Harry Turtledove: Joe Steele

Esther put her arms around him. “I think you’re a good man,” she said. “In spite of everything.” That she added the last four words explained why they worried someone might come after him.

More out of curiosity than for any other reason, he went to the White House the next morning. There was no THIS SPACE FOR RENT sign on the front gate. He supposed that was something, at any rate. He had no trouble getting in; it wasn’t as if the guards didn’t know who he was. But once he was in, he had nothing to do. He sat in his office and listened to the radio.

When it was getting on toward lunchtime, he casually walked down the corridors- the corridors of power , he thought, only not right now . The offices that had belonged to Scriabin and Kagan and Mikoian were all closed and locked. Like Joe Steele, Scriabin was beyond judgment now. Charlie wondered whether the other two would ever come back to the United States.

He went home early, but not so early as he had the day before. After dinner, he turned on the television. It was a good evening for letting the box entertain him. You could watch it and not think about anything else. Not thinking seemed wonderful right now.

At half past eight, though, they cut away in the middle of a commercial. An urgent-voiced announcer said, “We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this special announcement from Washington, D.C.”

“What now?” Esther exclaimed.

“Don’t know,” Charlie said. “We’ll find out, though.”

And they did. In a studio presumably in Washington, a man sitting in front of an American flag stared at the camera. He was middle-aged and beefy, with beetling eyebrows and a big, strong jaw. Recognizing him, Charlie felt his heart sink down to his toes.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans,” he said. “I am J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Government Bureau of Investigation. I am speaking to you tonight because the rule of law and order in the United States has collapsed. We have no President, and no legitimate successor to occupy the White House. After removing John Nance Garner, the House and the Senate have sought to arrogate to themselves powers not granted to them by the Constitution. The rule of law, then-indeed, any sort of legal authority in the country-has entirely broken down.”

“Uh-oh.” Charlie had the bad feeling he knew what was coming next.

He did, too. J. Edgar Hoover went on, “This being so, it is necessary to create a new authority to preserve and protect the safety and security of our beloved nation. Until the present state of anarchy and emergency is resolved in a satisfactory manner, it becomes necessary for me to assume the temporary executive power in the United States.

“For the time being, to prevent subversion, assemblies of more than ten persons are prohibited. GBI and police personnel will enforce this measure by whatever means prove necessary. Congressional leaders responsible for the current disastrous state of affairs are being detained for interrogation and for their own protection. Obey the authorities in your local areas, proceed with your everyday affairs, and this necessary adjustment to government will have little effect on you. Red-inspired whining and revolt, however, will not be tolerated. You have been warned. Thank you, and God bless America.”

“That was our new Director, J. Edgar Hoover, speaking to you from the nation’s capital,” the announcer said suavely. “Here is the regularly scheduled program once again.”

Charlie’s right arm shot up and out. “ Heil Hoover!” he said.

Esther nodded, but she also said, “Be careful!”

“I know, I know, I know. I’m not going down to the tavern where Garner would drink and do that to make the other barflies laugh.”

“Probably a good idea if you don’t,” his wife agreed. “But are you going to the White House tomorrow?”

After a moment’s thought, Charlie nodded. “Yes, I guess so, unless you’ve got a good reason for me not to. They know where I live, for crying out loud. If they want me, they can come get me here. They don’t have to wait till I show up at my office.”

Esther did some thinking of her own. “Okay. That makes sense,” she said. “I just hope everything goes all right, is all.”

“You and me both!” Charlie said.

When he got to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the next morning, he knew right away that the place was under new management. More guards than he’d ever seen stalked the grounds, and he recognized only a couple of them. Every single man carried a grease gun and looked ready to use it. Charlie gave his name at the gate. A guard checked it off. “Go on in, Mr. Sullivan,” he said. “The Director wants to see you, in fact.” As with the TV announcer the night before, you could hear the capital letter slam into place.

“J. Edgar Hoover is in there?” Charlie asked. Hoover hadn’t wasted much time. No time at all, in fact.

“That’s right.” The guard’s head bobbed up and down. “I’d step on it, if I were you. The Director’s a busy man with a lot on his plate.”

When Charlie went into the White House, a Jeebie he’d never set eyes on before frisked him. Persuaded he was harmless, the man sent him upstairs. Now J. Edgar Hoover sat behind the heavy redwood-and-granite desk. A few days before, that had been John Nance Garner’s spot (Charlie wondered if the bourbon bottle still sat in the drawer). For all the years before, it had been Joe Steele’s.

“Hello, Sullivan,” Hoover said.

“Mr., uh, Director.” Charlie swore at himself for stumbling over the title.

“We’ve known each other a long time. I like the work you do,” Hoover said. That could have led up to anything. But then he added, “Don’t get me wrong-I do,” and Charlie knew he was in trouble. The Director went on, “The sad fact is, though, that you’ve got too many links to the past that put us in the mess we’re in now.”

The mess that put you in the White House, Charlie thought. He didn’t say it. Why make a bad spot worse?

“So I’m going to have to let you go,” Hoover said briskly. “I’m sorry, but that’s the way the ball bounces. I’m sure a man with your talent won’t have any worries about finding something new. You don’t need to bother going back to your office. You can pick up your last check at the door as you head out. I’ve put in a three months’ bonus. Not much of a good-bye after such a long time here, I’m afraid, but I hope it’s better than nothing.”

“Thank you, sir,” Charlie mumbled, when he really wanted to echo John Nance Garner’s Fuck ’em all!

“Keep your nose clean, Sullivan,” the Director said, which was dismissal. Charlie nodded, turned, and walked out of the oval study.

Charlie knew he was a nuisance around the apartment. Except on weekends, he wasn’t supposed to be there during the daytime. Sometimes he went out to look for work. No one had the nerve to hire a man who’d been at the White House so long. A few people blamed him for everything that had gone wrong since 1932, the way Congress had blamed John Nance Garner.

Under a pseudonym, he tried his hand at writing fiction stories. It was different from speechwriting and reporting, but he could write. He sold the second one he turned out, and the fourth. He knew he’d never make anybody forget Steinbeck or Salinger. That didn’t bother him. He brought in a little money, and the writing gave him something focused to do.

Half an hour after J. Edgar Hoover left GBI headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, a bomb blew up inside and killed twenty-six people. The Director tightened the screws on the state of emergency. The man the Jeebies arrested for planting the bomb was first cousin to a Representative who’d voted against impeaching Garner. Hoover tightened the screws on Congress, too.