Lethal Misconduct Read Online Free PDF Page A

should be, strong and imposing. A former baseball star, Sen. Thompson clobbered opponents just as he’d hammered baseballs into the outfield.
    He’d learned to temper his aggression, toning down his rhetoric and schmoozing with the best of Washington. Elected in a close battle with an incumbent Democrat, the Republican swept into the senate full of exuberance and hope. While he had made his share of dents in the hide of the government beast, he’d also become accustomed to the lifestyle. Back when his wife was alive, they’d traveled constantly, eating at extravagant restaurants and staying in swanky hotels, all on someone else’s dime.
    Comfortable in his new role, the death of his wife had saddened him to the point of deep depression. Unlike so many other politicians in town, Mac Thompson had loved his wife as much as he had that first bright spring day in high school. They’d been together for close to thirty years when she passed. It had almost killed him.
    The only thing that kept him from succumbing to his despair was his son. He was Thompson’s sole heir, a miracle really. Countless doctors had said that Mindy Thompson would never conceive, but she did. It was a complicated birth, but twenty-five years before, Michael Thompson came into the world, screaming and healthy.
    Michael represented all that was good in the senator’s life. When fifteen year old Michael had lost his mother, he’d been the one to comfort his father, rarely leaving his side. They’d forged an iron bond since then, not a day going by that they didn’t at least talk on the phone.
    Those thoughts raged in his mind as Senator Mac Thompson stepped into the corner room, curtains thrown wide to let in the last rays of daylight. His son lay in bed staring at his cell phone, probably texting his girlfriend, a pretty little thing from South Carolina. Michael looked up when his father entered.
    “Hey, Dad. I didn’t think you were stopping by tonight.”
    Sen. Thompson leaned down and hugged his son, careful not to disturb the IV line affixed to his son’s arm.
    “Are you kidding? There’s no place I’d rather be.”
    Michael rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Dad. You know you don’t have to babysit me. Everything’s taken care of.”
    Sen. Thompson patted his son on the shoulder, waiting until the lump in his throat passed so he could speak. He looks so much like Mindy . Weeks before, he’d received a call from the Georgetown University clinic. The physician’s assistant had calmly told the senator that Michael, who was in the process of earning his law degree, had passed out at the gym. “He’s doing fine, but we’d like to do some tests,” she’d said.
    The initial tests came back negative for anything obvious. Michael had insisted that he’d partied too hard over the weekend and probably hadn’t hydrated properly. No novice to drinking, Sen. Thompson insisted that his son have a thorough examination. A day later the doctor came back with the verdict. It was small cell lung cancer.
    “But he’s so young. He doesn’t even smoke!” Sen. Thompson had said to the doctor.
    “Sometimes we don’t know what causes it, Senator. I’ll get a treatment plan to you right away.”
    The oncologist recommended chemotherapy. Treatment began and Thompson tried to be optimistic, but something in his gut told him it was bad. It was in the way the doctor glanced at him from time to time, as if expecting the powerful senator to rain down hail and brimstone should she fail to cure his son.
    The first round of chemo had no effect, and the cancer spread quickly. Michael remained upbeat, but the weight started coming off and his energy levels waned. The senator’s son was dying and there was nothing he could do. Almost.
    “You want me to run out and get something from Five Guys? I’ll bet you’re sick of the hospital food by now,” said the senator.
    “I’m okay, Dad. It’s not so bad.” Michael yawned, his eyes drooping.
    That was just like