Perspective (An Exposure Series Novella): Exposure Series Book Four (5 page)

I scrolled down, and saw that his hearing was scheduled for 10:30. The site indicated that this hearing was a continuation of the hearings from the previous day.
Okay, that means that the hearings weren’t cancelled.
And, apparently, the hearing was an open one, although I imagined that I would have to get tickets or something.

Nevertheless, I went to the building that was holding the hearing, and went into the room. There was another hearing happening in the room, and I sat down. I was happy that I could just go ahead and sit in on the meeting without having any prior reservation.

I sat through the boring meeting, which was on some kind of drought protection act, and tried to tamp down the feeling that I had that Asher just wasn’t going to show up for his own hearing at 10:30.

The time ticked by excruciatingly.

Finally, at 10:30, Asher’s meeting was called to order. But, as I had feared, Asher wasn’t there. “Mr. Sloane is not present,” one of the senators said around 10:40. “We will have proceed without him.”

I shook my head. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.

But it was happening. It was undoubtedly happening, and there was nothing that I could do about it.

T
he hearing
with the Senators actually went well. I was pleased that the senators who were on my side were, by and large, able to convince the Senators on the other side that there was not a need to divest in my corporation, and they were able to show what good my company did for the environment. Not that there wasn’t pushback, because there was. Of course there was. Some of the Senators were searching for any excuse to pull back support for Sloane Industries, and the revelations about my past were tailor-made for that.

Nevertheless, I was still on the verge of victory after giving hours of careful testimony.

Of course, there was fallout in the media as well, but my PR team was tamping it down as much as they could. The reporters were also going crazy, but I refused to comment. The
New York Times
had the story, and I wasn’t going to speak to anyone else.

I got to the hotel room and threw my jacket on my bed. I was going to immediately call CJ, as soon as I got into the room, to tell her how things went on Capitol Hill.

But I was unpleasantly greeted by Viktor Kazakov, who was waiting for me in the room. I turned around, as I didn’t pay attention when I got into the room, and saw his sitting there. A gun was in his hand. I reflexively put my arms up when I saw him ther with the gun.

“Viktor,” I said to him. “What are you doing here?”

“You don’t know?” he asked me. “You must be stupid, Alexei.”

“I don’t understand.” Even as I said that, I did understand. I knew that this had something to do with the visit that Viktor had paid to CJ the day before. I didn’t want to alarm her, but I was more than concerned that CJ had revealed to much to Viktor about how much she knew about Sophie’s pregnancy. In that, she wasn’t supposed to know about

Sophie’s pregnancy, but I was afraid, by her reaction to Viktor, she revealed that she did, in fact, know about it.

“I showed up at your place, Alexei, and I talked to her. It was obvious to me that you told her everything about the truth about Sophie’s child. I thought that it was clear that you were never to do this.” At that, he cocked his gun. “I tested her, Alexei. I said that she was never to reveal the truth about Sophie’s child, and she did not blink an eye about that. It was so obvious that she knew all about it. I thought that Sophie told you about the consequences for doing that.”

I realized that CJ had slipped up. I wasn’t there, of course, for the confrontation, but, from what she told me about it, it was clear that she had completely slipped up. I knew why, too. She was surprised by Viktor. Same as I was. That was his thing – taking people by surprise so that he could get the information that he was trying to get.

I nodded my head. “Leave CJ alone.” I remembered that Sophie had threatened CJ, not me, if I told her anything at all about Sophie’s baby.

Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Why did you not heed Sophie’s warning? Did you not care enough about CJ’s life?”

“Of course,” I said. “But I wasn’t going to go through life without her knowing the truth. Come on, Viktor, you know it was going to come out sooner or later.”

Then he said something that shocked the hell out of me. “Alexei, this is not an issue anymore. However, I am very disappointed that you were stupid enough not to listen to Sophie when she was warning you about telling CJ.”

“What do you mean, it’s not an issue anymore?”

“Sophie does not want the baby, as you know. It does not fit into her life plan. Oksana threw me out of the house after she found out about the baby, but we have since reconciled. So, we decided to adopt Sophie’s baby as our own. As for Oksana’s father, the only thing that he knows is that Sophie is our surrogate mother. He does not quite understand that whole concept, as he is of an older generation. But, we convinced him that this is the best for all involved, and he now on our side.”

“Oksana doesn’t have a problem with this?”

