Ben and Shane were old friends. They’d been at Channel 5 about as long as anyone, and had worked together a lot. Ben privately thought that Shane ought to at least be a reporter, if not a producer, but Shane was just as happy to be a cameraman. He loved the job and was good at it.

Ben knew—hell, everybody on the staff knew—that Shane operated best with a little buzz on. Not enough to be what anyone would call drunk, maybe not enough to even blow a breathalyzer test, but he just liked to have a little alcohol in his system more often than not. Did that make him an alcoholic? Hard to say, Ben thought. If it did, it didn’t affect his work, which was superb. And having to work with someone like Metheny, well that would drive someone to drink, anyway. In any case, he knew there was a small plastic canteen in his camera case all the time, marked “lens cleaner.” And Shane was pretty good about not letting the kids see him take his occasional nip.

But Ben and Shane were old enough friends that he could be used as a sounding board for issues around the newsroom, and this morning he needed some feedback he could trust. The morning after Halloween hadn’t been a happy time in the newsroom, mostly because Jason had been especially sour.

“Hey, Shane,” Ben said after the meeting wound down. “Got a minute?”

“Sure thing, boss,” the cameraman replied.

“Let’s go into my office,” Ben suggested. The two headed into Ben’s glass-enclosed office, which he rarely used, preferring one of the desks out in the newsroom for most of his daily activities. They headed in, and Ben gestured for Shane to shut the door. “I’ve gotta say that was pretty good coverage last night, for getting caught flat footed,” Ben said.

Shane had every reason to feel good about it. He’d gotten to Franklin Park just in time to get some footage of Hippolyta picking out the winner of the competition, got a quick shot of the two, and then shot some more while she signed a few autographs. He finished with some footage of Hippolyta and Charlie Parker taking off in that old Model A before heading back to the station. It was a fairly easy package to cut, and it only ran about twenty seconds when he got done with it. He wrote a quick voice-over script to go with it. Kevin agreed that it did capture the holiday well, and decided to lead with it, especially since Shane told him that there hadn’t been any other stations present.

“Glad you think it was good, Ben. Me, I’ve mostly been kicking myself for being so slow on the uptake to recognize Hippolyta the first time. Of course, she was about the third Hippolyta I saw out there, so maybe I was getting complacent.”

“We’re just lucky you spotted her at all. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. We’ve got trouble out there in River City, my friend.”

“Jason? He really did have his tail in a knot this morning, didn’t he?”

“He did. Any idea why it was worse than normal?”

“Every idea,” Shane said. “He was out to suck up to that Newsmagazine crew. Then Hippolyta ran right between their legs twice, and they didn’t get squat, while I got good footage both times. Then, to add insult to injury was the deal with his girlfriend after the look-alike contest.”

“She does make a pretty good Hippolyta, at least on tape,” Ben agreed.

“She makes a good one in the flesh,” Shane said. “But she won that trip to Disney World, and made him get down on his knees right in front of the Newsmagazine crew and beg her to take him with her. I wish I’d had the camera up for that, because I had trouble keeping a straight face.”

“Yeah. Got him wrapped around her little finger, huh?”

“For sure. Especially when she replied, ‘Of course, my slave.’ I mean, it was a real, real femdomme-sub thing, very ‘Yes, ma’am, yes, ma’am.’ Kinda surprised me a little about our boy, but I see now why he’s been so hot about Hippolyta.”

“And you say the Newsmagazine crew saw this? He was sucking up to them real good, like he wanted a job in New York?”

“Oh, yeah, they couldn’t have missed it,” Shane laughed. “Goodbye, New York, hello Disney World.”

“I guess I can’t blame him for being pissed, but I’ve about had my fill of it.”

“Me, too. I’ve been going to talk to you about it. He’d better clean up his act, and real soon, or there are going to be people walking.”

“That’s what I don’t need,” Ben said. “Crap, we’re shorthanded enough now, that’s why I’ve put up with his attitude so long. Who’s walking?”

“Several people are thinking about it, and Vicky’s all but out of here.”

“Vicky?” Ben raised his eyebrows. “I thought she was having problems with her dad’s health. She’s heading down to see him this weekend again.”

