Irving Wallace - The Man

“You seem pretty sure Emmich will have his way,” Abrahams said.

Gorden Oliver’s smile was frosty. “I am positive Emmich will have his way.”

The whole thing was clear to Abrahams now. It would have been clear to a child. The powerful head of one of America’s largest corporations had pitted himself against a weak head of state. The president of Eagles had more allies in the Senate than the President of the United States possessed. The president of Eagles could dispense more patronage than the President of the United States. The president of Eagles had secret weapons and the President of the United States had none. For Nat Abrahams there was one mystery: how was it done? What masks did bribery wear? Was the disguise a future campaign contribution? A gift of bonds and stocks to a grandson? The annuity of an apartment building investment? A year of prepaid call girls? A silent partnership in an oil lease? A lifetime membership in an exclusive golf club? A high-paying, permanent job for a brother-in-law? Or simply the gentlemanly request for a favor in return for an IOU to be cashed in on some distant, needier day?

Still, Abrahams told himself, if he did not know how it was done, here was one more clear implication that it was being done. The largess of the lobbyists was there, no question now. Were there takers in the Senate? Of this Abrahams was less positive. When you counted one hundred men, you could expect that most of them were decent men, else the penitentiaries of the land would have standing room only. Abrahams was satisfied with his textbook view of history. No Senate could be bought. Only some senators. And Oliver was wrong. Emmich was big and Eagles was big, but neither was bigger than the Presidency and the United States itself. Still, the armies of Eagles were on the move, and Dilman was the object of their assault, and now Oliver’s dismay was understandable. Abrahams had pledged his allegiance to the armies of Eagles, and yet had dared request a leave of absence to help build the defenses of their enemy. But then, in fairness to himself, he had not realized until this moment the extent to which Eagles was dedicated to liquidating Dilman. Now he knew.

“I didn’t know,” he heard himself say to Oliver, “how set you were on opposing Dilman.”

“Now you know,” said Oliver flatly. “Now you can understand how flabbergasted I was that you even considered siding with that man.” Oliver softened slightly. “Look, Nat, I don’t want to be impossible, to go against the grain. We’re not asking you to join in our active opposition to Dilman during the trial. What the devil, you’re a friend of his. All we’re asking is that you don’t oppose us, take our money with one hand and expect us to let you punch us in the nose with the other. We just want you neutral in this matter.”

“There is no neutral, Gorden. Either I help the President or I don’t. If I do, yes, I’ll be in opposition to you with every ounce of my strength. If I don’t, I’ll be depriving the President of the counsel he needs to help save him, and in that way aiding you, actively aiding you.”

“Nat, my God, he can obtain a hundred other counselors, black or white. They’ll welcome the chance for the headlines. Look, I’m not saying you’re not better than the others available. If you weren’t, we wouldn’t be hiring you. I’m saying in a special trial like that, he can get all the help he wants.”

“True enough, except for one thing,” said Abrahams. “He wants me.” He considered that a moment, and then added, “I don’t think it’s because he believes I’m more skilled than the others. I think it’s because I’m one of the few human beings on earth he trusts completely.”

Oliver’s brow had contracted ominously, and he said, “You mean, after what I’ve said, you’re still seriously considering going over to that man?”

“I’m considering it.”

Oliver rose, started to speak, then agitatedly circled the room. He came to a halt beside Sue.

“All right, Nat, consider it,” he said. “But then I think I’ve got to tell you-I hate telling you this, but I’m speaking for the company now and not myself, I’ve got to level with you-if you go to the mat for Dilman, you can consider yourself out of Emmich’s camp, for now and forever. If you agree to defend the President, I will be able to see no other course than to withdraw our offer to you.” He waited. “Does that help you make up your mind?”

“I’ll make up my mind when I’m ready to do so, Gorden, and not a minute before.”

“Okay,” said Oliver, “you give me no choice but to pick up my marbles and go home, and wait to see if you’re ready to play the game by the rules.”

He went to the coffee table, retrieved the copies of the contract and the pen, then slipped the contracts back into the manila envelope. He looked at Sue. “Under the circumstances, I don’t imagine any of us has too much of an appetite. Maybe we’ll have cause to-to hold our celebration tomorrow.”

He found his coat and hat, as Sue ran to the door to see him out. At the open door he offered Sue a courtly bow. “Thank you, Sue. Do your lobbying best.” He considered Abrahams. “We’ll wait for you to call us, Nat. I hope you think straight. At this stage in your life, you owe nothing to anyone on earth except yourself and your family.” He held up the manila envelope. “This would be an awful lot of boodle to throw away-like throwing away ten years of life. Good night.”

Abrahams did not move from the sofa. He watched his wife shut the door, then saw her sag and lean against it, her cheek pressed to the panel.

When she came away toward him, her face was drawn and pale, and he knew that she was fighting tears.

He averted his eyes as she came nearer and stood over him, but he could avoid her no longer. “All right, Sue, you’ve heard Oliver and you’ve heard me. What do you say?”

“What do I say? Do you care for one second what I say?” she said, voice rising. “Gorden Oliver said everything for me.”

“Even after hearing that rotten stuff about Emmich and Eagles?”

“You wouldn’t have to be mixed up in that. He promised you. I heard him.”

“You want me to sit by, up there in the Senate gallery, as an employee of Eagles, watching my fellow hatchet men go to work on the body, and tell myself I’m not their accomplice, I’m only an innocent bystander? That’s not like you, Sue.”

“What is like me? Do you know? Do you bother to try to understand? You’ve spent your life, and your health, in musty back halls and dirty courtrooms giving everything you have for people who’ve had nothing to give you-or us. You’ve spent years putting every underdog who whined for help ahead of Roger and David and Deborah and me-yes, me. I didn’t complain. I didn’t obstruct you. In fact, I encouraged you, because I was proud of your love for others and because I loved you for that and for yourself. But I was glad when this Eagles offer came up. I never forced it on you, but I was glad, because I felt at last you were getting what you deserved, and you’d have your health, and we’d have a better life together for years ahead, and live it normally like other people. And now, suddenly, when we’ve got it, you turn your back-you want to think-now, suddenly, Eagles is dirty-what isn’t dirty as well as clean, what business, what profession?-and now, suddenly, Doug Dilman is lost without you, and you’ll throw over everything, your future, your wife, your sons and daughter, to help him-to help a lost cause-when you know and I know that he hasn’t the chance of a snowball in hell, and if he has, as Gorden said, there are dozens of attorneys who can defend him as well as you. You want to know how I feel? That’s how I feel!”