Never Fold

 206.

"Shall we first address the elephant in the room?" Harlan asks as we make our way down the busy DC sidewalk towards our office. It is his shift to power my old-school chair and I silently vow to upgrade at the earliest opportunity. Asking someone, especially a friend and confidant, to push me as one might a shopping cart, is on one end humiliating and emasculating on the other. Julie, perhaps sensing this, fires a congratulatory salvo, adding that, in her opinion, the deal was done the moment Hartaugh gave me the floor.

"He sees you as a war hero, brave, committed to duty and ready to make any sacrifice for flag and country. Traits he wishes of himself, but sadly lacks."

"It was too easy," Harlan says, "he's got something up his sleeve."

"Sure, he wants to ride your coattails for the benefit of his ego, his political career and, did you catch the part about 'our needs satisfied'? How blatant is that?"

"I feel like we're being played," Julie adds, "But….."

"But that is exactly the response we needed, back in the game, full support and the ring leader unwittingly taking six giant steps towards the trap. He is going to walk right in and most likely shoot himself in the foot on the way. We got way more then we bargained for."

"That is the part I find too easy, the trap, Hartaugh is smarter than that."

"If not smarter, certainly sneakier," Harlan adds.

"Smarter or sneakier he has dared us to play the hand. If it's a bluff, we got him, if he has the cards, we got him, the only way we lose is to fold."

"Still, he should know that is something we would never do."

"You think he is in it for the juice, just to prove he's smarter than us?"

A brisk wind meets us head-on as we round the corner. It has been a long time since I've had the sensation of being reminded that sometimes the things you cannot see are the most powerful.

"I hope that is exactly what he thinks."