A/N: Here we go. I'm sorry it's been so long, but I'm now one of the walking employed (Yay! go I and my creditors), so my entries will be slower coming, but rest assured, I plan to follow through to a conclusion, and I am, in fact, beginning to work out a second Just Shoot Me story, which I may launch in the near future. Anyway, I don't own...oh, you all know this. One last personal note: Oh, Cloudburst, Cloudburst, whereforart thou, Cloudburst? We miss you.
MR GALLO GOES TO WASHINGTON
Based on characters created by Steven Levitan
Opening the door, Dennis stuck his head into Jack's office.
"Jack, Ken Gregory is on line two, and I think he's crying."
"Thank you, Dennis," he answered him calmly. Gregory, Jack's party-appointed campaign manager, always sounded like he was crying. Picking up the phone and pushing the appropriate number, he found the familiar sobbing like breathing of the man on the other line.
"Kenny, my man, how are..."
"Don't give me that 'Kenny my man' garbage, Jack! What the hell is the deal with this Times piece?"
"Oh, that," Jack lit up another cigar, then continued, "Just some nonsense that Berkeley came up with. It's nothing."
"Nothing?" The sobbing became choked and fierce sounding, "Nothing? She kidnaps a congressman and it's nothing?"
"She didn't do it, Kenny. The guy's a nut, even the press thinks so."
"That's beside the point! Nobody cares if she did it or not! It's just the idea..."
The door opened again and Maya appeared in the doorway. Jack waved her into the office and pointed to a chair across the desk from him.
"Kenny, will you relax, please?"
"Relax? Jesus, Jack, you just don't get it, do you? I want you and your daughter to deny it, in public, today!"
"Won't that give it credibility?"
"Today, Jack!"
The angry click on the other end of the line, audible to even Maya, ended the conversation. Shrugging, Jack replaced the phone as Maya said, "You wanted to see me, Dad?"
"Yes, princess. It's about a man named..."
He grabbed the copy of the Times from the corner of his desk and scanned the story for the name, "Michael Tenser."
Maya gasped and threw her hand to her open mouth. In a split second, she composed herself and answered, calmly, "Who?"
"Michael Tenser," Jack repeated, "He was a congressman from Connecticut who says you kidnapped him, dressed him in women's clothing and dumped him into a vacant lot downtown."
Maya laughed nervously. "We didn't dump him downtown. It was in Queens."
Jack leaned back, folded his arms and gave his daughter his 'I'm not your boss, now I'm your father' look.
"OK, Maya. Explain."
And so she did, going into detail about her encounter with Congressman Michael Tenser. How she'd been hooked up with him through Nina and a friend, then abandoned as she had gone into the bedroom to seek out a new CD. How his back had gone out and when she'd tried to summon help he confessed that he was a runaway politician and how everyone, including his wife, thought him in Louisiana. And, finally, how she'd enacted her cross-dressing revenge.
"So, you see," Maya finished, "I didn't hold him against his will. In fact, I wanted him to go. Finally, that was the only way I could think of."
"Dressing him in drag and dumping him in Queens?" Jack asked.
"OK, maybe we went a little overboard..."
Jack took a deep breath and let it out. "OK, I think we can do this. From what you've told me, it won't be so bad. I'm sure you learned a very valuable lesson."
"I know. I shouldn't let my temper get the best of me."
"No. Never take advice from Nina."
Kevin slapped the copy of the Times down on the counter in front of him. They hadn't told him about Tenser or the fact that the authorities had already investigated the Maya Gallo angle and decided there wasn't one. That type of shoddy workmanship was simply unacceptable in a stooge. If one is going to be a mastermind, as had been his dream in life ever since he'd seen Woody Allen in 'Casino Royale', one had to depend on his underlings for accurate information to use to undermine a political campaign.
He began to pace around the morgue, pushing the mail cart in front of him like a security blanket. What was going on? He'd planned it so well. According to his computer projections, the Gallo for Congress campaign should be a smoldering wreck on the side of the road. Instead, despite his best efforts, and, to be honest, in spite of Jack Gallo's best efforts, it was a Cadillac and set to pass Cal Berkeley on the way to Washington.
