The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology (44 page)

“China-India war? Pakistan – Arab?

“UN – out? Rent on UN property in NYC?

“World Trade Org/World Court – out?

“Basel – out?

“Kyoto?

“Educat – Tchr evals – NYC rubb rooms

“Insurance fraud – medical auto life

“Dr./hospital fraud, upcoding

“Dan's joke: Egomaniac/Communist/Muslim. “Welcome, Mr.
President.” NO

“12/22/12 – National Oops Day?

“Carrots/Sticks – S need enforce, C w/quals -- save from
cons

“all $$$$ lumps – crooks after 'em – HSAs, Roths,
etc Protect

“Rating agencies

“Seniors – CD's low. 5% again? Unint Cons? Punish
savers, lure debt/borrowers, then raise rates, default –
conspiracies?

“FDA – 510K – licensing (fees too high); Japs
refuse – med devs

“Canada/Eur model for FDA?

“Lease out NIH/FDA/CDC labs?

“University research grants?

“CPSC ?

“Cong. White Caucus – uproar if

“Pendulum – too far L, too far R, settle down –
good?

“Grilled gecko – ick

“HS pep rallies – poli conventions

“Boston vs. NY fans – how bright? D's vs. R's

“Down With Donne”

“Jet packs, flying cars? No Maybe

“National Lottery ???

“Surcharge – Vanity/Specialty plates ??

“Fed Reserve audit ??

“Tax havens/evade - confront or maybe co-opt

“Randi – Indi - cute couple – Puerto Rico

“Joy – Jodi – Sarah/Sara

“displaced aggression

“dashed his balder

“Bolero CD?

“PLA's – Project Labor Agreements – unions –
right to work

“Israel/Pal/Arab/Iran

“FDR – undistributed profits tax – NO way

“nude beaches ??

“Internet gambling – legalize and tax?

“Sales tax – 6% 5 4 3 18 ???

“Past the talking points

“Political response – straight response vs. blah-blah

“Statute of limitations – RICO – Congress? Sov Imm
– gone?

“Tree > Bush > sucks arrrghhhh, etc. Wendi –
Myrtle Bch

“pay to play

“Acts of God insurance – prove God exists before payout
:-)

“Obesity

“Turmoil in your life does not warrant an emergency response in
mine – from me” ??

“power-hungry demagogues - JJ/AS shakedowns ?

“gullible dupes – useful idiots (Lenin) - most voters ??

“greedy moochers/misers vs

“Section 8 subsidies

“better class of gold-diggers after me for my $$$ - recession

“towel-shaking – sand/wind – thanks for doing that
carefully

“Obama college transcripts – suppressed – why?

“Strawberry Twins?? Daiquiri? Pink Alexander – no.

“Opal/Ruby – black jewel thieves ?? Hmm

“Cayley – 7ish, cutie Mom? Jane, Jean, Joan?

“Alert the Watchers

“Stuxnet ?? leak for poli purposes, destructive to policy

“Sam and Christine – captain LEO ret

“Ron/Eileen – judge

“Classified stuff – hmm – how?

“Laura – Houston C/R JJ- NoCaro ??

“Martha Smith – NZ, sub tchr Denv

“zero sum – slice of pie vs. bigger pie !!!!!

“MWBE – Minority/Women Biz Enterprise – law 20%
extra cost

“Compliance costs

“Karen – Austria - ??? Who? QH'd that.

“Aff Action – cash cow for JJ/AS/attys

“Tortie/Veronica (Ronnie)

“Statehood – PR/Guam/USVI/ etc. ????

“NZ model – 1984 – driv lic good till age 75, no
renewal, no fees

“Your mission? Overlap wit other Miss's? Cost/Benefit? Staff?
Essential or --- need/want; ego/budget “Mine's bigger than
yours.”

“National DrivLic, good in all states, $500 for lifetime –
ID card??

“cui bono – cui malo (who benefits, who's harmed?)
CrimLaw

“nanny state – ick

“Agencies: trans, indianaff,TSA,NASA,ArmyCorpEng/etc

“GSA – natl parks (rent?), real estate (sell, lease?)
etc.

“Rent out soldiers/equip ???

“Lacey/Rachel/Evie baby/mom/aunt OK

“RockyMtn Oysters

“sewing/sowing/sosoing

“balloon under sand – dangerous – punk AH's”
fr. Ann Louise

“Jeff/Shari – Toledo OK

“Alan – London - “Could he fix my country next?”
Hmm. ???

