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to the security of their country, and thinking that, they had to do something, didn’t they? More than that, Ryan had stepped on a lot of bureaucratic toes at Langley, and now it was payback time, all the better that he was a higher target than ever before, that the sources were, after all, merely talking to the former Vice President of the United States– maybe even the real President, they could say–and not to the media, which was, after all, against the law, as opposed to a legitimate discussion of vital national policy.
“How sure of that are you?” the Globe asked.
“I have dates. Remember when Admiral James Greer died? He was Ryan’s mentor. He probably set up the operation from his deathbed. Ryan didn’t attend the funeral. He was in Colombia then. That’s a fact, and you can check it,” Kealty insisted. “Probably that’s why James Cutter committed suicide–”
“I thought that was an accident,” the Times said. “He was out jogging, and–”
“And he just happened to step in front of a transit bus? Look, I’m not saying that Cutter was murdered. I am saying that he was implicated in the illegal operation that Ryan was running, and he didn’t want to face the music. That gave Jack Ryan the chance to cover his tracks. You know,” Kealty concluded, “I’ve underestimated this Ryan fellow. He’s as slick an operator as this town has seen since Alien Dulles, maybe Bill Donovan–but the time for that is past. We don’t need a CIA with three times as many spies. We don’t need to pile more dollars into defense. We don’t need to redraft the tax code to protect the millionaires Ryan hangs out with. For sure we don’t need a President who thinks the 1950s were just great. He’s doing things to our country which we cannot allow to happen. I don’t know”–another gesture of frustration– “maybe I have to go it all alone on this. I’m–I know I risk ruining my reputation for all history, standing up like this … but, damn it, once I swore an oath to the Constitution of our country . . . first time,” he went on in a quiet, reflective voice, “when I won my first House seat. . . then into the Senate … and then when Roger asked me to step up and be his Vice President. You know, you don’t forget that sort of thing … an’, an’, an’ maybe I’m not the right
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guy for this, okay? Yes, I’ve done some pretty awful things, betrayed my wife, lived in a bottle for so many years. The American people probably deserve somebody better than me to stand up and do what’s right… but I’m all there is, and I can’t–I can’t break faith with the people who sent me to this town, no matter what it costs. Ryan is not the President of the United States. He knows that. Why else is he trying to change so many things so fast? Why is he trying to bully the senior people at State into lying? Why is he playing with abortion rights? Why is he playing with the tax code through this plutocrat Win-ston? He’s trying to buy it. He’s going to continue to bully Congress until the fat cats try to have him elected king or something. I mean, who represents ihepeople right now?”
“I just don’t see him that way, Ed,” the Globe responded, after a few seconds. “His politics are pretty far to the right, but he comes across as sincere as hell.”
“What’s the first rule of politics?” the Times asked with a chuckle. Then he continued: “I tell you, if this stuff about Russia and Colombia is true… whoa! It is the ’50s, fucking around with other governments that way. We’re not supposed to do that anymore, sure as hell not at that level.”
“You never got this from us, and you can’t reveal the source at Langley.” The chief of staff handed out tape cassettes. “But there are enough verifiable facts here to back up everything we’ve told you.”
“It’s going to take a couple of days,” the San Francisco Examiner said, fingering the cassette and looking at his colleagues. The race started now. Every reporter in the room would want to be the first to break the story. That process would start with them playing their tapes in their cars during the drive to their homes, and the one with the shortest drive had the advantage.
“Gentlemen, all I can say is, this is an important story, and you have to apply your best professional conduct to it. It’s not for me,” Realty said. “I wish I could pick someone else to do this, someone with a better record–but I can’t. Not for me. It’s for the country, and that means you have to play it as straight as you can.”
“We will, Ed,” the Times promised. He checked his
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watch. Almost three in the morning. He’d work all day to make the ten P.M. deadline. In that time he’d have to verify, re-verify, and conference in with his assistant managing editor to make sure that he got the front page, above the fold. The West Coast papers had the advantage– three more hours because of time zones–but he knew how to beat them to the punch. The coffee cups went down on the table, and the journalists rose, tucking their personal mini-tape machines in their jacket pockets, and each holding his personal cassette in the left hand while the right fished for the car keys.
“TALK TO ME, BEN,” Jack commanded barely four hours later.
“Still nothing on the local TV, but we’ve caught microwave stuff transmitted for later broadcast.” Goodley paused as Ryan took his seat behind the desk. “Quality is too poor to show you, but we have the audio tracks. Anyway, they spent all day consolidating power. Tomorrow, they go public. Probably the word’s out on the street, and the official stuff will be for the rest of the world.”
“Smart,” the President observed.
“Agreed.” Goodley nodded. “New wild card. The Premier of Turkmenistan bit the big one, supposedly an automobile accident. Golovko called me about–just after five, I think–to let us know. He ain’t a real happy camper at the moment. He thinks that Iraq and Turko-land are part of the same play–”
“Do we have anything to support that?” Ryan asked, tying his necktie. It was a dumb question.
“You kidding, boss? We don’t have crap, not even overheads in this case.”
Jack looked down at his desktop for a second. “You know, for all the things people say about how powerful CIA is–”
“Hey, I work there, remember? Thank God for CNN. Yeah, I know. Good news, the Russians are telling us at least some of what they know.”
“Scared,” the President observed.
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“Very,” the national intelligence officer agreed.
“Okay, we have Iran taking over Iraq. We have a dead leader in Turkmenistan. Analysis?” Jack asked.
“I won’t contradict Golovko on this one. He doubtless does have agents in place, and it sounds like he’s in the same situation we’re in. He can watch and worry, but he doesn’t have any real operational possibilities. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but spooks aren’t supposed to believe in such things. Damned sure Sergey doesn’t. He thinks it’s all one play. I think that’s a definite possibility. I’ll be talking to Vasco about that, too. What he says is shaping up is starting to look a little scary. We’ll be hearing from the Saudis today.” And Israel could not be far behind, Ryan knew.
“China?” the President asked next. Maybe the other side of the world was a little better. It wasn’t.
“Major exercise. Surface and sub-surface combatants, no air yet, but the overheads show the fighter bases are tooling up–”
“Wait a minute–”
“Yes, sir. If it’s a planned exercise, why weren’t they ready for it? I’ll be talking to the Pentagon about that one at eight-thirty. The ambassador had a little talk with a foreign ministry type. Feedback is, no big deal, the ministry didn’t even know about it, routine training.”
“Bullshit.”
“Maybe. Taiwan is still low-keying it, but they’ll be sending some ships out today–well, tonight over there. We have assets heading to the area. The Taiwanese are playing ball, full cooperation with our observers in their listening posts. Soon they will ask us what we will do if’A’ or ‘B’ happens. We need to think about that. The Pentagon says that the PRC doesn’t have the assets to launch an invasion, same as back in ’96. The ROC air force is stronger now than it was. So, I don’t see that this is likely to lead anywhere. Maybe it really is just an exercise. Maybe they want to see how we–you, that is–will react.”
“What’s Adler think?”
“He says to ignore it. I think he’s right. Taiwan is playing low-key. I think we do the same. We move ships, es-