Read Online My Only One by Lindsay McKenna - Free Book Online Page A

!” Monica Turner whispered. She was at her desk, watching the small television that sat in one corner of her massive office. Her assistant secretary, Pat Monahan, had an unhappy look on her face as she stood near the set. “Every national news program has Abby Fielding’s face plastered all over it!”
    Pat shrugged delicately and switched off the set. “What worries me is the Soviet element. They sounded awfully pro whale and dolphin.”
    Angrily, Monica got up and moved to the venetian blinds behind her ornate maple desk. Out the window of her office, it was springtime. The cherry trees were blooming, and the lawns becoming green once more. “I think Fielding deliberately created that collision with the Japanese whaler just to get this kind of publicity. Damn those whale activists!” She clenched her fist behind her back. “They’re like a plague, Pat. No, correct that—a damned virus. Just as bad as the AIDs virus, in my opinion.”
    “Well,” Pat said with feeling, “don’t let the press hear you say that. The SOWF would love to get a hold of you saying that about them.”
    “You’re right. They’d milk it for all it’s worth.”
    “Part of why they’re so successful in getting publicity is because they know how to manipulate the media. I really worry if someone overhears your comments.”
    “Don’t worry, I know how to manipulate the press, too,” Monica muttered. “What makes me so angry is the fact that Fielding, on national television, has made disparaging remarks about President Reagan’s policy regarding the environment. Doesn’t Fielding realize that whales aren’t a priority anymore? She comes off like a self-righteous zealot. I’ll bet she’d save a whale before she’d save a human being from death.”
    Pat grimaced. “We’re going to have to work tonight with Hill personnel to issue some kind of statement.”
    Monica turned, her eyes narrowing on her assistant. “I’ll write up some innocuous, generic response from the State Department that presents a united front between us and the president. Then you take it up the Hill and get it approved, Pat.”
    “Of course.”
    Grimly, Monica sat down and took some sheets of paper from her desk drawer. Her office was filled with mementos of the Reagan years. A favorite photo of her and the president sat on her desk, conspicuous, so that everyone would see it upon entering her mahogany-paneled office. Picking up her gold pen, she began to write.
    “Fielding’s not going to get away with this.”
    Pat sighed. “I don’t know how we’re going to stop them this time, Doctor. With that Soviet captain in tow, he’s stealing the show with just his presence.
Glasnost
is in, and to tell you the truth, he’s not bad-looking.”
    “Speaks flawless English, too,” Monica growled. “Where’d they dig him up? Probably one of Gorbachev’s minions they’ve been grooming for something like this.”
    “While you’re at it, don’t you think an appropriate phone call to the Department of Transportation is in order, too? It appears that the Coast Guard approves of the views presented by Dr. Fielding. That isn’t good for our image.”
    “Damned whale issue,” Monica whispered, scribbling more rapidly on the paper. “I hate it! It’s such a paltry problem in comparison to
real
problems like national-security issues! And Japan! God, but they’re being stubborn about this semiconductor issue. But Fielding doesn’t see that, does she? All she can see and hear is her stupid whales and dolphins!”
    Sadly, Pat nodded her head. “Maybe this Captain Rostov will make a mistake and discredit himself with the American public. You know,
glasnost
is new, and the president is still leery of it.”
    “He ought to be. I am, too. Maybe Rostov is a mole. We’ll see. Don’t worry, Pat, I’m going to contact my friends at the FBI and have Rostov watched closely. Without his or the Coast Guard’s knowledge, of course.”
    Pat smiled. “Wouldn’t it