Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 21 - A Return to Form - V

  "Courtney!" Maddie cried in an overly-affectionate tone that had Jeremy cringing right along with his half-sister. "I didn't know you were going to be at this party!"

  She froze, hands in mid-air from some energetic speech she'd been giving to the cigar-chewing man two seats down. Slowly, the rotund woman twisted on her chair, brushing back long straight hair from her face to eye them through thin-rimmed glasses.

  No wonder Rachel's surprised. She's fat, we're both skinny. She's got straight hair, Maddie's is curly as they come. Courtney looks like she's always trying to win you over, and Maddie looks like she's pulling a prank on you and can't help laughing before it even goes off. I wouldn't call us as siblings either.

  "Madelaine," she said, with a perfectly calculated air of warmth. Jeremy resisted rolling his eyes. "I swear I sent you an invitation. Did your poor secretary misplace it again?"

  "Oh, I'm sure she just filed it into the wrong box. You know, so many invitations cross my desk in D.C., it's a wonder I make it to anything at all!" Maddie waved airily as she took one of the empty seats. Courtney's table had been almost entirely empty. The cigar-chewing man looked particularly annoyed by the interruption. Jeremy suppressed a grin as he leaned against the wall, just to pressure them a little bit more. Rachel looked uncertain, but Maddie tapped the chair next to her surreptitiously with her foot, prompting her down as well.

  "Madelaine, this is my friend Howard Mettis."

  "Charmed," said Maddie. "Of Metcon Capital, right?"

  "That's right," he growled. Or maybe that's just his voice, if he smokes shit like that.

  "Don't tell me my darling sister is talking your ear off about campaign donations, is she?" Maddie sighed dramatically. "Only a week after securing her next term and she's right back at it. You have to admire her dedication."

  "Howard," said Courtney, with only a hint of irritation creasing her voice, "this is my half-sister Madelaine, recently re-elected senator for Washington."

  "Another six years, but who's counting?" Maddie smiled. "Mr. Mettis, you're certainly in the right circle if you're looking to pick the winners."

  "And her brother Jeremy," Courtney added, with a slight flick of the head toward him.

  "The FBI agent?" Mettis said, narrowing his eyes.

  "Yup," said Jeremy, inclining his head.

  "You fucked that one up, didn't ya?"

  Like you have any fucking clue. "Maybe. Maybe not."

  "Oh, let's not get into that ugly business," said Maddie. "Courtney dearest, I was wondering if we could speak in private."

  "Don't you have committee meetings to attend?" said Courtney waspishly.

  "There's no way he calls a lame duck session. He'd get mobbed."

  "Like that's a big deal anymore," huffed Mettis, as bits of ash fell from his unlit cigar.

  "As much as I'd love to debate the finer issues of the modern political system," Rachel cut in, "our business is a bit more urgent than that." Her voice was quiet, but controlled and pointed nonetheless. The sort that compelled attention. It was very different from the uncertainty she'd shown in the car, or the melancholy back in Vancouver.

  "...Who are you?" asked Courtney suspiciously.

  "Part of our private business," said Maddie.

  Courtney frowned. She looked up at Jeremy for some sort of confirmation. He nodded.

  "Howard, please excuse us for a minute," she said, getting to her feet and setting down her drink. "This shouldn't take long."

  Don't bet on it. "Got a private room we can use?" Jeremy asked.

  "There's a few upstairs that should be unoccupied."

  Mettis shrugged. "I need something to drink anyway." As he wandered away toward the open bar, they trooped off toward a hallway leading out of the main ballroom.

  "What are you doing?" Courtney hissed, as soon as they'd exited the mass of guests. "I'm working here, and you bring some giant co-ed into my fundraiser for what? Is this some stupid college prank?"

  "I really wish it was," Jeremy muttered.

  "Not here, Courtney," said Maddie.

  "If I'm leaving a party I organized, I want an explanation, dammit." Courtney stopped right at the exit, in full view of the onlooking guests. "What's this about?"

  "That man you were just talking to," Rachel interjected—again with that compelling, even tone. "Howard Mettis, Metcon Capital. He has personal assets in the two hundred million range, and his investment group is well over a billion. He's made sizeable contributions to a number of Democratic candidates, including Maddie—"

  "He has?" Maddie asked, surprised.

  "Yes. Ten years ago in April, two hundred twelve thousand dollars in total." Rachel turned back to Courtney. "But he's slowed down making contributions to the party in the last few years and seems to be swinging to the middle, if not the right. You're trying to persuade him otherwise, correct?"

  Courtney frowned. "...Yes. Go on."

  "What are you using to convince him?"

  "The usual. The party platform, and promises to reduce red tape and double taxation on his ventures. My personal line."

  "But it's not working. Because someone else has his ear."

  "How did you—"

  "You said it yourself in your conversation, before we walked up."

  She could hear that...? Courtney's eyes widened slightly. "You could hear that?"

  Rachel shrugged. "I have good ears." She glanced back toward the crowd, and Jeremy could see her eyes drift slightly. Not cross-eyed, but almost the opposite, like they were looking in totally opposite directions. Her pupils dilated significantly, huge black dots in the center of her brown eyes.

  "That woman," she said suddenly. She didn't point outright, but a brief shimmer in the air gave her away all the same. It was so subtle that Jeremy could have missed it had he not already been following her gaze.

  "Stacy Vellencamp?" Maddie wondered aloud. "Not likely. They don't run in the same circles at all. Not even the same half of the country."

  Rachel turned back to Courtney. "I don't know what it is exactly, but those two have a very strong, close connection. She has a lot of influence over him. You need to figure out what she wants to get his money."

  Courtney looked up at Rachel, the foot difference in their heights almost comical at such a close distance. "...Let's talk."