Balance of Power

background check, he couldn't have bought that gun.'

    Nolan hesitated. Then, to Sarah's silent satisfaction, he asked a question rooted in his ignorance of the ambush which awaited him. 'But that's all speculation, isn't it? Survivalists, traffickers, stolen guns, whether Bowden saw this ad, even what Lexington actually knows about the purported use of its guns in crimes—none of it, in this case, has been established as fact.'

    'Not at this time,' Walters answered calmly. Even Nolan's coffee, Sarah reflected, was tasting unusually good.

* * *

    After lunch, Fancher commenced his questioning on behalf of the SSA.

    'Why,' Fancher asked aggressively, 'did you leave the ATF?'

    Walters folded his hands. 'Because your client gutted its effectiveness.'

    'Explain that, if you will.'

    'Gladly. Through its allies in Congress, the SSA confined unannounced inspections of gun dealers to one a year—even for dealers the ATF believes are failing to run background checks. They reduced most violations to misdemeanors. They reduced the number of inspectors. They made sure that all records of background checks are destroyed within a day. They threatened to have their allies further reduce our budget if we fought this systemic war on our enforcement.

    'Even that wasn't enough. Unlike tobacco, guns can be made safer. But the SSA opposed laws requiring safety locks, or even safe gun storage, and other steps to prevent thousands of suicides and accidental deaths. All to further the Second Amendment.'

    Fancher's tone became cutting. 'Are you suggesting, Dr. Walters, that the SSA has no right to advocate gun ownership for law-abiding Americans, unfettered by the intrusiveness of the federal government?'

    'Then the SSA should be prouder of its best work.' Walters's tone held the first hint of emotion. 'For several years, the Centers for Disease Control kept figures on the frequency, costs and causes of gun violence in America. Then, again acting through its allies in Congress, the SSA cut off all funding for gun-related research. It's catch-22: your client blocks the development of empirical evidence to support laws like President Kilcannon's proposal, and then argues that no evidence exists.'

    Walters paused, as though to retrieve his aura of calm. 'As part of that effort, Senator Paul Harshman asked the head of the CDC if it was 'sending money to a Dr. Lawrence Walters.' I've never met Senator Harshman. But your client made sure that the senator had heard of me, and that the CDC knew to stay away.'

    Walters sat back. 'The SSA,' he finished, 'promotes fear and enforces ignorance. Imagine if we'd done that regarding polio or smallpox. The result would have been what the SSA has accomplished here: hundreds of thousands of crippled lives and needless deaths.'

    When the questioning was over, Sarah slipped the witness list and deposition notice into Nolan's hands. 'Not great for you,' she said blithely. 'At least in my opinion. But that's all speculation.'

FOURTEEN

When Cassie Rollins arrived on the Hill from a long weekend visiting her constituents in Maine, she remained, as she had told them, undecided on both tort reform and the gun bill. She was listening to their voices, she had assured them. In truth, the voices were a cacophony, and she felt buffeted by the SSA and Kilcannon's visit to her backyard. She did not look forward to her meeting with Fasano.

    Glancing at the Capitol, Cassie stopped.

    Customarily, she took a private entrance. Today, drawn by a crowd of demonstrators, she walked up the marble steps of the Senate side.

    What gave her pause were the shoes.

    They were carefully arranged on the steps—the empty shoes of women or children, row upon row. The demonstrators, mostly women, held signs saying 'Help Our President Save Lives,' and 'No Immunity for Murder.'

    One, a pleasant, round-faced woman with grey hair, stood beside a pair of black pumps and a smaller pair of tennis shoes. Gazing at the endless rows of shoes, Cassie gently asked her, 'Whose shoes are these?'

    'Women and children murdered by abusers.' Pausing, she glanced down at the shoes beside her. 'Those were my daughter's and grandson's.'

    Nodding, Cassie touched the woman's arm, and then went on her way. But as she entered the Majority Leader's suite of offices, the empty shoes stayed with her.

* * *

'I saw them,' Fasano acknowledged.

    'Did you also see the coverage of Kilcannon with those hunters? He's getting pretty good at this.'

    Fasano did not respond to her directly. 'The week after next,' he said at length, 'I'm planning to bring up tort reform. I need you to be with me.'

    Cassie pursed her lips in thought. 'I'd like to be, Frank. But I'll admit that this one bothers me—personally, and politically.'

    Fasano gave her a shrewd, pragmatic look. 'Is there something I can give you?'

    'Yes,' Cassie answered promptly. 'A compromise with Kilcannon on his gun bill. A real one.'

    Fasano slowly shook his head. 'I've gone as far as I can go. You already know that.'

    'I know all about the SSA,' she said tiredly. 'But have a care, Frank, about who's using whom. You could wind up like the boy who chose to ride the back of the tiger. Maybe you won't get eaten, but the tiger will decide where you should go.'

    Once more, Fasano was silent. At length, he said, 'Only one of us will get eaten, Cassie. And that's you.

    'I accept the deal you had with Mac Gage when he was leader. Three out of ten votes you'll cross me to please some part of your electorate. Some of those votes will be on abortion and even, on occasion, guns. In turn, I get seven votes out of ten, and a Republican senator who helps keep us in the majority, and me as leader.

    'I'm not into jihads. You understand that, I hope.'

    'I do,' Cassie said with a nod of deference. 'And I appreciate it.'

    'Then this is where you show me.' Though any movement was imperceptible, Fasano suddenly seemed closer to her, and his voice became flat and cold. 'I expect both your vote on gun immunity and against Kilcannon's bill. Our party has to deliver and those votes are too damned close. If you oppose me, I can't control the SSA. I won't try. And by next November you won't be here anymore. So you'll be spared the consequences of having to deal with me.'

    She had run out of room, Cassie realized. In the same tone of civil deference, she thanked Fasano for his candor and promised him every consideration. But not, as of yet, her vote.

* * *

    Unlike his Democratic colleagues, Leo Weller preferred, at this sensitive juncture, to keep his distance from a President who so inflamed his right-wing base. So to spare him further embarrassment, Kerry contacted the senator by phone.

    'I just saw some polling data,' he observed with mock solicitousness. 'I've never seen an incumbent senator drop nineteen points in fourteen days. Your approval rating's in free fall, Leo.'