After a few moments Danny found Donna sitting in the
back row of the deserted press room. The red haired
reporter quietly sat down next to her and handed her
his handkerchief. "Thank you," Donna whispered between
sniffles.
"Anytime," Concanon replied as he turned to face her.
"Sorry about running you over earlier," Donna stated
softly as she wiped away a few stray tears.
Danny smiled as he touched her shoulder. "Don't worry
about it. After covering the White House for all these
years I know how to move quickly. So what did Lyman
do?"
Donna shook her head, the mention of Josh's name
nearly bringing on a fresh wave of tears. How had
everything changed so fast? "No, Josh is wonderful."
"Then this is about the article?" Concanon prompted
quietly.
Moss nodded weakly. "I just lost my job."
Danny blinked in surprise as he started to stand.
"Lyman fired you?!"
Donna placed a hand on his arm as she shook her head.
"No, Josh didn't fire me, I quit."
*******
"What do you mean she quit?" Sam asked incredulously
as he watched Josh pace his office.
Lyman glared at the younger man as he threw up his
hands. "Just what I said, Sam! She handed me her
resignation and ran out of my office."
Sam raised an eyebrow."Why now?"
Josh shook his head as he leaned against the closed
door."It's obvious that Lillienfield got to her."
Sam stood and walked around his desk. "What more could
he possibly hold over her, Josh? He already played his
trump card with the Post article."
"The only thing I can think of is that he threatened
me some how. Convinced her that quitting would be the
only way to protect me," Josh replied wearily.
Sam sat on the corner of his desk. "We've got to take
this to the President."
Lyman shook his head. "I don't want Leo finding out
about this."
"He's going to find out sometime, Josh. Wouldn't you
rather he had all the information instead of
Lillienfield blindsiding him? Lillienfield's playing
mind games with us, Josh, they need to know."
"Okay," Josh agreed reluctantly as he pushed himself
away from the door. "But no matter what, I'm going to
be the one to take Lillienfield down."
*****
end of part 8 TBC