Read Online Space in His Heart by Roxanne St. Claire - Free Book Online Page A

Time didn’t
have.” She’d also plied him with expensive Merlot on her last trip
to New York and listened to him gripe about his salary. She could
handle this reporter. “What’s he got?”
    “He’s got an unnamed source, strictly off the
record, and an internal NASA memo that claims it’s just a matter of
one more launch till we have another Challenger on our
hands.”
    Her stomach rolled at the thought as she
watched Deke peer into the cockpit. One in four hundred and
thirty-eight. One in a thousand. What kind of man gambles with his
life?
    “Who knows about this, Bill? Colonel
Price?”
    “The Colonel, a safety engineer named Skip
Bowker, and some of the staff are gathering at Headquarters now. We
need you to get over there, prep them, and get Zimmerman on the
phone. He’s agreed to do one more interview before they
decide.”
    “Decide what?” she asked.
    “Whether or not to go with the story.
Apparently the editors aren’t sure of the veracity of the
source.”
    Jessica looked at her watch. “That means we
have about four hours. Newsweek goes to bed at eleven on
Saturday morning. Any story can be cut before that. Has Colonel
Price gone on the record yet?”
    “Nope. Zimmerman will talk to him, but he’s
looking for a different angle since the Colonel has done Time and USA Today already and talked about the
hydrogen leak.”
    “A different angle?” Jessica studied Deke as
he fingered the leather on one of the cockpit seats, surely
listening to her end of the conversation. “I have an idea.”
    He turned at the tone of her mystery in her
voice, a shadow darkening his eyes. She moved the receiver from her
mouth and narrowed her eyes in a challenge to him. “You like risks,
huh? Are you willing to take one now?”
    He scowled at her, but she ignored it and
spoke into the phone. “Bill, I think it’s time we launched our
astronaut.”
    “Stockard? Is he ready?”
    “He’s ready,” she assured them both, trying
not to let Deke’s blazing expression weaken her resolve. “Who
better to vouch for safety than someone who has to fly the
shuttle?”
    Deke shook his head in definitive denial. In
her ear, she heard Bill continuing. “Zimmerman would love an
interview with Stockard. Nobody ever gets the astronauts on this
kind of stuff. He’ll go nuts for those quotes.”
    Jessica talked to both of them, looking at
Deke as she responded. “We don’t want quotes. Not if we do our work
right.”
    “What’s the use of doing an interview if he
doesn’t go on the record?” Bill asked.
    “Our goal is to kill the story, not help it
get published.” She searched Deke’s face for any sign that he would
relent. “No ink is what I’m after,” she said into the phone, a plea
and a promise in her eyes. “Commander Stockard can convince Paul
Zimmerman that there’s no story here.” Then she’d lay a little
groundwork for the puff piece on NASA’s hottest property, the news
she’d spoon-feed America.
    “Please,” she said as she snapped the phone
shut and explained to him about the memo. “You can really help on
this and it would be a good introduction to the media for you.”
    He crossed his arms. “You’re nuts, you know
that? Astronauts don’t speak on safety. Colonel Price does. I’m not
going to sweet-talk some reporter and tell him there’s no danger.
Who knows where the hell he got his information?”
    “That’s what I’d like to know.” She bit back
a sigh of frustration. “Will you at least come to the meeting? You
don’t have to do the interview. Just help us formulate a
response.”
    “You don’t need me to do that.” He stepped
toward the hatch they’d just climbed through, inches from her. “I
guess we’re done here.”
    Jessica put her hand on his arm to stop him.
“Bad press at this time could really set our campaign back. It will
take even longer to… get rid of me.”
    He paused and eyed her warily. “I’ll go, but
I am not getting on the phone with the