“He is bad, and she wants to be closer,” Shane affirmed. “Of course, in her case, it includes a possible weeknight co-anchor job down in Lexington. Second interview tomorrow, and probably negotiations, from what my source down there says.”

“Well, shit. That just makes it worse. Who else is getting set?”

“You’re pretty close to losing Sally. She’s taken so much shit from Metheny about not being able to get her brother to burp up who Hippolyta is that she’s pretty down. It won’t take much more for her, I think.”

“You’re sure? I know she’s been under some pressure, but I didn’t realize it’s been that bad.”

“Think about it,” Shane said. “First you and the Newsmagazine crew put the heat on her yesterday. Then I know she had to have heard about the set-to Jason and that Newsmagazine crew had with Tom Rostenkowski and Charlie Parker over in Tom’s office at the Daily yesterday over that. Tom told them exactly where to get off. Now who does she think is backing her up and who does she think is on her ass?”

“I see.” Ben nodded. “I hadn’t realized she was taking it that way. You think she’s going to walk?”

“What I heard last night was that Tom is getting set to make her an offer. She hasn’t talked to them as far as I know, but Tom was talking with the city editor about her.”

“Oh, crap,” Ben said again. Shane had contacts among the lower levels of the media all over town, of course, and was an incurable gossip—which made him invaluable at times like this. “I knew that she’s had print waved under her nose once or twice, but she’s said she wants to stay in TV.”

“I think she does too. But after that deal yesterday, if Tom called I think she’d say ‘Let’s talk.’ She’s been getting résumés out, but she’s not going to jump for just anything, I don’t think.”

“Jesus. Anyone else?”

“Both Carl and Rachel have résumés out. Don’t know that Jason has much to do with either of them directly, but they’re seeing the shit he’s getting away with and looking for a step up. The McMahon kid, too, and I know he has a job at home any time he wants it. His old man wants him running that paper in a few years so he can retire.”

“That’s a quarter of the staff, damn near,” Ben said. “Christ, Shane, what do I do?”

“Don’t know,” Shane said. “That’s why they pay you so well. I can tell you this. Unless something screws up this weekend, Vicky is out of here, it’s about that close to a done deal. If you don’t want to have to get rid of Jason to keep the others, you’ll have to sit on him real hard, or Sally will be out of here pretty soon, and maybe a couple others soon after.”

“That’s a damn shame about Sally, especially if she has to go to print. We need smart young pros like her in this business.”

“Well, you could give her Vicky’s job. That’d tell her that patience is a virtue that does get rewarded. Maybe do something else nice for her, like string Metheny up by the thumbs.”

“I’ll have a talk with Jason,” Ben sighed. “We’ve got school elections next week, and I need him here for them, and then my patience with his attitude is going to get quite a bit shorter. But I’m going to start looking at résumés so I don’t get caught flat-footed. I’ll admit, Sally’s done a good job at weekend co-anchor, but she’s damn junior for it for full time.”

“That’s true,” Shane nodded. “But at least you know she does a good job. And, as junior as she is, you could save some budget on a lower salary.”

“You got a point. I’ll have to think about it a bit, maybe kick it around up front. Could you maybe get her off to the side and tell her to hang in there for a bit without hinting anything, either about Vicky or Jason?”

“I can try, but she needs a good pep talk and an atta-girl, too. Those about have to come from you.”

“I know. Thanks, Shane. You know, you really ought to have this job instead of me.”

“What, and put up with all the shit you go through, and stay inside most of the time?” the cameraman exclaimed in mock horror. “No way, Jose!”

“I guess that’s why the buck stops here. All right, why don’t you round her up and send her in?”

“That I can do, chief,” Shane nodded as he got up.

Ben leaned back in his chair, thinking hard. He really needed to call Tom Rostenkowski this morning, find out what happened, and apologize if necessary. That arrogant young punk Metheny sure has a talent for pissing people off, he thought. Sometimes you need that in this business, but he’s all too damn persistent at it. There was no way he could allow him to set off a wave of resignations; he just wasn’t worth it.

He was still thinking about it when Sally knocked on the glass of his office. “You wanted to see me, Ben?” He was pretty sure he could detect a touch of dispirit in her voice.

