We last read Chapter 6, where Stanley Devor, Sapphire Angel’s benefactor, tells Beth Harper of his past friendship with the missing whistleblower, Bud Tanner. He also brings her up to speed on his research concerning the StarPrime CEO, Xavier Wheldon, and the Pegasus Club, his lodge bordering the nuclear power plant his company is trying to purchase. A shooting recently happened near the lodge and the nuclear plant. Stanley agrees to help Beth get her foot in the door with the Pennsylvania government agency investigating the purchase of the nuclear plant.
This is the second story, so if you want to start from the very beginning, you can jump over to book 1, and begin with the Prologue of Sapphire Angel, Superheroine. Or to start at the beginning of book 2 (this story), click over to the Prologue of Power Play.
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Xavier Wheldon stared at the business card on his desk, taken from Bud Tanner.
Beth Harper. Writer, Radiance Online. A telephone number and email address were printed below at the bottom of the card.
"I don't like the sound of this, Xavier," MacGregor Lockheed's voice came through the phone, in its lilted cadence. "First you let Bud Tanner slip away. Then this Harper girl finds him. Who knows what he told her? And now she's asking for records from my daughter's agency. Olivia just saw the girl's faxes today."
"It's under control," Wheldon said, using his most reassuring tone. Lockheed needed to butt out and let him take care of things. "We found Bud Tanner and brought him back."
"At the risk of leaving a trail right back to you."
"I didn't use my men for the job, so there's no worry there. And the Harper girl is nothing to worry about. She's fresh out of college."
"Don't play dumb with me, Xavier. I know she's the one who wrote the stories about your company's billing practices. And she also wrote that expose on the gun lobby in Harrisburg. She even got a few interviews for that one with Tip Grim, the gun dealer. He doesn't talk to anybody. Beth Harper is very persistent."
"We can keep her at arm's length. By the time your daughter's agency needs to turn over any records, the deal will be done. And, more importantly, we'll be done."
The phone was silent and Wheldon could almost feel MacGregor Lockheed's brain working.
"Arm's length isn't the right play here, Xavier. Do you think she's only interested in records? I promise you this girl will be out there digging. Don't you want to know what she's finding?"
Wheldon rolled his eyes. Lockheed was overreacting. He couldn't really be afraid of a girl who just finished college, could he?
"What are you saying, MacGregor?" Wheldon asked, exhaling as he rubbed one of his temples.
"I'm saying I don't like surprises. We need to find out what she knows, or what she might learn. We don't know how long she was with Tanner, and what he told her."
"He claims he didn't have time to tell her anything."
"And you believe him? He also said she didn't give him anything, and yet your men found her business card."
"He's got too much to lose to lie."
"You probably thought he had too much to lose to run away, and look what happened."
"You want me to have someone follow her?" Wheldon asked. "Keep an eye on her?"
"No, I have a much better idea," Lockheed said. "What I plan to do is to talk to Olivia and have her offer Ms. Harper a scoop. She'll invite Ms. Harper to tag along with the OCO investigator assigned to the deal, so Harper can see everything is legitimate. That should squash any suspicions the girl has, and maybe even buy us some time with the records. But more importantly, it will allow Olivia to find out what she knows and to monitor her. We can even slow her down as needed until it's too late for her to do anything."
"What?!" Wheldon exclaimed. "I don't want a reporter close to anything we're doing. Are you insane?"
The line was silent for a moment. Wheldon wished he could take back his words.
"She's not a reporter," Lockheed replied with an edge in his voice. "She doesn't report on current events. She's just a blogger for some second string webzine, writing mostly nonsense, except for the occasional 'power to the people' type story like this one. But she is persistent."
"Which is why I don't want her near this thing."
"Xavier, we're doing this my way. You know what they say about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Kind of like that. Harper is inexperienced, which we can manipulate. We string her along, but at the same time we slow her down so she finds nothing useful."
Wheldon gripped the phone tighter. "How can you even be sure Olivia will do this for you?"
"You let me worry about my daughter."
"Even if Olivia agrees, how much time can she really spend with this Harper girl? You said you would pair Harper up with the investigator."
"Olivia is a lawyer, but she oversees the investigators. And Olivia dates one of the investigators. She can control him."
"Even if Olivia agrees to help, does she have the clout to make it happen?"
"She might not, but I do. I'll make sure word comes down from above."
"I don't know, MacGregor. This is... unconventional."
"This is the best play, Xavier. I've spoken to Tip Grim at length about Harper. He's sold me several firearms over the years, so I know him well. He said she's one of the most persistent people he's met. So we're not going to drive her away. If she will be meddling, then I'd rather know what she's doing, and have some control over her without her knowing it."
"I can't believe Grim gave in to her."
