The Icarus Agenda

'Mason…?' said Kendrick, frowning. 'He's got a big profile in Tulsa or Phoenix—I forget which—but he's a zero. A few weeks ago there was a quiet movement to get him off the committee.'

'That's hardly the way he was presented, Evan.'

'I'm sure it wasn't. What did he say?'

That you were the most astute member of the committee. You were the brilliant one whom everyone looked up to and listened to.'

'Bullshit! I talked some and asked a few questions but never that much, and in the second place I don't think Mason and I ever said more than “hello” to each other! It's bullshit!'

'It's also all over the country—'

The sound of one, then two cars screeching to a stop in front of the house broke through the silence of the enclosed garage.

'Good Christ!' whispered Evan. 'I'm cornered!'

'Not yet,' said Dr Hassan. 'Kashi knows what to do. She will admit the early arrivals, speaking Hebrew, incidentally, and usher them into the solarium. She will pretend not to understand them and thus will stall them—for only a few minutes, of course. Go, Evan, take the pasture road south until you reach the highway. In an hour I'll replace the phone. Call us. Kashi will bring you whatever you need.'

Kendrick kept dialling repeatedly, punching the button down with each repeated busy signal until finally, to his relief, he heard the sound of a ring.

'Congressman Kendrick's residence—’

'It's me, Sabri.'

'Now I am truly astonished you got through. I'm also delighted for I can once again take the telephone off the hook.'

'How are things going?'

'Calamitously, my friend. Also at your office and at your home in Colorado. All are under siege.'

'How do you know?'

'Here no one will leave and, like you, Emmanuel finally reached us with a great deal of profanity. He claimed to have been trying for nearly half an hour—'

'I've got ten minutes on him. What did he say?'

'The house is surrounded, crowds everywhere. Apparently the newspaper and television people all flew into Mesa Verde, where most were stranded, as three taxis could hardly accommodate such numbers.'

'All this must blow Manny's mind.'

'What blows his mind, as you phrase it, is the lack of sanitary facilities.'

'What?'

'He refused to offer them and then observed acts of necessity on all sides of the house that caused him to rush to your shotgun rack.'

'Oh, my God, they're pissing all over the lawn—his landscaping!.'

'I've heard Emmanuel's tirades many times in the past, but never anything like this. During his outburst, however, he did manage to tell me to call Mrs. O'Reilly at your office, as she was not able to get through here.'

'What did Annie say?'

'For you to stay out of sight for a while but—in her words—“for God's sake” call her.'

'I don't think so,' said Evan thoughtfully. 'The less she knows, the better at this point.'

'Where are you?' asked the professor.

'At a motel outside Woodbridge off Route Ninety-five. It's called The Three Bears and I'm in Cabin 23. It's the last one on the left nearest the woods.'

'By which description I assume you need things. Food, no doubt; you cannot go outside and be seen, and there can't be room service at a motel with cabins—'

'No, not food. I stopped at a diner on the way down.'

'No one recognized you?'

'There were cartoons on the television set.'

'Then what do you need?'

'Wait until the late editions of the morning papers come out and send Jim, the gardener, into Washington to pick up as many different ones as he can lay his hands on. Especially the majors; they'll have their best people on the story and they'll reach other people.'

‘I’ll make out a list for him. Then Kashi will bring them to you.'

It was not until one-thirty in the afternoon that Sabri's wife arrived at the motel in Woodbridge, Virginia. Evan opened the door of Cabin 23, grateful to see that she had driven the gardener's pick-up truck. He had not thought of the diversion, but his two friends from Dubai had known better than to drive his Mercedes past the crowds around his house. While Kendrick held the door, Kashi made rapid second and third trips back to the vehicle, for along with the pile of newspapers from all over the country she brought food. There were sandwiches encased in plastic wrap, two quarts of milk in an ice bucket, four hot plates equally divided between Western and Arab dishes and a bottle of Canadian whisky.

'Kashi, I'm not going to be here for a week,' said Kendrick.

'This is for today and tonight, dear Evan. You are under a great deal of stress and must eat. The box on the table has silverware and metal stands under which you place the Sterno solid fuel for heat. There are also place mats and linen, but if I may, if you must leave here abruptly, please call so I may retrieve the silverware and the linen.'

'Why? Will the quartermaster throw us in the brig?'

‘I am the quartermaster, dear Evan.'

'Thanks, Kashi.'

'You look tired, ya sahbee. You have not rested?'

'No, I've been watching that damned television, and the more I watch, the angrier I get. Rest's hard to come by when you're furious.'

'As my husband says, and I agree with him, you are very effective on television. He also says we must leave you.'

'Why? He said that to me several weeks ago and I don't know why!'

'Of course you do. We are Arabs and you are in a city that distrusts us; you are in a political arena now that does not tolerate us. And we will not bring harm to you.'

'Kashi, this isn't my arena! I'm getting out, I'm sick of it! You say this is a city that doesn't trust you? Why should you be any different? This town doesn't trust anybody! It's a city of liars and shills and phonies, men and women who'll climb over any back with their cleats on to get a little closer to the honey. They're messing around with a damn good system, sucking the blood out of every vein they can tap, proclaiming the patriotic holiness of their causes while the country sits by and applauds what it doesn't know it's paying for! That's not for me, Kashi, I'm out!'

'You're upset—’

'Tell me about it!' Kendrick rushed to the bed and the pile of newspapers.

'Dear Evan,' broke in the Arab wife, as firmly as Kendrick had ever heard her speak. He turned, several papers in his hands. 'Those articles will offend you,' she continued, her dark eyes levelled at his, 'and to speak truthfully there were parts that offended Sabri and myself.'

'I see,' said Kendrick quietly, studying her. 'All Arabs are terrorists. I'm sure it's here in very bold print.'

'Very pointedly, yes.'

'But that's not your point.'

'No. I said you would be offended, but the word is not strong enough. You will be incensed, but before you do anything you cannot take back, please listen to me.'

'For God's sake what is it, Kashi?'

'Thanks to you, my husband and I have attended numerous sessions of your Senate and your House of Representatives. Also, because of you, we've been privileged to witness legal arguments before the justices of your Supreme Court.'

'They're not all exclusively mine. So?'

'What we saw and heard was remarkable. Issues of state, even laws, openly debated, not by simple petitioners but by learned men… You see the bad side, the evil side, and no doubt what you say has truth, but isn't there another truth? We've watched many impassioned men and women stand up for what they believe without fear of being shunned or silenced—’

'Shunned they can be, not silenced. Ever.'

'Still, they do take risks for their causes, often profound risks?'

'Hell, yes. They go public.'

'For their beliefs?'

'Yes…' Kendrick let the word evaporate into the air. Kashi Hassan's point was clear; it was also a warning to him in his moment of self-consuming fury.

'Then there are good people in what you called “a pretty damn good system”. Please remember that, Evan. Please do not diminish them.'