"I don't treat him any differently than anyone else on the team." Uh hun," I said nodding. "I can see that. I just wanted you to know that I won't be ...here tonight." I turned and took a step toward my desk in the front row, between Tami and Robbie."Sims, I don't think you have the right attitude."I got to my desk and slid in, facing him again. "I don't know anything about my attitude, though you're not the first to question it. I just know that this afternoon, there's something more important. How is it possible for a man to run like this, as fast as a greyhound, as graceful as an impala? He stopped a hundred yards from her and looked back, cocking his head again. And then he was running again, straight for her.Mikayla reached for the zipper on the side of her pack, with shaking fingers yanked it open and slid her hand inside to feel the grip of the pistol there. She pulled it out and chambered a round in a fluid, well trained movement and pointed the gun towards the creature.It. “Yeah, thanks for calling me back to the room at the party so I didn’t get to meet her,” Claire said from her window. “You two owe me an iPad now!” Everyone laughed.“Order,” Julie said. Still giggling and rapping her empty glass against the table again, then handing it to Troy to refill. “Ideas we’re stealing from Helen come later in the agenda, after the Two Minutes of Cattiness.”“I’ve never liked that part of the meetings, Mistress,” Troy said as he refilled her drink, and then poured himself. “I’ve been giving about two hundred grand to various charities around my district for years, simply because it’s where I live. If we expand that same amount to the rest of the state ... maybe $2 million. Seem fair?”“Every year?” asked an incredulous Steny Hoyer.“Well, as long as the economy holds up, so maybe you Democrats should vote Republican and help us with the economy,” I said, smiling.That earned me a few laughs, and a lot of thoughtful looks from the others. More than a few people asked.