Part 12 (1/2)
”I can't find Rawles. I gave him a hard time when he couldn't deliver and he stormed out of the office. I drove all the way out to his house. Looked like n.o.body was around. It doesn't make any sense. Problem is, he's the one who knows the broad; I never asked him about her, other than did he think she could do the job. So unless he shows up, we don't have any way to try it again.”
When Brewer was gone, Shumer sat for a long time thinking over what he was going to say to the president.
”We private now?” asked Shumer, after the secure connection was activated.
”Shoot,” replied the president.
”Sometime before Lanny was here last time, someone slipped a bug in his jacket. It was still there during our conversation. We have to a.s.sume there's a recording out there somewhere.”
”Oh, that makes my day,” replied the president sarcastically.
”That's not all,” said Shumer. ”Lanny's boy, the one with the broad, has gone missing. We don't know where he is or what he's doing. He's the only one who knows the broad, so we don't have any way to contact her to try to make it happen again.”
”Somehow, when I got up this morning, I knew this day was going to s.h.i.+t,” said the president. ”The Chinese vice president will be here in three days and I don't have anything for him, unless I just give him Kansas.”
”I can think of worse ideas,” said Brewer. ”What did you make of Baines' rant?” he asked. ”What the h.e.l.l was he talking about anyway, you know, the part about compelling proof? It made me worry about the recording for an instant but frankly, I don't think we said anything that we have to worry about. It was all pretty vague.”
”a.s.suming you're right,” said the president, ”what else could he be referring to?”
”I figured maybe the hit on Baines' housekeeper,” replied Shumer. ”Has anybody on your end learned what the h.e.l.l happened?”
”That's the question on everybody's lips around here. It's all the media talks about. Problem is, all this mystery isn't casting Baines in a bad light at all. h.e.l.l, he's starting to look like a hero, blasting away at the hit man and, he claims, winging him. Just the kind of gunslinger stuff Republicans eat up. Nevertheless, it doesn't do zilch for us. Here we are trying like h.e.l.l to put him in a bad light, and some hit man shows up and turns him into a hero.”
”Yeah, there sure as s.h.i.+t is no shortage of rumors. One guy even claimed it was the Chinese,” said Shumer.
”That was probably Baines,” laughed the president, ”Wouldn't he love that? No, the Chinese may be p.r.i.c.ks, but they don't go around shooting senators. They're not that stupid. The Republicans would burn the Chinese emba.s.sy down. The only rumor that concerns me is the one that seems to be picking up steam, the one that claims we had something to do with it.”
”n.o.body's buying that,” said Shumer, ”aside from the right wingers hole up in their cabins in Wyoming, cleaning their guns.”
”You better hope. Listen, if you hear from Lanny's boy, let me know. I'm running out of rope . . . and ideas. I have to come up with some way to hold off Beijing or we're in a lot of trouble, and I do mean trouble. I have a meeting. Gotta go.”
”Mr. President,” said Valerie Waters, the Secretary of State, ”the Philippine government continues to demand a resolution condemning the sinking of their wars.h.i.+p. Russia and China predictably have indicated that they will veto it. Our silence is drawing criticism from some quarters, notably Britain and France. They and others are asking why we aren't supporting it.”
”Because it would poison my meeting with the Chinese Vice-President,” the president shot back. ”Look, I don't like what the Chinese did any more than anyone else. Everyone knows they're bullies, but a UN resolution would accomplish about as much as sticking our tongue out. It would be idiotic and just plain stupid to poke China in the eye at this point. We're in a very delicate position. If Beijing were to decide to curtail their investments, all the initiatives that we've begun would wither on the vine, and with them this administration.”
”What I will do is bring it up with the Chinese Vice-President in private. I think he will understand that not only our relations with China but our relations others cannot remain on an even keel if they do not refrain from aggressive actions. If he is not responsive to that, then we can consider calling for a UN resolution.”
Langley and Benedict's eyes met across the table. They knew what each other was thinking. Benedict looked over at Larimer. He was staring at his hands.
”There is one other item I thought I'd bring to your attention, Mr. President,” Waters said. ”It concerns the arrest of two American citizens in Hong Kong. Typically, the arrest of an American citizen abroad wouldn't even reach my desk, but the Consulate apparently requested that I be copied since the incident is unusual. The couple who were arrested are the parents of two newlyweds who went missing days earlier. They claim to have proof that the newlyweds were abducted by the Chinese authorities. The Consulate appears to feel there may be some truth to the claim.”
She looked over at the president as if expecting a question or a request for additional information. The president seemed to fidget, his attention obviously not on what Waters had just said. Then he looked up, the silence reminding him that she was awaiting a response.
”What did this couple do that prompted their arrest, Valerie?”
”The father of the missing young man a.s.saulted a member of the crew of the boat on which the newlyweds had been enjoying their honeymoon when they went missing. The crewman suffered a broken arm and other injuries in the process. During the altercation, the father apparently made a recording in which the crewmember admitted that his son and daughter-in-law were kidnapped by a Hong Kong police boat.”
”I don't know about Chinese law, Valerie, but here a confession made under duress wouldn't stand up in court.”
”Your point is well taken, Mr. President. If the consulate hadn't found any credence to the story, I wouldn't have brought it up. Apparently there have been other unusual disappearances in Hong Kong lately and our representatives there are beginning to wonder if they might be connected.”
”Aside from distraught parents claiming the police were involved, I don't see how this is so unusual,” said the president. ”It's practically an epidemic in Mexico and the Caribbean these days. h.e.l.l, in Mexico, it wouldn't surprise anyone if the police were kidnapping people. Is there anything you think I need to be doing regarding this?”
”No, Mr. President, I guess not,” she answered, ”I thought you would want to know.”
Discussion of the more than a page and a half of bullet points on the morning briefing continued, but the president seemed listless and unengaged until the matter of the visit of the Chinese vice-president came up again.
”Mr. President, you have in front of you the schedule of events for the upcoming visit of the Chinese vice-president. Are there any questions at this time?” Waters asked.
He had straightened in his chair and was reading through the schedule with interest. After several minutes, he said: ”I think that, under the circ.u.mstances, it would be better to dispense with the question and answer period after our meeting. Let's just provide a summary to the press without putting the vice-president in front of them.”
40.
Sally had just finished emptying the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. On the front porch stood a very young woman holding a balloon and wearing a s.h.i.+rt monogrammed with the logo of a local party supply company. When she opened the door the woman began to sing in a lovely soprano voice the familiar refrain of Auld Lang Syne: Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;