“To MHD,” Tomlinson proposed. Jake touched his glass and Amy’s with his own.

After a sip, Amy said, “We have a problem.”

“What might that be?” Tomlinson asked, taking a second swallow of his drink.

“With Sinclair in Leeds’s camp, and Tim and Rogers neutralized, who’s going to be our spokesperson about MHD? Who’s going to explain it to the reporters and the public?”

Tomlinson nodded toward Jake. “My science advisor, of course.”

“Me? I’m not a public speaker.”

“Come on, Jake,” Tomlinson said, “you speak before auditoriums full of students every day, don’t you? Talking to reporters isn’t that different—they’re just a little dumber and a lot more aggressive, that’s all.”

“I’m not an expert on MHD.”

“You know more about it than I do,” Tomlinson countered. With a grin, he added, “That makes you our expert.”

“But I don’t have Sinclair’s stature. He’s—”

Amy interrupted, “This isn’t academia, Jake. Nobody’s going to compare your curriculum vitae against Sinclair’s.”

Tomlinson agreed. “He’s got a Ph.D., you’ve got a Ph.D. As far as the news media is concerned, you’re both scientists and that’s that.”

“I don’t know…”

“You can do it, Jake,” Amy said, fixing him with her hazel eyes. “I know you can.”

He nodded reluctantly. This is just what I need, shooting my mouth off to the news media. Great way to get a visit from Monster or some of his pals.

Announcement

ANNOUNCEMENT

Jake fretted and fidgeted all the next day, worrying about what he was going to tell Leeds and what the senator’s reaction would be. Finally, after his afternoon class, he hurried across the chilly campus to his office and looked up Senator Leeds’s phone number.

Leeds’s voice came up immediately, strong and measured: “This is Senator Christopher Leeds. I’m sorry that I can’t take your call at the moment, but if you’ll leave your name and number—”

Jake hung up. He’ll know what my answer is when he doesn’t hear from me, he told himself. Then he remembered an old aphorism: Not to decide is to decide.

*   *   *

The deadline for filing for the Senate race was the last day of the year, so on the Monday after Christmas B. Franklin Tomlinson scheduled a news conference in the main ballroom of the Sheridan Hotel.

“The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a slow news period,” Amy explained to Jake. “Franklin will get plenty of coverage: local, state, even national.”