The Icarus Agenda

'Where the hell am I?' whispered Arvin Partridge, Sr., shaking his head and trying to focus his eyes on the shabby curtained windows of the motel room. 'In some rat's nest?'

'That's not far off the mark,' said the blond man, approaching the bed. 'Except that the rodents who frequent this place usually do so for only an hour or two.'

'You!' screamed the representative from Alabama, staring at the Czech. 'What have you done to me?'

'Not to you, sir, but for you,' answered Varak. 'Fortunately, I was able to extricate you from a potentially embarrassing situation.'

'What?' Partridge sat up and swung his legs over the bed; although not yet oriented, he realized he was fully clothed. 'Where? How?'

'One of my clients was dining at the Carriage House in Georgetown where you met the congressman from North Dakota. When the unpleasantness started, he called me. Again fortunately, I live in the area and was able to get there in time. Incidentally, you're obviously not registered here.'

'Wait a minute!' yelled Partridge. 'Muleshit! That meeting between the holy roller and me was a set-up! His office gets a call that I want to meet him on urgent committee business and my office gets the same. We got that Pentagon prick, Barrish, coming in the morning, so we both figure we'd better see each other. I ask him what's going on and he asks me the same!'

'I wouldn't know anything about that, sir.'

'Hogshit!… What unpleasantness?'

'You overindulged.'

'Rabbitshit! I had one fuckin' martini and the sky padre had lemonade!'

'If that's the truth, you both have odd tolerances. You fell over the table and the minister tried to drink the salt.'

The chairman of the Partridge Committee glared at the Czech. 'Finns,' he said quietly. 'You dosed us both with Mickey Finns!'

'Before last night I never set foot inside that restaurant.'

'You're also a liar, a hell of an experienced one… Good Christ, what time is it?' Partridge whipped his wrist up to look at his watch; Varak interrupted.

'The hearing is over.'

'Shit.'

'The minister was not terribly effective, but your new appointee made an indelible impression, sir. I'm sure you'll see portions of his performance on the evening news, certain words deleted, of course.'

'Oh, my God,' whispered the congressman to himself. He looked up at the Czech from Inver Brass. 'What did they say about me? About why I wasn't there.'

'Your office issued a statement that was perfectly acceptable. You were on a fishing boat on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The engine failed and you had to drop anchor a mile from the marina. It's been substantiated; there are no problems.'

'My office issued a statement like that? On whose authorization?'

'Your son's. He's a remarkably forgiving young man. He's waiting outside in your car.'

The red-haired salesman in the Saab showroom fairly glowed in astonishment as he signed the papers and counted out ten one-hundred dollar bills. 'We'll have the car ready for you by three o'clock this afternoon.'

That's nice,' said the buyer, who had listed his profession on the finance-loan agreement as a bartender, currently employed at the Carriage House in Georgetown.

The Icarus Agenda

Chapter 18

'Zero hour, Mr. Kendrick,' said Colonel Robert Barrish, smiling pleasantly into the camera, his voice the soul of reason. 'We must be prepared for it, and with pre-emptive escalation we push it farther and farther away.'

'Or conversely, overstock the arsenals to the point where one miscalculation blows up the planet.'

'Oh, please,' admonished the army officer condescendingly. 'That line of rationalization has long since been rendered modus non operand!. We're the professionals.'

'You mean our side?'

'Of course I mean our side.'

'What about the enemy? Aren't they professionals, too?'

'If you're attempting to lateralize our enemies' technological commitments with ours, I think you'll find you're as misinformed about that as you are about the cost control effectiveness of our system.'

'I take that to mean they're not as good as we are.'

'A sagacious assessment, Congressman. Beyond the superiority of our moral commitment—a commitment to God—the high tech training of our armed forces is the finest on earth. If you'll forgive me here, I must say as part of a great team that I'm immensely proud of our splendid fellows and girls.'

'Golly gee, so am I,' said Evan, a minor smile on his lips. 'But then I must say here, Colonel, that I've lost your line of reasoning, or was it pre-emptive escalation? I thought your comment about professionalism was in response to my remark about the possibility of miscalculation with all those arsenals so full.'

'It was. You see, Mr. Kendrick, what I'm patiently trying to explain to you is that our weapons personnel are locked into manuals of procedures that eliminate miscalculation. We are virtually fail-safe.'

'We may be,' agreed Evan, 'but what about the other guy? You said—I think you said—that he wasn't so smart, that there was no lateralization, whatever that means. Suppose he miscalculates? Then what?'

'He would never have the opportunity to miscalculate again. With minimum loss to ourselves, we would take out—'

'Hold it, soldier!' interrupted Kendrick, his tone suddenly harsh, issuing no less than an order. 'Back up. “With minimum loss to ourselves…” What does that mean?'

'I'm sure you're aware that I'm not at liberty to discuss such matters.'

'I think you damn well better. Does “minimum loss” mean just Los Angeles, or New York or maybe Albuquerque or St Louis? Since we're all paying for this minimum-loss umbrella, why not tell us what the weather's going to be like?'

'If you think I'm going to endanger national security on network television… well, Congressman, I'm genuinely sorry to say it, but I don't think you have any right representing the American people.'

'The whole bunch of them? Never thought I did. I was told this programme was between you and me—that I insulted you on television and that you had the right to reply in the same arena. It's why I'm here. So reply, Colonel. Don't keep throwing Pentagonese slogans at me; I have too much respect for our armed services to allow you to get away with that.'

'If by “slogans” you're criticizing the selfless leaders of our defence establishment—men of loyalty and honour who above all want to keep our nation strong—then I pity you.'

'Oh come off it. I haven't been here that long, but among the few friends I've made are some brass over in Arlington who probably wince when you drag out your modus non operandis. What I'm patiently trying to explain to you, Colonel, is that you don't have a blank cheque any more than

I do or my neighbour down the street does. We live with realities—’

'Then let me explain the realities!' broke in Barrish.

'Let me finish,' said Evan, now smiling.

'Gentlemen, gentlemen,' said the familiar newscaster.

'I'm not casting any doubts on your commitment, Colonel,' Kendrick interrupted. 'You're doing your job and protecting your turf, I understand that.' Evan picked up a piece of paper. 'But when you said in the hearing—I wrote this down—“minor academic fiduciary procedures”, I wondered what you meant. Are you really above accountability? If you believe that, tell it to Joe Smith down the street who's trying to balance the family budget.'

'That same Joe Smith will get on his knees to us when it dawns on him that we're ensuring his survival!'

'I think I just heard a lot of groans over in Arlington, Colonel. Joe Smith doesn't have to get on his knees to anyone. Not here.'

'You're taking my remarks out of context! You know perfectly well what I meant, Congressman Partridge!'