“I did that on the airplane,” she said. “It has wonderful facilities.”
He gave her a tour of the main floor, finishing up in the library.
“This is marvelous,” she said. “It’s like the big brother of your study in the New York house.”
He poured them each a Knob Creek, and they sat down before the fire. “Now,” he said, “tell me everything.”
“Well, I’ve been doing most of my usual work and campaigning myself to a frazzle the rest of the time. The polls are favorable, so what else can I tell you? Why don’t you tell me about Lance instead?”
“All right, Lance came and stayed for a few days, and yesterday he sat me down and made me an offer before he left.”
“What sort of offer?” she asked.
“A vague one that involved me becoming a full-time employee of the Agency with the rank of deputy director, but remaining in New York and pretending to do what I’ve been doing since I passed the bar.”
“So he wants to turn you from a consultant into a... Well, let’s call it an operative.”
“Pretty much.”
“Do you think you might enjoy that?”
“I think I might, but I need your advice. If I should take this on, is Lance going to drive me crazy?”
“No, Lance is too smart to do that, unless he wants to get rid of you. Lance is a good judge of people, and he’ll understand what he can ask for and expect to get. Does a contract exist?”
“He’s faxing one from London, he says.”
“Let me read it — especially between the lines.”
“Good idea.”
“What do you hope to gain from accepting?” she asked.
“I hope that what I’m asked to do will be both personally satisfying and good for the country. I’ve always felt a little guilty about not serving in some capacity.”
“You served New York City for fourteen years. Wasn’t that enough?”
“Apparently not. There’s still an itch, otherwise I wouldn’t have become a consultant to the Agency.”
“Have you enjoyed what you’ve done as a consultant?”
“I have, I’ll have to admit.”
“Then you might enjoy being an operative even more.”
“You really think so?”
“I think Lance is bending way over backward to entice you, and that’s a good sign. There are, after all, only two other deputy directors, one for intelligence and one for operations. Will they know you’re aboard?”
“Good question. Lance didn’t say.”
“That’s one of the things you should know. You don’t want to start by stepping on powerful toes.”
“There was something else in our discussion, just as vague as the rest. I had the impression that Lance thinks he might be moving onward and upward before too much longer. Will that be the case, if you’re elected president?”
“As far as I’m concerned, Lance could have any intelligence or foreign policy job he wants, and I’d feel lucky to have him. But I haven’t been elected yet, and Lance is going to have to be very careful not to incur the wrath of my Republican opponent, whoever he might be, if he wants to remain director of Central Intelligence in the event I lose.”
“Wheels within wheels,” Stone said.
“You have no idea,” Holly replied.
35
Stone and Holly spent the next day on horseback, taking the horses and a picnic lunch down to the Solent. “This is the body of water that separates the Isle of Wight from England,” he explained. “We’ll be crossing it later on a little trip to Cowes, which is England’s yachting capital, for dinner at the Royal Yacht Squadron.”
“How are we dressing?”
“Black tie, as always, on a Friday night at the Squadron. Felicity Devonshire is hosting a dinner party for us. Fortunately, the weather forecast is good. The Solent can be a choppy place with a strong wind from east or west.”
“What time are we leaving?”
“Five-ish, in order to arrive in time for drinks before dinner.”
“Stone,” she said, changing the subject, “I’ve been thinking about Lance’s offer to you, and I’m inclined to advise you to take it.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, as long as you have a way out. I know that you see your own personal truth as self-evident, but in dealing with Lance you might find that at odds with what he wants you to do.”
“I can understand that.”
“As long as your contract reads that you can opt out anytime you’re uncomfortable.”
“I’ll be sure that’s in the contract. He’s faxing it from London today, so perhaps we can have a look at it together when we get back to the house.”
“You said he mentioned the rank of deputy director? Was there anything added to that?”
“He suggested ‘special operations,’ but he didn’t seem set on it.”
“That sounds too much like you’d be directing actual operations, and you have no experience with that.”
“True enough.”
“I’d suggest something vaguer, like ‘senior adviser.’ A mention of operations might ruffle other feathers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You’ll want to watch out for the deputy director for intelligence, Hugh English.”
“What’s he like?”
“In his sixties, wears British tailoring, gruff, but he can be charming when he wants something. He’s what the Brits call ‘clubbable.’ The Republicans in Congress love him because he’s been leaking to them for years. If they win the election and Lance gets bounced, Hugh English is likely to get his job. As I said, don’t underestimate him. He’s capable of low cunning.”
“What about the other DD? For operations?”
“That would be Finn McAdoo. He’s the young comer, and because of that, Hugh English hates him. If I’m elected, and if Lance wants to move elsewhere, I’d likely choose Finn to replace him. You’ll like him immediately.”
After lunch they rode back to the house, where Stone found a multipage fax waiting for him in the library. “Here we go,” he said. He read the pages, then handed them to Holly. It didn’t take long to get through them.
“It’s surprisingly benign,” Holly said, “and it doesn’t mention a title, though it mentions the rank.”
“I noticed that.”
“All you need is a sentence allowing you to resign at will, and the title, which should be descriptive of the job. He’s not going to be able to keep this from the top-level people at the Agency, and the title will tell them where you stand.”
Stone made a note about adding the out clause. His cell phone rang, and he answered it.
“Did you get the contract?” Lance asked.
“Yes. My adviser and I have just finished reading it.”
“Is Holly there?”
“Yes, I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Any questions?”
“I want an out clause,” Stone said.
“It will be my job to see that you never want out.”
“Yes, but you may decide to move on to better things, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of a director I don’t know.”
“Done. There’s something else, though,” Lance said.
“What’s that?”
“I had conceived your role as a covert one, but on reflection I think it might be better if it became known. I wouldn’t make a public announcement, just let the word get around.”
“All right. It occurs to me that some people should know from the outset: my secretary, Joan Robertson, and, of course, Dino and Viv Bacchetti.”
“No problem there. Dino and Viv are both consultants already, as you know.”
“I didn’t know about Viv.”
“Now you do. You can tell anyone you like, but be discreet.”
“Lance, will you announce it inside the Agency?” Holly asked.
“I’ll send out a selective memo. The right people will know.”