As the lunch crowd thinned out, Troy went out on a couple of nearby deliveries. People in the offices seemed just as absorbed in the Senate debate as were the people in the pizza parlor during the House debate earlier in the day. Lobbyists whose clients had big government contracts were concerned about keeping them. Those who represented people with smaller slices of the government spending pie saw it only as an opportunity to be exploited.
At times like these, Troy remembered the words that had been spoken to him long ago when Harris was explaining why the Zapatistas were anxious to keep the Chiapas pot growers in business.
"It's complicated," Harris had said. "But if you follow the money, it all makes sense."
Troy wondered how much money had been spent to skew the vote in the House that morning — and how much Harris was spending right now.
The Senate vote was in progress as Troy walked through the building lobby after his last delivery. A group of people had paused in front of the television above the reception desk, but Troy couldn't bring himself to watch. It was too painful. He just hoped the senators would give Harris a close enough margin so that he'd have to sweat it out as he had in the House vote.
When he got back to the pizza parlor, everyone was just staring at the television screen. Vicente, who always had plenty to say, was speechless. So too were the four customers. It was so quiet that one woman stepped outside to make a phone call.
The Senate had voted.
The Executive Branch Management Bill had lost, 59 to 41.
Harris had lost, and President Albert Bacon Fachearon would continue to run the executive branch as the voters had elected him to do.
The pundits, none of whom had predicted this outcome, were now spinning the news so as not to appear totally out to lunch.
Troy just smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
"We're gonna have to stop meeting like this," Jenna Munrough said, glancing up from her mail. As had been the case earlier in the week, she saw Troy Loensch walking across Thirty-first Street. "You could have called."
"I happened to be in the neighborhood." He shrugged.
"Speaking of which, I tried your cell number and it was disconnected. I need your new number."
"I'm dead, y'know," Troy said. "Dead men don't have cell phones. I don't have a cell phone or much of anything else. All my worldly possessions were at Cactus Flat. Guess maybe they were shipped to my mother's place in California."
"Where have you been?" Jenna asked.
"Around. Trying to figure out a way to confront Harris."
"Y'all must have been pleased by the 'Senators' Surprise' this afternoon."
"Is that what they're calling it?" Troy smiled. "I bet there was some gnashing of teeth over at Firehawk today."
"I wasn't there."
"Where were you?"
"Capitol Hill," Jenna explained. "The administrative liaison people were up there helping out the congressional liaison people. They wanted a maximum lobbying e ffort."
"So you were lobbying congress for a 'yes' vote?" "That's my job."
"You must have been pleased with the vote in the House."
"Not really," Jenna said. "Not personally… not after I started thinking about what you said the other night. Not after I started listening to a lot of what was coming in from the constituents."
"What do you mean?"
"Around Washington, it seems like everybody is ready to run Fachearon out of town… all the talking heads anyway. When I was in those congressional offices, the staffers were showing the e-mails that their bosses were getting from back home. You're on the side of the majority, Loensch."
"That's good to know," Troy said, feeling vindicated. "What do you think of the way it turned out today up there?"
"Relieved. Glad it's over."
"Thought you said it's your job to not be glad of how it turned out?"
"My job isn't hurt." Jenna shrugged. "The government still needs to spend money on PMCs. It really doesn't have an army of its own anymore."
"What's wrong?" Troy asked, noticing that Jenna suddenly had a concerned expression and was looking at something out of the corner of her eye.
"Nothing….. Listen, not to change the subject, but I think it might be a good idea for us to go inside." "Thanks for the invite." Troy smiled.
"We shouldn't be standing out here… shouldn't be seen together."
Inside, Jenna kicked off her halls-of-congress three-inch heels and went straight for the Wild Turkey, pouring one for Troy without asking.
"You're worried about Harris catching you with the late Troy Loensch," he said, touching her glass with his.
"That would put a little hurt in my job situation," she said. "You've got me paranoid now."
"Put a little hurt in my life situation," Troy said. "He put his cards on the table that day when he left me at eighty thousand feet in an uncontrollable airplane. I'm sure he could come up with some ideas for Jenna Munrough's accidental demise."
"Y'all still want to confront him?" Jenna asked.
"Yeah. I want to see him explain what happened up there that day. I want to see him explain what happened in front of some television cameras."
"You'll probably have your chance next week. Now that this thing has failed, he and Kynelty will be back on the Hill lobbying for a resubmission of the bill."
"How likely is it that Congress will do that?"
"My opinion? Not very. I saw what people were saying in those e-mails. Even if they were going to take it up again, it wouldn't be any time soon. Matter of months. Maybe not even in this session."
"But you think Harris is gonna be up there again next week?"
"You know him. He doesn't like to take no for an answer."
"Will you be going up with him?"
"Probably not," Jenna said. "He'll just be trying to meet with the House leadership. The congressional liaison people will set it up….. Will you be there?" "Probably. I gotta do this thing."
"Be careful," Jenna cautioned.
"Thank you for your concern."
"I care about you," Jenna admitted.
"That's sweet of you." Troy smiled.
"I'm serious," Jenna insisted. "I really do care about you."
"I thought that after… y'know… after that… after Hal got killed…"
"You thought I blamed you for killing Hal?"
"I did kill Hal," Troy admitted. "I didn't know it was Hal… but that doesn't mean that I didn't do it."
"I understand that… intellectually," Jenna said.
"But it was hard to look at y'all… knowing."
"I understand," Troy said, casting his gaze downward.
"Mainly, I was pissed off at me," Jenna said.
"At yourself?"
"I slept with you while I was engaged to Hal. I hid his ring in my damned purse and made hot, sweaty lust with you all night. And that was after trying to seduce you one time before that."
"That you did." Troy nodded.
"I'm pissed at myself because Hal loved me and he was basically the sweetest, most caring man I ever met… "Why are you pissed at you for that?"
"Because ever since that night in Eritrea, I've wanted your body, Loensch. I loved Hal and he loved me, but I wanted you. He was sweet and thoughtful… you're an arrogant asshole… but you are just so good in bed."
"Well…" Troy started to say as Jenna took his glass from his hand, set it on an end table, and pushed him down on the sofa.
Having unbuttoned her blouse, she pounced on him, kissing him madly and pressing her body against his.
Chapter 48