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was unschooled in diplomatic exchange. “How concerned should I be about all this?”
“What do your people tell you?” the Prince replied.
“About the same as you do, but not all of them. We need to keep this line open, my friend.”
“I understand, Mr. President. Good-bye for now.”
It was an unsatisfactory conclusion to an unsatisfactory call. Ryan replaced the phone and looked around at his empty office. Ali wasn’t saying what he wanted to say because the position of his government was different from what he thought it should be. The same had happened to Jack often enough, and the same rules applied. Ali hacFto be loyal to that government–hell, it was mainly his own family–but he had allowed himself one slip, and the Prince was too clever to do that sort of thing by mistake. It probably would have been easier before, when Ryan had not been President and both could talk without the worry of making policy with every word. Now Jack was America to those beyond the borders, and governmental officials could talk to him only that way, instead of remembering that he was also a thinking man who needed to explore options before making decisions. Maybe if it hadn’t been over the phone, Jack thought. Maybe face-to-face would have been better. But even Presidents were limited by time and space.
36
TRAVELERS
KLM–ROYAL DUTCH AIR-lines–Flight 534–left the gate on time at 1:10 A.M. The aircraft was full–at this hour, full of weary people who stumbled to their seats, strapped in, and accepted pillows and blankets. The more experienced travelers among them waited for the sound of the wheels being retracted, then pushed their seats as far back as they could go, and closed their eyes in the hope of a smooth ride and something akin to real sleep.
Five of Badrayn’s men were aboard, two in first class, three in business. They all had baggage in the cargo hold, and a carry-on tucked under the seat in front. All had a minor case of nerves, and all would have had a drink to ameliorate it–religious prohibition or not–but the aircraft had landed in an Islamic airport and would not serve alcohol until it had left United Islamic Republic airspace. To a man, they considered their situation and bowed to circumstance. They’d been well briefed and properly prepared. They’d come through the airport like ordinary travelers, and submitted their carry-ons to X-ray inspection by security personnel who were every bit as careful as their Western counterparts–actually more so, since the flights were relatively few, and the local paranoia relatively greater. In every case, the X-ray display had shown a shaving kit, along with papers, books and other sundries.
They were all educated men, many of them having attended the American University of Beirut, some to obtain degrees, the others simply to learn about the enemy. They were dressed neatly, all with ties, loose now in their collars, and their coats hung in the mini-closets throughout the aircraft. Within forty minutes, they, along with the rest of the passengers, were fitfully asleep.
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“SO WHAT’S YOUR take on all this?” van Damm asked.
Holtzman swirled his drink, watching the ice cubes circle around. “Under different circumstances I might call it a conspiracy, but it’s not. For a guy who says he’s just trying to put things back together, Jack sure is doing a lot of new and crazy things.”
” ‘Crazy’ is a little strong, Bob.”
“Not for them, it isn’t. Everybody’s saying ‘he isn’t one of us,’ and they’re reacting strongly to his initiatives. Even you have to admit that his tax ideas are a little way off the usual playing field, but that’s the excuse for what’s happening–one of the excuses, anyway. The game’s the same one it always was. A couple of leaks, and the manner of their presentation, that’s what determines how it’s played.”
Arnie had to nod. It was like highway littering. If someone dumped all the trash in the proper barrel, then things were neat, and the task was done in a few seconds. If that same someone tossed it all out the window of a moving car, then you had to spend hours picking it all up. The other side was now dumping the trash haphazardly, and the President was having to use his limited time doing wasteful and unproductive things instead of the real work of driving down the road. The simile was ugly, but apt. Politics was so often less about doing constructive work than about spreading garbage around for others to clean up.
“Who leaked?”
The reporter shrugged. “I can only guess. Somebody in the Agency, probably somebody who’s being RIF’d. You have to admit that building up the spy side of the house looks kind of Neanderthal. How far are they cutting the Intelligence Directorate?”
“More than enough to compensate for the new field people. The idea is to save money overall, better information, more efficient overall performance, that sort of thing. I don’t,” he added, “tell the President how to do intelligence stuff. On that, he really is an expert.”
“I know that. I had my story almost ready to run. I was about to call you for an interview with him when the bubble broke.”
“Oh? And–”
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“What was my angle? He’s the most contradictory son of a bitch in this town. In some ways he’s brilliant–but in others? Babe-in-the-woods is charitable.”
“Go on.”
“I like the guy,” Holtzman admitted. “For damned sure, he’s honest–not relatively honest, really honest. I was going to tell it pretty much the way it was. You want to know what has me pissed?” He paused for a sip of the bourbon, hesitated again before proceeding, and then spoke with unconcealed anger. “Somebody at the Post leaked my story, probably to Ed Kealty. Then Kealty probably arranged a leak to Donner and Plumber.”
“And they used your story to hang him?”
“Pretty much,” Holtzman admitted.
Van Damm nearly laughed. He held it back for as long as he could, but it was too delicious to resist: “Welcome to Washington, Bob.”
“You know, some of us really do take our professional ethics seriously,” the reporter shot back, rather lamely. “It was a good story. I researched the hell out of it. I got my own source in CIA–well, I have several, but I got a new one for this, somebody who really knew the stuff. I took what he gave me, and I back-checked the hell out of it, verified everything I could, wrote the piece stating what I knew and what I thought–careful to explain the difference at all times,” he assured his host. “And you know? Ryan comes out looking pretty good. Yeah, sure, sometimes he short-circuits the system, but the guy’s never broken the rules far as I can tell. If we ever have a major crisis, that’s the guy I want in the Oval Office. But some son of a bitch took my story, my information from my sources, and played with it, I don’t like that, Arnie. 7 have a public trust, too, and so does my paper, and somebody fucked with that.” He set his drink down. “Hey, I know what you think about me and my–”
“No, you don’t,” van Damm interrupted.
“But you’ve always–”
“I’m the chief of staff, Bob. I have to be loyal to my boss, and so I have to play the game from my side, but if you think I don’t respect the press, you’re not as smart as
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you’re supposed to be. We’re not always friends. Sometimes we’re enemies, but we need you as much as you need us. For Christ’s sake, if I didn’t respect you, why the hell are you drinking my booze?”
It was either an elegant roll or a truthful statement, Holtzman thought, and Arnie was too skillful a player for him to tell the difference right off. But the smart thing to do was finish the drink, which he did. A pity that his host preferred cheap booze to go along with his L. L. Bean shirts. Arnie didn’t know how to dress, either. Or maybe that was a considered part of his mystique. The political game was so intricate as to be a cross between classical metaphysics and experimental science. You could never know it all, and finding out one part as often as not denied you the ability to find out another, equally important part. But that was why it was the best game in town.
“Okay, Arnie, I’ll accept that.”
“Good of you.” Van Damm smiled, and refilled the glass. “So why did you call me?”
“It’s almost embarrassing.” Another pause. “I will not participate in the public hanging of an innocent man.”
“You’ve done that before,” Arnie objected.
“Maybe so, but they were all politicians, and they all had it coming in one way or another. I don’t know what– okay, how about I’m not into child abuse? Ryan deserves a fair chance.”