Джеффри Арчер - The Prodigal Daughter

‘It’s Pete Parkin here. I think we ought to get together. Can I come and see you immediately?’

Florentyna wanted to say ‘I’m far too busy’ but only said ‘Yes.’

‘I’ll be right over.’

‘Whatever can he want?’ said Edward as Florentyna handed him back the phone.

‘I have no idea, but we don’t have long before we find out.’

Pete Parkin arrived via the freight elevator with two Secret Service agents and his campaign manager.

After unnatural pleasantries had been exchanged — the two candidates hadn’t spoken to each other for the past six months — and coffee poured, the contenders were left alone. They sat in comfortable chairs facing each other. They might as well have been discussing the weather, not which one of them should rule the Western world. The Texan got straight down to business.

‘I am prepared to make a deal with you, Florentyna.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘If you withdraw I’ll offer you the Vice Presidency.’

‘You must be—’

‘Hear me out, Florentyna,’ said Parkin, putting up his massive hand like a traffic cop. ‘If you accept my offer, I’ll only serve one term if elected and then I’ll support you for the job in 1996 with full White House backing. You’re five years younger than I am and there is no reason why you shouldn’t complete two full terms.’

Over the previous thirty minutes Florentyna had thought of many reasons why her rival might want to see her, but she had not been prepared for this.

‘If you don’t accept my offer and I win tonight, I’ll be giving the number two spot to Ralph Brooks, who has already confirmed that he is willing to run.’

‘I’ll call you by two this afternoon’ was all that Florentyna said.

Once Pete Parkin had left with his aide, Florentyna discussed the offer with Edward and Janet, who both felt that they had come too far to give in now. ‘Who knows what the situation might be in four years’ time?’ Edward pointed out. ‘You might be like Humphrey trying to recover from Johnson; and in any case, we only need a deadlock at this time and Bradley’s delegates will push us comfortably over the top on the fourth ballot.’

‘I wonder if Parkin knows that,’ said Janet.

Florentyna sat motionless listening to her different advisors and then asked to be left alone.

Florentyna phoned Pete Parkin at one forty-three and politely declined his offer, explaining she was confident that she was going to win on the first ballot that night. He made no reply.

By two o’clock the press had got hold of the news of the secret meeting, and the phones in Suite 2400 never stopped as they tried to find out what had happened. Edward kept Florentyna concentrating on the delegates and with each call she was becoming more and more assured that Pete Parkin’s move had been made more out of desperation than confidence. ‘He’s played his final card,’ said Janet, smirking.

At six o’clock everyone in Suite 2400 was back in front of the television: there were no longer any delegates left to speak to; they were all on the convention floor. Edward still had his phone bank linked up to all the state chairmen, and the early reports back from them indicated that the feeling they had picked up votes all through the day was accurate.

Exactly at the point when Florentyna relaxed and felt confident for the first time, the bombshell fell. Edward had just handed her yet another Perrier water when CBS flashed up on the screen ‘Newsbreak’ and a camera went over to Dan Rather, who told a stunned audience only fifteen minutes before the roll call was due to start that he was about to interview Vice President Parkin on the reason for his secret meeting with Senator Kane. The CBS camera panned down on the florid face of the big Texan and to Florentyna’s horror the whole thing was going out live on the vast screen in the convention hall. She remembered that the Rules Committee had decided to allow anything to go up on the screen that might affect the delegates; this was meant to stop rumors spreading around the convention hall about what was really going on outside, to be sure that what had happened between Ford and Reagan in 1980 over the picking of a running mate could never happen again. It was the first time that the delegates in the hall had been unanimously silent.

The camera switched back to the CBS anchorman.

‘Mr. Vice President, we know you had a meeting with Senator Kane today. Can you tell me the reason you asked to see her?’

‘Certainly, Dan, it was first and foremost because I’m interested in the unity of my party and above all in beating the Republicans.’

Florentyna and her staff were mesmerized. She could see the delegates on the floor hanging on every word and she was helpless to do anything except listen.

‘Can I ask what took place at that meeting?’

‘I asked Senator Kane if she would be willing to serve as my Vice President and make up a Democratic team that would be unbeatable.’

‘How did she reply to your suggestion?’

‘She said she wanted to think the offer over. You see, Dan, I believe together we can lick the Republicans.’

‘Ask him what my final answer was,’ said Florentyna, but it was no use; the cameras were already switching to a half-crazed convention hall ready for the first vote. Edward phoned CBS and demanded equal time for Florentyna. Dan Rather agreed to interview Senator Kane immediately, but Florentyna knew that they were already too late. Once the voting had started the committee had agreed that nothing would go on that screen except the ballot tally. No doubt they would have to revise the rule by the next convention, but all Florentyna could think of was Miss Tredgold’s views on television: ‘ Too many instant decisions will be made that will later be regretted .’

The chairman banged his gavel and called upon Alabama to begin the roll call and the Camellia State showed a two-vote switch to Parkin. When Florentyna lost one delegate from Alaska and two from Arizona she knew her only hope was another deadlock so that she could put her version of the meeting with Parkin on television before the next vote. She sat and watched herself lose one vote here and a couple there but when Illinois held firm she hoped the tide might turn. Edward and the team had been working the phones nonstop.

Then the next blow came.

Edward received a call from one of his campaign managers on the floor to say that Parkin staffers had started a rumor in the hall that Florentyna had accepted his offer. A rumor he knew Florentyna would never be able to trace back directly to Parkin or have time to rebut. Although as each state’s turn came to vote, Edward fought to stem the tide. When they reached West Virginia, Parkin needed only twenty-five more delegates to go over the top. They gave him twenty-one, so he needed four from the penultimate state, Wisconsin. Florentyna was confident that all three delegates from Wyoming, the final state to vote, would remain loyal to her.

‘The great state of Wisconsin, mindful of its responsibility tonight’ — once again the hall was totally silent — ‘and believing in the unity of the party above all personal considerations, gives all its eleven votes to the next President of the United States, Pete Parkin.’

The delegates went berserk. In Suite 2400 the result was met with stunned silence.

Florentyna had been beaten by a cheap but brilliant trick. And its true genius was that if she denied everything and gave her version of Parkin’s behavior, the Democrats might well lose the White House to the Republicans and she would be made the scapegoat.

Thirty minutes later Pete Parkin arrived at Joe Louis Arena amid cheers and the strains of ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’ He spent another twelve minutes waving to the delegates and when at last he managed to bring the hall to silence he said: ‘I hope to stand on this platform tomorrow night with the greatest lady in America and place before the nation a team that will whip the Republicans so that those elephants will never forget it.’