Capitol Betrayal

Capitol Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Capitol Betrayal Read Online Free PDF
Author: William Bernhardt
Tags: Fiction, General
the coast of Virginia. If they are successful, it could upset my entire energy plan. Are they going to be successful?”
    “Predicting the outcome of lawsuits is a fool’s game,” Ben replied.
    A corner of the president’s mouth tugged upward. “I must be paying you for something.”
    “Here’s the reality of the situation. There are many places SageTech could’ve filed this lawsuit. They undoubtedly chose Virginia because the state’s supreme court leans heavily to the right. Regardless of what happens in the lower courts, it will eventually end up before the state supremes, and some of them might be tempted to vote their politics instead of their legal precedents.”
    “But then we could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
    “Yes, but it’s also heavy on the Republican side.”
    “They can’t just ignore the law.”
    “No. They’ll say the law is unconstitutional and argue that is should be set aside.”
    “I assume you’ll have a response.”
    Ben raised his eyebrows. “Now that
is
what you pay me for.” Ben removed a stapled bundle of papers from his legal pad. “I’ve prepared three drafts exemplifying different approaches we could take. All of them are geared toward one thing.”
    “Winning in the Supreme Court.”
    “No. Winning everywhere. Because we don’t want a lower-court loss. Even if we can later get it reversed, the press will be all over it, the Speaker of the House will declare it a victory, and your energy plan will suffer.”
    “You’re exactly right.”
    “So we need to win, not just in the last court, but in every court.”
    “That would be a miracle.”
    Ben shrugged slightly. “Miracles are kind of my specialty.”
    President Kyler extended his hand. “Kincaid, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I like you. And I’m glad to have you on my staff.”
    “The feeling is mutual, sir.”
    “I hate to break up this lovefest,” Cartwright barked, “but when the Middle East is on the brink of disaster, don’t we have more important things to discuss than some damn lawsuit?”
    Kyler sighed. “Stay calm, Admiral. It’s not as if the United States has never intervened in Middle Eastern affairs before.”
    “Don’t I know it! There’s been too much of it. Never comes to anything good.”
    “That’s not—”
    “We have no jurisdiction there,” Cartwright said adamantly. It seemed he was willing to address the newly elected president in the same officious manner he used to address Ben.
    To Kyler’s credit, he took it all in stride—though this close up, Ben did notice a tiny twitch in his eye. “Will, there’s no point in being the leader of the free world if you’re not willing to lead.”
    “All you’re doing is asking for more trouble in the Middle East, as if we hadn’t had enough already. And for what? A bunch of overfed, overpaid sheiks who blow their money on fancy hotel rooms instead of building a nation?”
    “That’s only a small percentage of—”
    “It doesn’t matter. America’s first concern should be America.”
    “And it is. But when we wield so much power, it would be immoral to stand idly by and—”
    “If you send in those troops, you’ll leave a gaping hole in our national defense.”
    “A hole? A hole?” Kyler smiled and, to Ben’s amazement, began to sing. “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.”
    The room fell silent. Ben saw Dr. Albertson and Sarie exchange a meaningful glance.
    Kyler continued grinning. While the others watched silently, he rose from his chair and walked to his desk.
    Ben knew he had been under a good deal of stress during his first few months in office. Was the strain already starting to get to him? His eyes seemed unfocused and distant.
    “I love this desk,” Kyler said, rubbing his hand lightly over the inset leather blotter. “It’s called the Resolute desk. Do you know why? It was made from the timbers of the
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