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Authors: Roxanne St. Claire
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reporter.”
“Of course not,” she agreed quickly.
Unless you’re ordered to . She knew
exactly what she had to do and how to do it. This was her version of flying seventeen thousand miles an hour and, like it or
not, Deke Stockard was about to come along for the ride.
* * *
Jessica’s entire demeanor changed on their
way to the third-floor conference room of the Headquarters
building. She’d been mildly enthusiastic about the tour, but sparks
practically shot out of her as she hustled ahead of him. He did a
mental review of who had the most to gain from the public knowing
about the problems on the shuttle but didn’t dare slow his step and
risk losing pace with this determined fireball.
When they reached the room, a few members of
Colonel Price’s staff and some public affairs people had already
arrived. He took a seat at the far end of the table, leaning back
in the chair and silently cursing the fact that he’d never get to
sail today.
Jessica flew into meet-and-greet mode,
shaking hands and flashing that tantalizing smile at everyone. Skip
Bowker was on her like a fly to honey, too.
“So you’re the PR person who’s going to put
Deke on the map.” Skip shot a smile down the table to Deke.
“Shouldn’t be too hard for you, Miss. He’s born to be famous. Named
after an astronaut.”
“I’ve got that in his bio,” she assured Skip
as she shook his hand. “And it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Bowker.
I’ve read about your work on Apollo and the shuttle missions.”
Skip furrowed his brows and a twinkle lit his
eyes. “I may be thinning a bit in the hair department and hitting
the big six-five this year, but don’t you want me to be on
the cover of People ?”
She treated him to one of those wind-chime
laughs, then lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “You
help us get through this and I’m sure we can work out some kind of
feature on you.”
Skip beamed. Oh, brother. The old man was
dead meat with this woman.
“I can help you, Jessica.” Bowker leaned
closer. “This is all a bunch of malarkey, you know. There are no
safety issues. Those shuttles run like Swiss watches. Flawlessly. I
guarantee it and you don’t have to go any further than that,
Miss.”
Deke listened to Skip’s words and clenched
his jaw to stay quiet. He’d better be right.
“We’re going to need your help to prove that
today, Mr. Bowker,” Jessica said.
She had no idea what she was getting into.
But it wasn’t Deke’s job to save her ass. Let Colonel Price do it.
The sooner she screwed up, the sooner the Colonel would send her
packing.
With every person that came into the room,
the sense of crisis heightened. Deke acknowledged Stuart and the
Colonel with a terse nod. Before he could explain that he was only
here to help formulate the safety responses, Jessica took over the
meeting and started grilling the Colonel, leaning forward like a
racehorse that needed to be held back at the starting gate.
An uninvited pang of pure sexual desire
ricocheted through him. Did she have this much passion about everything ? She wouldn’t be around long enough for him to
find out. One bad Newsweek article and surely the powers
that be would yank her from the assignment.
“Colonel Price, I understand you’ve spoken to
this reporter already. Did you allow yourself to be quoted?” she
asked.
“It was strictly off the record. But, these
guys…” He held his hands out to indicate “who knows?”
“Damage control has to start with the facts.”
She looked directly into Price’s eyes, evidently not the least bit
intimidated by his title or position. “Is there any truth that
cost-cutting measures are having an impact on safety, Colonel
Price? I can’t formulate our response until I know.”
Colonel Price stared at her thoughtfully.
“Costs have been cut in a number of areas, but none that would
compromise safety.”
Deke ignored the fingers of concern that
squeezed his gut. The words were true enough.
“Of course not,” she agreed quickly.
Unless you’re ordered to . She knew
exactly what she had to do and how to do it. This was her version of flying seventeen thousand miles an hour and, like it or
not, Deke Stockard was about to come along for the ride.
* * *
Jessica’s entire demeanor changed on their
way to the third-floor conference room of the Headquarters
building. She’d been mildly enthusiastic about the tour, but sparks
practically shot out of her as she hustled ahead of him. He did a
mental review of who had the most to gain from the public knowing
about the problems on the shuttle but didn’t dare slow his step and
risk losing pace with this determined fireball.
When they reached the room, a few members of
Colonel Price’s staff and some public affairs people had already
arrived. He took a seat at the far end of the table, leaning back
in the chair and silently cursing the fact that he’d never get to
sail today.
Jessica flew into meet-and-greet mode,
shaking hands and flashing that tantalizing smile at everyone. Skip
Bowker was on her like a fly to honey, too.
“So you’re the PR person who’s going to put
Deke on the map.” Skip shot a smile down the table to Deke.
“Shouldn’t be too hard for you, Miss. He’s born to be famous. Named
after an astronaut.”
“I’ve got that in his bio,” she assured Skip
as she shook his hand. “And it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Bowker.
I’ve read about your work on Apollo and the shuttle missions.”
Skip furrowed his brows and a twinkle lit his
eyes. “I may be thinning a bit in the hair department and hitting
the big six-five this year, but don’t you want me to be on
the cover of People ?”
She treated him to one of those wind-chime
laughs, then lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. “You
help us get through this and I’m sure we can work out some kind of
feature on you.”
Skip beamed. Oh, brother. The old man was
dead meat with this woman.
“I can help you, Jessica.” Bowker leaned
closer. “This is all a bunch of malarkey, you know. There are no
safety issues. Those shuttles run like Swiss watches. Flawlessly. I
guarantee it and you don’t have to go any further than that,
Miss.”
Deke listened to Skip’s words and clenched
his jaw to stay quiet. He’d better be right.
“We’re going to need your help to prove that
today, Mr. Bowker,” Jessica said.
She had no idea what she was getting into.
But it wasn’t Deke’s job to save her ass. Let Colonel Price do it.
The sooner she screwed up, the sooner the Colonel would send her
packing.
With every person that came into the room,
the sense of crisis heightened. Deke acknowledged Stuart and the
Colonel with a terse nod. Before he could explain that he was only
here to help formulate the safety responses, Jessica took over the
meeting and started grilling the Colonel, leaning forward like a
racehorse that needed to be held back at the starting gate.
An uninvited pang of pure sexual desire
ricocheted through him. Did she have this much passion about everything ? She wouldn’t be around long enough for him to
find out. One bad Newsweek article and surely the powers
that be would yank her from the assignment.
“Colonel Price, I understand you’ve spoken to
this reporter already. Did you allow yourself to be quoted?” she
asked.
“It was strictly off the record. But, these
guys…” He held his hands out to indicate “who knows?”
“Damage control has to start with the facts.”
She looked directly into Price’s eyes, evidently not the least bit
intimidated by his title or position. “Is there any truth that
cost-cutting measures are having an impact on safety, Colonel
Price? I can’t formulate our response until I know.”
Colonel Price stared at her thoughtfully.
“Costs have been cut in a number of areas, but none that would
compromise safety.”
Deke ignored the fingers of concern that
squeezed his gut. The words were true enough.
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