“Where’s this video?” Kay asked Rog.
“I don’t have it.”
“Then how do you know it exists?”
Again Tammy exhaled and looked at Rog. Kay looked at him too. “What is it?”
Rog pulled out his cell phone. “They sent me this,” he said, and pressed the Play button on his phone.
Kay watched the video. It appeared to be at Michael’s apartment at the Watergate Hotel in DC. Michael was on the sofa lying down. Kay was sitting at a table. The video was choppy and grainy. But then it appeared as if a hand reached for a gun. And then there was a back shot of her standing over Michael, and she was lifting that gun to his head, and she fired one shot that was so loud it made Kay jump just watching it. And then the tape ended.
She looked at Rog. “What in the world? That never happened! It’s doctored. It’s obviously doctored.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s not going to matter, Kay. Not ten days before the election.”
“Even if we get the best forensic people on the case, even Quantico,” Tammy said, “the voters aren’t going to care. That video will speak for itself in the eyes of the public. That video will be a viral sensation and there won’t be a damn thing we can do about it. It won’t be enough time.”
“If you’re explaining,” Rog said, “you’re losing. And that’s for ordinary scandals. But this scandal? Where you would have to come out and say I didn’t murder my boyfriend?” Rog shook his head. “More than half of the public will never believe you. No matter what. And that will spell doom for us in November.”
“Because Kay,” Tammy said, “nobody’s going to vote for a person they suspect could have murdered her boyfriend. Nobody.”
Kay couldn’t believe it. “Has there been any communication with whomever has this video?” she asked.
“We got a phone call, yes,” said Rog. “He said they plan to put it out there in seven days.”
“Three days before the election,” Kay said. “They don’t want us to have any chance to recover.”
“Not a chance whatsoever,” Rog said. “They want to hit the public with this nonsense and hit it hard.”
Kay rubbed her forehead. “Did they give us any options?” she asked.
“Only one.”
“Which is?”
“They want a billion dollars.”
Kay’s eyes stretched larger. “A billion dollars?”
“If we deposit a billion dollars, electronically, in a certain account,” Rog continued, “and we do so before those seven days are up, then that video will never see the light of day. Which may or may not be true. We would have to trust them. And give them our billion dollars.”
“And that’s only if we can get up a billion bucks,” said Tammy. “Which you know we absolutely can’t.”
Kay couldn’t believe it. Was this the way her entire political career was going to end? Over a lie? Over a gotdamn lie?
“But I have a solution,” Tammy said.
“That’s no solution,” said Rog.
“What is it, Tammy?” asked Kay. She’d take any solution other than the one Rog had in mind.
“I say we fight back preemptively,” Tammy said. “I say we inform the public about this fake tape that’s going around over the internet, and that’s the way I’ll phrase it. That it’s an internet thing, and everybody knows you can’t believe everything you see on the internet. That way, when they realize we aren’t ponying up a billion dollars and they put out that video, the surprise element will be gone. We may be able to survive it.”
“And if they don’t put the tape out?” Kay asked.
“But what other choice do we have?” Tammy asked. “They want a billion dollars! Do you have that kind of money laying around?”
Kay frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said in a defeated voice. “I don’t have a thousand dollars to spare. But we can’t do it your way. The public will think I’m insane for suggesting some phantom tape is out there that may never even be produced. They’ll have hackers searching for this tape and commentators declaring something’s wrong with me for even suggesting a tape like that exists.”
“Or they’ll claim the video does exists,” Rog said, “but you’re being blackmailed by foreign powers and you’re trying to soften the blow. Which would be a worse scenario than the tape itself! Because then the entire conversation will be about why is she being blackmailed? What did she do?”
Kay shook her head. She was beyond frustrated. “I can’t win,” she said.
“Following Tammy’s advice,” Rog said, “you for damn sure won’t win.”
“I love you too, Rog,” Tammy said dismissively. “But at least early voting has already started. That could help get us over the hump.”
But Rog was already shaking his head. “That’s not what the facts are showing. Early vote tallies are running about even between Democrats and Republicans. We don’t have a big advantage there. We may even have a disadvantage. We can’t depend on votes that are already being cast. Election day will decide this election. That’s when the independents and undecideds come out. And whoever has that video knows it.”
“What if we go to the FBI?” asked Tammy. “Maybe they can run it down.”
“Are you joking?” Kay asked. “The current occupant of the White House is using all levers of power as it is to benefit my opponent. He’s served his eight years and he wants another Republican in that White House. Who’s to say the FBI isn’t behind this smear to begin with?”
“That’s what I told her,” Rog said. “I don’t know why she keeps bringing that up. The President and his men are using every dirty trick in the book. This one could be their October surprise on the first of November. We have got to get full possession of that video before they go public. Bottom line.”
“Once it’s out there,” Kay said anxiously, “we will have precious little time before election day to tell the public to not believe their lying eyes. To disregard that incredible video that incriminates me beyond belief.” Her look turned grave. “An impossible task,” she added.
“It’ll be proving the negative, which can’t be done,” Rog said. “And proving it times a thousand.”
“But even if we get that video,” said Tammy, “there’s no way they don’t have copies. Getting it won’t be enough.”
Rog knew it too. “Will you excuse us, Tammy?” he asked the press secretary.
Tammy didn’t like being excluded. She felt she had just as much right to hear the plan as Rog did. But Rog was her boss, and Kay was the boss of them both. And Rog’s friend. She left, closing the door as she did.
And Rog didn’t mince words. “We need his help,” he said. “I know you don’t like it. I know you would rather eat nails. But we’ve got to have his help. Even Tammy saw that just retrieving that video wasn’t going to be enough. And you know he won’t just get that video, he’ll stop anybody from using any copy of that video.” Then he looked her dead in the eyes. “You’ve got to go to him, Kay.”