Page 92 of The Fourth Option
The cabin door hissed open, and a gust of Lake Pontchartrain’s humid air rolled in. Kimbel stepped aboard, tie loosened, bag in hand. He stuck his head into the cockpit to tell the pilots they could take off, then dropped into the seat opposite his boss.
The engines spooled up, and the jet began its slow taxi. Matheson leaned across the aisle.
“So?”
Kimbel exhaled. “It’s not good.”
“Why?”
“Vargas is furious.”
“At us?”
“No. At our friends.”
Matheson relaxed slightly. “The NOPD?”
Kimbel nodded. “They botched it. Or someone interfered.”
Matheson gestured to the phone on the tray table. “I read the article. Sounds like a drug war.”
“That’s the line.”
“Is it true?”
“Could be. Either way, it’s the perfect note for Icy. She’ll have both senators screaming for action. Divert blame to the administration and it plays right into her law-and-order platform. She can claim that she cleaned things up locally and that it was the feds who screwed up; promote her and she’ll clean up the state the way she cleaned up New Orleans.”
Matheson faced the window as the jet bumped toward the runway. He thought of Icy on the dais at the Four Seasons, announcing her run for governor. She had looked unstoppable. Now she was pulling strings behind the scenes, shaping narratives, bending institutions to her will.
Goddamn, she was good.
He should have married her.
“She’s going to win this thing,” Matheson said.
“I’ve been thinking the same.”
“We need to get on the record. Donate to her campaign. Possible?”
“Can we afford not to?”
Matheson shook his head. That’s why he had Kimbel. He had a good team paving the way for him these days, making his job much easier than it used to be. His CFO was already in New York prepping the shareholders. Carolyn Boyle was spinning the press. The machine was humming.
“How much?” he asked Kimbel.
“Five million.”
Matheson raised an eyebrow.
“Off balance sheet. One of the partnerships. Vargas will fund it as a pass-through. He’s vested in us. We’re vested in Icy. It’s a smart investment for him. And he’s a shrewd businessman.”
How much deeper can we go with Cuchillo?
“And the FEC? Won’t the feds be looking into campaign contributions? Isn’t that a problem?”
“The Federal Election Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over a governor’s race. State-level. Louisiana Board of Ethics handles it. And they refer criminal cases to the local DA.”
“Icy.”
