The man with the microphone picked him up very fast. “You have been comforting the others, haven’t you, reverend?” he said and made it a statement that somehow had to be replied to.
“Yes, the best that I could.”
“Your prayers have been answered, sir, you know that now, don’t you?”
The Reverend Mr. Jones didn’t know, for he was far from sure as yet, but he nodded his head and looked again at the swelling crowd that was pressing in for a closer look.
“Sir, this is not for just one network, the whole nation is watching and listening. Please, tell us what it was like.”
“I’d… rather not do that.” The emotions he had felt were still locked into his mind and he did not yet believe that deliverance had come.
“Sir,” the man said, “you have all been set free, because of a nuclear submarine. A fearful weapon of war, yet so far it hasn’t fired a shot. Have you anything to say to that, sir?”
Those were the first words that the tortured minister really heard, but he did hear them and at last understood. He raised his head and answered. “Yes,” he said, “I do.” With shaking fingers he placed his hands together. “Let us pray.”
Across the whole breadth of the nation he was heard by uncounted millions of people. And some of them bowed their heads, in their own homes or wherever they were, and waited for his words.
26
Senator Solomon Fitzhugh sat in the quiet confines of Admiral Barney Haymarket’s office and looked across the desk at the man he had once regarded as an adversary in what seemed to be the dim past. The admiral himself gave no evidence of even remembering those days; instead he relaxed to the point where he took off his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes with his fists as though to clear away some of the fatigue that had settled into them during the past several weeks.
When he had finished, he turned his attention to his guest. “Senator, I’m sure that you’ve been keeping up with the dispatches that I’ve had bucked on to you, so you know that, thanks to the grace of God, we’ve at last got a victory on our hands.”
“More or less yes,” Fitzhugh said.
“I invited you in,” the admiral continued, “because I wanted to fill you in a little more and also to advise you that you may have a further and very important role to play.”
Fitzhugh looked at him. “I have been regarding myself more or less as a discard at this point. I publicly reversed myself on a position that I have been maintaining steadfastly for years. I doubt if my constituents…”
The admiral raised a hand to stop him. “I don’t have a poll available to prove it,” he said, “but I would guess that your popularity, on a national basis, is at an all-time high. And that’s damn good, because we’re going to make use of it.”
“Another speech?”
Haymarket shook his head. “Considerably more important than that.”
He got up and poured out two more cups of coffee, setting one in front of the senatpr almost automatically. “Let me lay it out for you so that you will understand exactly where we stand. We are entering into a new phase of things which is a lot different than international diplomacy is supposed to be — it is strictly a face-saving period. If — and I say that very seriously — we can pull the chestnuts out in such a way that not only no one gets burned, but also certain people are made to look good in the process, we may be able to trade off a little prestige for some very big stakes.”
“I’m not sure, Admiral Haymarket, that we have very much prestige to barter with right now.”
“That’s right, senator, but we can manufacture a little, and that’s what I’m trying to do. You know the Actor; in fact I understand that you were the audience for one of his most brilliant performances.”
“You could put it that way,” Fitzhugh admitted.
“All right; now here is how it stands, senator. By the way, what do your friends call you?”
Fitzhugh was edgy about that. “Solomon, sometimes.”
“I see. Anyhow, through private channels which were set up for the purpose, and with the approval of the President, I’ve been in touch with the premier. Not in my own identity, but as the commander of Thomas Jefferson. Some horse trading has been done. His government is not stable at the moment and usually at such times over there heads roll. To protect himself, he has had to make some moves. He has agreed through a series of apparently unimportant steps to start pulling his people out and in turn I have promised to call the Magsaysay home.”
Solomon Fitzhugh considered that and then shook his head. “I don’t know, admiral,” he said, “once the Magsaysay is no longer a threat to them, then won’t we be completely at their mercy once more?”
To Fitzhugh’s surprise, the admiral seemed to be delighted. “Senator, I agree with you totally, and I’m particularly pleased to hear you express that opinion. If you’ll pardon my saying so, I believe that you’re beginning to see the advantages of keeping our powder dry. Here’s the rest of it: I agreed to pull in the Magsaysay with appropriate fanfare, but with a very secret proviso. Before she leaves her present station, another of our FBM’s must be allowed to replace her. We had three in Holy Loch when this all started, and one of them has already quietly slipped away. The British know; they had to since Holy Loch is in Scotland and the ships were technically impounded there. We are letting them have the propaganda victory, but our basic strategic position is essentially unchanged.”
“He simply let you do that?”
“Yes, to save his own neck and his government. You see, it can remain a secret permanently because the new ship on station isn’t going to fire — we both knew that. He’s far too smart to bring that down on his head, and there wouldn’t be any winners in a nuclear showdown.”
Fitzhugh fingered his coffee cup while he thought. “Why are you telling me all this?” he asked. “When I asked you about the President, you told me very pointedly that I had no need to know.”
The admiral leaned back, coffee in hand. “I was just coming to that. In the plainest language, with Rostovitch dead and his own economy almost on the brink, the premier’s got to get out of a serious overcommitment here before the walls tumble down behind him. Nelson won at Trafalgar, but he got himself killed in the process. The Actor prefers to be around for a while to enjoy his position, his girl friends, and the other amenities of life.”
“So?”
“Very simple,” Haymarket said. “He has suggested that since the occupation has achieved its purpose, he is now ready to talk with his old friend, the esteemed peacemaker, Senator Solomon Fitzhugh.”
The admiral expected a reaction to that and he got it. “Dammit, it wasn’t too long ago that I was very rudely told that the premier wished to hear nothing more from me. I was given to understand that if I did not comply, my toys would be taken away from me. In those words!”
“I know — but that was before we had a nuclear submarine aimed right up his backside. Magsaysay and her overwhelming destructive potential made it a new ball game.”
“Does the President know?”
“Yes, and he has approved. Understand clearly that the deal has already been made; your part will be to show up overseas, accept the protocol, talk about your long-standing devotion to the cause of nonmilitarism, and help the Actor to put on his show. In due time the two of you will issue a joint communique. When that’s all over, he will start pulling back his forces and you, naturally, will emerge a national hero.”
Solomon Fitzhugh shook his head. “I’ll go if it will help the cause of peace. But the hero part will come when you and your associates come out of hiding. Everyone knows about the First Team now.”