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didn't know was that Dev was sporting a matching blush on the other end of the phone.
     
    The President-elect mentally scolded herself for sounding like a star-struck teenager. "I need your help. I'm in a very unique position, Ms. Strayer. One that needs to be skillfully and, more importantly, accurately recorded." Dev's alarm went off, and she swatted at it with an irritated hand.
     
    "I couldn't agree more."
     
    Dark eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Then you'll do it?" People started filing into the conference room.
     
    "I didn't say that."
     
    Devlyn sighed in frustration. "Please, Ms. Strayer, help me out here. I've got a meeting in two minutes. Tell me what I need to do to get you to say yes."
     
    Lauren's car came to a stop outside the public library and waited dutifully for her to give the command to kill the ignition. "I don't think there is anything you could say," she replied honestly. "I'm flattered. Really, I am." And curious as hell. "But I don't want to have my copy ghost written by the Emancipation Party President. That's not the type of work I do. I'd be happy to recommend someone..."
     
    "What are you talking about?"
     
    Lauren could hear the puzzlement in Devlyn's voice.
     
    "That's not what I want." What did Michael say to you?
     
    The writer blew out a breath, wanting to believe the other woman, but knowing better. "You say that now. But..."
     
    "But nothing! I don't want a 'yes man' for the party. The party is paying you because I couldn't see asking the taxpayers to do it. And if I paid you myself it would call your professionalism into question, would it not?"
     
    Lauren leaned forward, listening intently. "Yes, it would."
     
    "I want someone with honesty and integrity and real talent. I want you, Ms Strayer. You'd have free rein to write whatever you see fit." Dev waved in the woman who she hoped would be the next head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Cursing the time, she spoke rapidly. "I'm giving you full access to everything and complete editorial control of the content. You're only constraint will be working within the bounds of reasonable National Security." Dev laughed. "And keeping up with me."
     
    Lauren stared at the phone for the third time, not believing what she was hearing.
     
    Dev held up a single finger, indicating to her people in the room she'd be just one more minute, as the last person sat down at the table and Jane closed the conference room door. The dark-haired woman turned her back to her guests and crossed her fingers. "Was that what you needed to hear, Ms. Strayer?"
     
    Lauren nodded dumbly. Full access? Editorial control? And a 'subject' who is making history with every thing she does? "Yeah." She swallowed hard. "That was what I needed to hear."
     
     
     
    CHAPTER I
    January 2021
     
    Thursday, January 21 st
     
    D EV TOOK A DEEP breath and looked at David McMillian, her oldest and most trusted friend, and the new White House Chief of Staff. She'd known him since her undergraduate days at Harvard. They'd studied and even roomed together for a semester, before Dev meet Samantha. Their time together cemented a friendship that had become a permanent fixture in both their lives.
     
    While Devlyn's political aspirations put her squarely in the spotlight, David was more than content to play behind the scenes, where he often, and only half-jokingly, reminded Dev, the real power lay.
     
    Dev reached out and grasped the cool metal knob, an astonished smile playing on her lips. "We did it."
     
    "Yes, we did, Madam President."
     
    "Cut that out." She scoffed at the title coming from him. They were beyond things like that, at least in private. And David knew it. But still, she was fun to tweak. "Or I'll make you call me Wonder Woman."
     
    The tall, red-haired man scratched his jaw, and his tobacco brown eyes went slightly round. "Huh?"
     
    "Never mind."
     
    It was just after dawn, and the offices were empty, an almost haunting quiet surrounding them.