Sinner by Ted Dekker Page B

shoulder. “Bethesda is down south, and once we hit the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, you’ll be over the Potomac and inside the Beltway proper. Make sure your soul is attached at all times—this town will steal it in a second, given the chance.”
    â€œGod help us all,” Billy said. Darcy turned to see that he was awake and staring at her. She had her glasses on, something she would be more careful about now.
    â€œYou’re an attorney, I would think this town would sit well with you.”
    â€œDon’t mistake the profession for the person,” he said. “You mind clarifying a few things for me?” he asked Kinnard.
    â€œNot at all. You’re alive. Breathing. Is that clear enough?”
    â€œDon’t patronize us,” Darcy said.
    â€œLook around. Tell me what you see.”
    Darcy let her eyes wander over the traffic, the Potomac River ahead, the sea of towering office buildings in the skyline.
    â€œA city,” she said.
    â€œA city of almost a million by the 2017 census. We’re finally ahead of Wyoming. There’s a lot more, though. D.C. isn’t just a city. It’s a culture. You’re looking at the seat of the nation, a political representation of us all. What happens here affects every living person in the world. Each policy decision made here echoes into the jungles of Indonesia. You know what we call that?”
    â€œPower,” Billy said. “Absolute power.”
    The man adjusted his shades as if he suspected Billy had read his mind. “Power. This small piece of real estate is home to all three branches of government—not to mention the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Enough political power to flatten the earth again. Definitely a war zone too; a political battlefield mined with special interest groups, think tanks, some of the nation’s most . . . um . . . ambitious minds.”
    â€œA good reason to stay away,” Billy said.
    â€œAlso a good reason to come, apparently. There are as many paid consultants and lobbyists in Washington as there are homeless people on its streets. Almost as though they attract each other.”
    He merged onto George Washington Memorial Parkway, parallel to the Potomac.
    â€œHere you can be homeless, and I mean hooked and doped, but you’re never far from the political version of the same: a suit, a briefcase, and a congressional proposal. You can’t politic if you can’t beg.Washington is a collection of representatives who have learned to close the blinds and take the phone off the hook. Politically, the United States is bipolar. But then that’s just my opinion.”
    â€œSo how does any of this help Billy and me understand what we’re doing here?” Darcy asked.
    â€œI asked you what you saw outside, you said a city. What I see is a world of cutthroats, more than a few of whom are determined to cut yours. Patronizing or not, my observation that you’re alive is recognizing a rather astonishing fact. I don’t think you can see just how fortunate you are to be breathing any more than you can truly see just how dangerous Washington is, not without surviving it yourself.”
    Darcy glanced at Billy, who was trying to suppress a grin. Kinnard came across more like a seasoned litigator than a hired henchman.
    Then again, he was from Washington. He was obviously more than he let on.
    â€œAssuming, that is, you do survive it,” Kinnard said. “They won’t stop coming for you.”
    â€œBut you can protect us,” Darcy said. “Right?”
    â€œIf you play ball.”
    He was speaking in circles and Darcy was running out of patience. “And who exactly are you?”
    â€œMe? I’m your best friend in the making,ma’am. I can be anything you need, anytime, for any reason. And that’s a promise.”He paused. “Or you can just think of me as one of those highly paid consultants I