He was furious. How on earth did the men in his organization intend to follow through on their ultimate goal--world domination--if they couldn't derail a two-bit operation like Jack Gallo for Congress?
The timetable had to be sped up. An all out blitz had to be made to make up for lost ground. Yes, yes, that was it. Of course! It was time for the 'big one'. He stopped pacing and grabbed the phone, dialing.
"This is Mister K. Get me Perskey..."
As Maya emerged from Jack's office, Nina, who was carrying a box, flagged her down.
"This came for you while you were in Jack's office," she said, handing the package to Maya. It was about the size of a hardback book, wrapped in pink ribbon and bearing the logo of a store called Formal Fantasies, 'tastefully seductive'.
Maya thanked Nina quickly, taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was paying attention to the exchange, then quickly walked off. Being a veteran of such exchanges, Nina quickly deduced that either Maya was involved in a smuggling ring or...that...
She quickly took off after Maya, following her into her office.
"So," Nina asked, closing the door behind her and leaning back against it, "Is that for Dennis?"
"Oh, it's just..." Maya paused, then began to giggle like a schoolgirl caught with a note.
"Well, well, come on," Nina urged impatiently, "Let's see it."
"Oh, no," Maya gasped between giggles, "I couldn't..."
"Then I will." Nina grabbed the package off the desk and began to tear at the paper.
"Nina, stop it."
"Now look, Maya, who has more experience at this, me or you?"
Unable to argue the point, Maya stood back.
Dennis entered Jack's office just as Jack completed reading the denial he'd...well, Maya...had written. Dennis knew it had to be Maya just by listening--he'd been standing behind him for three minutes and there had yet to be a lawyer joke, so he knew for a fact that Jack hadn't written it.
Hanging up, he turned around and saw Dennis standing there with the videotape.
"What's that?"
"Nina's spot for your campaign."
Dennis sat the tape down on the desk in front of him.
"You promised her you'd watch it," Dennis reminded him.
Jack sighed. "I did, didn't I?"
Rising, he picked up the tape and carried it to a new video setup that Dennis hadn't noticed before. It wasn't that he wasn't aware of the pieces of electronic equipment that had an alarmingly regular habit of showing up in his boss' office, it was a simple case of quantity. So many mysterious boxes with power cords came and went in the place it was hard to keep track.
"It will give me a chance to try out my new Takako 5000 video system. They delivered it this morning."
"Who installed it?"
Jack looked over at him as if he'd asked what magazine he was at. "I did, of course."
"A-ha." Dennis crept towards the door, remembering previous encounters with Gallo-installed electronics, "I'll just go grab Nina and a fire extinguisher and be right back with you."
What Nina had removed from the package was small, red and made of silk, with spaghetti straps over the shoulders. Nina stared at it, then at Maya and attempted to reconcile the image.
"So?" Maya asked, "What do you think?"
"It's so…small," Nina answered, then looked over again at Maya, "And you're so…not. I'm not sure you're going to have room for everyone in there."
"I saw it in a catalog they sent me," Maya explained, modestly, snatching the nightie away from Nina and holding it in front of her, "So, I thought…"
"…You'd lead that poor Dennis Finch into sin. Oh, dear, I am so proud of you."
"You really think he'll like it?"
"Who'll like it?"
The sudden appearance of Dennis in the door startled the two women.
"Why don't you make noise when you walk?" Nina snapped.
"It's a character trait. So, who'll like that naughty little outfit, hmm?"
"Ah…" Nina looked over at Maya, who looked back, each searching for an answer in each other's face and seeing nothing before Nina suddenly said, "Elliot!"
Dennis regarded the dress again, then said, "I don't think red is his color.
"Anyway, Nina, Jack's ready to watch your commercial."
Suddenly, from across the office, there was a loud electric 'crackle' followed by dimming lights and a painful 'yow!'.
"Give us five minutes," Dennis said, pivoting and leaving, headed back to put Jack out.
A/N: Longer than usual, but it's been a while and I'm just getting back into the swing of the story. Things are going to start moving fast now, so hold on and look out for the next chapter coming soon.