Читать книгу Capitol Crimes - H.L. Katz - Страница 7

Two

Friday, July 15, 2011-Two Weeks Earlier

The anticipated arrival of the Congressional summer recess in D.C. was Callie Wheeler’s favorite time of the year. Cherry blossoms had all but vanished off the trees and the humidity that plagued the population during the summer months had been dormant. Congress was four weeks away from its annual summer vacation. As the most successful lobbyist in Washington, Callie savored the relative peace and quiet their departures granted her, if only for a few days. She had hoped to use the time to get away for some well-earned R&R with her fiance’, but she learned long ago: wishful thinking had no place when her boss was concerned. Under that cloud, Callie Wheeler sat in the conference room at the Law Offices of Miller & Gladstone, awaiting her turn to speak.

Miller and Gladstone had once been and was again, the top lobbying firm in Washington D.C. Better known on K Street as M&G, the firm rose to prominence during the two-term presidency of William Gordie Bannon. Derek Gladstone, the ‘G’ in M&G, had played college football at Stanford with the President. His close friendship with the most powerful man in the world carried influence across America and around the globe. It was no secret that Derek and his lobbying firm had intimate access to the White House. That perception not only curried favor in the halls of Congress, companies lined up at their door for the opportunity to draw close to the administration. And Derek too.

During President Bannon’s eight years, the media hounded him incessantly about the appearance of impropriety that his relationship with Derek suggested. Yet to his credit, Bannon never distanced himself from his college roommate. Everyone understood the message that loyalty conveyed. More importantly, the attention M&G received as a result of the constant publicity, whether good or bad, made Miller and Gladstone the hottest lobbying firm in the country. With the 2004 election of former U.S. Senator, President Alan Conroy, the fortunes of M&G had changed overnight. Not for the better. Access to the Oval Office and Congress were not easy to come by for what the press had once called “the world’s most prestigious law firm.”

A new chief executive in the White House brought with him new standards of access. President Conroy made a concerted effort to distance himself from the ways of his predecessor. To make matters worse, a deliberate strategy by some in the halls of power to settle old scores, left M&G, once the ultimate insider, on the outside looking in. While business was still good, it was far from the windfall of the Bannon years.

Callie Wheeler had single-handedly changed all of that.

“Where do you stand on this, Callie?” asked Barry Miller. He was her boss and a man she thoroughly distrusted.

“I’m not even sure why we’re discussing this at the moment…”

“Of course you’re not, because it’s not about you,” Whitaker Jordan interrupted Callie. He could not help but sound pompous. Jordan, a talented lobbyist in his own right, resented everything about Callie Wheeler. His distaste for her was the worst-kept secret at the firm. A former aide to retired Senator Andrew Abeles, he had butted heads with Callie quite a few times while working on Capitol Hill. He despised her then and that sentiment had not changed since he joined the firm two years earlier.

“What is it that bothers you more, Whitaker? Me being a woman, or me being a woman with an opinion?” The other lawyers seated around the conference table sat quietly. They had seen this confrontation plenty of times before.

“Stop, you two. We’re not doing this again,” Barry said. “Callie, what’s the problem?”

Callie glanced over at Jordan and gave him a sarcastic smile. She stood up and sashayed towards the dry-erase board. She picked up a red marker from the tray and yanked off the cap. The heavy smell from the marker made Callie recoil. As the fumes receded, Callie zeroed in on the proposals Barry had laid out on the white board in front of her.

“This...here...is a non-starter,” Callie said as she drew a thick long red streak diagonally across nine lines of information. “The legislation on nuclear waste is dead; I killed it before the Memorial Day break.” With the Sharpie in her hand like a sword in search of its next victim, Callie strode over to the adjacent section of the board and drew a large ‘X’.

“Drilling off the southern coast is going to happen no matter what so we don’t have to insert anything into the Wildlife bill...”

“Who says it’s gonna happen?” Jordan asked.

“I do,” Callie said as she turned around and faced Jordan and the other thirty-one attorneys in the room. “I already took care of that in the last appropriations bill and as far as that section over there,” Callie said, pointing to the far end of the board as she made her way back to her seat. “It makes no sense and we should get out of it as soon as possible...”

“Do you agree with that, Barry?” Jordan asked, obviously dissatisfied with Callie’s assessment. Jordan stood just above six-feet-tall and fancied himself a good looking man, which he was. His disheveled brown hair helped to give off a care-free attitude which he felt should have endeared him to all women, but especially Callie Wheeler. He was unsure if his hatred for her was mostly due to her success or her rebuffing of his constant advances when they had first met on the Hill five years before.

Barry hesitated a few moments before answering the question. “I think we need to consider what Callie said, but in the long run we have to protect our clients.”

