James Bell - Deadlock

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Deadlock: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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In this legal thriller for the evangelical Christian market, former trial lawyer- turned-novelist Bell imagines what would happen if a prochoice, atheistic Supreme Court Justice suddenly became a born-again believer. A near brush with death and the sudden loss of her mother leaves 52-year-old liberal Justice Millicent "Millie" Hollander pondering eternity and considering faith. When she becomes chief justice, Millie discovers that the belief she has embraced excites a firestorm of confusion and anger from her former supporters. A case involving a separation of religion and state opens up a huge rift in the Court, and the media soon turns the whole affair into a three-ring circus. Alarmed about Millie's potentially conservative positions, the president and stereotypically hard-drinking, womanizing Sen. Sam Levering plot her impeachment and possibly her death. A weak subplot concerns a teen's abortion and subsequent lawsuit against the clinic where it was performed, which rather unconvincingly intersects with Millie's story toward the close of the novel. Portions of the plot aren't completely fresh Angela Elwell Hunt's recent The Justice ably tackled the same general topic for the same audience. But Bell's take on the idea of a Supreme Court justice making a religious about-face offers some unique spins, including a curveball plot development that will blindside most readers. Laudably, most characters are multidimensional, and even the senator's evil troubleshooter, Anne Deveraux, becomes worthy of pity. Evangelical prolife fiction aficionados should appreciate this addition to the CBA thriller genre.

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“Thank you,” Millie said quietly.

“I knew then I wanted to follow in your footsteps,” Toni said. “I wanted to learn the law and hopefully, someday, become a judge. Who knows, maybe I’d end up on the Supreme Court. It’s a wild dream, I know.”

“Everything worth attaining starts as a dream,” Millie said. Despite the odd circumstances, Millie felt an affinity for the woman. Anyone who loved the law…

Smiling shyly, Toni said, “Yeah. I believed that. Anyway, I really took to law school. I made Law Review, everything was going great. And then…”

The trailing off of her voice was like the change in score in a movie. What had once been a light, airy scene was suddenly ominous, with things lurking in shadows.

“Go ahead,” Helen told Toni. “You’re among friends.”

The young woman looked at her hands. They were no longer folded demurely. Now the fingers squeezed against the back of her hands, bunching the skin.

“Well,” Toni said after a long sigh, “it was in my second year, toward the end. Everything had gone along so well. I had a great job lined up for the summer. I was going to be editor-in-chief of the Law Review . There was even a chance” – Toni gave a small laugh – “that I might be number one in my class. I was neck and neck with a guy named Harold Rose, and I was determined, boy. I wanted that.”

She looked down at her hands, still stretching her skin as if trying to pull some comfort from them. Helen put her hand on Toni’s, patted them.

“Anyway,” Toni said, “I was going home one night from a long stint at the library, walking across campus. I guess I was stupid. Why did I have to go around by the athletic field? It was a straight shot to my apartment by way of the student union.”

She paused, took a deep breath, continued. “He was waiting in the doorway of the women’s locker room. I tried to run the other way. But he got me.”

Now Millie started to see. Not only what Toni was going to describe about that night, but also the effects. It was beginning to be very clear why Helen and Levering wanted Millie to hear this. She thought of stopping everything right then, but could not bring herself to interrupt the woman’s story.

“He was strong,” Toni said. “Massively strong. He got tape over my mouth without any problem and carried me like a sack of laundry to the grassy strip between the gym and locker room. And that’s where it happened. That’s where he raped me.”

Millie swallowed hard, caught between empathy and incipient anger.

“Sure enough I got pregnant,” Toni said. “Sure enough they never caught the guy. That didn’t matter. What mattered was now everything I had worked for and hoped for was going to be torn down. There was no way I could carry a baby to term. But I knew I wouldn’t have to.”

Toni looked at Millie with large, watery eyes. “I knew that because of your principles,” Toni said, “that a woman’s right to choose was safe and strong. I found myself going back and reading your opinion in the Messier case, where you so eloquently defended Roe v. Wade, because of how far our country has evolved in morality and ethics since that time. When I went in for my procedure, I was actually happy.”

