Ben set his briefcase next to the oak desk. Sliding out his leather chair, he sat down. Then he clasped his hands together and gazed at his collaborators as a professor might gaze upon a couple of first-years.
“Let me get something straight.” Scott shifted toward Horst, causing her necklace to jangle lightly against her chest. “Is this you being a drama queen? Or are you seriously thinking of bailing on us?”
“I’m not thinking about it,” Horst replied. “I’m doing it.”
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Sanchez asked.
“Please keep your language civil,” Ben said.
“Have you read the news lately?” Horst asked Sanchez. “First, that whole Columbus Project debacle. Now, this. America’s going up in flames, all because we decided to light a match high up in our ivory tower.”
“Ivory tower?” Sanchez scrunched up his face. “What ivory tower? What the hell are you talking about?”
Scott shook her head. “We had nothing to do with the Columbus Project. That was completely out of our hands. We didn’t even know it was happening when we started this little thing of ours.”
“But we know about it now,” Horst replied. “And we still have time to pull back, to stop this before America is brought to her knees.”
Ben cleared his throat. Silence fell over the room. “I understand your concerns, Terry,” he said. “We all do. It’s one thing to talk about riots in the abstract. It’s a whole other thing to see them in real-life.”
“Riots that we caused,” Terry added. “None of this would’ve happened without our doing.”
“You know as well as I do that these riots were written in stone long ago. Our crime, if you can call it that, was merely to fast-forward the process.”
“Well put.” Scott nodded sagely. “Like all great nations, America will eventually fall before the power of economics. It’s inevitable.”
Terry exhaled an exacerbated sigh. “Yes, all great nations fall. And yes, America will follow suit one day. But why does it have to be now? Why can’t we just wait for it to go off the cliff on its own accord?”
“Because we all know what will happen in the event of an unguided collapse,” Ben replied. “Food shortages. Mass homelessness. Wealth confiscation. Martial law. And war, civil or otherwise. But if we continue on our present path, we can avoid those things. We can steer America to a soft landing. We can preserve this great land of ours, just in a different form. Lives, millions of them, will be spared.”
It was a strong argument, one Ben had pressed upon the others for months now. And he knew Horst understood it well. But he could still see uncertainty in her eyes. “I know it’s difficult to see it right now,” he said softly. “But a better world lies ahead of us. A world without strife, without conflict. A peaceful world, safe for prosperity.”
Secretary Horst looked away.
What are you thinking? Ben wondered as he gazed upon her plump features. Do you recognize this moment? Do you see it for what it is?
Ben firmly believed that one’s life path hinged on just a handful of critical decisions. Those decisions, more often than not, felt relatively unimportant at the time. It was only later, with the benefit of life experience, that a decision’s true importance was revealed.
At least two such decisions had defined his father’s early life. First, the man’s decision to join the America First Committee, the foremost anti-war group of its time, in 1940. Numbering some 800,000 paying members, the AFC was dedicated to keeping the United States out of World War II. Second, Roy’s decision to remain steadfastly anti-war after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
As for Ben, four decisions stood out above the rest. First, picking up An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations from his father’s bookshelf at the precocious age of thirteen. Second, blowing off Sally Keller the night she’d given him that work-less-or-lose-me ultimatum. Third, opening that strange Capitalist Curtain file in his recently-deceased father’s safe nine months earlier. And fourth, joining forces with the three people sitting before him.
He didn’t know much about Secretary Horst’s personal life. But the decision before her, he knew, was one of those life-altering moments. Would she ignore her doubts? Or would she give in to her fears and thwart all their carefully-laid plans?
Horst sat quietly for another few seconds. Then she pushed her chair back, rose to her feet. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“You’re sorry?” Sanchez stared at her, disbelief etched in his angry features. “You little—”
“Harold.” Ben shot him a stern look. “Please.”
Sanchez crossed his arms.
Horst’s face twisted into… was that sadness? Then she walked to the door. She stopped at the threshold for a moment, her back to Ben and the others. “I just can’t do this,” she said quietly. “When Monday rolls around, I’m going to begin unwinding my portion of the transactions. I suggest all of you do the same.”
You can fix this, Ben thought. You just need to say the right words in the right tone. Oh, if only it were that easy. But unlike, say, President Walters, he didn’t possess the gift of gab. Indeed, Ben was pathetically normal when it came to thinking on his feet.
“What, uh, about tomorrow’s meeting?” was all he could manage.
“I still plan on going,” she replied. “I hope you’ll do the same.”
“What are we going to tell him?”
“The truth.”
Gasps rang out in the office.
“We need to tell him everything and explain how we can unwind things before it’s too late. President Walters is a good man. He’ll understand.”
“Understand?” Sanchez shouted. “Understand what? That we’ve brought this country to the brink of collapse?”
“He’s right,” Scott added. “Use your head. If you tell him the truth, we’ll spend the rest of our lives in prison.”
“Maybe that’s what we deserve.” With that, she walked out of the office and marched down the adjoining hallway, her flats shuffling lightly on the wood floor.
“She’s full of shit.” Sanchez ignored Ben’s arched eyebrow. “No way she goes to Wade. She’d end up in jail right next to us.”
“Not if she cuts herself a deal,” Scott said.
“You really think she’d sell us out?”
“To stay out of prison? Absolutely.”
Ben inhaled, exhaled. “You know Terry better than both of us put together. Can we change her mind about this?”
Scott thought for a moment. Then she shook her head.
“So, all our planning, our preparation… and this is how it ends?” Sanchez sighed. “It doesn’t seem right.”
Ben spun his chair in a half-circle and stared up at his father. Roy had been a moral beacon and one of the most brilliant economists the world had ever known. But a series of defeats and missteps had marred his career and eventually, his life.
Is that my path? Ben wondered. Is this where it all goes downhill?
He racked his brain for a solution, considering the problem from all sides. He needed Horst. But she was out and worse, was planning to undo all of their hard work.
“Go home,” he said after a moment. “And enjoy your weekend.”
Scott furrowed her brow. “We have to talk about this, Ben. Terry’s going to—”
“Don’t worry.” Ben took a deep breath. He knew what had to be done. He didn’t like it, but unfortunately, Horst had left him no choice. “I’ll take care of her.”