Deadline (21 page)

Katie Cannon would be coming back to
the paper soon.

Chapter 62

Andrew Chase’s Office 9:30
PM

ANDREW CHASE was
discouraged.

He had worked his way through his
Rolodex and most of his important financial contacts. He struck out
on all counts.

No one was willing to take the chance
of loaning him money, especially the large sum he was seeking to
bail out the paper.

Things didn’t look good.

He might have to make that phone call
to London after all. Only a couple of hours left on Rupert White’s
offer.

There was one last glimmer of hope. It
is worth a try, Chase decided.

He reached into his top desk drawer.
He removed a small black personal address book. Lightly flipping
trough the pages, he found the name he was seeking.

Walter Houston.

Walter was an old friend of his
father. He was a Montreal billionaire in the shipping industry.
Walter’s fleet of ships traveled the globe taking cargo to ports of
call from New York to Shanghai. Perhaps he could prevail on him to
invest in the paper.

Chase placed the call.

“
Walter, Andrew Chase
here,” said Chase after Houston answered the phone. “Sorry to call
so late, but I desperately need a favor.”

“
Andrew, my boy. It is so
nice to hear from you. It has been so long. I remember you as that
precocious little tyke in shorts. I knew even back then you would
make something of your life. And you have. You’re a successful
newspaper publisher in one of the biggest markets. Your Dad would
be proud of you, Andrew.”

“
I’m not so sure of that,
Walter. Dad never wanted me to pursue a journalism career. He
wanted me to go into the family business. I think I was a huge
disappointment to him.”

“
Pshaw, Andrew. That’s not
the case. Your Dad and I were really good friends. Sure, he was
disappointed you didn’t follow in his footsteps. But I know for a
fact that he was proud of your independent spirit and your desire
to carve your own mark on the world. You are doing it, my boy.
Believe me, you are doing it.”

“
Well I’m glad you think
so, Walter. That’s why I’ve called. I want to offer you shares in
the newspaper. I need a substantial cash investment if we’re to
stay afloat much longer. We’ve made progress, but it’s a highly
cutthroat market here.”

Houston paused a moment, then cleared
his throat. “Well, how much do you need, Andrew? I really know
nothing about the newspaper business. Shipping is my game. At the
age of 81, I’m too old a bunny to start learning something
new.”

“
You wouldn’t need to get
involved in the business, Walter. You’d be a silent partner with a
proportional share of the profits. I’m willing to give you a 10 per
cent share for an investment of $50 million. That should give us
enough of a cash infusion to carry us over this crisis. The paper
is growing, Walter. I’m convinced my new editor will turn this
thing around and make us a major player in the Toronto market. You
will earn it back in time in profits.”

“
Well Andrew at this stage
of my life, more profit is not my major objective. I’ve had three
wives I’ve supported and my only son is a major disappointment to
me. Roger is nothing but a ne’er-do-well playboy, content to
fritter away his inheritance. He will not succeed me in the
business.”

Walter Houston paused a moment before
continuing. The regret in his voice was discernible.

“
I’m focusing more on
philanthropy now as you know, Andrew. My time here on earth is
coming to its closing stages. I am giving away my money to cultural
organizations, theatres, hospitals and numerous charitable causes.
I’d like to leave some lasting legacy to society.”

“
Having your name attached
to a major metropolitan newspaper would be one form of lasting
legacy, Walter. I’d like you as a partner. If I don’t get this
money I’m afraid I will have to sell the Daily Express to Rupert
White.”

“
What, not to that
pirate!” spluttered Houston. “The man is a blackguard and a stain
on honest business people. You can’t sell to him, Andrew. Count me
in. Have your financial people contact mine and we’ll arrange an
immediate transfer of $50 million. I owe this in memory of your
father and his long support of me.”

“
Thank you, Walter,”
breathed Chase with a deep sense of relief pervading his entire
being. “You don’t know how much your support means to
me.”

“
I think, I do, my boy.
Now go out there and show the Globe and Mail what a real newspaper
is.”

Chase slowly replaced the phone on the
receiver.

Thank you, Walter. The dream can
continue.

He now knew what it must be like to
score the winning goal in overtime in a Stanley Cup
final.

Chase knew he had one more phone call
to place. It would be going to London, England and Rupert
White.

It was a call he now
savored.

Chapter 63

Daily Express Newsroom 9:50
PM

KATIE CANNON walked into the newsroom
to the resounding applause of her colleagues.

Donna-Marie Pierce, tears in her eyes,
ran up to hug Katie.

Cannon saw Braden Young and Andrew
Chase standing at the entrance to Young’s office. Young had phoned
Chase to notify him that Katie Cannon had been found.

That was the second piece of really
good news Andrew had received that night.

Katie walked over to them. Andrew
moved to embrace her. He pulled her body tight against
his.

He planted his lips on hers in front
of everybody and said: “My dearest darling, I thought I had lost
you. I couldn’t bear that prospect. My life would be nothing
without you.”

Katie pulled back suddenly feeling
embarrassed. “Andrew, please not in front of everybody.”

“
I don’t care anymore,
Katie. I nearly lost you and I want the world to know about us.
It’s time.”

Chase called for the attention of all
the employees in the newsroom. Everyone stopped working and turned
with rapt interest.

“
Ladies and gentlemen of
the Daily Express, I want you to know that I love this girl and
want to spend the rest of my life with her if she will have
me.”

There was a sudden hush in the
newsroom. Then the silence was broken with more
applause.

The cat was out of the bag.

