"Saying isn't proving," Harshman scoffed. "No matter how many times he says it."
Fasano was silent. Of all the men in the room, only he was as certain of Dane's involvement as Kilcannon. But he could never admit this to the others. "There's no reason for Callister to lie," he said at length, "and now the President can unleash the FBI. The prudent thing is to assume that, sooner or later, the President will pin this on Dane."
In addition to his repudiation of blackmail, the President continued, I
offer Senator Fasano this practical suggestion: that his party return the over two million dollars the current leadership of the SSA gave it in the last election cycle— or, at the least, that it refuse to accept such money in the future. That might help them, to borrow the senator's phrase, focus on the "merits" of the Civil Justice Reform Act . . .
"Whoever leaked the story," Dave Ruckles observed, "I sure as hell don't like blackmail. But our quality of life was better when this guy felt more chastened . . ."
Consider one compelling fact. If the Senate had overridden my veto a mere two days ago, instead of tomorrow as the senator hopes, this bill would have prevented George Callister from being sworn to tell the truth—about the destruction of evidence, the SSA's unlawful domination of Lexington Arms, and Mr. Dane's use of blackmail to advance the SSA's agenda. From the standpoint of the SSA, the bill's "merits" are now clear: suppressing truth and perpetuating injustice.
Fasano turned to Ruckles. "Where does Palmer stand?" he asked.
* * *
At that moment, the senior senator from Ohio had no wish to be on Capitol Hill. He was at home with Allie, refusing to answer the phone. This still was true three hours later, when Charles Dane appeared on Larry King Live.
"This," Chad told his wife, "should be one for the time capsule."
Larry, Dane said with deep sincerity, I share Senator Fasano's feelings of indignation over charges such as these. But however Mr. Callister chose to interpret our many conversations, never once does he claim that I mentioned Lara Kilcannon's abortion.
What's important here is to examine Callister's motives. Lexington and the SSA are codefendants in an inflammatory lawsuit which is bad for Lexington's image. So he's blaming the SSA instead of the President for its existence, and trying to pass on to us any liability they might have . . .
But why would he do that, King interrogated sharply, with the Senate about to wipe out the lawsuit altogether?
"How uncharitable," Palmer observed. "Larry's becoming Tim Russert."
Clearly, Larry, Callister hedged his bets—and it backfired. He never considered that President Kilcannon and his legal surrogate, Sarah Dash, would use his calculated lies to practice the politics of smear and victimization against American gun owners.
Kilcannon and his followers smear us because we're the most dedicated upholder of every decent American's right to defend themselves and their families against murderers, rapists and child molesters—the scum of the way-too-permissive society exemplified by the Kilcannons. Then the President tries to advance his true agenda—confiscation—by pretending to be the victim of the big bad SSA.
"Pretending?" Allie said.
Dane's voice filled with scorn. In the Kilcannons' narcissistic world, everything is about them, everyone is after them, and anyone else is responsible except for them. So let's call a spade a spade. They had the affair. They aborted their unborn child. And now they want the four million law-abiding members of the SSA to pay for their immoral conduct that sickened decent people everywhere . . .
In profile, Chad saw Allie's eyes brim with tears. "It's hard to watch this," she told her husband. "It's too much like what they did to our daughter."
I call on every patriotic American to reject these ugly machinations, and to urge their senators to support the reform of our civil justice system.
The telephone beside Chad rang. At first he ignored it, and then saw the identity of his caller flash up on the iridescent panel of the phone.
"Watching Larry King?" the President asked.
"Never miss him." Chad hesitated, then added softly, "Dane's making a mistake, Mr. President. More than that, I'm deeply sorry."
"I know that, Chad." The President paused in turn. "I need your help on this. What's at stake transcends the Civil Justice Reform Act."
"That's the problem," Chad answered. "This is way too personal to me, and there are a lot of things at stake. I need time to think it through."
The President's laugh was quiet and without humor. "You and I have twenty-four hours. That's how much time Fasano's given us."
FOURTEEN
For Kerry, the predawn hours were punctuated by two events.
The first was Lara rising from bed, treading softly to the bathroom and carefully shutting the door. Though muffled by running water, Kerry heard the quiet but unmistakable sound of his wife becoming sick.
He waited until he heard Lara splashing more water on her face. Then he slowly opened the door.
Dabbing her face with a towel, Lara saw him in the mirror. "Can I get you something?" he asked.
Her skin was pale, Kerry saw, and her expression was wan. But she managed to smile at his inquiry. "Maybe a new stomach?"
He tilted his head. "What about a different life?"
Closing her eyes, she gave the briefest shake of her head, swallowing as though she still felt sick. "It's not that," she answered in a weak but insistent voice. "If stress did this to me, I'd have never survived Kosovo. I'm coming down with the flu again."
Perhaps that was all it was. Lately, they had both been more prone to colds. But Kerry felt again the cost to Lara of marrying him, the tragedy, and now the misery which had followed. So much had happened since Slezak's warning; that they had so little time to absorb it, or do anything but cope with its impact on his Presidency, struck Kerry as inhuman.