Part 138 (1/2)
”Yeah? Who? Whooo?” He held the phone out to Scott and curled his lips ”It's for you The White House” Scott glanced over at Doug who raised his bushy white eyebrows
Scott picked up the phone on the end table by the leather couch; the one that Scott seemed to have made a second home ”hello?”
he asked hesitantly ”Yes? Well, I could be in Washi+ngton” Scott looked over to Doug for advice ”The President?” Doug shook his head, yes Whatever it is, go ”I'd be happy to,” he said reading his watch ”A few hours?” He waited a few seconds ”Yes, I know the number Off the record?
Fine Thank you”
”Well?” asked Higgins
”The President himself wants to have a little chat with me”
Friday, January 22 The White House
Only the President, Musgrave and Henry Kennedy were there to arner his cooperation Scott rushed by cab to the White House froh he had an ap- pointment with The Man He could have used the Visitor's En- trance Scott hisked by White House aides through a ”Private” door in the press rooular pool reporters ondered who dared to so underdress Defi- nitely not fro on short notice, so he was only wearing his work clothes: torn blue jeans, a sweatshi+rt from the nude beach he and Sonja had visited and Reeboks that needed a wash January was unusually war his deni Scott's evolving political and social attitudes He was going to have to bring a change of clothes to the office froize for his appearance, at least he was able to shave the three day old stubble on the train, the President apologized for the suddenness and hoped it wasn't too rave kept their s full well fro a significant intimate rela- tionshi+p with one Sonja Lindstroton Very convenient was ht
The President sat Scott down on the Queen Anne and complimented him on his series of articles on co a fine job awakening the public to the problem, and that more people should care, and how brave he was to ju bullets, and on and on and on Due to Henry and Phil's political savvy and professional discipline, neither of their faces showed that they both wanted to throw up on the spot
This orse than kissing babies to get elected But the President of the United States wanted a secret favor fro was in order
”Well, let ht to the point,” the President said a half hour later after two cups of coffee and endless small talk with Scott He, too, had wondered what the President wanted so much that the extended foreplay was necessary ”I understand Scott, that you have developed quite a rapport with this Spook fellow”
He held up a copy of the New York paper headlines blaring:
Computer Terrorism - Exclusive
Aha! So that's what they want! They want ht place, right time and all Yessir” Scott downplayed his position with convincing humility ”It seems as if he has selected me as his mouthpiece”
”All ant, in fact, all we can ask,” Musgrave said, ”is for you to give us information before it's printed” Scott's eyes shot up in defense, protest at the ready ”No, no,” Mugrave added quickly ”Nothing confidential We know that Miles Foster is the Spook, but we can't prove it without giving aay tooto their own electronic eavesdropping habits that would be iing down half of the government's computers We need to know as much as we can as fast as we can So, whatever you print, we'd like an early copy of it That's all”
Scott's mind immediately traveled back to the first and only time an article of his was pulled At the AG's request Of course it finally got printed, but why the niceties now? They can take what they want, but instead they ask? Maybe they don't want to get caught fiddling around with the Press toothat the President was Nixon- esque, but politics is politics What do I get in return? He could hear it now, the '< with the President would be gauche at the least
So he proposed to Musgrave instead ”I want an exclusive inter- vieith the President when this thing is over”
”Done!” said Musgrave too quickly Scott i for ton denizen would have asked for a seat in the Cabinet
But that was between Scott and his conscience Doug would hear a dramatized account
”And no otheruntil”
Scott added anotherpapers appear at the back door with the rave ”Scott, this is for internal use only Every hour will help”
Scott was given a secret White House phone nue Not the standard old [email&160;protected] that any schmo with a PC could E-iven a White House souvenir pen
”It went fine,” Kennedy said to Marvin Jacobs from his secure office in the White House basement He spoke to Marvin Jacobs up at Fort Meade on the STU-III phones