Whitaker looked over at Callie. He wanted to return her sarcastic smile, but she never saw him. She’d seen this scene before from Barry and had prepared herself for the onslaught. While she had gotten used to his games, they usually involved someone else. She sometimes thought things would have been different if Derek was still around. It was at times like these that she missed him the most.

• • •

Derek Gladstone was forty-one years old when he met Callie for the first time in the Lobby at M&G. Callie had spent the previous week preparing for her interview yet none of that mattered. She was immediately struck by Derek’s athletic six foot-two frame as if it had been designed in a laboratory. After exchanging pleasantries, Callie followed him into a large office overlooking the city, where red and white carpeting dominated the decor. Behind a ten-thousand-dollar mahogany desk, a long eight-foot window exposed a skyline accented by the White House and Capitol Hill.

“Callie, this is my partner, Barry Miller.”

“How do you do, Ms. Wheeler? Welcome to Miller & Gladstone.” Barry only referred to the firm that way. He was sure it sounded more dignified than using a catchy set of initials.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Callie said.

Before he took his seat across from her, Derek motioned Callie to the corner of his office where a set of white couches were situated underneath a picture of Derek and President Bannon sharing a laugh in the Oval Office. To the left of the massive photo, another huge frame displayed a shot of Derek and the President wearing their football uniforms following Stanford’s Rose Bowl upset of Ohio State twenty years earlier. Callie gently smoothed the back of her skirt as she sat down, while Barry grabbed a black executive chair from the conference table behind him and positioned himself next to Derek.

“How do you like the view?” Derek asked, with a smile.

Callie glanced around the office. “Very impressive, sir.”

“Please, call me Derek.”

“Yes, sir…yes, Derek.”

Derek crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. “A Bruin, huh?”

“Proudly,” Callie said and smiled at his reference to her alma mater, UCLA.

“It almost cost you,” he said. “But you did your penance at Georgetown. Professor Watkins told me you are his pride and joy.”

Callie was a bit uncomfortable by the compliment, but remained confident, “I did okay.”

“Top of your class?” Derek asked. “I’d say you did a bit better than okay.”

She toyed with the sapphire ring on her middle finger. “I enjoyed my time there. But as you can see, I’m ready to move on.”

Callie had been destined for big things from an early age. Born in Kingston, Pennsylvania in 1982, she competed as a three-sport athlete at Wyoming Valley West High School in the late nineties and landed on the honor roll every semester. Voted first team all-state in both basketball and softball, Callie captained her teams to two State Championships in each sport. During her sophomore year, she won the Pennsylvania Junior Miss Pageant and spent most of her free time fulfilling her duties across the state, then vowed never to do it again.

After graduation, Callie chose to attend UCLA on a full athletic scholarship, forgoing an Ivy League education for a chance to compete on softball’s highest level and live somewhere warm. She pitched and played shortstop on three National Championship teams for the Bruins then capped off her athletic career with an Olympic gold medal as a member of the United States Women’s Softball team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Having decided to leave college after only three years, Callie attended Georgetown Law School where she graduated first in her class. It was because of that success and hard work that she was sitting in Derek’s office and interviewing for the job of her dreams.

“Human resources was very impressed with your previous interviews and that’s why you are one of the two candidates we’re still considering for this position. However, Barry and I feel you’re the best one for the job.”

Barry bobbed his head and smiled at Callie. He said nothing. She wondered for a moment what exactly Barry did at the firm. His expensive suit and Bruno Mali shoes did little to cover up his thinning black hair and uncomfortable smile. It was evident from the outset that he did not possess the same confidence that Derek did. She assumed that Barry was the managing partner while Derek excelled at the hand-grabbing and schmoozing that’s required on the Hill.

“By the time most applicants get to us, they’re all questioned out. The good news is, we only ask one.” Derek smiled at her again. “Why do you want to work at our firm?”

Callie slipped her hair behind her left ear, exposing a silver bamboo hoop earring, which drew the attention of both men. She clasped her hands together and rested them on top of her knee, before giving her answer.

“I want to help people, nothing more, nothing less. Far too many citizens in this country are disenfranchised and feel they have no say in our political process. I want to be their voice. I want to make a difference in the lives of people who don’t have access to the decision-makers.”

As Callie answered his question, Derek stared at the stunning young woman who sat across from him. He was distracted by her heart-shaped face and the light brown hair that fell slightly below her shoulders. He did his best to remain professional, but her long legs kept drawing his eyes back to them.

“Callie, we think you are exactly what we’re looking for,” Derek said, finally lifting his eyes to meet hers.