“Yeah. Close the door and sit down.” He let out a big sigh. “Sally, I have to apologize for yesterday, in here with that crew from Newsmagazine. I shouldn’t have put you between a rock and a hard spot like that, but those people are network, they throw their weight around. Still, I didn’t have to let that happen.”

“Thanks, Ben. I don’t like being set up like that. I mean, I tried to tell you and tried to tell them that was what was going to happen, but they wouldn’t listen to me. I mean, I’m just a girl reporter, what do I know?”

“You’re a serious professional. Probably one of the most professional people in the building. You’ve done a hell of a job with everything that’s been happening here so far. I realize you’re in a tough position with your brother. I promise you I’ll do my best to see that nobody here bugs you about it again.”

“Thanks, Ben. People seem to think that I have some sort of control over my brother. I don’t even know him that well. He’s a lot older than I am, after all. He was in college when I was in kindergarten.”

“I understand,” Ben said, thinking. It was likely that he was going to lose her sooner or later anyway. That was par for the course for someone on the way up like her—but he’d like to keep her for a while yet, at least until he could get some other staff holes filled. Well, there was one thing he could do that would help with the Jason problem. “I’m thinking of shifting the schedules around with the elections coming up,” he told her. “You got any problem with working mornings again next week?” That would put her on the other shift from Jason, get them apart some. It couldn’t be done all the way, but it would help.

“No, no problem. It works better for covering the police beat, anyway.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Next question. I know you’ve got that tournament this weekend, and Vicky is going to be gone again. Are you going to be able to make that work?”

“I should be able to,” she said. “The schedule is sabre Saturday morning, and there won’t be many people doing sabre, so it should wrap up by noon. The afternoon is epee, and I wasn’t planning to bother with it, although a couple of students I’m taking at least want to go a couple rounds. I haven’t worked with them on epee that much, so they probably won’t get far in eliminations. I can probably leave mid-afternoon and come straight back here, if you don’t mind me changing in the restroom. Then we can go back over for foil Sunday. That’ll break up by mid-afternoon, so people can head home.”

“Good enough,” Ben said with a nod. “You know about the deal with Vicky’s father. There’s no telling how much longer that could go on. I know you want to keep going to tournaments, but is that going to cause a problem?”

“It may, once in a while. It’s not like there are tournaments every weekend, and any that we attend have to be fairly local, anyway, considering the people I’m working with. There might be a weekend or two it could be a problem. I don’t have to go to all of them either, but I want to get to as many as I can.”

“We’ll just have to see what happens. Go ahead and plan on going to tournaments. We’ll work around it somehow. We are kind of proud of you around here, you know.”

“Thanks, Ben. There’ve been a few hard days recently, so my spirits have been down a little.”

“We all have bad days. Tell you what. Go to your tournament tomorrow and carve somebody up like a turkey. That’ll help make you feel better.”

“It might at that,” she said. “Is that all you needed me for? If it is, I need to get over to the PD.”

“Pretty much,” Ben said, getting an idea. “Hang in there, Sally. Don’t let the rough ones get you down.”

Sally knew she was running late when she waved goodbye to Rick and Justin and Emily and headed into the back door of the station the next afternoon, but she didn’t mind. This had been a very good day.

“We were beginning to wonder,” Jeff said and waved at her clothes as she came into the newsroom. She was still wearing her white fencing jacket and knickers. They’d run well over the speed limit coming back from Cleveland, relying on Rick’s badge and the “blue shield” of professional courtesy among cops and letting each other go if they got pulled over. Fortunately, they got lucky and didn’t get stopped. “I take it you skewered someone.”

“We did real well,” she reported. “All of us. Sally’s Salle got a little lucky—no, lots lucky—and we came back with more than we hoped for.”

“Sounds like a good one,” Dave said. “So what happened?”

“Lots. I won women’s sabre, then I got real, real lucky and beat Ron Bustamante by one point in the finals of overall sabre. He must have been having an off day, but I renewed my B rating, and that was pretty much my goal for the season.”

“I hate to sound stupid,” Carl said from the sports desk down the way. “But you’re talking Greek.”

