Drummer In the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

so outstretched the fingers looked splayed backward. “When I heard Grant was putting you up for the job, my first thought was, whoa, don’t know if I’ve got it in me to go another fifteen rounds against this man.” He swallowed Wynn’s hand in a beefy grip. Up close Taylor smelled of some expensive fragrance and shone with a dedicated golfer’s tan. “Then I recollected the face and the stories and I thought, shoot, Grant’s done caught himself a winner here.”
    Taylor turned to include the pair of people emerging from his office, an elegant older gentleman and a young aide. “Last time I saw this man, he was walking off with fifty-eight and three-quarter million of my dollars.”
    “You got off light,” Wynn said, unable to hide the remembered burn. “The judge was going to cook you.”
    To the elegant man in the doorway, Taylor went on, “Little bitsy company down Orlando way, first thing I ever heard of them was how they were busy suing us in federal court. Old Wynn here claimed we’d been engaging in unfair competition.”
    “Which you had.” Bribery and commercial extortion to prevent their clients from using Wynn’s newer products, not to mention encroaching on Wynn’s patents. Wynn’s company had been bought out as part of the settlement.
    “Water under the dam, old son.” Jackson Taylor gripped Wynn’s arm, giving him a power massage. “You got rich in the process, am I right or am I right.”
    “Didn’t get a nickel that wasn’t ours.”
    The older gentleman spoke with the bored nasal twang of old New England money. “Sounds like you two have a number of old battles to discuss, Jackson.”
    “No time for that. We got too many wars in the right here and right now. Don’t we, Wynn.”
    “We’ll leave you to it, then.” The gentleman started forward, trailed by his aide. “Good to see you again, Jackson. Congressman.”
    “Appreciate the check, John. You don’t know how much it means, counting on people like you in our hour of dire need.”
    Wynn watched Taylor give the gentleman a two-handed farewell, then allowed himself to be ushered inside. To his left was the most amazing power wall Wynn had ever seen. There must have been a hundred photographs, including five different presidents. “I think some of those people are dead.”
    “Don’t let on.” Taylor motioned him into a chair. “You take coffee?”
    “I’m fine, thanks.” To his right, a trophy case held every party memorabilia known to man, most of it gilded. On its top, a full-winged eagle came in for a sterling silver landing. “This is some place you’ve got here.”
    “Yeah, it’s all Washington.” Jackson Taylor had formerly been CEO of a Fortune Twenty company, one division of which had been the largest competitor of Wynn’s own firm. “How about this now. The two of us sitting here, talking like two old buddies ready to take on the world.”
    “Never thought it would happen,” Wynn agreed. “None of it.”
    Taylor leaned forward. “We are allies, aren’t we, old son?”
    Wynn found more warmth in the gaze of the deer mounted on Jackson’s wall. “Like you said, Jackson, I got rich off the battle.”
    “There you go then.” He leaned back, satisfied. “My secretary’s made you a list of critical issues coming up. And some related files. You want me to messenger them over?”
    “Sure. Don’t know when I’m going to read them, though.”
    “Yeah, this place will bury you in paper if you let it. Have your staffers give them a look-see, hit the high spots for you.” The smile resurfaced. “Talked with the boys. Wanted you to know we’re ready to bankroll your next election.”
    “I’m just a caretaker, Jackson. In and out in eighteen months.”
    The grin broadened, creasing the tanned skin around his dead eyes. “Give the town a few weeks. This kind of power has an infectious quality. Besides, you’re our kind of man.”
    “What kind is that?”
    “A fighter and a winner. I’ve heard