It was like the brief pandemonium of a kindergarten recess as the Hawk and Jennifer raced around looking for separate phones. Mac spotted one on the redwood porch, ran to a glass door, and whipped it open with a vibrating crash; Redwing saw another on an antique white desk against the rear wall and pounced on it. The subsequent cacophony of voices shattered the stillness of the Swampscott evening.
«Bye, Cora.»
«Charlie, it’s me!»
«Calfnose, it’s Thunder Head!»
«You’re kidding, little Brother, tell me you’re kidding!»
«Goddamn, zero hour minus four days!»
«You’re not kidding …?»
«Send back my acceptance and sign it T. C. Chief of This Nation’s Most Oppressed People!»
«Send me an airline ticket to American Samoa, Charlie. I’ll meet you there.»
One in triumph, the other in defeat, the Hawk and Jennifer hung up their respective phones. The general strode through the porch door like a commander of a Roman legion entering the gates of Carthage, while Redwing turned away from the elegant white desk as might a lost, delicate bird buffeted by unfriendly winds.
«What is it, my dear?» asked Aaron gently, obviously touched by Jennifer’s demeanor.
«The worst,» she replied, barely audible. «The elevator to hell.»
«Come now, Jennifer—»
«Lear jets and limousines, oil wells on Lexington Avenue, and distilleries in Saudi Arabia.»
«Oh, my God…» whispered Sam. «The Supreme Court.»
«Bull’s-eye!» roared the Hawk. «All rounds blowing out the center of the target! The Supreme Court.»
«Chu sendin’ us back to jail?» cried Desi-One.
«Heneral, why chu do dat?» said the stunned Desi-Two.
«You’ve got it wrong, Captains. You’re on your way up the Ranger ropes to fine military careers.»
«Everybody be quiet!» yelled Devereaux, somewhat startled to see that he was obeyed. «All right, Red, you first. What did your brother say?»
«What the Cro-Magnon just confirmed. Charlie called Johnny Calfnose to see if everything was okay back there, and Johnny was crawling up the walls trying to find your over-the-hill mutant. A telegram arrived yesterday morning requiring an immediate reply, by phone or fax… General Bomb Balls, alias Thunder Nuts, is to appear in the Court’s chambers to certify his tribal authority in five days from yesterday at three o’clock in the afternoon and present his case. It’s all over but the long agonizing process of watching a people being destroyed. The Court’s arguments are going public.»
«We did it, Sam! The old team hasn’t lost its touch.»
«Nothing!» screamed Devereaux. «I did absolutely nothing! I haven’t anything to do with you.»
«Well, I hate to contradict you, son—»
«I’m not your son!»
«No, he’s mine,» said Eleanor. «Anybody want him?»
«… you are the legal attorney-of-record,» completed Hawkins, somewhat less loudly than before.
«Oh no, that invitation was for you, not me!»
«Wrong again, Counselor,» said Jennifer disconsolately. «You’ve replaced not only my unauthorized brother but me at the whim of your Ape Man. Charlie was very clear, as well as personally relieved. The invitation included one Samuel L. Devereaux, Esquire, attorney for the Wopotami tribe.»
«They can’t do that!»
«They did, and Charlie wants to thank whoever S. L. Devereaux is with all his heart. As he put it, ‘I’d love to buy that asshole a drink, but I don’t think he’s going to live long enough.’»
«General,» said the quiet voice of Cyrus M, his following words like cracks of muted thunder. «Do we forget the Soldier of the Century?»
The Hawk’s face went white; his eyes roamed in short spastic movements seeing nothing, bespeaking only the furies of his inner conflict. «Oh, Jesus and Caesar!» he murmured gutturally as he sank into the chair across from Pinkus. «My God, what do I do?»
«It’s a trap, sir, I sincerely believe that,» added the huge black mercenary.
«Suppose you’re wrong?»
«There’s nothing in the Nobel committee’s history to support that kind of error.»
«History? For Christ’s sake, man, there’s nothing in the last forty years of history to support the tearing down of the Berlin Wall or the breaking up of the whole Soviet Union! Things are changing everywhere.»
«Some things don’t change. Stockholm doesn’t change.»
«Goddamn, Colonel, I’ve given my life, devoted my life to the army and got screwed by the panty-laced, pricky-shit politicians! Do you know what that award would mean to me—to every man who served under me in three wars!»
«Just a minute, General.» Cyrus looked over at Devereaux. «May I ask you a question—Sam … and may I call you Sam, since I think we’re beyond the hired-guard situation?»
«‘Massa’ doesn’t fit, from either side. Sure, what is it?»
«Does this trap, as I know damn well it is, have anything to do with this Supreme Court thing you’re all yelling about? I understand your security, but you need my help, and in all conscience, I can’t professionally give it without knowing more than I do. As a chemist, I demanded accurate component equations from my subordinates; as a merc, I have to know the fundamental components, period, in order to act accordingly.»
Devereaux turned first to Aaron, who nodded without hesitation, then looked at Jennifer, who paused, then nodded reluctantly. Finally, Sam walked over to Eleanor on the couch. «Mother, it would please me greatly if you and Mrs. Lafferty could find something to do in the kitchen.»
«Call Cora,» said the grand dame of Weston, Massachusetts, without moving.
«Hey, come on, fancy-dan girl!» cried Erin Lafferty. «I gotta get rid of the salad bowl and you can make us some tea! Guess what I found, Mrs. Great One? Hennessy, VSOP!»
«She’s been talking to our shameless cousin,» said Eleanor, instantly rising. «It is quite past time for tea, isn’t it? Come along, Aaron, we’ll do tea.»
«That’s Erin, Missy—»
«Yes, of course, you don’t look at all Jewish. Do you like chamomile?»
«No, I like Hennessy.»
«Definitely, Cora. Have you known her long?»
«Well, she’s from the Roman side and I’m the other, but we get together on this committee we formed to try to get those idiots together—»
«We’ll discuss it all over tea, Errol, and perhaps I’ll join your committee. Of course, I’m High Anglican.»
«Cora couldn’t spell it.» The two ladies, arm in arm, walked through the kitchen door.
«Desis One and Two,» said Sam. «Will you stop looking like that! Everything General Mac promised you will happen—believe me I know, both the good and the bad, and yours is only good.»
«Privado,» explained the Hawk. «¿Confidential, comprenden?»
«Sure, man, we go out with the romano gitano. He’s crazy, y’know, man? He spins around a lot and always he’s smiling. But, he’s gotta be good in the streets, y’know what I mean? We could do good together.»