A creeping sensation wound its way up Millie’s spine, like curling fingers pushing and pulling at her.

“And that’s my story,” Toni said.

“Thank you,” Helen said.

Millie said nothing, but felt like Helen and Levering were waiting for her to respond. Give Toni a Thanks for sharing or something, and then a Thanks for setting me straight.

Instead, Millie put her own hand on Toni’s. The woman looked at her expectantly. “Ms. Ridge,” Millie said, “I know this must have been hard for you.”

“I just wanted you to know,” Toni said. “Helen said I…” She stopped suddenly.

Millie leaned back. “Yes, what was it Helen said?”

Toni Ridge looked as if she’d been caught stealing files from her law firm. Helen Forbes Kensington looked at the grass.

“I think it’s time somebody told me what’s really going on,” Millie said.

Levering threw up his hands. “I agree. Let’s go.”

7

“Listen,” Sam Levering said. “This whole thing has gone far enough. You want to stay on the Court, you make a pledge right now.”

They were in the limo heading back to the Court building. Helen sat silently by, looking out the window.

Millie fought hard to keep from throwing something – a decanter of booze from the bar would be fitting – at the senator’s face. “How dare you,” she said.

“Oh, please,” Levering said. “Spare me your outrage. You’ve got a decision to make right now. I’m not gonna sit around while you mess up the Court.”

Mess up! Getting a lecture on messing up from Sam Levering was too much to bear. Oh, God, what do I say?

Helen turned toward her. “Millie, what the senator and I are trying to do is help you remember what it is we’ve been fighting for all these years, for the right of women – ”

“Stop,” Millie said. “I don’t want to hear it. Helen, how could you?”

“I’ll tell you how,” Levering said. “The fundamentalists are shouting hosannas about your conversion. Or haven’t you heard? They’re already writing Roe off the books.”

“How can either of you think I’d listen to any outside influence?” Millie’s heart was making its way to her throat, pounding with outrage. “Including yours?”

Helen sighed. “Millie – ”

“Hold it,” Levering snapped. “Just hold it now and let me do the talking.” His face swiveled toward Millie. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Here is the way it is. You will check with me on the big votes, the big cases, from now on. I will tell you what to do.”

Millie’s hands curled in on themselves, her nails pressing flesh. “Are you insane?”

“Been called a lot of things in my time. Insane is pretty tame.”

“I would never,” Millie said, pausing to choose her words carefully, “ever consider compromising the workings of the Court, or my own independence, for anyone, let alone you. You are a United States senator with an oath of office. How do you look at yourself in the morning?”

“With these eyes,” Levering said, passing his fingers in front of his face. “I can see things, you know. I can see the future. Want me to tell you yours?”

Anger kept Millie’s mouth closed while she waited.

“You refuse to take my direction,” Levering continued, “and I walk over to the House and get a little investigation going. Impeachment, Madame Justice.” He drew the last word out so it sounded like Just-ess .

He was insane. Threatening impeachment as a form of extortion? Right here in his own limousine, with Helen sitting in silence, without protest.

“You can’t possibly succeed with an impeachment,” she said. “The country won’t stand for it. Congress won’t stand for it.”

“Don’t you remember what Bierce said? The Congress is a masquerade of principles, Madame Justice, and I can manipulate that particular masquerade.”

“You have no grounds for impeachment.”

Levering’s smile was sickening. “You have no idea.” He leaned forward, raising a warning finger. “This is a promise. You give me your answer by tomorrow. You don’t, and I will rain fire and brimstone on you. And you can take that to the bank, Saint Millicent Mannings Hollander.”

8

Millie’s head was practically bursting with anger when she got to Bill Bonassi’s house. Night was hovering over D.C. and several times she thought she’d faint in the taxi. The world was spinning out of control, out of the realm of reality. She needed Bonassi’s counsel now.

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