He sighs and leans forward, elbows on his knees and hands in his hair.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
I move my hand to his shoulder, which is rock hard with tension.
“You—” Tyson points to the intern “—are here to fetch coffee and learn. No one gives a shit what you think. Don’t offer any more opinions unless you’re asked to.”
The intern nods, his face darkening with embarrassment.
“What the hell is an intern even doing in this room right now?” I ask Tyson.
He puts his hands up in anI have no ideagesture.
“I’m loyal,” the intern mumbles.
I take a deep breath to steady myself.
“I’m not questioning your loyalty,” I say.
I look around at the eight people other than Jude and me who are in the room. Everyone has a somber expression.
“Okay, look. Jude and I need to talk to Tyson alone. The rest of you set up a base camp in someone’s room and start combing through all the news and social media feeds you can find. And get checking with any news sources we have. We need to know who this is and exactly what the allegations are.”
Jude nods slightly, still staring at the ground, his shoulders hunched.
Tyson glares at me, his lips pursed. Everyone else quickly files out of the room, and as soon as they’re gone, Tyson moves to stand next to the couch Jude and I are sitting on.
“I’min charge of this campaign,” he says to me. “You don’t order the staff around.”
Jude looks up at him, his brow furrowed. “Are you fucking kidding me? Can you save the pissing match for later?”
Tyson focuses on him. “Honestly? No. Our responses to this need to be airtight. We can’t be running in different directions. So who’s running this show?”
“Me.” Jude’s tone sends a shiver down my spine. I’ve rarely heard it, but I know not to push him when he’s like this. I hope Tyson does too. “And my wife is my number two, Tyson, not you, so let’s just get that straight right now.”
Tyson’s shoulders drop and he says nothing, but I can see he’s still pissed.
“Tyson,” I say, running my palm up and down Jude’s back as I speak. “I don’t mean any disrespect, truly. I’m just in crisis-response mode, and every minute matters.”
“Reagan’s thinking straighter than me right now, and she’s right,” Jude says. “The first thing we have to do is have the conversation, and we don’t want anyone in here who doesn’t have to be.”
Tyson nods, his expression softening. “Okay. I didn’t mean any disrespect either, Reagan.”
“It’s all good. We’re all pretty tense right now.”
Tyson sits down in the chair across from the couch. “Monica should be in here for this.”
Jude shakes his head. “No. She has to go.”
I interject. “I completely agree.”
“As soon as we’re done here, call the RNC and get us a line on some coms crisis people,” Jude said. “Veteran people who have weathered this shit before.”
Tyson nods silently. “You want me to fire Monica, then?”
Jude considers. “Just demote her. She does great work, but this is way over her head.”
“Okay.”