“self-indulgent navel-gazers”

“Zachary - “If I can spell it, you can say it – NOT
Zach!!!!”

“Enviros – front for anti-capitalists = anti-business =
anti-Amer

“Creative idea/sols, not more $$$ just thrown

“flatten midlevel bureaus – fewer layers ??

“FAA/airlines/electron devs safe?”

As he typed that last one, the wind picked up and the rain began to
blow onto his balcony, so he packed everything up and headed inside,
closing the sliders behind him, and began humming his new theme song
again.

He stacked and fluffed the pillows on his bed, sat down, leaned back
and, with just a few notes to go, continued:

“Close mil bases overseas which? $$ saved?

“Charge 'em for keeping bases there?

“Arab Spring?

“Russia?

“China – subsidies, curncy manip, h. rights, prison
labor, cheap products to US. Power/backlash – war?

“Immigrants – legal/illegal – quotas, visas,
college, engineers, India/Asia

“Andorra – mob? :-)

“Free market princ for honest, good people; regs nded for
crooks

“OSHA 42-in safety railings 41.5? $500 fine. Stuck,
checklists, micro, stupid

“FDA – 30% higher prices delays, egos

“TSA – union – gone.

“Top Ten reasons why I procrastinate:

10.

“Energy Dept. gone or reduced; new mission: Yes, not No

“Ed Dept – same – more charter schools, less admin
in publics

“EPA – same, mostly gone.

“Dodd-Frank – how, why – most gone

“Obamacare – mostly gone. Pre-exist, 26-yrs, infant
pre-ex YES

“I'm going to talk to the adults in the room now.”

“No more pandering to the children; no more nanny state !!!!

And with that, he'd finished the notes, so he closed his tablet and
headed downstairs. He got the PC cord out, plugged it in and booted
the PC up, nuking a pot roast sandwich while waiting. Taking that
and a can of soda back into his study, he sat down, copied the notes
from his tablet to the PC, then checked his email and found one from
Pam there. He hurriedly opened it.

“Hi, Jake. Hope you and SB are doing okay, Miss you (both
:-)) a LOT. Hope you're getting mucho writing done; I'm looking
forward to reading a lot when I get back (two weeks!!! Yippee!!).
VERY busy here; only allowed communication tonight and next Sunday
eve, and can't say much about the courses, other than that they're
tougher and more advanced than the Farm was; but that was a long time
ago. I'm doing fine with it all. But I have to remember to
compartmentalize a lot. Really missing you (both) a LOTTTT. Love,
Pam … and GM :-)”

Jake heaved a deep sigh of relief and smiled happily, leaning back in
his chair, savoring Pam's words and the deeper meanings hidden within
them, the ones meant only for his eyes.

Finally deciphering all the meanings, he leaned forward and wrote a
carefully crafted reply, trusting that Pam would not only get his
words, but also the hidden meanings he'd buried in there.

“Hey, Pam … and GM. Missing you … both …
a lot here, too, and M&B, too. I'm so glad you're doing well
with the O&S stuff, and I'm trying to keep your idea of
compartmentalizing in mind here, but it's hard(SCR)er for me, without
your experience; new to me. Not much actual writing since you've
been gone, kind of an emptiness filling the void (oxymoronic, but
true). A few notes and a very few interesting conversations with a
few of the eight percenters, and lots of not-so-interesting ones with
a whole bunch of the 92 percenters. Looking forward to the 18th …
a LOTTTTTT, too. Love backatcha, Jake/SB”

He looked it over closely, thought back to all of his time with Pam
and added, just in case: “PS. SCR = Sorry, Couldn't Resist,”
then hit SEND.

Jake leaned back, closed his eyes, stretched his back and arms, began
humming the Bolero again, and checked the rest of his emails. He
found seven that needed replies, sent those, then sent three new
ones, each with an attachment, and then settled in to do some real
writing, for the first time since Pam had walked slightly awkwardly
through the airport terminal doors two weeks before.

He was pleased to notice that he hadn't coughed at all that day.

-90-

Friday, February 17, 2012

8:47 a.m. EST

A network morning talk show

After a solid week of promos for Donne's interview, using the same
question, Lindsey smiled at the camera after a commercial.

“Welcome back. I'm Lindsey Framingham, and I've now got
another clip from my exclusive interview with Gordon Donne, the man
we all now call boss.”

The screen cut to the same shot of Lindsey and Gordon Donne on the
chairs in the Oval Office that was used in the first promo series.

