Political Suicide Read Online Free PDF

and Sarah groaned. “Great, so now we’re playing charades.”
    “Yes,” McHugh said. “If I drink, I lose my license.”
    “And what’s Dr. Welcome supposed to do for us here, Dr. McHugh? From what I was told by Grayson, you may be facing some pretty serious charges. The fewer people you speak to about this, the better. I’d suggest you make that rule one.”
    “You can call me Gary. Lou is a friend of mine since college. He’s is going to help figure out who killed Elias Colston.”
    “No, he’s not,” Sarah said.
    “Yes, he is,” McHugh countered.
    “Somehow, I think I must have a say in this,” Lou cut in. “If Gary needs my help, and if I think his request is reasonable, I’m going to try to help him.”
    Lou had actually not decided if there was anything he could do, but Sarah Cooper was inadvertently discovering that the one sure way to get him to do something was to push in the opposite direction.
    The attorney frowned. “His involvement could seriously compromise your case, Gary. Isn’t there some sort of conflict of interest at work with his being your monitor at all?”
    “He’s going to help,” McHugh said. “No matter what it looks like, I didn’t kill Colston.”
    “Great,” Sarah said. “That’s just great. Listen, Gary, this isn’t The People’s Court or Judge Judy. If you are charged with this crime, there are people whose livelihood will depend on seeing that you spend the rest of your life in prison, and the laws that they will use to do it are built around rules and technicalities. So what happens when this man here does something dumb and amateurish that forces us to toss out evidence critical to your defense? Listen, we have plenty of investigators at our disposal—investigators highly trained in what they do.”
    “I don’t care how good your investigators are,” McHugh said. “I have a gut instinct about these things, and my gut is telling me I need him.”
    “In that case, Doctor,” Sarah said, “I’m going to have to discuss things with my partners and see if we want to continue representing you.”
    At that moment, the doorbell rang. McHugh wandered over to the window, peeled back the drapes, and peered out into the dark. Blue and red strobe lights illuminated his face.
    “The police,” he said. “Guess they decided to keep CNN out of this until they paid me a visit. He looked first to Lou, next to Sarah. “Lou, as soon as possible, I need you to go and speak with Jeannine. She knows you’ve been helping me with my recovery, and is much more likely to speak with you than with any investigator. Now, please, I’m counting on you both. Please … please don’t let me down.”
    The doorbell rang again.
    Lou and Sarah Cooper exchanged unspoken questions.
    “I’ll go with you, Gary,” Sarah said finally, “but our discussion about this issue is not done. Dr. Welcome, here is my card. Please use it before you try to be of any help.”

CHAPTER 5
    Staff Sergeants Bucky Townsend and Fenton Morales were the first pair in line to tackle the Big Hurt. To have gotten this far, Townsend, along with ninety-nine other members from Mantis Company, had to pass a series of rigorous tests—physical and mental.
    The Big Hurt was their final exam.
    Townsend wanted desperately to make the cut for Operation Talon, but all he knew about the most intense and intimidating obstacle course in the military was that its name was not undeserved.
    A rolling fog, low enough to brush the frozen ground, spilled out from the woods surrounding the Mantis reservation, buried deep in West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest. The dense blue of the receding night was yielding to the flush of dawn. A thin coat of rime covered the frozen ground. It was a huge break that Townsend and Morales had drawn first team out. In another hour, the temperature would be well below freezing.
    Townsend, determined to keep moving, bounced to stay warm. He and the others had spent an hour sweating in