Ripple Effect

Chapter Twenty-Three: ...betrayal or loyalty.

Jay

Tuesday, 6th November, 2018

9:09 AM

"Something's wrong." Jay swivelled back and forth in his chair at the head of the table in the conference room. The grey murk that lurked outside the windows and that seeped its way through the gauze curtains battled with the white light from the wall sconces.

"This is State." Matt leant across the desk and grabbed one of the scones from the plate in the middle of the table. "If there weren't something wrong, we'd all be out of a job."

Jay shot him a look. "I meant with the secretary."

"Why? What did her husband say?" Kat dusted chocolate chip cookie crumbs from her fingertips and onto the paper napkin spread across the open file in front of her.

Jay's shoulders rose with his breath, and then, with a stream of a sigh, his whole body deflated. "That she's grieving." He shook his head to himself, leant forward and propped his elbows against the desk. He made vague gestures as he spoke, and passed a ballpoint pen back and forth between his hands. "Something about her not having a chance to grieve for her parents when she was younger because she had to look after her brother, so now she's grieving for all of them."

Kat shrugged. "Makes sense."

"Nothing wrong with that." Daisy slipped through the gap between her and Kat's chairs and sank down into her seat. She clutched her freshly refilled coffee mug to her chest in one hand, whilst the other hand grabbed for her tablet and then balanced it in her lap.

"But she didn't seem..." Jay fumbled for the word. "...right."

"She seemed tired and over-caffeinated, and yeah—" Kat gave a mouth shrug. "—a bit bitchy with her husband, but it looked like they made up."

Jay stared at her. Tired? Over-caffeinated? A bit bitchy? "She was volatile and irritable and spacing out."

Matt slathered his scone with two single-serve packs of butter, and the rich aroma rose up to mingle with the heady bloom of coffee. "Sounds like you when you haven't slept in a week."

"I'm serious."

Matt glanced up. "So am I."

Jay pivoted his seat around so that his back was to Matt, and he addressed Kat and Daisy instead. "I think we should go to Russell Jackson."

Kat frowned at him as though he had just announced his plans to back Carlos Morejon for the presidency. "What? Why?"

"Because I think she's struggling and I don't think she's currently able to fulfil her role as secretary of state."

"Look," Matt said, "if you're fed up of having to work late, just say so and let the rest of us pitch in and help."

"It's not about me, it's about what's right for the department, for the country."

"You make betrayal sound so noble."

Jay pivoted back to face him. "Betrayal? How's that betrayal?"

Daisy continued to scroll down the screen of her tablet. "Going to Russell Jackson behind her back and having her ousted from her job...?" She arched her eyebrows. "Doesn't exactly smack of loyalty."

"Ironic—" Blake piped up from the desk in the corner. "—given that your loyalty was the reason why she appointed you as her chief of staff."

Jay swept their accusations aside. "It's not about betrayal or loyalty, it's about doing what's right."