“What are you thinking?” Anthony asked warily.

“Patrick hates it when things don’t go as planned,” she said. “I think he’s underestimated me.”

THE EARLYBIRD™/ MONDAY / 5:43 A.M.

THE E-NEWSLETTER TRUSTED BY WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL ELITE

Good morning, EarlyBirders™. Here are the morning’s need-to-know stories:

SIREN: ILLICIT VIDEO OF THE FIRST LADY WITH ANOTHER MAN—WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T DENY AFFAIR—FIRST LADY’S OFFICE SILENT—DEVELOPING.

WHITE HOUSE BLASTS VIDEO: Adam Majors: “It’s a sad day when leading news organizations air illegally obtained surveillance footage of Mrs. Crusoe. This endangers the First Family. We will find and prosecute the leaker to the fullest extent of the law.”

RATINGS BONANZA: The video boosted cablers. Look for OVERNIGHT NUMBERS soon!

EarlyReaders™ Want to Know: Who’s the man in the video? What’s his relationship to the First Lady? What does the president know? Where is the First Lady now?

Paging All Lobbyists: The Washington Post reports on a secret White House plan to freeze oil imports from the Persian Gulf and boost our oil exports from Latin America.

Spotted: ATN newcomer Natalie Savage and Karima Sahadi confabbing at Salon Badem.

**EarlySponsor™: GlobalCom’s Gulf Alliance™. Creating Smart Solutions to Shifting Market Conditions. We Power the World for Peace and Prosperity.**

15

Band of Sisters

The website for the Bombay Club boasted of an environment that “emulates the characteristics of the old clubs of India.” An apt description, Natalie thought, of both its Raj-era decor and its clientele.

Sitting there, she felt as though she was radiating excitement. Today her hair surpassed her fantasies of smooth silky manageability. And the timing couldn’t have been better. She and Karima were seated at a prime corner table that commanded a view of the entire room—and allowed the entire room to see them. At the table on their left, Karima had explained, a lobbyist for the private prison industry was meeting with a lobbyist for the frozen foods industry. To their right, a deputy treasury secretary was meeting with a representative from the payday lending industry. Sprinkled among them were media celebrities who carried the regal bearing of representatives of the Crown, mingling with their subjects.

It didn’t escape Natalie’s notice that, even in the pinnacle of Empire ambiance, Karima seemed to occupy a place of honor. During the fifteen minutes since they’d been seated, a steady stream of well-wishers had been eddying past to thank the socialite for hosting a fantastic luncheon/cocktail/fund-raiser/ball which, each of them in turn insisted, was either “magical” or “pure perfection.”