“Let’s just say that I beat someone with a B rating, so that means I get to keep mine. They have to be renewed every few years, and mine was getting set to expire because I haven’t fenced in tournaments recently. Then, both Rick and Justin got E ratings, and Emily a D, and wow, she’s only been doing sabre for a month or so. Then they had a real small field for epee, so Emily and Justin and I entered at the last minute. I pushed my D rating up to a C, and she got an E.”

Carl smiled. “Does that translate as ‘We kicked ass?’”

“We kicked ass. I’m just so proud of Rick and the kids it’s not funny. Jeff, what have we got for news today?”

“Kinda slow,” he said. “Got a couple good ones, but it’s still coming together.”

“Okay, give me a few minutes to change clothes, and I’ll start playing catch-up. Rick’s taking the kids home to change clothes, and we’re going to head out for dinner after the newscast. If they get back early, would someone let them into the building please?”

“Sure,” Liz said. “Congratulations. Especially for kicking some man butt. Jeff, if they get here in time, they can watch a little of the action in the control room.”

“I’m not sure it’s much less violent than fencing,” Jeff said with a shake of his head. “Especially when Mandy is directing.”

“Good to hear you did well,” Dave said.

The newscast went off well. doing it from the anchor desk was routine for Sally by now, so even though she hadn’t been as up to speed with the preparation as she normally was, it went fine. Maybe it was because she was still on a high from the tournaments, but it seemed like it was coming off a bit fast, but nobody was making “slow it down” signals, so maybe she was just thinking things.

Carl went through the sports—since it was Saturday night, there was lots of football, especially Big Ten. In the back of her head, as she followed the script, she sort of wished that she’d gotten hooked on a sport that people understood, rather than something as esoteric as fencing. It was hard to explain that not only had they won, she and Rick and the kids had won big time against a good if not stellar field, admittedly shaking down in the first part of the season. It was still hard to believe that she’d out-pointed Bustamante, but who would know? Who would care? Stan, her folks, a few people at the Salle—that was about it.

“Finally tonight,” Dave started after the last round of commercials. “We have something a little different in sports news.” Sally was surprised, glad that the camera was on Dave. This wasn’t in the script—the trailer was supposed to be about the Rocket mascot. Up on the monitor, there came a scene of two fencers going at it—and Sally’s eyes grew big—it was her going up against Bustamante in the meet over in Cleveland today! These people … she remembered seeing a cameraman from the station in Cleveland there and thinking it was nice that there’d be some coverage of the meet somewhere. She’d been set up, big time!

All those thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant as she watched the footage, listening to Dave continue. “The regional fencing season opened this morning at the Atrium Tournament in Cleveland. Our affiliate there reports that a Toledo team did very well. The overall champion …” the scene switched to an official handing her a small trophy … “In sabre was our own Sally Parker sitting right next to me,” Dave continued. “We here at First to Know News have learned that it doesn’t pay to cross swords with her.” The tape ended, and the faces of the two of them came up on the screen, hers with a big smile. “Congratulations, Sally,” Dave said with a wide grin. “We know you and your students have been working very hard to get ready for this tournament.”

“Thank you, Dave,” she replied shyly. “I just want to thank my students for putting on a great effort. We all did well, and I’m proud of them.”

“Sally,” Dave said. “All of us here at First to Know News are very proud of you. That’s it for tonight, I’m Dave Wells …”

“And I’m Sally Parker, filling in for Vicky Roney.”

“And good night from First to Know News.”

The red light on the camera blinked off. Sally waited for a second, to make sure that the network news was going out on air and she didn’t have a hot mike, then said, rather hotly, “What were you doing, trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Hey, I thought it was kind of fun,” Dave told her. “We are proud of you, and we decided to show it off a little bit.”

The studio door opened, and several people trooped in—Ben and Liz, Jeff and Mandy, Rick, Emily, and Justin, as well as others. “Good catch,” Jeff said. “It just goes to show that you’re as good at an anchor desk as you are with a sword.”

Sally shook her head. “You people,” she laughed, her heart still pounding from the surprise. “You were all in on this, right? I ought to go out to the car, get a sabre and carve you all up, but I can’t do that to my friends, can I?”

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