Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.” Louisa May Alcott “So, Penelope, who gave you this information?” She just shook her head. “For someone living in Charleston, you are remarkably well informed about something that is going on in Washington. Th is would mean you have an outside source. You need to be aware I could fi nd your source if it becomes important.” Penelope smiled as she wondered who was bluffi ng now. Th e senator read her face perfectly. “Since you deal in the written word, it has to be one of five print news organizations. The New York Times and Th e Boston Globe are out since they are still nosing around this story, and they would have assigned a staff reporter who would have presented his credentials. Th at leaves The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, or L.A.

Times.  have not honored the government’s request to back off the story, they would not want to be caught flatfooted if all heck breaks loose. It would be in their interest to continue working on the story, but they would need to turn it over to someone outside their organization to give them plausible deniability. It would have to be someone good and someone they trust.” The senator’s eyes bored into Penelope Spence. “Someone they had a personal relationship with.” Penelope shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Someone in one of these three news organizations is going to have a connection to you. Since I 35 The Fourth Awakening influence a large portion of their budget, how long do you think it would take for a certain federal agency to find that person for me?” Senator Clayton Horn, even in his later years and in declining health, was a formidable force. “I gave my word…” Horn held up his hand. “I will not ask you again to violate that trust. I just need you to understand that if I can fi nd your source in less than an hour with a single phone call, so can people who may be less friendly The entire room was faced with polished granite..

And I must warn you, by working on this story without the protection of a major news outlet you may be placing yourself in grave peril. Th ere are many people who will go to great lengths to keep what Michael Walker is working on out of the public domain.” Penelope leaned back in her chair as she absorbed the senator’s words; he was not a man of hyperbole. What in the world had this Walker character done? “Many is a pretty ambiguous word, senator. Who exactly would go to such lengths to keep this story quiet?” “By reflex, all of the intelligence agencies want everything classifi ed. They would slap a ‘Top Secret, compartmentalized’ stamp on the lunch menu at the CIA cafeteria if we let them. But this is diff erent. Th e rumors surrounding a possible breakthrough in Walker’s research have put a scare into some very powerful people.”