful on Interstate Sixty-six. How did you know I was on Sixty-six? I didn’t tell you. Did you arrange that accident?”
She shakes her head. “No … Tammy, there are corners I will cut, lines I will cross, but not something like … that. No.”
Amanda glances with longing at her slowly burning cigarette. “Information. That’s all. I always look to get information about our clients and our employees. Your name is on a list, that’s all. And I got a phone call from a source of mine at the Virginia State Police, telling me about your accident. That’s all.”
Tammy says, “Fair enough.” She turns and starts to the office door. “By the way, before you call Jeb back, make another call, will you? By the end of the week, I want a bigger office, with a better view.”
The smile on that painted face disappears, but her voice is agreeable. “I don’t see why not.”
She leaves Amanda, and just before she gets to her soon-to-be former office, her cell phone rings and she notices the familiar incoming number.
Tammy feels it’ll be the last time a call from this number will ever be received on her phone.
CHAPTER 86
OUTSIDE OF THE Oval Office, it looks like it’s going to rain. The President of the United States slowly sits down, and when his chief of staff makes to do the same, Harrison Tucker holds up a hand.
“You can keep standing,” he says, so very tired and worn. “You won’t be here long.”
“Mr. President, I—”
Tucker motions him to keep quiet. He says, “I blame myself, I guess, Parker. I got the first taste of power back in Ohio, loved it, and you just kept on feeding it and feeding it to me. Like an addict and his relationship with a pusher.”
“Harry—”
Tucker shakes his head. “It’s over. Get out and have your resignation on my desk within the hour. I’ll be polite, I’ll let you depart with my thanks and praise, but that’s it, Parker. You’re through.”
His chief of staff walks around the front of his desk and leans over, both hands on the top of the Resolute desk. “You goddamn fool—put on your big-boy pants and listen to me. All right? Listen to me! That bitch Secret Service agent … she’s bluffing. She won’t go public. She won’t go to the press. We just need to get through the next three weeks and have you win the election. That’s all. Just win the damn election.”
Tucker feels like all he has accomplished, all he has built, all he’s done since coming here to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is finished, done, spoiled because of this man standing in front of him.
“You wanted my wife dead. Get out.”
“I wanted you reelected. And if it meant losing that cold bitch—”
Tucker abruptly stands up, so he’s practically nose-to-nose with his chief of staff. “All right, now you’re out of here—I