Today’s
excerpt is from Back To China, a stand alone book featuring Jim Scott and some
other old friends. Pepper gets the info
she wanted in short order. Enjoy and
have a wonderful day.
m.j.
When Baucus
arrived, he was introduced to Pepper and Suzan.
“Ladies, this is T. Stedman Baucus.
He is directly in charge of the Hogan-Walendy project…as it is being
called, for lack of a better name.”
Pepper held out
her hand and nodded. “I’m Pepper
Hollins, T. My short friend is Suzan
Telman. With her is her son, Andrew
James.”
Pepper was a
tall, thin, but very muscularly framed woman, while Suzan was several inches
shorter—and while all muscle—she was a bit chunkier. Baucus, nearer Suzan’s height, looked up at
Pepper, without smiling, and after not having shaken the offered hand, mumbled,
“I prefer to be called Stedman…or Mr. Baucus.”
Pepper, with a
very brief smile, with only one side of her face responding, looked at
Joe. “If you’ll excuse us.”
Joe turned
without a word and left the room, shutting the door as he went back into his
office.
Pepper looked
hard at Baucus. “Please have a seat, T.”
Pepper had taken
an instant dislike to Baucus, even as he walked into the room. She noticed he was shifty-eyed, and seemed a
bit nervous. Also, he was in shirtsleeves,
and she noticed sweat forming under his armpits, through the dampened
shirt.
She asked a few
questions of no importance, then suddenly asked, “Why did you get involved in
this? Was it money, or some silly
liberal notion?”
“I will not sit
here and be insulted in this manner.
This interview is over.”
As he started to
stand, Pepper growled and pointed, “Sit.”
After he eased
back down into the chair he had been sitting in, Pepper told him much of what
Drew had told Mao Jinping. She mentioned
having the promise of a pardon from the President for any laws she might
violate, and several threats similar to those Drew had used.
Baucus
broke. He admitted he had passed the
information of the departure on to Sammy Lee…for a considerable amount of
money. As soon as he gave her Lee’s
name, Pepper immediately called Drew.
“Got a name for you—probably the guy who ran the operation.”
“Sammy Lee?”
“I hate when you
do that, Andrew F. Hollins. Yeah. Goodbye.”
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