Cut and Thrust

32

Stone and Ann were hugging each other and laughing, and Dino was pounding him on the back. Viv was pointing at the turmoil on the convention floor and laughing.

Ann called Kate, but her line was busy. “We’ll never be able to get through to Kate,” she said. Then Ann’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s Kate. Turn off the TV.”

Stone turned it off and Ann pressed the speaker button.

“Congratulations, Kate!”

“You mean what I just saw really happened?”

“It certainly did.”

Will’s voice came on the line. “Stone, what was Ed Eagle doing with Otero and Willingham?”

“I’m looking forward to asking him that, Mr. President,” Stone said, “but whatever he was doing, it seems to have worked.”

“If you see Eagle, please have him call me.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Ann, Stone,” Kate said, “thanks for your congratulations, but you’ll have to excuse me, I think I should take some incoming calls!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Ann ended the connection. “May I have another drink, please?”

Stone waved at a waiter. “Open some champagne,” he said. Then someone was hammering on the skybox door. Stone opened it, and Ed Eagle, Susannah Wilde, and Mike Freeman spilled into the room. The hall outside was crammed with people.

Stone got the door shut. “Come on in, we’re starting on the champagne,” he said. A waiter came with flutes and poured the wine. Stone raised his glass. “To Ed Eagle and whatever he said to Otero and Willingham.” They drank. “Ed, what did you say to Otero and Willingham?”

“Exactly what you told me to say,” Ed replied. “I may have been a little more emphatic, though.”

“We were going crazy up here watching you with binoculars.”

“Otero got it immediately,” Eagle said, “but he didn’t want to get it. Then he grabbed me and dragged me over to the Virginia delegation and got ahold of Willingham. The senator was adamant — tried to talk Pete out of it, but Pete didn’t budge. Finally, Willingham did the arithmetic, swore a few times, and said, ‘Okay.’ The rest you heard on TV.”

“We had a hell of a time getting off the floor,” Mike said. “The aisles were solid with delegates, a lot of them getting drunk in a hurry. Has anybody talked with Kate?”

“She just hung up to start taking congratulatory calls,” Stone said. “Ed, the president asked that you call him.” He produced his cell phone, pressed the button, and handed the phone to Eagle.

“Hello, Mr. President? Yes, sir.” He walked across the room and kept talking into the phone. A couple of minutes later he hung up and rejoined the others.

Stone pointed at the television set. “You’re on TV, Ed,” he said, switching on the sound. Chris Matthews was talking.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened,” he was saying, “but that tall guy standing next to Otero had something to do with it. His name is Ed Eagle. He’s a big-time trial lawyer from Santa Fe, and he’s a New Mexico delegate. He and Otero went over to the Virginia delegation — Wait a minute, we have tape on that — there, Eagle and Otero arguing with Senator Mark Willingham of Virginia, and whatever they’re saying, the senator isn’t buying it. Now he buys it: he’s nodding at Otero, then Otero and Eagle go back to the New Mexico seats, where the delegation is being polled, all five of them, much to the amusement of the crowd. Then Otero grabs the microphone, and you know the rest.”

Ed laughed. “I didn’t know I was on TV,” he said. “I’ll catch hell about that when I get back to Santa Fe.”

“I guarantee you,” Stone said, “every TV reporter on the floor is looking for you right now.”

“Then I’m staying here,” Ed said. “I’ll sleep here if I have to.”

“What did the president have to say to you?” Stone asked.

“The same thing you said to me when I got here,” Ed replied. “I talked to Kate, too. She’s pretty excited.”

“I’ll bet she is.”

“Oh, when I took Otero aside and started in on him and told him what you said about the delegate count, the first thing Pete said was, ‘Who the hell is Stone Barrington, and why should I believe him?’ I told him you were the smartest guy in the hall and had the only accurate delegate count, and that Sam Meriwether was feeding it to you. Was I lying?”

“Not exactly, Ed, but when I talked to Sam, he was still pretty worried about how the count was going.”

“Then you were bluffing?”

“Let’s just say I was a little optimistic.”

“Well, it worked. That’s poker — if you can’t tell who’s bluffing, you’re being bluffed!”

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t have to do it face-to-face with Otero and Willingham,” Stone said. “They would probably have called me on it!”

Ann settled into a sofa. “Turn the TV back on. I’m not leaving here until all those people down there go home!”