"He said he actually grew to like her. He said she was fair, and he really goes for that wide-eyed innocent type. He felt a little bad for her, too. Something about one of her cousin's being shot and killed, so the story was close to her heart, but she didn't make it personal and wasn't militant about it. He said she's one of those girls everybody seems to love. If Grim spilled things to her, other people will, too."
"She will never find the right people to talk to. I'll trust you on this, MacGregor, but don't say I didn't warn you. And your daughter better agree to do this."
"Oh, she'll agree, Xavier. She'll agree."
"No, Father!" Olivia Lockheed shouted into the phone. "That's not how things work around here!"
"And who decides how things work?" MacGregor Lockheed snapped back. "I thought you were in charge of the investigators?"
"I am, but everyone will think I've gone crazy if I allow a blogger, or whatever the hell she is, to tag along with one of them."
"If your hold over your subordinates is so weak, perhaps you aren't cut out for your job. As we've discussed."
Olivia's face flared red, and her fist tightened on the phone. This was typical for her father. She would never win his respect.
"Why do you even want this Harper girl to be involved? Last time we talked, you worried about someone interfering. Now you want some random girl hanging around here?"
"It's better if you don't know, Olivia."
"Of course it is," she said, ice in her voice. "You don't understand what you're asking me."
"What I'm asking is for you to get your people on board with this, and show me you're actually capable of leading," MacGregor Lockheed said, with an edge almost equal to hers.
"Capable, like Conner?" she asked, using her brother's name.
"As a matter of fact, yes. Like Conner. And if you can't lead, entice. Assign Harper to that boyfriend investigator of yours. You keep him on a leash, didn't you?"
Ex-boyfriend, Olivia thought, and a smile came to her lips at her father's choice of words. But she didn't correct him. She had never told him she and Conner Bennett had split over her varied sexual interests. He had turned out to be too strong-willed.
But her father had a point. She could influence Conner easier than one of the other investigators, and this would give her a chance to work closer with him. Perhaps they could rekindle things.
"You're trying to get me angry enough so I'll want to prove you wrong," she said, although her father might doubt her as much as he suggested. "You won't manipulate me into doing this."
"How about I entice you, then?"
"Our idea of enticement is different," Olivia said.
"No, I don't think so. I'm talking about the FBI job you want. I can help."
The FBI job. Olivia dreamed of a job as an agent with the Bureau. The power over people, even starting out, would dwarf the influence she wielded in this pathetic job. But if her father placed her with the FBI, he would never let her hear the end of it, and would never let her feel adequate.
"I don't need your help," she said. "I can do it on my own."
"Ah yes," he replied, and she could picture him giving a dismissive wave of his hand, as if mocking her claim. "I'm sure you can. But if you do this on your own, it could take you months just to get an interview with people who won't start you out in the middle of Montana. I can help get you directly to the important step of the interview process, with people who can place you somewhere important. You, of course, will need to get past that on your own, and get through the training course if successful, but I can help get things started."
Olivia listened in silence. She had been having a hard time getting her foot in the door with the Bureau, so his offer was enticing. He must really need her help badly, as he had thought her foolish for wanting what he saw as a man's job. But then it dawned on her. He believed she wouldn't be able to hack it, and would end up out of work and reliant on him. Just how he liked it.
He was attempting to manipulate her, and succeeding. But she didn't care. The motivation to prove him wrong, and the enticement of getting out of her current job, made her decision easy.
"I'll do this for you, father. But I still might get shot down from above. Richard might not like this either." Richard was her boss, the chief counsel of the OCO.
"Richard is a political appointee, interested only in smoothing the feathers of politicians. That makes him remarkably pliable. Don't forget the influence I wield in important circles."
Olivia couldn't forget. Her father was one of the biggest power brokers in Pennsylvania, thanks to his considerable wealth, but also because of the contacts he had made over the years with his company. A single phone call from him would be enough to send Richard Emerson packing and looking for a new job. If Emerson got word from above, he would obey.
"We'll see," she said. "I can't promise I'll be civil to Beth Harper, though."
"I don't care if you're civil. By all indications, you're not going to drive this girl away, so you can be your usual bitchy self. Just get her in the door, so you know what she's doing and what she knows."
Olivia would do her dad's bidding, but then all bets were off. Her dad would have to help her with the FBI job, but Olivia would make Harper wish she hadn't been invited to the OCO. The girl wouldn't last two days.
"I guess I should get started," Olivia said. "And I should get ready to meet Beth Harper."
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MacGregor is quite manipuIative, is he not? CIearIy he has her under her thumb....at Ieast for the time being. Maybe that wiII change Iater on.....? AIso, I found it chuckIe-worthy that the ending of the first section has MacGregor insisting that OIivia wiII agree to the job, and then the very next section begins with her saying no. xD