“During that first Cabinet meeting when the president showed us the cube, I saw it as fiction. It wasn’t until Jerusalem disappeared that I grasped the fact it was reality. The envoys are real. They are going to drag us, kicking and screaming, into a new age.”
Benita murmured, “I honestly think they want to minimize the kicking and screaming.”
The FL turned the talk to other things, they chatted for a time, then bade their farewells. Chad spirited Benita down the back stairs and out once more, to pick up another car and return home by another route. The trip was a long, twisty one, as he made sure they weren’t followed.
“Who’s supposed to be following us?” she asked, when they turned at the same corner for the fifth time.
“The same bunch,” he offered. “The cabal.”
“Why is there a cabal?”
“Oh, there are always sore losers who hate the president, any president. It’s a kind of syndrome. They give money or effort to a campaign, their guy gets beaten, they take it personally. They figure they were right to support who they did, so the election must have been fixed or the public was bamboozled, or something. They usually don’t examine the real cause of their hatred. Morse probably hates the president because of his wife.”
“Morse’s wife?”
“No. The First Lady. Morse made a rather crude pass at the lady years ago, long before her husband ran for president. Morse was drunk, at a public event, and it’s unlikely he even knew who she was. She let him have it loudly enough that everyone heard it. I think the words ‘lecherous sot’ entered into her commentary. There was a minor furor, and it took him a while to live it down. He’s been heard referring to her as a ‘mouthy bitch.’ With him it’s simple revenge, though that’s not what he says in public.”
“Who else?”
“Oh, there are Pentagon guys who wouldn’t mind starting a war if it would keep their budgets up. There are always people over at State who depend on crisis to advance their careers. And we know, but can’t prove, there’s a handful of congressmen and senators who get soft money campaign funds from nameless but probably drug-related sources south of the border. Add to that the handful of old warriors who’ve got their thumbs deep in the traditional values pie.”
“Meaning what? What are their values?”
“Oh, guts and glory, defined as unquestioning patriotism. Marital fidelity, defined as discretion in extramarital affairs. Traditional’ gender roles, that is, excusing rape and abuse by blaming the victim.”
“But they’re hunting for me,” Benita said. “Why would they be interested in me?”
“Not they, I don’t imagine. Him. Morse. He wants to use you to smear the president. If you turned out to be a mistress, he’d love it. Or a spy. Or a tool of the possibly communist Pistach.” He turned a corner. “You can sit up now. There’s nobody behind us.”
“Why are we in a different car?”
“Just in case somebody saw you arrive and bugged that car figuring you’d go home the same way.”
“If it were me, I’d bug them all,” she said, rearranging herself.
“We thought of that. This one was with somebody we trust, several blocks away.” He spoke cheerfully, examining her face in the mirror. “What’s wrong?”
“It isn’t a game,” she cried. “I mean, I’m not a game piece. What do they intend to do with me if they find me?”
“The putative cabal? I’m not privy to their plans, Benita. Best thing is to keep you from being found.”
“Do you know what’s happening in Jerusalem? Besides what’s on the news.”
“The U.S. and NATO are providing aid to international relief organizations that are setting up tent cities for the people who’ve been displaced. Some of them are moving in with families in the suburbs or other cities. Everyone is very surprised that there hasn’t been a wave of violence. The Saudis, by the way, are afraid either Mecca, or the Saudi women, or both may be next. They treat their women almost as badly as the Afghanis do. Women have been leaving Saudi Arabia ever since the ugly plague was reported.”