Tank grunted. “I’m sure it’s fine. After this job, you’ll probably be able to buy a new place. I heard the bonus is the biggest we’ve ever accepted.”
Joey raised her eyebrows. “Flint hasn’t mentioned it.”
“Probably because he knows you won’t want it anyway.”
“What does that mean?” She gave him a confused look. Why wouldn’t she want the money?
Tank shrugged. “Everybody knows you’re not a fan of rich people.”
Joey frowned at him. “Really?”
“Well, you don’t exactly make it a secret.”
Joey waited for Tank to expand, but true to form, he stayed quiet.
“How much is this bonus, exactly?” It must be big to have everyone at BTS talking about it.
“I heard a million. But that could have just been Jackson shooting his mouth off.”
She rolled her eyes. Of course it would be Jackson. Odds were fifty-fifty whether what he said was true or not. “I’ll ask Flint.”
“Does it matter?”
Tank’s question made her pause. Did it? She was already doing everything in her power to help Cole protect this project. Because despite his money and the way he’d achieved his success, she believed him about the potential for this therapy. She even believed what he said about why he did things the way he did.
As much as she hated to admit it, her first impressions of Cole had been all wrong.
“No. It doesn’t.”
She wasn’t doing this for money. She wasn’t even doing it because Flint asked her to. After everything that had happened, she was still working on this because she cared about Cole. She cared about the research having the chance to move forward and change the world and for Cole to have a battle victory in his fight.
Million dollars or not, she was in this to the end.
* * *
“Mr. Kensington, you need to see this!” Cole frowned at the interruption. It was unlike Janet to interrupt him by coming directly into the office. Her voice held a combination of emotions he couldn’t decipher.
“What’s going on? I’ve got to get through this proposal.” He was curious and trying not to be unkind, but he really did have pressing matters to take care of.
“President Walters has been shot.” Her voice echoed disbelief and horror.
Cole leaned back into his chair as though he’d been shoved. A thousand questions ran through his mind, but he couldn’t seem to make any reach his mouth. Janet disappeared out the door, and then a message popped up on his computer from their instant message chain. A link.
He clicked it and was immediately taken to the live video stream for WBC News. The anchor’s voice came through his speakers.
“For those who are just joining us, we have a rapidly developing situation here. We have confirmation that President Walters has been shot. This took place about forty-five minutes ago. The President was in Florida to visit the site of the damage and flooding from Hurricane Patricia last month. All we know right now is that we have received confirmation that she was struck and is receiving medical treatment at Orlando Regional Hospital. The shooter has not been apprehended at this time.”
Cole listened to them repeat this same information, with very little variation in the script, a few more times before he let it fade into the background. So many questions. President Walters had been elected to her second term last fall, making her not only the first woman president, but the first to be elected twice.
“...received word that Vice-President Coulter has been sworn in, per the 25th amendment, and is currently the acting President of the United States. He is expected to make a statement to the country later this evening.”
Cole let the droning of the anchors fade again. He’d met President Walters a few times when she was a senator and since she was elected. From his own impressions and everything he knew, she was a godly woman who refused to allow politics to get in the way of her integrity. It would be a devastating loss to the country if she died.
He prayed for her recovery quickly, then said another for Harrison Coulter. He knew the man in passing. Coulter’s wife was actually the sister of Ross McClain’s wife, who was the cofounder of Black Tower Security.
Janet ran back inside. “Did you see?”
He nodded wordlessly.