The Devlin Deception: Book One of The Devlin Quatrology (25 page)

“Got it, I think.”

“Good. Like I said, you've done a pretty good job, other than
all that mandate crap.”

“More carrots, fewer sticks.”

“Right, right; good. Okay. Anything else?”

Gigi shook her head. “I'm good, Gordy.”

“Me, too, I think,” said Adam.

“Good. So we're done here. Thanks for coming in. Oh, if you
want a DVD of this, just check with Alex, okay? Thanks again.”

After they left, Donne waited two minutes, then buzzed Emily and
asked her if she was alone. When she confirmed that she was, he
whispered into the intercom, “Check your teeth, okay?”

There was a pause, and Donne heard a gasp over the intercom and then,
“Got it, Gordy; shit.”

“Good, Emily. And if I ever have peanut butter or anything in
mine, be sure to let me know, okay?”

“Will do, Gordy; sorry.”

“No problem, no problem. I'm back to the speech, but if
anything comes up, I'll be available.” He clicked off, picked
up his speech and dug back into it. A few minutes later, he pulled
out a pocket mirror and checked his own teeth, then continued working
on the speech.

-44-

Four Months Earlier

Saturday, August 13, 2011

11:20 a.m.

Bonita Beach, Florida

Jake looked at the fingertips on his non-book-holding hand. “Looks
like the botox is wearing off.” Pam chuckled and they headed
to shore, Pam leading the way as Jake paused to fill his foot-washing
bag.

As the bottom of her bikini emerged from the water, Jake saw that it
was decorated with a large golden heart in the middle of the back.

“Y'know, Pam, I've heard of women who wear their heart on their
sleeve, but ...”

“I know, Jake, I know. I liked the rest of the suit enough not
to worry about that.” She walked over to her beach bag and
chair.

“Is it okay if I sit with you again?”

“Sure. I'd like that.”

Once they both got settled in, Pam looked over at Jake and said,
“I've got to admit I've had you and your book on my mind for
the last month, and I have a whole bunch of questions and ideas. Is
that okay with you?”

“Not in any kind of professional capacity?”

“Nope; promise. I'm retired, remember? And I'm not spying for
some author or publisher, either.”

“Okay. I've got some questions for you, too; I've thought
about you a lot ever since we met. And no, not just because you're
gorgeous; I like your brain.”

“And I like yours.”

Jake put on his Southern drawl. “Why, thank yuh, ma'am. So
y'all just go 'head and fahr them thar questions.”

Pam chuckled. “Okay.” She pulled out a notebook and
flipped it open.

“Notes, Pam? You've got notes?”

“Yup. I've got CDO.”

“CDO?”

“Yup; it's like OCD, but with the letters in the correct
alphabetical order.” Pam emphasized each of the last three
words.

Jake laughed. “Oh, good one.”

“These are in no particular order, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay. First, have you thought about maybe having your guy get
rid of the wash sale rule?”

“Oh, yeah; he does that first thing, along with reinstating the
uptick rule. Isn't that in his speech?”

“I didn't see it there.”

“Oh, maybe it's just in my manuscript, not online. I think I
can stick that in there, maybe tonight.

“By the way, I did change his name, but I spelled it D-o-n-n-e
instead of D-u-n-n; thought the poetic reference might be more
interesting.”

“Oh, cool; I like that. Would make the title a lot easier to
say. 'Donne Buys DC' is a whole lot better. I'm not sure that other
name would even have fit on a cover.”

“Yeah. But I kinda liked the silliness of it.”

“Hey, Jake, how about this? 'The Donne Deal'? What do you
think of that for a title?”

“Oh, I love it, Pam, absolutely love it.” He pulled his
notebook and pen out of his bag and wrote excitedly ... well, what
passed for excitedly in him. “Beautiful. I may have to give
you credit for that.”

“Oh, no, Jake, no need.”

“Okay, I'll backburner that. But I DO love that title. How'd
you come up with it?”

“No idea; it just popped up … oh, sometimes we'd say
'It's a done deal' in the Service when we wrapped up a case and
passed it on for prosecution; maybe it came from that. Jargon.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Well, before I get too granular --”

“Too what?”

