The strangest. Like it or not, a candidate must compromise to win elections. I am the leading senator in the Republican Party.

I agree with most of the Party's platforms, but lets say, for example, that I came out against the death penalty. Do you know what would happen?"

Sara folded her arms across her chest.

"Why don't you tell me?"

"I'd be finished. Wiped out. All my years of service would go right down the drain. I wouldn't get elected dog-catcher. Let me give you a better example: our current President's position on abortion. He used to be pro-choice. Now, he has magically shifted to pro-life. Do you honestly believe he had a change of heart? Of course not. He just accepted reality. He knew that if he ran as a pro-choice candidate, he would have never won the Republican nomination. And it's not just Republicans. The Democrats do it too. Do you really believe that every liberal senator is for abortion or against tax cuts? Of course not. They are just trying to get elected. Like I said before, you have to compromise.

You have to compromise your very values and beliefs. It is not necessarily the politician's fault. It's just the system. Play the game or don't get elected."

"I don't see the point in any of this," Sara said.

"I am just saying that a man cannot be so neatly labeled as right or left wing. At times we are all hypocrites. At times we all do things that others would consider sinful." He glanced at Cassandra quickly and then continued.

"What I am trying to say is this: despite popular belief, I do not agree with a good many of Reverend Sanders' views."

"Then why did you join him?"

"For my son," he replied.

"You joined up with Sanders for Bradley?"

The senator nodded. His eyes were moist, but his voice did not waver.

"I was just trying to save my boy. When I found out that Sanders wanted to destroy an AIDS clinic, I figured that it must be making strides in discovering a cure. So I contacted Sanders and told him I was interested in enlisting in his

"Holy Crusade' against the unnamed clinic. Sanders welcomed me aboard. Truth was, I just wanted to find out more about it so I could enroll Bradley there."

"Which you did."

"Yes. Dr. Riker and Dr. Grey promised to keep it a secret." "So," Sara said, "you joined this crazy conspiracy to help your son, my father wanted to help the Cancer Center, and Reverend Sanders so he wouldn't have to explain a cure for

"God's Plague' to his parishioners.

Does that cover it, gentlemen?"

Both men nodded.

"So where does Assistant Secretary Markey fit into all of this?"

"I can't say for sure," John began.

"Markey has known Harvey for a long time. He claims he doesn't trust him. He says Harvey cuts too many corners, but I think there's more to it than that.

I think Sanders is blackmailing him with something."

"And on top of that," Jenkins added, "Sanders' influence got Markey his job with the government and his office on the NIH campus. It's nice and quiet there. Markey likes it."

"A political payback?"

Her father cleared his throat.

"I guess you could say that, yes."

Sara felt her head spinning. She focused on the faces in front of her.

Her father and Senator Jenkins looked a mix of embarrassment, fear, and anxiety, like children waiting outside a principal's office. Cassandra remained silent, her eyes watching her sister with uncommon concern.

"Do you know what is so odd about all this?" John asked, his voice near a plea.

"I think Harvey Riker and Bruce Grey would understand what I did." Sara continued to glare.

"I doubt it."

"No, Sara, I think you're missing my point. Harvey and Bruce felt the same way about their clinic as I feel about the Cancer

Center. But I let it get out of hand. I let it consume me. And I was lied to. Sanders and Markey tricked me. They led me to believe that Riker and Grey were not even close to finding a cure."

Sara's voice was unforgiving.

"I think we've wasted enough time listening to your self-justification, Father. Just tell us what you did."

Again John looked over to Stephen Jenkins before speaking.

Then he said, "Very little."

"Very little?" Sara shouted.

"You call the murder "

"We never killed anyone," John interrupted.

"At least, we never sanctioned any deaths."

Sara looked at him in disbelief.

"Am I hearing you right? You never 'sanctioned' any deaths? What the hell are you talking about? Patients were murdered. The senator's own son was murdered. Are you trying to tell me that your little conspiracy had nothing to do with any of that?" "No," John said, "we are trying to tell you that we didn't know anything about it. We learned about the murders for the first time on Newsflash the other day."

"And you never knew about them beforehand?"

"That's right."

Sara shook her head.

"Then tell me, Senator, what did you make of Bradley's murder?"

"The same as everyone else," Jenkins said slowly.

"I thought Bradley was the random victim of some homophobic psychopath.

I had no idea that his murder was connected to the Sidney Pavilion until the newscast."

John nodded his agreement.

"All we did was try to pressure the people in Washington to take back the grant. We went so far as to falsify reports to make it look like the Sidney Pavilion was illegally usurping funds." Sara almost smiled.

"So while Raymond Markey accused Harvey of falsifying reports, you four were the ones who were really tampering with the evidence." "Yes," her father said.

"In many ways the Newsflash report almost buried the clinic. By revealing that Bradley was a patient at the clinic, you left Harvey wide open to charges of purposely misrepresenting the facts.

Theoretically, Markey could have taken away the clinic's grant."

"So why didn't he?"

"Because we live in the real world, not a theoretical one. Can you imagine the outcry if Markey had tried to close the clinic after the show? The media would have had him for lunch. A full investigation would have ensued, and none of us wanted that." "So," Sara, "all of you decided to stall the clinic for a couple of years by using Michael as a guinea pig."

"It was Sanders' plan," John corrected, "and frankly speaking, it was a damn good one. Michael would be able to receive treatment, and the cure would be delayed until Sanders could think of another way of destroying them."

"Then what went wrong?" Sara asked.

"Since Sanders got his way, why did he have Michael kidnapped?"

"That's just it, honey, we don't know. Markey and Sanders both swear they have nothing to do with the Gay Slasher or Michael's kidnapping.

Sanders says he's as unhappy with the development as we are."

"And you believe him?"

"I don't know what to believe. I was just in Washington, screaming at him like crazy. He continues to swear he had nothing to do with it. In fact he says that the Gay Slasher and all the publicity has actually strengthened the clinic, not hurt it."

Sara shook her head.

"But don't you see? Without the cured patients, there is no proof that SRI works. By killing the cured patients, the Gay Slasher is doing your work for you."

Neither man responded.

"Are you going to expose the conspiracy?" Sara asked.

"If only it were that simple," John replied.

"It is that simple," Sara said coldly.

"All you have to do is stop worrying about yourselves." "Sara," John continued, "I know you are angry with me. I know that a part of you even hates me right now. I would feel the same way if the situation was reversed. Believe me, I have learned my lesson. I don't care any more about my personal reputation, you have to believe that.

But if I go out now and tell the world what I have done, it could destroy the Cancer Center.