Disclaimer: Leverage is (c) 2009 Leverage Holdings Inc.
Campaign Trail
"So Senator Long was in league with Chaos?" Nate asked.
Hardison nodded. It was evening and they were in the bar below the apartment. The revelation that Long had been passing information about the gold shipments to Chaos had been a surprise to all of them. They had moved to the bar to discuss what to do about it.
"I don't think this really changes the situation though," Sophie said. The others looked at her in surprise. "Well it doesn't!" she continued, "Chaos is behind bars."
"Again," Eliot muttered.
Sophie glared at him. "Again," she conceded, "So he's out of the picture. If anything this gives us more ammunition to use against Long."
"It also gives us a time limit," Nate said as he leaned forward over his drink, "Long has the authority to get Chaos released, which I bet he will do as soon as he can."
Hardison nodded in agreement. "We stick to the plan, we have nothing to worry about. Long may even end up in the cell next to Chaos." They all drank to that and spent the rest of the evening finalising their plans.
...
The next day, Parker showed up for work at the Masachussetts State House. Hardison had been unable to get her a position as Senator Long's PA, owing to the fact that he already had one, a young girl in her mid-twenties named Charlotte – that caused a few raised eyebrows among the team – and so instead Parker had been given a job in Long's press office as an intern.
Parker presented her papers at the front desk. She noticed that the same young man as before was on duty, however he didn't seem to recognise her, much to her relief. He only glanced at the name on the top of the forms.
"Miss... Tyler? You're expected. Third floor, second door along."
Parker smiled at him and thanked him, at which he didn't bother to look up, collected her papers and walked to the elevators. There were about five people waiting and they didn't bother to look at her, which suited her fine. The elevator came and they all piled in. Parker was the only one to exit on the third floor. She turned down the corridor and came to the door she had been told about. The plaque on the door read 'Press Office'. Parker knocked on the door.
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a smiling girl with red hair and an impressive set of teeth. She looked like she was in her early twenties. Parker hated her immediately.
"Hi!" she said brightly. Parker forced herself to not grit her teeth as the girl continued speaking, "I'm Charlotte, Mr Long's PA. You must be Martha?"
Parker nodded. Charlotte smiled even wider. "Come in! Come in!" she said and opened the door fully. Parker entered the office. There were four other people inside – all girls in their mid twenties to early thirties, Parker noticed – and they all seemed to be very busy.
"We're all very busy today," Charlotte explained, "Senator Long is preparing for his press conference next week. He's going to speak about his plan for urban reformation and the need for more affordable housing for those who are underprivileged." The look in her eyes and the monotone sound of her voice told Parker that the words had been memorised from a campaign flyer. Obviously Long didn't employ his staff for their intelligence.
Charlotte pointed Parker to an empty desk at the back of the office. "Now I'm sorry but for the moment you'll just have to find ways to make yourself useful. We'll all be glad of your help." With that she left Parker alone.
Parker assessed her surroundings with the keen eye of the professional thief. The girls didn't seem to be paying much attention to what was happening around them. Every one of them seemed to be fully focussed on the screens in front of them. From what Parker could see this consisted of emails, documents and one online shoe shopping site. The office itself was unremarkable. No hiding places that she could see, no hidden safes, certainly nothing that might be worth opening.
"Excuse me?" a voice from above her said. Parker looked up. The girl had dark hair and a shy-looking face. She held out a folder to Parker. "Could you put this back into the filing cabinet please? I'd do it myself but I'm rather busy at the moment." She left the folder on Parker's desk and walked away. Parker sighed and stood up.
Being an intern was as boring as it sounded, Parker decided. Her morning was spent filing papers, retrieving papers from files, photocopying or scanning them, refiling them, and occasionally getting tea or coffee for the girls. She had to suppress her instinct to rob them blind in order to relieve the monotony.
After lunch Parker was again sitting at her desk, sorting through campaign flyers when Charlotte came over to her. She was holding yet another pile of papers.
"Martha, could you take these through to the Senator please? He should be back by now."
Parker nodded and accepted the papers. She left the office and walked the short distance to the Senator's door. On the way she walked past a door bearing the name 'Mary Summers'. She smiled to herself as she reached Senator Long's door. It was strange to think that not twenty four hours beforehand she and Eliot had broken into this very office. She knocked on the door.
"Enter!" a voice called from within. Parker opened the door with some difficulty, balancing the papers in her other hand, and stepped inside. She saw with satisfaction that the picture hiding the safe was still in the same place she had left it. Either the Senator hadn't noticed or he had assumed the cleaner had moved it.
The Senator himself was talking loudly on the telephone. Parker walked quietly up to his desk and held out the pile of papers. Long indicated an empty space on his desk and Parker put the papers down. Long smiled and nodded at her and she turned to leave the room.
When Parker got to the door she paused for a moment and listened. The Senator was shouting at someone, presumably someone who worked for him.
"I don't care! She'll be there! You know she's out to undermine me! Her and the rag she works for! Just make sure she behaves herself, understand?"
Parker left before he noticed that she was still in the room. She made her way back to the press office.
...
Back at the press office Parker noticed that Charlotte looked stressed. She made a cup of coffee and went over to her.
"You okay?" she asked, offering Charlotte the cup.
