Quaranteam Ch. 33

"Hey there Andrew," Nathaniel said. "I don't believe you've met my first partner, my wife Eliza, Benny's mother."

"Ah, the infamous Mr. Rook," Eliza said, taking his hand and shaking it as it was offered to her. "I've been hearing a great many things about you, mostly good."

"Well then, I'm sure they can't all be true," Andy said with a laugh. "I know you both know Hannah, but this is my partner and fiance Aisling, and this is another of my partners and also another of my fiances, Sarah Washington, whom you may have seen in movies."

"The Ballerina Badass herself!" Eliza said, just the tiniest hint of an accent lingering in her voice. Polish, Andy thought, but he wasn't certain. "Julia, my eldest daughter, she and I went to see each and every one of those in the theaters together. They were smashing! And it is a pleasure to meet you as well Aisling Blake. Nathaniel tells me you're the real brains behind the Rook household."

"He's not wrong," Andy said, grinning at the smaller of the two redheads with him.

"He's not entirely wrong," Ash correctly, "because Andy's no slouch himself."

Hannah tossed all her things into the cart, as Sarah glanced at Andy's list, moving to grab cat litter, cat food and dog food, to give him a moment to talk with Watkins.

"It's actually a good thing I ran into you, Nathaniel," Andy said. "Look, it's important I tell you about this -- Katie Couric found out about Covington's little poker game." He wasn't sure Nathaniel's wife Eliza knew about Nathaniel's involvement with the game, but felt like it was important to get it out ahead of it.

"Such a dreadful man," Eliza said, annoyance in her voice. "I gave Nathaniel permission to request people we didn't like when he knew a poker game was coming, to use as stakes so he could try and pull people away from those horrible gangster friends that Covington keeps company with."

"How the hell did she find out about the game?" Nathaniel asked him.

"Here's the thing -- apparently Rachel DeMarco, one of Covington's partners, told Katie Couric about it, tried to spin it as though I was the one organizing the game, but she did a pretty piss poor job convincing Ms. Couric about that, because it was clear after a few minutes of talking to me that I'd only gone the once, and even that I'd basically done under protest, to try and keep Niko's friends safe. She was suggesting going after my friend Phil for responsibility, but I made it clear in no uncertain terms what I'd do if she pursued that false narrative."

"There's the fighting man I knew lay beneath," Watkins said with a chuckle. "You think Covington told Rachel to leak it?"

"That was my first thought as well, but now I'm not so sure," Andy said. "Why would Covington want the game's existence out in the open, even if he could somehow convince people it was my idea? Doesn't that feel like a gross over correction to you?"

"I'll tell you what it doesn't feel like to me," Watkins said. "It doesn't feel like the kind of move Covington would make. It's short sighted and sloppy, where a dozen things could go wrong. Do you think Rachel did this on her own initiative?"

"That doesn't feel like it makes any sense to me either, because it's going to get back to Covington that she was the one who leaked it out, isn't it?"

"So what's Ms. Couric going to do with this story?"

"She's agreed to just relay it to the office of the President, so they can act on it, and otherwise, she's going to do nothing with it," Andy told him. "The improved scrutiny on the pairing system is more important than a brief blip of news time, what with all the other shit going on right now. That isn't to say she's not going to revisit it if things don't get changed, but for the time being, I think it's not going to be public exposure, but there's definitely going to be some heat coming down the pipeline for most of the people who were at Covington's game."

"I take it you found some way to keep yourself free of blame?" Nathaniel asked.

"Well, in giving her an honest and almost complete recollection of the card game, I think I bought myself some goodwill in the matter. And because you've been so kind to me, I conveniently forgot your name when listing off the players."

Nathaniel smiled kindly at him. "You didn't have to do that, Andrew, but I certainly appreciate it. I don't think either of us were going to be very welcome if Covington decided to hold another game any time soon."

