C.J. Charts Financial Leverage in Bill Price Hostage Talks
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
C.J. enters to find Janet Price and Wallace anxiously waiting for news about Bill's situation in the Congo.
C.J. outlines their strategy to negotiate for Bill's release through financial leverage rather than direct payment.
Wallace suggests the fallback option of paying ransom, acknowledging the corporation's willingness to pay any amount.
C.J. attempts to deflect talk of ransom while showing concern for Janet's physical comfort before excusing herself.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Frenzied anxiety laced with desperate proactivity
Stands waiting anxiously alongside Janet Price, rushes forward to urgently greet C.J., eagerly interjects to offer Mrs. Carlson's corporate funds for ransom, pushing against government protocol in a bid to accelerate rescue.
- • Secure immediate update on Bill Price's status
- • Advocate for private corporate ransom to bypass government delays
- • Corporate wealth can swiftly resolve the crisis where government hesitates
- • Personal intervention trumps bureaucratic caution in life-or-death stakes
Overwhelmed grief sharpened by urgent skepticism
Present as Janet Price, the distraught wife huddling in crisis, her anguish fueling pleas and skepticism that propel the exchange, embodying the human stakes as she rejects comfort to cling to hope amid kidnapping torment.
- • Grasp the viability of rescue strategies
- • Reject distractions to maintain vigil
- • Direct action like ransom outweighs indirect tactics
- • Staying embedded pressures faster response
Raw desperation veiled by steely determination
Stands vigilantly waiting with Wallace, rushes C.J. with a cracking plea for news on her kidnapped husband, skeptically probes the government's plan and ransom alternatives, declines dry clothes offer with soaked resolve, and seeks confirmation to remain in the office.
- • Extract concrete updates on Bill Price's fate
- • Ensure positioning for real-time developments by staying put
- • Government aid withholding may fail without stronger measures like ransom
- • Physical presence in the White House amplifies her voice and urgency
Steadfast readiness amid absent crisis
Invoked offstage by Wallace as a financial powerhouse ready to deploy unlimited corporate resources for Bill Price's ransom, her blank-check commitment injecting private leverage into the unfolding White House crisis discussion.
- • Mobilize funds to free the hostage
- • Support allies in overriding official hesitance
- • Wealthy intervention expedites justice
- • Personal loyalty demands financial sacrifice
poised
enters office, reassures Wallace and Janet with news of back-channel efforts, explains negotiation tactic of withholding money from kidnappers' enemies instead of direct ransom, deflects Wallace's corporate ransom offer, notices Janet's wet clothes, instructs her to stay and make herself comfortable
- • reassure anxious visitors about progress on Bill Price's kidnapping
- • communicate strategic negotiation approach without escalating to direct ransom
- • maintain control and empathy in crisis management
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Manifests through C.J.'s authoritative briefing on back-channel diplomacy and the innovative tactic of withholding aid from the Mai-Mai rebels' adversaries, positioning the U.S. as a calculated player in the hostage drama rather than a direct payer, highlighting institutional ingenuity amid personal pleas.
Narrative Connections
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"C.J.: "No, we can't buy them off directly, but what we do is, we offer to withhold money from their enemies.""
"JANET: "And if that doesn't work?" C.J.: "Your husband is employed by a billion dollar corporation.""
"WALLACE: "Janet, Mrs. Carlson would pay... whatever." JANET: "Ransom." C.J.: "Let's not get that far right now.""