Life of Secrets by Bowen Greenwood Read Free Book Online

outside
the garage, waiting for the two of them to walk in. Pierce, as usual, was
looking at his feet as he walked, with his hands in his pockets. The man next
to him had a portly build and appeared to be going bald. In the moonlight, it
was possible to make out what looked like a birthmark on his forehead.
    Chambers
emerged from behind a parked car and followed them into the garage. She padded
silently, listening to them mutter back and forth about paranoia, until they
were in the darkest area of the garage.
    "Don’t
turn around please. It’s probably too dark to make out my face even if you did,
but I still don’t like people being able to identify me."
    Both of them
jumped a little bit like they were about to whirl and look behind them but
controlled the instinct in time. The newcomer spoke softly, facing away from
her.
    "Pretty melodramatic.
A dark parking garage in the middle of the night? It’s just like
Watergate."
    "Most of
my jobs could end in a courtroom if I’m not careful about my identity."
    "Not this
one," the newcomer replied. "I just want to hire someone to work in
an office I already own. Perfectly legal."
    Chambers said,
"Safer that way. So what’s the problem?"
    The new man
said, "The press has a mole in our campaign. I don’t know who it is, but I
know they’re getting intel . They know our ads before
we run them. They’re rebutting our spin before it’s even out. “I want to pay
someone to find the leaker and make them stop. Nothing illegal about that,
right? It’s just that we don’t want the candidate to know about this, so we’re
keeping it off the books. Our candidate… well, he has a problem with addictive
behaviors. If he knew we knew, he’d probably fire all of us rather than admit
there’s a problem. He’s already fired two guys for trying to talk to him about
it. That’s how I have a job. So he can’t know. If he finds out we hired you to
deal with the problem, he’ll fire me and then you don’t get paid."
    She made a
noncommittal noise, and the new guy continued.
    "But if we
don’t do something to stop this leaker, then the whole world’s going to know
about Lance Reeder and women. So we need you."
    "I already
know about Lance Reeder and his… love life," she shrugged. "None of
that is really my problem, right? You don’t want me to get him into a 12-step
program; you just want me to stop the leaker, right?"
    "Right."
    Chambers
nodded.
    "Tell me
who you are, so I know who to call when I find out."
    "My name’s
Tilman. You’re not going to tell me yours?"
    There was no
answer. When the two men looked around, no one was there.
    Alyssa waited a
day before starting on the job.
    Dressed in the
gray coveralls of a janitorial worker, Alyssa pushed a cart laden with cleaning
supplies and an oversized trash can. The elevator dinged, she pushed her cart
in, and rode to the twentieth floor. Once there, she went down the darkened
hallway until she reached the office of the Lance Reeder for Congress
Committee. The real cleaning company wasn’t scheduled to come until tomorrow.
    Inside, she
quickly located the offices of the communications director and finance
director. Together with the campaign manager – this Tilman person, who hired
her – those two were usually the top staffers on a campaign. If one of Gibson’s
people was leaking crucial intelligence to the press, it was likely to be one
of them.
    Unfortunately,
the communications director was in his office.
    Alyssa glanced
at her watch. It was eleven at night. This guy was a real workaholic.
    She busied
herself with pretending to be a custodial worker: emptying trash, dusting, etc.
The employee gave her a friendly wave. Alyssa waved back and made her way into
the finance office instead. She rifled through the trash and found nothing
incriminating, so she emptied the garbage into her cart, working slowly to
allow for a lucky break.
    She got it. The
man working in the communications office left. He waved once more and