“No.” He was quiet for a bit. “Oksana recently found out that she is unable to have a child. She does not like the idea that this baby does not really belong to her, but she has always wanted a family, and this might be our only chance.”

I felt relieved. “Okay, then, what is the problem?”

He cocked his head. “Alexei, you did not think that you would get away without paying some kind of price, did you? You were specifically told not to say anything to anybody about the truth about the baby. That included your wife.”

“You can’t do anything to me, and you know it. You touch a hair on my head, or on CJ’s head, and there will be hell to pay. You know this, Viktor.” The Kazakov family verses the Pushkin family wouldn’t even be an even matchup. The Pushkins were much more powerful and wealthy and could wipe the Kazakovs off the map.

“Nobody is going to hurt either one of you. I know the terms of the gentlemen’s agreement between my family and yours. But hurting your business would be acceptable. There is nothing in our agreement that says that your business is off-limits.”

I suddenly knew what he was getting at. And he had a gun, and I didn’t. It was then that I saw that he had a gag and handcuffs. “What are you going to do?” I asked him. Unfortunately, I knew what he was going to do. At least, I had an idea.

He raised the gun to me. “Sit down, Alexei, in this chair.”

I obeyed, my hands still in the air. He then put the gag on me and cuffed my wrists to the arms of the chair.

“I will let you go tomorrow, Alexei, after your hearing has come and gone. I know that tomorrow’s hearing is crucial to whether or not you are allowed to continue with your large governmental contracts. But do not worry, Alexei, I will come tomorrow to set you free. I do not want to harm you, because, you are right – if I harmed you, I would not live to see the next day. I understand that your father is to retire, but I also know that the agreement is still in place.”

At that, he just left.

As I sat there, I wished that I was a character in a movie. They would always be able to just get out of their metal handcuffs. But I didn’t think that there was any way that I would be able to do the same.

Of course, there was always the option of dragging the chair out into the hallway. I attempted to do that, but Viktor was soon back. “Where do you think that you are going, Alexei?” he asked. Then he forced me down. “You cannot leave, Alexei. I cannot believe that you would even attempt that.”

I groaned. I should have known escape was not an option. And, since I had a gag on, I couldn’t even try to reason with him. I was literally silenced.

So, we sat there like that for hours and hours and hours. Viktor lectured me while I was sitting there, literally unable to say a single word. It was probably the most frustrating experience of my life.

I
had
an idea as the committee meeting was adjourned. I knew that I was breaking protocol, but I had to do something. As the hearing went on, I stood up and approached the members of the committee.

One of the Senators, a bald guy, looked at me. “Can I help you?” he asked. He probably thought that I was a protestor.

“My name is CJ Sloane, and I’m the wife of Asher Sloane.” I had no idea where he was, of course, but I knew that I still had to try to salvage this hearing for him. There was an inner voice that told me that it was important. “He was in a serious car accident, and I would like to request a continuance of this hearing.”

I was bracing for them to ask me for proof that he was in an accident, but, to my surprise, the Senators spoke amongst themselves and decided to simply call the next meeting to order. “This matter will be tabled until tomorrow,” a Senator said. “If Mr. Sloane shows up tomorrow, then we will conclude this matter. If he does not, then, Mrs. Sloane, if you can provide us documentation of Mr. Sloane’s injuries, we will table this matter until he can attend. If you do not provide this documentation, then the hearing will proceed without him.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I was so happy that I bought him some time, even if it was only a single day. Of course, I had no idea how to find him. The only thing that I knew to do would be to go to his hotel room and look around. I hoped that I could convince the people at the front desk to let me into his room.

I called a cab and hurried back to the hotel. I went to the front desk. “Hello, my name is CJ Sloane. My husband is staying here at the hotel,” I said, giving her his room number. “I’m very worried about him. I’ve been trying to call him, and I can’t get ahold of him. Please, could you accompany me to his room?”

The woman looked at me warily. Her expression told me that she was dubious about the story, and probably imagined that Asher simply wasn’t answering the phone because he was with a woman. “Do you have any identification?” she asked me.

My driver’s license was not yet changed. “We just got married, so I haven’t had the chance to change my driver’s license.” I nonetheless showed her my license, which still said “CJ Parker” on it.

“I’m so sorry miss, I can’t help you.” Then she answered the phone and left me hanging.

When she got off the phone, I was still standing there. “It’s still me,” I said to her, reading her name tag. “Ellen.” Then I asked her to lean down so that I could tell her a “secret.”