Charlotte gratefully accepted. "I'm fine," she said but her voice had lost its brightness, "It's this reporter. Julia Stiles, works for the National Post. She's out to ruin the Senator. Every little thing that happens and she's all over it like a bloodhound. The Senator's worried that she'll disrupt the press conference."
Parker nodded in understanding, but her eyes held a gleam that went unnoticed by Charlotte. A reporter out to bring down Long? That could come in very useful. Very useful indeed.
...
"Julia Stiles."
It was evening and the team were gathered to hear the results of Parker's day. She had told Hardison what she had learned and he had done some research, which was now being displayed on the screens.
A picture of an attractive lady in her late thirties was currently being shown on one side. Down the other side was a list of article headlines she had written.
"Writes mainly for the National Post, but occasionally does some freelance work." Hardison advanced to the next slide, which depicted Julia walking along a road talking on her phone. "Not a remarkable career by any standard, but she does have some peculiarities which are worth noting."
The next slide contained various newspaper headlines, all of which described various scandals and allegations concerning Senator Long.
Sophie couldn't help chuckling. "She doesn't seem to like him very much does she?"
Hardison shook his head. "Definitely not. Can't see any reason why though. She's made it her mission in life to follow up any rumour concerning Long." He clicked to the next slide, which was a photo of Long surrounded by his staff.
"That's why she doesn't like him," Sophie said, pointing, "Look at him, surrounded by young girls! Do we know what she did before she became a reporter?"
"Hang on," Hardison said, tapping buttons on his laptop. He looked up with a smile. "She was Long's PA, then one day he just fired her. The next person to take the job was a younger woman."
"You see?" Sophie said triumphantly, "She wants revenge for getting replaced."
"So what are you thinking, Hardison?" Nate asked, "Leak the stuff we found to her?"
Hardison put his fingers to his chin. That had indeed been his first idea, but then he smiled. "No. She wants rumours. We give them to her." He clicked his remote again. The screens lit up with images of websites. Discussion boards, blogs, forums and similar sprang up.
"And this is?" Eliot asked.
"The biggest source of information known to man." Hardison crossed his arms. "All we have to do is plant a few ideas here and there and let cyberspace do the rest." He smiled, showing his teeth. "Age of the geek, baby!"
...
Two days later the press office was a scene of panic. The girls were running from one desk to another, shouting, and answering phones which were continuously ringing. The moment Parker entered the room Charlotte pounced on her.
"Martha! Thank goodness you're here! We've got a bit of a situation."
"What's going on?" Parker asked, feigning ignorance.
Charlotte shook her head. "Rumours suddenly started flying around the internet about the Senator and his urban renewal campaign! Disgusting rumours! They even suggested the Senator's involved in money laundering. And now we're having to fend off news agencies and other people!"
"But surely the rumours aren't true?" Parker asked, knowing full well that they were.
"That's not the point!" Charlotte was getting hysterical. "It doesn't matter whether they're true or not, which they're not of course, but the point is that they're out there! People are talking about them! This sort of thing could damage the Senator! Mary's going up the wall!"
Damage him beyond repair hopefully, Parker thought to herself. Out loud she said, "So what can I do?"
"Just answer the phone and tell people there's no truth to the rumours!" Charlotte ran off as another phone started ringing.
Parker sat down at her desk. Almost on cue her telephone started ringing. She picked up the receiver. "Senator Long's office, how can I help you?"
The voice on the other end belonged to a woman. She sounded like she was in her mid thirties. "Hello, this is Julia Stiles of the National Post. I'm calling with regards to certain... allegations that have been made against Senator Long?"
Parker smiled. Sophie had given her an answer for when Julia Stiles called up. "There is no truth whatsoever to any rumours concerning illegal money laundering activities which Senator Long is alleged to have been involved with and he wishes to categorically deny that any such activities have taken place."
"I see." The voice on the other end fell silent and Parker heard the sounds of a pencil scribbling on paper. "And the allegations of the homeowners being attacked on the Senator's orders?"
"There is no truth whatsoever to any rumours concerning illegal money laundering activities which Senator Long is alleged to have been involved with and he wishes to categorically deny that any such activities have taken place." Parker repeated, making certain that she gave the exact same response.
"And the rumours that his campaign is just a front for a huge scam involving billions of dollars of taxpayers' money?"
"There is no truth whatsoever to any rumours concerning illegal..." Parker started but Julia cut her off.
"Yes, yes, thank you. I think that's everything. You've been most helpful my dear." The line went dead.
Parker put the receiver down and thought about the conversation she had with Sophie the previous night.
"But won't denying the rumours defeat the purpose?" Parker asked Sophie as the two sat in the bar. Sophie had just told Parker what to say when Julia Stiles called.
Sophie shook her head. "No, it'll do exactly the opposite. The first rule of scandal is never believe anything until it's been officially denied. You're just officially denying it. Julia Stiles will just lap it all up." She took a sip of her drink before going on. "Now remember, any question she asks, you must give the exact same answer, word for word. It'll sound more like an official statement that way."
Parker nodded and took a sip of her own drink.
Parker smiled to herself. Well, the rumours had now been officially denied. All that was left was to let Julia Stiles do what she did best.
With a helping hand from the team of course.
A/N And so Hardison's habit of taking aliases from Doctor Who continues with Martha Tyler!