Ellie Endsley wakes when the heavy door in a neighboring hotel room slams shut.

The computer on which Endlsey was working when she fell asleep comes to life. She squeezes her eyes shut and turns away. “Off” she pleads, and the light is extinguished.

It’s late. Through the wall, she hears a man’s voice—deep and insistent—and a woman whose single syllable response is punctuated with laughter.

Endsley’s legs are numb from sleeping upright in the high-backed chair, and her neck is stiff.  She groans as she leans over to set her computer on a nearby table.

She checks the clock. She’s scheduled to meet Doug Roth in his office in seven hours. Roth made a fortune developing remote health care software, and now he writes game-changing checks for the candidates he supports.  Endlsey hopes that Roth will be willing to invest in the candidates supported by Independents Can, especially James Carlos Cates, who’s in the tightest race of them all.

Endsley stands and feels dizzy.  She puts a hand on the desk to steady herself.

She’s been up and down all night—in and out of sleep, responding to messages, sitting quietly in the dark—but she thinks she’s finally ready to lie down and sleep comfortably for a few hours.  She’s been careful to leave the bed untouched, and she looks at it with longing as she passes.

Endsley stands in the steaming shower, battle weary, but sure of herself.  The election is a week away, and Endsley is deep in campaign mode. She lets the hot water run over her neck, turning her head gingerly from side to side. She grimaces.

“Fear makes people unpredictable,” she worries, as she slips between the clean, fresh sheets and settles with a sigh.

Roth is equipped to help her make important things happen; she knows this.  He’s also capable of using her momentum against her to wipe her out completely.  And she’s not sure what side Roth is on, which bothers her.

As she worries about Roth, Endsley’s mind continually returns to James Carlos Cates and his opponent, state Rep. Steve Howe.

National politics is so bizarre that Texans have stopped paying attention to bizarre local behavior, like Rep. Howe’s string of online rants about white people being beaten and left to bleed in the streets.  She feels a moment of terror when as she recalls that he makes wild assertions that aren’t backed up by facts.  And, he threatens his enemies with retribution.

Whether or not he carries through with his threats she’s unsure.  But Olee Olye provided to her an enemies list that is said to be genuine.

Everyone keeps lists. Wveryone keeps score. Endsley accepts this as part of the game she’s decided to play, but it feels different now.

As more and more people vote with their team—even when their team is wrong— Endsley worries that the threats will take on a life of their own, and be passed from confederate to confederate until someone she’s never seen before shows up to take her out.

Endsley closes her eyes.  She breathes in through her nose and out through her mouth.  She clears her mind, and within minutes, she is asleep.