She leaned down, but she had a suspicious look on her face.

“Listen,” I said in a low voice. “I called my husband and a female answered. I don’t know if you have ever been cheated on, but I know that, woman to woman, it’s so important that I go up there and surprise him.”

She still looked unconvinced. “I’m sorry,” she said.

I took a deep breath. “There are children involved. We’ve already talked about getting a divorce, but he has made it clear that he is going to go for full custody. I really need something to insure that he won’t succeed. I really need to get up there and startle them and take pictures. Please, Ellen. Woman to woman. I can’t lose custody of our children. They’re my world.”

I was impressing even myself with my Academy Award-level performance.

She looked doubtful, yet I could tell I was breaking her down. She stood there looking at me, and then the phone was ringing again. “Wait right here,” she said, “I need to answer this phone.”

It seemed like years that she was on the phone, but it must have been only minutes, if not seconds. I was waiting there, hoping and praying that she would relent.

Finally, she got off the phone. She looked around, and then magnetized a key card. “Here,” she said. “Do not let anyone know that I did this. Mr. Sloane is a VIP at this hotel, and I will lose my job.”

“I understand,” I said, taking the key card. “Thank you very much.”

At that, I went into the elevator and went to Asher’s floor. I got to his room and slid the key card and walked in. “Asher,” I called, as I walked in.

And then I saw him. He was handcuffed to the chair and gagged. I felt relieved and terrified all at once. “Asher, what happened?” I felt silly trying to talk to him, because he had a gag on, but I took off the gag. “What happened?”

“CJ, thank god,” he said. “Listen, you have to get me out of here as soon as you can. And then we need to get the hell out of here. Now.”

I nodded my head, but I had no idea how to get him out of those handcuffs. “How, how, how…” My first thought was to call the police to get him out of there, so I got my cell phone out.

“Don’t do it,” he said. “I know that you want to call the police, but there’s no time, and it will just cause more problems.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, but I knew that this was probably by design.

“Viktor Kazakov did this,” he said. “And he’ll be back within the hour. He was called away to attend to an emergency situation here in town, which is the only reason why he’s not here right now. So, you have to get me out of here as soon as possible.”

“Okay, but how can I do this?”

“A bobby pin,” he said. “Or a paper clip.”

“A paper clip,” I said. “I’ll go down to the front desk and get one.”

“Hurry.”

At that, I ran down the stairs, not even waiting for the elevator. I found Ellen again. “Hello,” I said. “And thank you again for letting me into that room. I need a paper clip.”

She handed me a paper clip and gave me a look. “How are…. things?”

“Don’t ask,” I said, shaking my head. “It was horrible.”

She nodded her head. “I know. I’ve been there, believe me.”

“Thanks,” I said, and then dashed over the elevator. “Hurry up,” I said, not wanting to run up the 10 flights of stairs to his room. “Hurry.” I pushed the button, again and again, as if that would have actually helped the elevator actually get there faster. “Hurry.”

The elevator finally got on, and I got on there with a woman and her child. The child proceeded to push every single button, and the mother scolded him. “Henry, what did I say to you about that?” she asked. “I’m so sorry. He always does this.”

I nodded. I knew that I had to get up there soon, and I definitely didn’t have time for the elevator to stop on every single floor. So, I got off on the second floor and cursed the little brat under my breath.

The elevator arrived again, this time with nobody on it. I prayed that nobody would get on.

My prayers were answered, and I got off on Asher’s floor and ran down to his room and opened the door. “Okay, I have a paper clip. Now, what do I do?”

“You fashion this into a key,” he said. “And please hurry.”

“How do I fashion it into a key?”

“I can tell you, or you can look it up on your phone,” he said. “You better look it up on your phone so that you can see the pictures.”

I nervously got my phone out and looked it up. I felt slightly confused looking at the WikiHow page, and my hands were shaking. I tried to shake the cobwebs out of my brain, but it was very difficult to do so. I had a difficult time following instructions in the best of times, and it was almost impossible right at that moment to try to follow these directions. But, somehow, I did.

After what seemed like forever, I finally was able to fashion a key out of the paper clip, and, to my surprise, the WikiPage actually did help me get the handcuff open. It popped open, and I almost jumped for joy.

“Great,” he said. “Now the other wrist.”

I worked the other cuff the same way, and that cuff popped open as well.

