'It doesn't work like that,' Lucy said, giving him another tug. 'You have to help me, too.'
Rodgers withdrew his arm and started walking after Kat. Lucy followed him. Her persistence did not bother him. That was her job. What frustrated him was something that was roiling in his gut.
'General, talk to me. Just tell me what you're doing with Senator Orr.
Are you working for him or for Op-Center?'
'What do you think?'
'I think that if you were working for Op-Center, Kat would have known about the Darrell McCaskey interview,' she said.
'Makes sense,' he said.
'I know. That's a direction, but it isn't a story. Give me something I can use. Anything. A lead, an off-the- record observation, a quote I'll attribute to an anonymous source '
'The Hypo-Slayer,' Rodgers said.
'Beg pardon?'
'Is that what you came up with last night when you said you needed a name for the killer?'
'Yes,' Lucy said. 'It was the best I could do before deadline.'
'It's good,' he said.
'Thanks. Now, how about it? Lend me a hand here.'
Rodgers stopped. 'You know what? I'm out of the hand-lending business. It's nothing personal, but I helped Japan. I helped the United Nations. I helped the entire Indian subcontinent. Do you know what it got me?'
'Not a lot of personal press.'
'I don't care about that,' he said. He was about to cross the fail-safe point but did not care. 'It got me downsized.'
'You were released from Op-Center?'
'Released is what you do to a wounded condor or a seal with a coat of crude oil. I was canned, Lucy.'
'Jeez. General, I'm so sorry. May I quote you?'
'Why not? You can also quote me as saying that loyalty is missing in action, along with honor and integrity. Not just at Op-Center but throughout society. Real service is rewarded with lip service, and opportunists are calling the plays. I've been invited to join the senator's team in some capacity to try to change that. I plan to accept because I trust in the American people to see the difference between arrivistes and people of character and principle. Close quote,' he added.
'Would you mind if I asked Paul Hood to comment?'
'No,' Rodgers said. 'But Lucy?'
'Yes?'
Rodgers hesitated. He wanted to tell her not to make him sound bitter.
However, he did not know how to say that without acknowledging that he was bitter.
The reporter seemed to read his thoughts. 'Don't worry,' she said.
'I'll make it come out right.'
Rodgers smiled softly.
Lucy thanked the general and left. Rodgers stood there for a moment, not sure how he felt. He had not