“Mr. Donne,” Lindsey began, “is the rumor true that
you had an affair with a porn star?”

“Absolutely, Lindsay, I'm proud to say. Of course, I didn't
know she was a star at the time. I mean, I was only 20 years old. I
met her at a party celebrating the sale of my algorithm, and she –
well, she was after some of my new money. And she succeeded; that
she did.” Donne smiled. “I smile at the memory. First,
best and only sex I ever had. Her screen name was Fannie --”

The screen cut to a medium closeup of Lindsey in the studio.

“If you want to find out the last name of Gordon Donne's one
and only love … or maybe just lust? … we'll be running
the whole interview on this show on Friday, March 16th. Be sure to
mark that on your calendar. But now, back to Rene and her guest, the
Montana woman who holds the world record for pencil eraser
collecting. We'll find out just how many erasers she has …
and why. Rene?”

-91-

Six Months Earlier

Sunday, September 18, 2011

8:28 p.m.

International Airport

Fort Myers, Florida

Jake saw Pam as soon as she emerged from the terminal doors. She was
striding confidently, wearing a loose light blue T-shirt and, for the
first time since they'd met, a skirt, knee-length and dark blue. A
skycap followed with her three bags on a dolly, his eyes focused on
her solidly swiveling derriere.

Jake pulled the van up to her and opened the side door for the skycap
and the passenger door for Pam. She gave the skycap a ten, slid the
side door closed and climbed into the passenger seat, immediately
leaning across the console and giving Jake a deep, long-lasting,
tongue-twisting, denture-dislodging kiss.

She was letting her hand slide down his belly when a sharp tap on the
driver's side window caused her to look up into the impatient face of
a Port Authority police officer, who gestured with his flashlight for
them to move along.

“Short-term parking garage, Jake, now,” Pam ordered, then
added, much more gently, “please?”

Jake, as he pulled away from the curb, smiled and said, “I'd
like that, Pam. And welcome home.”

Pam, still leaning over the console, nuzzled Jake's throat and slid
her hand up his leg, letting it come to rest still on his thigh, but
stretching an index finger up to caress Stevie Bruce through Jake's
bermuda shorts. Naturally enough, Stevie Bruce responded to her
light touch.

Jake hurried into the garage and found a space between a large white
SUV and a heavy-duty green pickup truck, put the transmission in
Park, turned the ignition off and fumbled to unlock his seat belt as
Pam pulled him onto the mattress in the back of the van. Then it was
Pam's turn to fumble, even though she had gone commando since just
before picking up her bags.

Finally Stevie Bruce and Ginny May had their long-anticipated, warm
and initially gentle reunion.

“Woh,” Pam exclaimed, and then giggled. “Maybe I
need to start calling him Steven Bruce now.”

“What? Why?”

“He seems to have grown up a little bit. And no, it's not my
imagination.”

“Really? You're not just trying to flatter me now?”

“Nope, Jake; promise. He's bigger. I can feel it.”
Ginny May gave Stevie Bruce a gentle squeeze, then another and
another; Stevie Bruce responded.

“Yup, definitely a bit bigger.”

“Oh. I quit smoking; maybe that's part of it, more blood
flow.”

“You did? Bravo. So did I.”

“Really? Cool. Congratulations.”

Then they both let SB and GM take over and continue their ecstatic,
sometimes frenetic, reunion.

Mitzy and Bitsy also enjoyed a reunion with various parts of Jake's
anatomy.

As Pam collapsed once again onto Jake's chest with a stifled cry, and
Jake joined her with his quiet moan, Pam quivered and murmured, “That
was a loverly welcome home, Jake, just loverly.”

“I'm glad,” Jake managed to mumble.

After several long moments of heavy breathing, Jake was able to
mumble, “So we both quit smoking. Wow.”

“Yup; sometimes, with some of the stuff they had us doing, I
got a little short of breath. So I quit.”

“Wow, it was that tough?”

“Oh, yeah. But let's save that for later. Right now, I just
want to snuggle and feel you in and around me.”

And that's what they did, for another half hour, planes taking off
and landing overhead.

When they finally got onto I-75 heading south, Pam asked, “Where'd
you get the van, Jake? And with a mattress in back?”

“It's a new mattress.”

“Not anymore, it isn't,” Pam said, giggling.

“A friend loaned it to me; he owns a chain of mattress stores.”

“Nice to have a friend like that.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Nice ride.”

“It's got heavy-duty suspension.”

“I wasn't talking about that. Nicest ride I've had in a
month.”