Admiral Zoll often thought that Admiralty House, with its white turn-of-the-century splendor and acres of beautiful gardens, far outshone the White House, which seemed to him like little more than an antiques museum, full of boxy rooms, square architecture, and sweating tourists.
"This guy can sound like a hick, but he does his research and he knows how the fruit gets canned, so don't volunteer anything," General Stallings said in his Texas drawl.
"I know all about Buck Burger," Admiral Zoll said. "I did this whole dance in the late eighties to get funding, and again last year, when the Agency spooks fucked up. Buck sees the big picture. This will go down fine."
Nonetheless, Zoll was dreading the meeting.
The summons by Vice President Burger had followed a flurry of phone calls from O. T. S. G. (Office of the Surgeon General) and M. R. D. C. (Medical Research and Development Committee). The frantic calls started coming about an hour after the in-depth frontpage Vanishing Lake story in The New York Times hit the Congressional doorsteps early that morning. Zoll got a wake-up call from the office of the Vice President requesting this nine-A. M. meeting. He and General Stallings had gathered their wits, compared notes, and rehearsed their defense over the phone. Now, without benefit of morning coffee, both were headed to a meeting that could easily spell disaster.
They were led into the Observatory Wing, where the V. P.'s residential suite was located, and shown into his massive office, which was empty when they arrived. Plate-glass windows looked out over rolling lawns and fountains. The room had blue velvet drapes, Early American furniture, and hardwood floors. The flag of the Office of the Vice President stood next to the American flag on gilded eagle-head poles. An old polished brass telescope, dredged up from the quarterdeck of John Paul Jones's ill-fated ship, the Bonhomme Richard, sat in the window, pointing out at the gardens. Like both Admiral Zoll and General Stallings, it had seen its share of incoming cannon fire.
After a moment, the double doors at the end of the room opened, and Vice President Brian Burger briskly entered the room like a Lexus salesman smiling his greeting. He had been the senior Senator from Arizona and had once chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Admiral Zoll had appeared before him for initial funding on his anti-terrorist bio-research program at Fort Detrick. Back then, the Senator had been known as "Buck" Burger, a folksy nickname he still favored.
"Colie, James, thanks for coming over on such short notice," he said, booming the greeting as he moved behind his desk.
"Mr. Vice President," they chorused, and both shook his hand.
His smile widened, giving them the whole campaign package. White teeth glistened like Ajaxed porcelain; thick, dark-brown, blow-dried hair helmeted a face highlighted by sky-blue eyes that projected warmth and intelligence. Barring a disaster, such as being exposed as the one who had approved funding for an illegal, covert bio-weapons program, he would one day make it to the Oval Office. He was carrying a heavy folder, and now sat behind the working desk near the observatory window, motioning them to the two chairs opposite him.
"Admiral, since Fort Detrick is your command, let's start with you. What the fuck is going on?" Buck Burger began.
"What exactly do you want to know, sir?"
"The President is concerned that we are engaging in illegal bio-research. He wants to know 'yes' or 'no.' "
"Absolutely not, sir."
"Glad to hear it. Very reassuring, but I need more. Your word won't be enough this time, Admiral."
"How about General Stallings's word? As head of the Joint Chiefs, the General would never let our program engage in a criminal endeavor," Zoll said. "Offensive bio-research has been illegal since Nixon signed the Geneva Protocol on Nonproliferation in '72. We are certainly not going to disobey a Presidential mandate, right, Colin?"
Colin Stallings nodded his big gray head. He was a remarkably fit sixty-eight-year-old who had had a brilliant career and was set to retire in six months.
"Here's the problem, James," Burger continued. "This is already a media fire dance. So far, on the negative side, we have Dr. Dexter DeMille, who was assigned to USAMRIID under your command, and who, you yesterday told the media, may have been suicidal and was probably nuts. Yet he was still, somehow, able to use your facility to work on illegal bio-weapons without your knowledge or permission. Second, he has mysteriously disappeared. Maybe he's dead, maybe not. Nobody knows. Next, we've got this town in Texas where lots of innocent citizens got horribly incinerated. We also just told the press some unknown sickness may be loose up there. No real reason given, except DeMille went berserk, set the bug loose, then burned the place. We have fifteen dead military troops, also under your command, stationed at Vanishing Lake, Texas-a facility, I might add, that isn't even listed on the government books. The prison, it now appears, was rented to the Science Department at Sam Houston University, but was being used by USAMRIID for defense bio-research. Making matters worse, some of these dead soldiers have been burned beyond recognition. Their remains are so charred there is almost nothing left to ship home. On the positive side, we have your assurance that nothing is out of order. I think you'll agree this scale is horribly out of balance. The President is getting swamped with calls from families of dead soldiers and civilians, and from some front-bench players in government, including Congress. The press is sharking every detail, and the President has very little to tell them except 'Don't worry,' 'Trust me,' and 'I'm looking into it.' This is not a good situation for the Commander in Chief of the Free World."
Zoll replied with practiced sincerity, "I wish I could change it, but unfortunately it is what it is."
"Not the answer I'm looking for, Admiral." The meeting, and the vibes in the room, had become ice cold.
"I wish I had Dr. DeMille on hand, so we could debrief him and find out exactly what really happened up there. But until we locate either him or his remains, I don't know what else I-"
"This sounds like you guys have been freelancing again," Vice President Burger interrupted. "What is it, two, three times you've violated that treaty since '72? Not counting the times you didn't get caught."
"Buck, you know that I was as shocked by those transgressions as you or anybody else on the Hill. The fact is that the CIA was running a parallel program at the Fort. Congress accepted that explanation, and several Agency S. A. C. S lost their jobs and pensions over it."
"I'm not going to rerun that disaster, okay? The fact remains that it did happen, and that causes our Defense Oversight people to be goddamn suspicious of this thing that's goin' on now."
"Of course, Congress needs to be vigilant, but-"
"Come on, your history here is piss-poor! Y'get caught running a bunch of illegal aerobiological tests over San Francisco and Minneapolis, let shit loose in the subways of New York, kill people with yellow fever in the Florida panhandle testing mosquitoes," Burger lectured, rerunning the disasters from the mid-eighties, after promising not to. "The Congress and the press aren't gonna accept some promise of innocence, or your lame excuses." Buck Burger was getting worked up; his genial blue eyes had turned glacial.
"General Stallings and I are giving you our assurance that everything is as it should be."
"Fuck assurance, I want evidence. We had assurances last time. This is now a big media deal. 60 Minutes has their nose up the crack of your ass, Admiral, and you two are standing on the end of the plank. Only way you get back in the boat is to come completely clean. If I have to push you two jugheads overboard, then that's what's gonna happen. The President is not going to be embarrassed again. You fuck up here, and you both are going to experience firsthand the meaning of the words 'political sacrifice.' "