Barry Miller all but confirmed Callie’s original assessment of the partnership. “Ms. Wheeler, we’ve had quite a number of accomplished lawyers apply for this position, but no one has impressed our committee more than you have. We would like to offer you a job here at Miller & Gladstone. You’ll start at $140,000.00 with full benefits.”

“All we need to know from you is, would you like to work here?” asked Derek.

Callie had waited weeks to hear those words and took no time at all in giving her response. “When can I start?”

Derek handed her a contract. Callie spent a few minutes reading the fine print, much to the approval of the two men sitting across from her. “If you have any questions, Callie, please do not hesitate to ask,” Derek said.

“We know how daunting something like this can be,” Barry said, playing his part in the double team approach.

Callie signed the contract and handed it back to Barry who placed it on the coffee table in front of her. Derek stood up and held out his hand. “We shall see you in the morning, Ms. Wheeler.”

Callie was barely able to contain her excitement, having landed the job she had wanted since her sophomore year in college. She gracefully stood up from the couch and met Derek’s hand. “Thank you for the opportunity.”

“It is great to have you aboard.”

A few moments later, Callie confidently strolled out of Derek’s office. Her smile extended from ear to ear. Standing in the lobby, it struck her that she would be working a few short blocks away from the most powerful legislative body in the world. Not bad for a small town girl, she thought.

“How cool is this?” Callie said to no one as she stepped inside the empty elevator.

Following Callie’s departure, Barry began to pace the room. Derek took a seat behind his desk. “I mean is she not perfect? Do you have any idea what she will do for this firm?” Barry said. “She will own the Capitol.”

Derek smiled as he thought about the possibilities. “Smart,” he said. “Ambitious, focused and not to mention she’s breathtaking. She’s about to cause some ridiculous damage, Barry.”

Derek removed a pen and a small notebook from his jacket pocket and began to jot something down then stopped and shook his head. “What do you think Bannon’s gonna say when he gets a load of her?” he asked. He laughed proudly thinking of the former president’s penchant for women like Callie.

It had been almost two years since M&G was the toast of K Street and no matter what they had tried, the firm could not attain the success they once enjoyed. They watched helplessly as others moved in on what used to be their exclusive territory. The time had come to change the game and Derek could not wait to unleash Callie on the public.

• • •

Six years later, Callie did own the Capital as Barry had predicted, but that meant nothing to Whitaker Jordan.

“I agree, Barry, our clients should be our top priority on this and I vote to move forward on the entire agenda you put on the board.”

“Are we all in agreement on this?” Barry asked. He surveyed the room and noticed the large number of hands that assented with the motion Jordan put forward. Across the table, Callie was visibly agitated. “Why waste the political capital on legislation that has already passed through Congress?” she asked. “Am I the only one who sees that?”

Barry wasted no time in responding. “No, you’re not, but we are running a business...”

“And we used to be a legitimate one,” Callie said. “Since when did we start billing new clients for work we completed for someone else?”

“I guess we aren’t privy to your outstanding efforts, Callie,” Jordan said, dripping with more sarcasm than usual.

Callie looked at Barry. She raised her eyebrows anticipating he would speak up on her behalf. No words were forthcoming.

“Seriously?” Callie asked looking at him in response to his ten seconds of silence.

“We’ll move on these today,” Barry said as if Callie was no longer in the conference room. “Whitaker, you take the lead on Alford Chemical and I’ll divvy up what’s left within the hour. Callie, you stay here; the rest of you are free to go.”

Callie leaned back in her chair as she watched the other lawyers shuffle out. After the last attorney exited the boardroom, Barry walked slowly to a seat across from Callie, but stayed on his feet.

“Don’t you ever throw me under the fuckin’ bus again,” Barry said, as he pointed his finger at the only other person in the conference room.

“Me, throw you under the bus? You’re kidding me, right?”

“What do you call it?”

“You asked my opinion and I gave it to you,” Callie said.

Barry leaned across the table and drew his face closer to Callie’s. “I asked your opinion as a courtesy, not to have you piss all over me.”

“Since when do we rubber-stamp shit around here?” Callie asked, glaring right back at her boss.

“Don’t do it again.” Barry pointed at her a second time then turned and started for the door.

Callie picked up her pen and legal pad and prepared to go. “You ever gonna pull your pit-bull off me?”

Barry slowly rotated his body back towards her. “My pit-bull?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Whitaker gets it done,” Barry said, more to piss her off than anything else.

“That’s bullshit, Barry and you know it.” Callie dismissed his last comment with a wave of her hand.

“Don’t do it again, Callie.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Don’t do it again,” he said as he stepped out of the conference room, leaving Callie alone in her thoughts. She thought about Derek and just how different things had become since his departure. The void his absence created changed the fortunes of so many lives, but most notably, her own.