“Granular, down to detail level, like you did with the tax
rates.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I guess I'm wondering how granular you want to get with things
like each individual agency, department, program, and so on.”

“Well, I'm not sure right now. The tax rates and that stuff
were pretty granular, weren't they? And boring for the non-wonks. I
mean, I sure don't want him to go through each and every nook and
cranny of the whole government. I mean, I don't want this to turn
into a King-sized novel, just keep it to maybe 300 to 350 pages in
all. But I think being too general is … well, is being too
general

“But he will go for efficiencies and consolidations. For
example, there are nearly 200 separate programs that serve poor
people, each with separate staffing. Will I have him go through
each of those and describe what he's doing? Nope. He'll just say
something like 'I'll combine those all into a single program and get
rid of the duplicate staff, flatten the top-heavy mid- and
upper-level bureaucracies and cut out like 80 percent of the red
tape.' Does that sound too general?”

“Hmm. Probably not for most people, but the policy wonks'll
want the details. I mean, you'd be talking about programs in lots of
different departments, like Agriculture, HHS, Interior, Energy, and a
bunch more. It'd take a lot of pages just to list them all. But I
think that kind of general statement might be enough.”

“Yeah, I sure don't want to make it too boring, like just
reading through the whole Simpson-Bowles plan. I did that, by the
way. For me, it was interesting, and I took a lot of notes, but for
somebody who just watches reality TV shows, some sitcoms and those
voice and dance competition shows, it'd sure put them to sleep.”

“Like Debbie Jackson?” Pam smiled.

“Well, she's a caricature, kind of extreme, but yeah.

“And there's not only depth and details, but breadth, across
all the departments, and I'll tell ya I'm sure glad I'm not actually
in the position of digging both down and across and doing what
O'Hicken- – I mean Donne is doing.”

“Oh, for sure. It's just interesting to me to speculate on how
he or anyone would or could actually make the changes if they had the
chance and power.”

“Yeah. I feel kinda like he's a dog that's caught a car and
can't quite figure out what to do with it now. But I guess I'm
really that dog and he's the – oh, what's the word?”

“Don't know. Ghost dog? Character? Doppelganger?”

“Nope; it's gone. No idea. Something like 'construct.' But I
guess 'character' is close enough – ah, 'alter ego.'

“I mean, you know I haven't actually written out all those 257
directives he had before his first speech, just kinda pulled that
number outa my – outa thin air. I started to write 'em all, of
course, but then I figured I'd just bring 'em out as things went
along.”

“That makes sense.”

“Thanks. It's a helluva lot easier on me. But I spent about
two weeks working on those, got up to about a hundred of 'em.”

“Wow, that's a lot of work. Do you still have them?”

“I'm sure I do, somewhere. But in my house, having and finding
are two totally separate issues.”

“Even on your PC?”

“Yup. I didn't start off with much organization on –
wait a minute; I think I know where I could find 'em, what the file
name is.”

“I would love to see those, if that's okay.”

“Let me think about that. You're sure you're not spying for
some author or publisher?”

Pam laughed. “Really; promise. Cross my heart.” She
made that gesture and Jake's eyes followed, naturally. He paused to
breathe, glanced out at the Gulf and then back at Pam … at her
eyes.

“Okay, I have an idea. I think I can find the file and I'll
print it out, bring it along and you can look at it with me …
as long as you're not using a DS380 or any --”

“Oh, Jake, I promise, really. But I can understand, and I
don't blame you. Tell you what, I'll let you frisk me, check my
sunglasses, anything you want, okay?” She paused. “Anything.”

Jake felt himself blushing under his tan, took a deep breath for some
control and then laughed and said, back in a Southern accent, “W'al,
that's a purty open invite, ain't it, ma'am?”

Pam, in her own Southern accent, replied, “But ah do mean it
sincerely, suh. I'd sho' like fo' y'all to trust me and feel safe
and comfy with me.”

Jake laughed in spite of himself, waggled his eyebrows and said, with
no accent, “Okay. I may just take you up on that sometime.”

