The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

trying to say something to my face instead of behind my back?'
Jesus! Holtzman felt that he was a spectator at a prize-fight.
'Did I give you that impression? Oh, I'm so sorry, Caroline.'
'That's okay, Liz.'
'Excuse me, but I prefer – '
'I go by "professor," too you know, medical doctor, Johns Hopkins, and all
that.'
'I thought you were an associate professor.'
Dr Ryan nodded. 'That's right. I got offered a full professorship at the
University of Virginia, but that meant moving away from the house we like,
moving the kids out of school, and, of course, there's the problem with Jack's
career. So, I turned it down.'
'I guess you are pretty tied down.'
'I do have responsibilities, and I like working at Hopkins. We're doing some
pioneer work, and it's good to be where the action is. It must have been much
easier for you to come to Washington, what with nothing to hold you anywhere –
and besides, what's new in political science?'
'I'm quite satisfied with my life, thank you.'
'I'm sure you are,' Cathy replied, seeing the chink, and knowing how to exploit
it. 'You can always tell when a person is happy in their work.'
'And you, Professor?'
'Life couldn't be much better. As a matter of fact, there's only one real
difference between us,' Caroline Ryan said.
'And that is?'
'I don't know where my wife wandered off to. There's yours with Liz Elliot and
the Holtzmans. I wonder what they're talking about" Bunker said.
'At home, at night, I sleep with a man,' Cathy said sweetly. 'And the nice thing
about it is that I never have to change the batteries.'
Jack turned to see his wife and Elizabeth Elliot, whose pearl necklace seemed to
turn brown before his eyes, she went so pale. His wife was shorter than the
National Security Advisor, and she looked like a pixie next to Libby Holtzman,
but whatever the hell had just happened, Cathy was holding her ground like a
momma-bear on her kill, her eyes locked on the taller Elliot. He moved over to
see what the problem was.
'Hi, honey.'
'Hello, Jack,' Cathy said, her eyes fixed on her target. 'Do you know Bob and
Libby?'
'Hi.' Ryan shook hands with both, catching looks from them that he could only
guess at. Mrs Holtzman seemed about to explode, but then she took a breath and
controlled herself.
'You're the lucky guy who married this woman?' Libby asked. That comment made
Elliot turn away first from the confrontation.
'Actually she's the one who married me, I think,' Jack said, after a further
moment's confusion.
'If you'll excuse me,' Elliot said, departing from the battlefield as gracefully
as she could. Cathy took Jack's arm and steered him towards the corner with the
piano.