Джон Болл: The First Team

“Never mind what may have taken place very recently, I’m asking you about secret agreements which were entered into, or were in force, during the time that you were running the Navy. That’s what we’re interested in, because these secret treaties that were never submitted to or seen by the Congress may still be tying us hand and foot right now. Now I’m asking you again, do we liave, or have we had, any such secret commitments with Formosa?”

“Formosa is not a nation, sir.”

“All right, then, Taiwan. Or the Republic of China. Call it anything you like.”

The admiral had looked him squarely in the eye. “Senator, with your permission, sir, I would prefer not to discuss the subject further.”

Fitzhugh had visibly bristled at that; he had leaned forward and pounded one closed fist endwise against the table before him. “Well you damn well are going to discuss it! You know the penalties for contempt of Congress; I’m warning you that you are skating on very thin ice over that pit right now.”

Haymarket had still kept his self-possession with no sign of his sometimes celebrated temper. “I am perfectly aware of the penalties for contempt of Congress, senator, but if the President has chosen to place any confidences with me, it would be totally impossible for me to violate them.”

“I’m not interested in the President’s confidence, Admiral Haymarket, but I am damn interested in knowing if we are going to have to send American boys to fight and die for the sake of some corrupt, crumbling Asian government. We did that once and it was the greatest mistake that we ever made.”

Haymarket had remained silent.

“Now look here, admiral, let’s quit this horsing around,” Fitzhugh had said. “You know and I know that all of this is going to come out into the open, it’s going to have to, and there’s no point in holding back. So let’s get to it here and now.”

The admiral had the reputation for being an outspoken man with considerable eloquence at his disposal whenever he needed it. But he still remained silent.

“You haven’t said anything,” Fitzhugh had stated.

“You haven’t asked me anything, sir.”

“All right, I’ll ask you something. Are you going to tell us whether or not we have any secret agreements which might affect the Navy with the Republic of China?”

“In answer to your question, sir, no.”

Fitzhugh had lost his temper then and it had been seen on a million or more television screens from coast to coast. “Dammit, let me get one thing across to you: were not staging a puppet show here! I’m going to get the answers to these questions, and do whatever else is best for the good of the country. Is that plain enough?”

That was when Haymarket had given him his famous answer. “If that is your splendid purpose, sir, have you thought of cutting your throat?”

Two things had saved the admiral after that — the four stars that he had earned and the favorable editorial response to his remarks that had tidal-waved across the country. Fitzhugh was sensitive to publicity and for him to have taken revenge on a near national hero would have been inadvisable.

Hewlitt decided not to think any more about Fitzhugh despite the fact that at the most recent election he had been returned by a narrow majority to his seat in the Senate and to the privileges of his seniority. One good thing at least, Hewlitt thought, was that instead of six more years of Fitzhugh, he was probably all washed up and done with right now. As things stood, a current seat in the United States Congress had very little real meaning.

“Busy?”

The question startled Hewlitt. He looked toward the door of his office and then relaxed. “Come in, Bob,” he said.

The young Air Force major who responded gave Hewlitt a moment of satisfaction. His uniform was sharply creased, his grooming was immaculate, and the neat rows of ribbons testified to his competence. He was at that moment an assurance that not everything had fallen apart.

“You heard about the briefing,” Hewlitt declared.

The major nodded. “Verbatim, I believe.” He put one hand behind his ear and lifted his eyebrows in inquiry.

In response Hewlitt shook his head. “As far as I know,” he added cautiously.

The Air Force officer was satisfied. “I very much doubt that they could have bugged this place as yet,” he said, “though undoubtedly they will.”

I understand that it can be done quite rapidly,” Hewlitt said. Sometimes in just a few minutes.”

“True, but you have to have access to the premises for that length of time. I’ve done some checking and so far the regular security staff has been on the job without interruption. Are you willing to chance it?”

“Go ahead.”

“All right. Pardon my speaking softly, but I don’t want to close I lie door for obvious reasons. We took it on the chin as we never liave before, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the road.”

Hewlitt nodded.

“You are in a particularly strong position with your job and your language capability. Also, if you’ll forgive me, I’ve had a look at the file on you in the Pentagon and, as you must know, it’s damned good.”

“What can I do?” Hewlitt asked.

“For the immediate present, nothing, other than to keep your eyes and ears open. We’re down, but there are still some of us who don’t think that it has to be for the count. Without going into details right now, you must know that there are some secret reserves tucked away here and there.”

“I never doubted it.”

“Good. For now, let’s leave it that the ball game isn’t over yet. The question is, do you want to play?”

“Doesn’t everybody?”

“No, I’m afraid not. And if the threats we have heard are serious, it could be a dangerous business. There are a lot who have the feeling that somehow it will work out all right, and they don’t want to stick their necks out.”

“Then they couldn’t be much help.”

“Exactly. Then here is the picture as of this moment. I’ll be contacting you — me and no one else, is that clear?”

Hewlitt nodded once more.

“Good. For the time being, no matter what, don’t talk to anyone else. If someone does try to contact you, let me know about it as soon as you can. A lot of people may want to help, but right now we’re going to have to exclude the amateurs. You know why.”

As soon as the major had left Hewlitt renewed his firm resolve to trust no one without first taking every precaution and considering all of the known facts with the utmost care. Impulsive judgments could not be tolerated any longer.

Major Robert Landers was a graduate of the Aerospace Astronaut and Test Pilots School at Edwards Air Force Base. He had top secret and cryptographic clearances; there was a high probability that he had Q clearance also, but there was no safe way to check on that now. He had been selected for White House duty only after intensive screening which eliminated any possibility of conflicts of interest, homosexuality, or anything else that might compromise his usefulness or tempt him to betray extraordinary trust or responsibility. He was, in short, a career officer who had been gung ho Air Force from the first day that he had walked into the Academy and who had repeatedly demonstrated that he had what it took.

Negative evidence: none whatsoever.

Verdict: highly reliable. Probably totally reliable, but that level was reserved in Hewlitt’s mind; he did not propose to award it to anyone until that person had proved himself all over again under the conditions which prevailed now. With the rules all changed, it might mein that it would be necessary to field a whole new first team.

Hewlitt looked at his watch and saw that it was time for lunch. Zalinsky had told him to stand by, but he had not told him that he couldn’t go out to eat. A careful second thought made it very clear that Zalinsky would not be likely to discuss minor points of semantics; he had been told to stand by and it was highly prudent for him to do just that. With that thought fixed in his mind he picked up his phone and ordered his lunch sent in.