“Ah sho' would look fo'rd to that, suh.” She slid out of
her chair, lay back on her towel and closed her eyes.

Jake finally dragged his gaze away from her, picked up his notebook
and pen and went back to making notes.

-45-

Monday, December 19, 2011

8:30 p.m.

The White House

Washington, DC

via a 24-hour news channel

Donne, in his usual casual clothing, smiled at the camera from behind
his desk in the Oval Office and held up another sheaf of papers,
perhaps four inches thick.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans. Before I get into the main
message I have for you tonight, I want to tell you about another 589
businesses that are moving to or expanding in this country. These
are their letters of commitment, which indicate that they'll be
creating another 2.4 million jobs by the end of this year. So I
believe we're making progress toward the goals I set last week, good
progress.

“On the other hand, this Occupy movement has gotten very much
out of hand, damaging large and small business premises, hassling
honest business owners and workers, destroying public property and
also some private property whose owners initially welcomed them in
and then changed their minds.

“We know the identities of most of the instigators and
organizers of this movement, and per my Directive 241, those
individuals, along with the actual perpetrators of the damage, have
been and will be held personally responsible for all of that damage,
both by loss of liberty and financial loss. In fact, four of them
are currently resting in the cellblock in the basement of this
building and will find out tonight or tomorrow morning just what that
responsibility will mean for them and their bank accounts. That's
all on that subject for now.”

Donne reached behind the desk and placed a tablet PC on a small
easel, facing the camera. The screen was blank, other than the words
“MEDICARE 2013.”

“Now for the main message I have for you all tonight. And
while it initially concerns Medicare, especially Medicare Advantage,
it will also be relevant for each and every one of you, no matter
your age. It won't go into effect until next year, 2013, and we'll
have lots more opportunities to go into all the details, but I would
encourage all of you to pay attention to this introduction and to
study the details in the months to come so you can make an informed
choice later.”

As Donne went through his speech, he tapped the tablet to reveal a
new graphic in turn, illustrating each of his points.

“Today, the way Medicare Advantage is structured, the Medicare
Trust Fund pays about 850 dollars to the insurance companies each
month for each person they've enrolled in their plan. 850 bucks per
person per month. And the insurance companies administer the
program, standing in for the government.

“But starting with the open enrollment period at the end of
next year, you'll be able to select an alternative Medicare Advantage
program for 2013, and here's how it'll work.

“First, out of that 850 bucks, we'll take 500 and put it into a
Health Savings Account for each enrollee. The new insurance company
will issue you a debit card, which, along with a thumbprint, will be
good for doctor visits, medicine, even aspirin at the pharmacy. At
500 a month, that's six thousand a year in your HSA ... for medical
expenses only. If you don't use it, it'll roll over to the next
year, when you'll get another six thousand dollars. That will build
up until you die, and at that point it'll pass on to your heirs, at
least 50% into their HSA, which will be tax-free. The remainder can
go into that account tax-free, or the heir can choose to take it
outside the HSA account, but it'll be taxed at a rate of 25 percent.

“Another $250 will pay the premium on a catastrophic policy,
which will have a high deductible, $10,000 the first time you reach
it, then down to 5,000 the second year and beyond.

“Pre-existing conditions will be covered immediately when you
reach 65 and enroll.

“Now, if you're a non-smoker, you'll get a 50-dollar-a-month
discount on the catastrophic policy, and that will be added to your
HSA; and if you are not overweight, meaning you have a body mass
index of 25 or below, you'll get another 50-buck discount, which will
also go into your HSA. So that could mean an extra hundred bucks a
month, twelve hundred a year, into that account if you take care of
yourself.

“The catastrophic coverage will be 80/20 from the deductible up
to $50,000, then 90/10 up to a hundred K, and 100% above that, with
no lifetime maximums.

“The hundred bucks a month per person that we save will stay in
the Medicare Trust Fund and act as a backup and reserve fund for the
first few years as we see how this works out over that time.

“This subsidized combination of HSA and catastrophic coverage
will also be available through Medicaid, administered nationally, not
state-by-state.