"How about some press sonofabitch-C. Harry Whelan, Jr., for example-asking Ambassador Stupid why he was looking for this Darby guy in the first place. That would be worse, Porky. And Ambassador Stupid would be stupid enough to tell him."
"Speaking of Mr. Whelan, sir…"
"Dare I hope he's been run over by a truck?"
"Mr. Whelan came to see me just now, sir."
"Close your mouth and put your hand on your wallet, Porky. I'm afraid to ask why."
"Sir, Mr. Whelan said he was about to publish this, and wanted to give us a chance to correct any errors he might have made before he did."
Parker handed the President a sheet of paper.
Clendennen snatched it, and read:
BY C. HARRY WHELAN, JR.
SLUG: WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHED STRIKE ON IRANIAN BIOLOGICAL WARFARE FACTORY IN CONGO BASED ON INFORMATION FROM RUSSIAN DEFECTORS IN HANDS OF SECRET, POSSIBLY ILLEGAL, "PRIVATE CIA" CONTROLLED BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON-(INSERT DATE) THIS REPORTER HAS LEARNED THAT THE STRIKE ON THE ALLEGED IRANIAN BIOLOGICAL WARFARE LABORATORY IN THE CONGO WAS BASED SOLELY ON INFORMATION GATHERED BY A SUPER-SECRET INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORTING DIRECTLY TO THE PRESIDENT. THE ORGANIZATION, HIDDEN INSIDE THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND CALLED THE OFFICE OF ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS, WAS HEADED BY A LEGENDARY ARMY SPECIAL FORCES OFFICER, LIEUTENANT COLONEL C. G. CASTILLO, AND STAFFED WITH PERSONNEL, SOME DESCRIBED BY INTELLIGENCE INSIDERS AS "UNSAVORY," FROM THE CIA, THE FBI, AND THE ARMED FORCES. THE ORGANIZATION APPARENTLY OPERATED WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT, DID NOT ANSWER TO THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, NOR MAINTAIN LIAISON WITH OTHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES, AND WAS APPARENTLY FUNDED BY THE PRESIDENT'S "CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS." WHEN IT APPEARED TO THE OOA THAT THE CIA WAS ABOUT TO BUNGLE THEIR ATTEMPT TO CAUSE THE DEFECTION OF TWO VERY SENIOR RUSSIAN SVR OFFICERS IN AUSTRIA, THE OOA SNATCHED THE RUSSIANS FROM THE CIA IN VIENNA AND TOOK THEM TO AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
PRESIDENT CLENDENNEN--
"Sonofabitch!" the President said. He'd said it twice while reading the story, and a third time now that he'd finished.
Jack Parker announced: "He says, Mr. President, that he will give us seventy-two hours to respond."
"Sonofabitch!" the President said again. "Porky, the way this goddamn thing is written, it sounds as if I'm responsible. It doesn't even mention my predecessor, goddamn him to hell."
Parker, who wondered if the President was calling the wrath of the Almighty upon the head of his predecessor, or on that of Mr. Whelan, did not reply.
The President said nothing for sixty seconds, during which time the contortions of his face and the somewhat angry tapping of his fingers on his desk suggested he was deep in thought.
"Deny it, Porky," he said finally. "Tell the sonofabitch to publish anything he wants. We'll just deny everything. I didn't know a goddamn thing about the OOA or Castillo until Ambassador Stupid walked into the Oval Office the day after my predecessor, that sonofabitch, dropped dead. Just deny any knowledge. What's he going to do, ask Castillo, for Christ's sake?"
"Mr. President, I don't think that will work," Parker said.
"Why not?"
Parker handed him another sheet of paper.
