The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 Read Free Page A

there’s a reason why you’re telling me this now.”
    He sighed. “Yes. I want you to know that there’s going to be increased scrutiny of everything we do here. You know what a hot-button issue crime and corrections is for a democrat. We’re going to have to make sure we dot every i and cross every t for the next year. You, in particular, are going to be in the hot seat. Are you all right with that?”
    Kate favored her boss with a cockeyed grin. “Respectfully, sir, been there, done that.”

    In the luxurious private study at the exclusive Fort Orange Club in Albany, three Democratic power brokers were in a heated discussion.
    Robert Hawthorne had been selected the year before to take the helm of the Democratic National Committee. He had recently retired from the U.S. Senate, where he had served four terms. Michael Vendetti, press secretary to Governor Charles Hyland of New York, was the most powerful spin doctor in the state. David Breathwaite, “super flak” of all law enforcement agencies, had made himself indispensable over the years by unearthing all manner of damaging information on important figures on both sides of the political aisle.
    “God damn it, David, you promised she wouldn’t be able to handle the job.”
    The former director of public information for DOCS answered,
    “Relax, Michael, you know you’re not supposed to get excited. Imagine what that’s doing to your blood pressure.”
    The man across the table from him actually growled. Vendetti, who was always impeccably dressed in finely tailored suits, regarded Kate’s predecessor and the current czar of criminal justice PR as the human personification of a weasel, and a short one at that.
    At Vendetti’s fierce expression, David continued mildly, “You’re the governor’s press secretary. It’s not my fault he prefers her advice to yours.”
    Vendetti rose so quickly that his ornately appointed high-backed chair toppled over backward, landing with a resounding bang on the hardwood floor. “You little—”

    The Cost of Commitment

    “That’s enough. Both of you.” Hawthorne leaned forward in his seat.
    “It won’t do us any good to fight amongst ourselves. We can’t afford to lose sight of the objective here. We need our boy Charlie in the White House—”
    Under his breath David mumbled, “That’s only because you couldn’t get yourself elected dog catcher last time around, Mr. Senator.”
    “And that Amazonian dyke is standing in our way.” If Hawthorne had heard the cutting remark directed at him, he chose to ignore it. “She has entirely too much influence over our boy. She goes to dinner with him every few weeks and all of a sudden he’s making dramatic policy announcements that have nothing to do with our agenda. Not only that, but we’ve got a wild card in the form of a commissioner we can’t control.
    I don’t like it.”
    “Bob, it’s too early to be concerned. She’s only been in the position three months. We said we’d get her out at six months.” Breathwaite never looked up as he chewed on his cuticles. “Give her time, she’s bound to screw up. If not, we’ll help her.”
    “Yes, well, I’m not leaving anything to chance here, so I’ve asked an old friend of mine to join us.” Hawthorne rose from his position at the head of the table and went to an inner door. “You can come in now, Willie.” To the others in the room, he said, “Gentlemen, I’m sure you know my good friend William Redfield, executive deputy commissioner of DOCS.”
    At the unexpected sight of the man he had worked with for more years than he cared to count, David Breathwaite visibly blanched. He hated surprises. “Bill. I didn’t realize you and the senator were on such friendly terms.”
    Redfield smirked, recognizing that he’d caught the department’s former spokesman off guard. To his view, Breathwaite had always been a necessary evil, but not someone to be trusted. “There are a lot of things you don’t know,