The Next President Read Online Free PDF Page A

people at times.
    That was one reason why he kept his inner circle small. In addition to Jenny and Baxter, the only other people close to the candidate were Jim Greenberg, his pollster, and Alita Colon, his press secretary.
    “Did Devree and the family get off okay?” Jenny asked.
    “They should be landing in Madison just about now,” Del replied.
    In the first hour after the assassination attempt, the candidate made two critical decisions: One, he would not let some sonofabitch with a rifle drive him out of the race. Two, he would not expose his family to the dangers he was willing to risk himself.
    On the first point the Rawley family was unanimously agreed. On the
    sec and, a private family conference was required before agreement was reached.
    Jenny suspected that Del had threatened to reverse his decision to stay in the race unless his family acceded to his wishes.
    “If nobody’s been arrested, what does the FBI know?” Del asked.
    “Well,” Jenny sighed, “you wait through all the it’s-early-yet blather; you try to be understanding that the problem is difficult when half a million people were on hand and nobody saw a man with a gun anywhere; you tell them to knock it the hell off when they start pointing fingers back and forth with the Secret Service over failing to see the attempt coming… you do all that and what you come up with is they know the general direction from which the shot was fired.”
    “That’s it?” Baxter asked, incredulous.
    “Yeah. They said because the wind was swirling today, and because the shot had to be fired from a very long distance, it’s just about impossible to pinpoint where the gunman was. They think he most likely shot from one of the high-rise buildings along Randolph Street.”
    “Makes you feel real confident, doesn’t it?” Baxter asked.
    “Special Agent DeVito is being replaced as the head of your protection detail,” Jenny told Del.
    “And, as you’ve seen, the number of agents around here has been doubled.”
    The candidate put his feet up on the edge of a coffee table, folded his arms across his chest, and let his eyes lose focus for a moment. Then he shook his head and looked at Jenny and Baxter.
    DeVito stays.”
    “What?” Baxter asked.
    “Why?” Jenny wanted to know.
    “It’s probably good politics,” Jim Greenberg said, entering the room. The slim, balding pollster sat on the sofa with the candidate.
    “It’s more fundamental than that,” Del told them all.
    “If this man who tried to kill me is so damned elusive, I have to think he was able to make his attempt not because DeVito was negligent but because the assassin found some weakness in the overall protection scheme. Correct me if I’m wrong, but DeVito didn’t devise today’s security plan all by himself, did he?”
    “No,” Jenny said.
    Del tapped his right foot against the coffee table.
    “So I don’t think he should be scapegoated. He’s done a conscientious job, as far as I can tell, and who could be more motivated to see that nobody gets another crack at me? I’ll call the secretary of the treasury and even my worthy opponent, the president, if I have to, but he stays.”
     
    Jenny nodded.
    “Okay… I’ll pass the word.”
    “You did a nice job talking to the media, Jenny,” Del told her.
    Baxter and Jim Greenberg agreed.
    Shortly after the attempt on Del Rawley’s life, a rumor started to circulate that the assassin had been hired by white racists. By evening, talk radio had picked it up and it was the subject of contentious discussion from coast to coast. More than one black caller had talked about getting even.
    Jenny had gone before the media and read a statement that Del had quickly written:
    “As of now, nobody in authority knows who attempted to take my life to day or what that person’s motives were. Anyone claiming to have knowledge of today’s events has the legal obligation of sharing it with the FBI. Anyone who claims to have knowledge of today’s