Protect and Defend Read Free Page A

pro-choice women, trial lawyers. They all think you owe them, and they’re right.”
    “Haven’t they seen the Cabinet?” Clayton rejoined. “We’ve at least made a down payment.” He turned to Kerry. “What we need here is a consensus choice—the Republicans still control the Senate, and Macdonald Gage is laying for you. Maybe Palmer, too, now that he’s in charge of running thehearings on whoever you send over. I think we should look for a moderate Republican.”
    “I thought they were an endangered species,” Kerry said dryly. Standing, he told Clayton, “Get me the list tomorrow. Along with a new chair.”
    Kit frowned, as if unwilling to drop the subject. “Without pro-choice women, Mr. President, you couldn’t have carried California, and none of us would be here. As Ellen Penn no doubt will remind you.”
    At this mention of his feisty new Vice President, formerly the junior senator from California, Kerry feigned a wince; arguably, he owed his election to Ellen, and she would not be shy in pressing her views. “Spare me. I’ll be hearing from Ellen soon enough.”
    “With reason,” Kit persisted. “The pro-choice movement is scared to death—you’ve got this damned Protection of Life Act the Republicans just passed, which your predecessor was too scared to veto. Even you were conveniently absent for
that vote
.”
    “The pro-choice movement,” Kerry answered, “can be too damned hard to please. I was running for President, not auditioning for a supplement to
Profiles in Courage
. One vote in the Senate wouldn’t have made any difference.”
    “Exactly. So pro-choice women gave you a pass, expecting you’d look out for them once you got here. Especially on the Court.”
    Kerry folded his arms. “I’ve been President for about five hours, I’ve got eleven balls to go to, and I’m still struggling to remember what to do if there’s a nuclear attack. If it’s all right with you, Kit, I’ll reserve the Supreme Court for my first full day on the job.”
    As though to short-circuit Kerry’s irritation, Clayton intervened. “Even with Bannon’s death,” he told Kerry, “people will remember your inaugural address. You made it sound even better than it read. CNN called it the best since Kennedy’s.”
    Kerry smiled, mollified, and noted with amusement that he still needed Clayton’s reassurance. At once Kit caught the spirit. “You were terrific,” she averred. “The only thing that could have gone better is if the Service had let you get to Bannon before Palmer did. He’s gotten too much airtime.”
    Clayton gave a short laugh. “The most dangerous place inWashington,” he agreed, “is the space between Chad Palmer and a Minicam.”
    As he was meant to, Kerry smiled at them both. But beneath their mordant humor, he understood that Clayton and Kit already saw Chad Palmer as his chief rival, and that this would be the prism through which they viewed everything Chad did. And so, they were warning, should Kerry.
    “That’s all right,” he answered. “Let Chad be the hero. He earned the right, when I was still in college.”

FOUR
     
    “W HAT’S YOUR NAME ?” Sarah inquired.
    The girl looked down. “Mary Ann.”
    Sitting beside her, Sarah waited for her to look up again. Then she asked, “How far along
are
you?”
    Once more, Mary Ann turned away, as if the question were a rebuke. “Five and a half months,” she murmured.
    “And you’re how old?”
    “Fifteen.”
    So far, Sarah thought, it was as bad as she had expected. “Are you living with your parents?” she asked.
    The girl’s face grew taut. Her answer, a quick nod, resembled a hiccup.
    “If you haven’t talked to them …”
    “Please …” Swallowing convulsively, Mary Ann burst out, “My baby’s not right. I’m afraid of it.”
    The moment she saw the technician’s face, Mary Ann had known there was something wrong.
    A sonogram was routine, the woman had said—afterward there would be pictures and,