Katie looked around at the smiling
faces of her colleagues. Suddenly she didn’t care anymore that
their secret was out in the open.

“
I love you too, Andrew.
These past few hours have taught me how precious life is. I didn’t
know if I would ever see you again. I want to spend my life with
you.”

She moved close to him again and they
kissed passionately.

“
Hear, hear you two,”
interrupted Braden Young. “Get a room. But please make it later.
Right now Katie owes me a story to close out the Wolfman
saga.”

“
Right, boss.” She glanced
up at the clock on the wall. 9:55 p.m. “You’ll get that story on
deadline.” She sat at her computer and started to write.

Katie had never felt so good or so
happy in her life.

Chapter 64

Peshawar Associated Press
Office 8:05 AM

TREVOR TREVANIAN also felt
good.

Despite his tiredness and lack of
sleep, he continued to pound away on his laptop keyboard. His body
buzzed with adrenaline, fueled by regular transfusions of
coffee.

The words began to flow across the
pages as he transcribed his interview with Osama bin
Laden.

Allah Akbar. God is Great.

That phrase appeared frequently in the
text of bin Laden’s comments. For a man who planned killings on a
mass scale, there seemed a certain incongruity to the religious
fervor he exhibited, Trevanian thought.

But as a journalist, it wasn’t up to
him to pass judgment. Leave that up to the readers. His job is to
report what the man said. It is for others to decide on the
relevance or veracity of bin Laden’s comments.

Trevanian typed a few more sentences,
took another swig of his coffee, quite tepid by now.

He typed – 30 – (the traditional
ending for journalists) at the bottom of the page and sat back for
a breather.

Done.

He took a few minutes to read the copy
over and to spell check it on the laptop. A few minor revisions and
Trevanian was finished.

He plugged into the Internet and
e-mailed the attached document to Braden Young at the Toronto Daily
Express.

As he stepped outside the building
into bright sunshine, Trevanian paused a moment to allow his eyes
to adjust to the light. He saw the streets alive with bicycles,
motorbikes, carts pulled by oxen and pedestrians spilling over onto
the roadway. Peshawar was awake.

Trevanian suddenly felt bone weary. He
headed down the street to the Pearl Continental Hotel. He longed
for a hot shower, food and sleep. Plenty of sleep.

He reflected back over the past 24
hours. Much had happened to him. But the end result was that he got
the story. That was all that was important. After some rest and
recharging the batteries, it would be back to Afghanistan in search
of the next big story.

The glamour of a foreign
correspondent, he chuckled.

But Trevor Trevanian wouldn’t want it
any other way.

Chapter 65

Braden Young’s Office 11:45
PM

``GREAT STUFF. This will really put
this newspaper on the world map,” said Braden Young as he completed
the final edit on Trevor Trevanian’s Osama bin Laden
interview.

“
It’s certainly a great
scoop,” said Paul O’Connor excitedly. “Our competitors are going to
be completely pissed. They’re going to have to report this and
credit us in the process since it’s an exclusive
interview.”

As with most of Trevanian’s work,
little final editing was necessary. The man was a solid writer who
knew how to draw the most out of people in an interview. He had
captured the essence of this Saudi terrorist mastermind.

Frightening stuff to read, but
necessary to let readers in the Western world know that bin Laden
was still alive and well. He remains a threat to their security.
The threat to the world posed by the late Saddam Hussein pales by
comparison, thought Young.

There was a knock on Young’s door and
Katie Cannon popped into the office.

“
The story on the Wolfman
is ready, boss. It’s in the final copy file.” Katie appeared worn
out by all that she had experienced this day.

“
Great, Katie. Now get
yourself on home and get some sleep. Take tomorrow off for some
R&R. You’ve more than earned it.”

“
Thanks, boss. I might
just do that.”

Young looked up at the clock. 11:55
p.m.

“
Are we still in time for
the final edition?” he asked.

“
I think it just went on
the presses,” replied O’Connor.

“
Well remake the front
page, Paul. We’ll have to change that. This is one time the paper
can bloody well be late.”

Young picked up the phone and called
the pressroom foreman. “Forty years in this business and I’ve
always wanted to say that famous phrase: Stop the Presses! This is
my chance.”

Braden Young grinned with
satisfaction.

Chapter 66

Daily Express Newsroom
Friday 12: 01 AM

KATIE CANNON cleared up her desk and
grabbed her purse ready to leave.

People on the nightshift were busy at
their cubicles readying the copy for the next day’s edition of the
paper.

“
Can I offer you a lift
home, young lady?”

Katie looked up to stare into the
smiling face of Andrew Chase. He looked so relaxed as if the world
had been lifted from his shoulders.

“
Why certainly, kind sir.
That would be most appreciated since my car is still
disabled.”

Andrew placed his arm around Katie and
they walked through the newsroom together. It felt so nice finally
to be together out in the open, Andrew thought.

“
You seem rather pleased
with yourself tonight, Andrew. Did you receive some good
news?”

“
I got some very good news
tonight, my darling. I’ve secured more financing. I won’t have to
sell the paper to Rupert White after all. The Daily Express lives
on.”

“
That’s wonderful news,
sweetie. How did Mr. White take it?”

“
Rather badly, I’m afraid.
He’s threatened to bury me!”

“
Well I’m sure that’s not
the first time you’ve faced such threats, Andrew.”

“
You’re quite right about
that, honey. Now what will it be? Your place or mine?”

Katie looked deep into Andrew’s blue
eyes. He leaned toward her and their lips pressed together. She
felt the sparks as he kissed her tenderly.