“Okay,” he said. “Now let’s get out of here now.”

At that, the two of us ran for the stairs and zoomed down them in record time. When we got down the lobby, however, Asher held me back. “I need to peek out this door to make sure that Viktor is not around.”

He opened the door, and peeked his head out. He turned to me. “Okay, let’s move,” he said, and the two of us walked rapidly through the lobby. Asher was already on his phone, calling his limousine. “He’ll be here in five minutes,” he said, looking furtively around him. “Let’s just hope that Viktor doesn’t show up here again.”

Five minutes later, the limo showed up. Viktor was nowhere to be seen, thank god.

Once we got into the limo, it was time to catch up. “I don’t understand,” I said to Asher. “What happened?”

“Viktor wanted to hurt my business because he knew that I told you the truth about Sophie’s baby. He can’t physically harm me, or you for that matter, without paying the price, but he can do things like try to sabotage me in my business life. So, he decided to force me to miss my hearing with Congress today. I’m going to have to get in touch with some of the Senators to see if I can reschedule that hearing, but I’m not holding out much hope about that.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “I went to the hearing and lied to them. I said that you were in an accident. They tabled the hearing until tomorrow.”

Asher looked at me, and kissed me passionately. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Well, I couldn’t just let the hearing go down in flames without trying to do something. I was surprised that they were so willing just to continue the case, though.”

“They probably readily agreed to continue the case because the Senators who are working for me are some of the most senior in the Senate. They might be in the minority party, but they still wield a lot of power.”

The limo took us to Capitol Hill, and Asher got out. “I need to find Senators Wyatt and Bryce and smooth things over. I wasn’t in an accident, of course, so I hope that they don’t ask me for medical records. I hope that they just take my word for it.”

“I think that they will. They said that if you didn’t show tomorrow, though, they would carry out the hearing without you.”

At that, the two of us bounded the steps of the Capitol Building, and I followed him into the office of Senator Bryce, the Senator from New York. His receptionist informed us that he was in, so the two of us went back to see him.

“Asher,” he said to Asher as the two of us went into his office. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Your wife said that you were in a serious car accident.” Then he looked at me. “Mrs. Sloane, it’s good to see you again.”

“And you, Senator Bryce,” I said.

“Sit down, sit down. Can I get the two of you a bottle of water?”

I nodded my head, and he had his assistant present us both with some water, which we sipped on. “I am very sorry about this morning,” Asher said. “But I’m relieved that the hearing wasn’t held without me.”

“You should be. I’m doing my best to save your appropriations, but, without more testimony from you, I think that the other Senators on the committee are ready to kill all your contracts. Your testimony yesterday did a lot of good, though, so, hopefully, the contracts can be saved when you give your testimony tomorrow.” He shook his head. “I still don’t know what got into you that you would give that reporter that story. I was able to keep a lid on it all these years, and now this.”

It was then that I knew that this Senator knew about Asher’s background all along.

“I know. I finally got tired of running. Plus, my sister is working for me, and I knew that she would raise questions about my true background. It was only a matter of time.”

“I guess that’s a good reason. But let’s work together to make sure that your contracts are secure, okay?”

Asher and the Senator talked for a few minutes more, and then the Senator’s phone rang. “I have to take this. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Asher. And it’s good to meet you, Mrs. Sloane.”

“And you.”

At that, we left.

In the limo, Asher sighed. “Thank god you found me when you did. It sounded like, if I missed the hearing, I probably would lose those contracts. So, I owe you a lot.”

I smiled. “You’ve already given me everything.” Then I kissed him, trying to drink him in. “So, Viktor found you,” I said after our lips parted. “Is there anything else you need to tell me about him?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Viktor and Oksana are adopting Sophie’s baby as their own. They told Oksana’s father that Sophie is their hired surrogate, and I guess that everyone wins. Sophie doesn’t want that baby, and Oksana cannot have children and desperately wants a child. So…”

“Oh my god, that’s great! That’s great!” I knew then that I didn’t have to tell my mom the awful story about Sophie’s pregnancy and Asher’s alleged paternity. “Thank god. It sounds like everything might work out after all.”

Asher’s mouth upturned a little. “CJ, it seems that the clouds might be parting. Everything is finally falling into place. Now, if I can convince these Senators not to choke me off, things might actually be fine. That’s a big if, though.”

That might have been a big “if,” but I had the feeling that everything was going to be just fine on that front.