"Keep in mind, though, that she's a smart reporter, and that if she decides to do any serious investigation, she'll be able to put two and two together and connect the dots that you were the other player at the game."

"Something would give me away?"

"More like someone," Andy said. "I told her about how Erin had showed up and I'd turned her away but paired her up with another kind gentleman. Speaking of which, how's she doing over there?"

"Oh, she puts up a bit of a fuss when she's not being primped and waited upon," Eliza said, "but she's not really that much worse than any other socialite, and I have almost two decades experience in dealing with those. So as long as she doesn't get too big for her britches, we'll get along fine."

"Pretty good in the sack," Nathaniel said before his wife jabbed him in the side with an elbow, which made him laugh a little. "I was simply saying."

"I know what you were saying, dearest Nate, but you've both experienced the woman's charms in bed, and you don't need to discuss opinions on the matter," Eliza scolded. "It's uncouth."

"What were you doing talking to Katie Couric anyway, Andrew?" Nathaniel asked him.

"It was for part of a special that'll be airing next week after the President's speech."

"Ah," Watkins said, sighing a little. "Finally owning up to how many people we've lost, is she?"

"I guess," Andy said, "but it's also going to be about setting expectations of 'the new normal' moving forward in this country. What we're going through is entirely unprecedented. Speaking of which, you may want to look into having some personal security. I have some arriving tomorrow, and as much as I wish it wasn't necessary, shit's starting to get scary even within the walls of New Eden."

"Oh, we have security, Andrew," Eliza said with a soft smile. "You just didn't notice Eve down at one end of the aisle or Octavia down at the other, because they're very good at being discrete."

Andy looked past the Watkins for a moment, and saw a rather fit looking woman in a black velvet tracksuit down at the end of the aisle. When she caught Andy looking at her, she offered a tiny smile and a polite salute before continuing her watch.

"I'll be damned. They're good."

"But good on you for getting some security, Andrew," Nathaniel said. "It's like insurance -- better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Also, I must ask -- have you heard from Gregor lately?"

"Vikovic?" Andy said, a little surprised to hear the name. "No, but we barely know each other, so I would've been more surprised if I had. Why, should I have?"

"I don't think so, but the strangest thing happened a couple of days ago. Gregor and I were supposed to meet up for lunch and his first wife, Katerina, called to cancel, saying he was feeling a bit under the weather and wouldn't be able to make it."

"What's so odd about that?" Andy asked.

"He's had to cancel before, but he always calls himself," Nathaniel said. "Something about Katerina's tone struck me as odd. I simply couldn't deduce why."

"Nothing I know anything about, I'm afraid."

"I didn't suspect that you would've," Nathaniel sighed, "but figured it did not hurt to ask."

"Okay, well, it's been good talking to you, but we should be heading back to the house. Let me know if you hear anything else on the grapevine about what Covington's up to."

"You as well, Andrew," Nathaniel said, shaking his hand. "Pleasure meeting you ladies."

"Very nice meeting all of you," Eliza said. "Please, don't be strangers. Sane people are a rare commodity here in New Eden."

They headed off down the aisle, and Andy could see their security woman move ahead of them several steps, checking to make sure everything was fine. Hannah leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you're on good terms with the Watkins," she said. "Benny's a tool, but Nate and Eliza were always real nice to me."

"Oh shit," Andy grumbled. "I forgot to ask him if he knew about what Jade's father was trying to set up a few years back. Eh, it's probably not that important anyway. We should pay and head back to the house."

"Tomorrow should be a fun one," Ash said. "You've got Lexi and Maya showing up, in addition to getting to talk to Fiona again face to face for the first time in over a decade."

"Note to self," he mumbled in amusement. "Breakfast is occasionally an acceptable time to start drinking."

"After that, though," Sarah said, "does it quiet down for a bit?"

"It quiets down for exactly four days," Andy said. "And then on November 20^th, once the President makes her speech, shit officially goes off the deep end."