“The last I heard was that Senator Foghorn and the other Good Ol’ Boys have already shown up at the White House for a little white lightning and two-bit-limit poker. I don’t think he will be available tonight.”
“And what if he decides to take Senator Fog… Forman into his confidence about this?”
“I think that’s unlikely; he knows what a loud mouth Forman has. But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I’m very nervous about this whole thing.”
“Well, so am I. That’s why I’m paid the big bucks. You have to have nerves of steel to be the DCI.”
“Oh, God!” she said, and broke the connection.
He immediately called her back.
“What?”
“Our ‘keep me posted’ deal is still in place, right?”
“That’s why I’m paid the big bucks, Frank. Your word has to be good when you’re sec State.”
[FIVE]
“Mrs. Clendennen’s personal extension.”
“This is Natalie Cohen. Is the First Lady available?”
“One moment, please.”
“Hey, sweetie! How are you?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Clendennen—”
“Natalie, honey, I keep telling you and telling you that you can call me Belinda-Sue.”
“Belinda-Sue, that’s very kind of you.”
“Don’t be silly. We girls have to stick together, particularly since there are so few of us around here. What can I do for you, honey?”
“Well, I know the President would like to hear they’ve found Lieutenant Colonel Castillo, but when I called just now, they said he was in conference, and I wondered if you thought I should insist on talking to him, or whether telling him can wait until the morning.”
“Just between us, honey, what he’s doing is playing pinochle in Lincoln’s bedroom with the boys from Buildings, Bridges, and Monuments.”
“Excuse me? With whom?”
“When Zeke was in the House, he was co-chairman — with Senator Forman — of the Joint Select Committee on Buildings, Bridges, and Monuments. You know, when one of them loses an election and has to go home, they name a building or a bridge after him. Or put up a statue, a monument they call it, if his hometown allows it. Zeke said it’s the only really bipartisan committee in Congress. No arguments, no gridlock. Everybody gets one of the three.”
“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten,” the secretary said.
“Just between us girls, honey, he’s likely to be a little hungover tomorrow, so keep that in mind when you come in the morning.”
“You think it would be best if I came to the White House in the morning?”
“I’ll call the chief of staff to put you on the list as Number One. That’s the eight-thirty slot.”
“Thank you, Belinda-Sue.”
“My pleasure, honey,” the First Lady said. And then went on, “Say, I just thought, the next time he gets together with those bums, I’ll give you a ring, and you can come over and we’ll hoist a few belts ourselves. What’s gander for the goose, as they say.”
“That would be very nice, Belinda-Sue,” the secretary said.
[SIX]
President Joshua Ezekiel Clendennen, followed by Supervisory Secret Service Agent Robert J. Mulligan, walked into the Oval Office. The President’s secretary and Presidental Spokesman Robin Hoboken, who stood waiting, watched as Mulligan pulled out the chair behind the presidential desk and the President sat down.
Mulligan went to the wall beside the windows looking out into the Rose Garden and leaned on it.
The President jabbed his finger in the direction of the coffee service on a side table, indicating he could use a cup, and said, “And put a little Hair of the Dog in it.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” his secretary said.
“No,” the President said, pointing at Hoboken. “Let Whatsisname here do that. I need a confidential word with him. You go file something or something.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” his secretary said, and left the office.
Robin Hoboken went to the side table and poured a cup of coffee three-quarters full. Then he went to a bookcase and took from behind a book a large white medicine bottle labeled “Take Two Ounces Orally at First Sign of Catarrh Attack.”
He added two ounces of the palliative to the President’s coffee cup and then presented the cup and its saucer to the President.
The President picked up the cup with both hands and took a healthy swallow.
He did not say “Thank you.”
“Mr. President,” Robin Hoboken said, “your eight-thirty is Senator Forman. Is there anything I should know?”
“Wrong,” the President said. “For two reasons. One, Mulligan had to carry ol’ Foggy out of here last night and load him in his car, and the only place the senator’s going to be at eight-thirty is in bed. Two, the First Lady got me out of bed by telling me the secretary of State called her last night to tell her we’ve got a message saying they found Colonel Castillo, and Mrs. Clendennen told her to deliver it this morning.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“I want you here for that. Don’t say anything, just listen. Sometimes, when I’m suffering from a catarrh attack — and this one’s a doozy — my memory isn’t what it used to be.”
“I understand, Mr. President.”
“I think I’ll have another little touch of that catarrh elixir, Robin,” the President said. “Why don’t you pour a little in a fresh coffee cup before you get ol’ Natalie in here? That way she wouldn’t see the bottle.”
“Of course, Mr. President.”
“Let her in, Mulligan,” the President ordered.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” Secretary of State Cohen said as she walked into the Oval Office.
“What’s so important that you told the First Lady you wanted to see me first thing this morning?”
“Actually, Mr. President, I wanted to see you — or at least talk to you — last night. When I spoke with Mrs. Clendennen she set up this appointment for me.”
“Well, what have you got?”
Cohen handed him the message.
He read it.
“What’s it mean?” he asked.
“Apparently Colonel Naylor has found Colonel Castillo.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t he a lieutenant colonel?”
“You’re correct, Mr. President. Castillo is a lieutenant colonel, retired.”
“And LTC means lieutenant colonel, too, right? I thought I told General Naylor to go down there and look for Lieutenant Colonel Castillo. So how come LTC Naylor went?”
“That was my decision, sir. I felt that someone in the press would find out if General Naylor went down there—”
“Somebody like Roscoe J. Danton?”
“Yes, Mr. President. Somebody like Mr. Danton.”
“Good thinking, Madam Secretary. The less anybody knows about this the better, and if Danton, that sonofabitch, got wind of it…”
“That was my thinking, Mr. President.”
“… it would be all over Wolf News and in every goddamned newspaper in the country,” the President finished.
“Yes, sir,” the secretary of State said.
“It says on here No Duplication, but it also says Make Available to Lammelle, Ellsworth, and Whatsisname, the secretary of Defense. God, the Military Mind! How are you going to do that?”
“After I spoke with the First Lady, Mr. President, I showed the message to Secretary Beiderman and DCI Lammelle. And when I leave here, I will send a State Department security officer to Tampa to show it to General Naylor. And with your permission, sir, I will get in contact with Mr. Ellsworth, telling him to return. You will recall you sent him to Budapest. When he comes back, I’ll show the message to him.”