"Mr. Whelan said he thought you might… What he said, sir, was that our trying to stonewall wouldn't bother him at all; that it was always a better story when you can prove the White House lied. He said it was only because of his admiration for you that he was giving you the chance to see what he's going to write, so it wouldn't come as a sucker punch. And so far as asking Colonel Castillo is concerned, Mr. Whelan says the only way to keep him from publishing would be for Colonel Castillo, personally, to convince him he had his facts wrong. I had the impression, sir, that he thinks we have Colonel Castillo and are hiding him someplace where the press can't get to him."
As Clendennen looked at the sheet, Parker added, "Then he gave me that, which he says he will publish if we deny any of the facts in the first story."
"Sonofabitch!" Clendennen said again as he read:
BY C. HARRY WHELAN, JR.
SLUG: FORMER CIA STATION CHIEF IN VIENNA CONFIRMS "PRESIDENTIAL CIA" STOLE TWO VIP RUSSIAN DEFECTORS FROM HER; SAYS IT COST HER HER JOB WASHINGTON-(INSERT DATE) ELEANOR DILLWORTH, A TWENTY-NINE-YEAR VETERAN OF THE CIA'S CLANDESTINE SERVICE, HAS TOLD THIS REPORTER THAT THE OFFICE OF ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS-THE SUPER-SECRET, POSSIBLY ILLEGAL INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION OPERATING OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND ANSWERING ONLY TO THE PRESIDENT-DID IN FACT MAKE OFF WITH TWO VERY SENIOR RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS AND TOOK THEM TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION "HOURS BEFORE" THEY WERE TO BOARD A CIA AIRCRAFT SENT TO VIENNA, AUSTRIA, TO FLY THEM TO THE UNITED STATES.
"Can't we shut this Dillworth broad up?" the President asked. "Why is she determined to embarrass my administration?"
"Sir, I believe she thinks she was unfairly treated after Castillo stole the Russians from under her nose. She was relieved of her duties in Vienna and brought back to Langley."
"Jesus Christ, didn't it occur to her that if she allowed Castillo to steal the Russians from her that that's proof she wasn't doing her fucking job?"
The President reached for the red telephone on his desk.
"Get me Jack Powell," he ordered, then slammed the handset back in the cradle.
The protocol dealing with telephone calls between the President and those on the priority list-of whom John Powell, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was one-required the person called to "be available"-in other words, be on the line-within sixty seconds.
Thirty-two seconds after the President had slammed the handset into its cradle, a blue light-emitting diode on the cradle began to flash.
The President grabbed the handset and began the conversation by asking, "Why the hell did you fire this Dillworth woman?"
Then he pushed the LOUDSPEAKER button on the cradle, so that Parker could hear the conversation.
"You're speaking of Eleanor Dillworth, Mr. President?" the DCI asked.
"The one with twenty-nine years in the Clandestine Service. Used to be our head spy in Vienna. That one."
"She wasn't fired, Mr. President."
"That's not what she told C. Harry Whelan, Jr. She also told him that our friend Castillo stole the Russians from under her nose. Unless I can somehow talk him out of it, Whelan's going to publish that in I don't know how goddamn many hundred newspapers and chat about it on Wolf News. That's going to make her and the CIA look pretty foolish, wouldn't you say?"
"Mr. President, Miss Dillworth has not been fired. What happened was that it was decided-after they found the dead Russian in a taxicab outside our embassy…"
"And when the CIA looks pretty foolish, this administration looks pretty foolish, wouldn't you say?"
"… the decision was made to get Miss Dillworth out of Vienna to avoid undue press attention there."
"The last I heard, Austrians can't vote in our elections. Who the hell cares about Viennese newspapers?"
"Perhaps that decision was ill-advised, Mr. President."
"Who made it? Ambassador Stupid? You've heard about that? Ambassador Stupid is in that town with the funny name at the bottom of Argentina looking for this guy Darby, who is in Alexandria."
"Yes, Mr. President, that has been brought to my attention."
"I asked you who made the decision to fire this female."
"I did, Mr. President. At the time-"
"At the time, it was a stupid decision. Well, how are we going to shut this woman up?"