“Good authority!” said McClellan incredulously. “In D.C. I didn’t think there was such a thing.”
Eastland said, “I’ve had my intelligence people look into it, without telling them anything, really, of course, and they’ve come to the same conclusion.”
“Are these the same intelligence folks who thought Iraq had WMDs?” countered McClellan. “Because if so, I wouldn’t bet the farm on your damn intelligence.”
Huey bristled. “Mac, please don’t make issues where none exist. They have no proof. They have no way to get proof.”
“You’re forgetting Aaron Callahan, a.k.a. Roy Mars. He has the proof. And the asshole’s alive.”
“We were told that, but we’ve seen no definitive evidence of it,” pointed out Huey.
“Who the hell else would have gotten that colored kid out of the lockup ’cept his old man? How the hell could Callahan have married a colored? I just don’t get it. He was one of us.”
Eastland said, “He was never one of us. He was brought in, bought and paid for. He never believed in our cause. He just wanted the money.”
“He thought like we did,” persisted McClellan. “He thought like a white man should. That’s what I meant.”
“And if you hadn’t gone after him when you saw that piece on ESPN we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” barked Eastland. “Have you never heard of the phrase ‘let sleeping dogs lie’? He hadn’t given up our secrets for decades, Mac. And then you poked the hornet’s nest, and now look where we are.”
McClellan exclaimed, “I’m not living with that sword hanging over my head. You got tons of money and all the fancy lawyers that come with it. If he talked you could fight it all off. But not me. I spent my life protecting the public, Danny, while you got richer and Hugh got the big office in D.C. So excuse me for protecting my own ass.” McClellan was so enraged that for a moment it looked like he might go over the table at Eastland.
Obviously sensing this, Huey said quickly, “Okay, let’s just calm down and think this through. We can’t lose our heads. Come on, Mac. We’re not the enemy here.”
McClellan glared at Eastland for a moment longer and then settled back in his seat.
Huey said, “Let’s say he is alive, why would he come forward now? He’ll go to prison too.”
“Jesus, you guys,” exclaimed McClellan. “You two have risen so high in the world you’d think you’d have better brains. He doesn’t have to come forward. Just mail what he has to the New York Times. Or CNN. Or the Justice Department. You damn well know the stuff he has. He stole it from us. It was stupid of us creating all that crap, evidence of what we’d done.”
“He could have done that at any time in the last forty years,” pointed out Eastland patiently. “And yet he hasn’t.”
“And if we let sleeping dogs lie this time, like Danny suggested, then we survive this intact,” added Huey.
“And things just go on like they’ve been going,” added Eastland. “Don’t rock the boat.”
McClellan was shaking his head. “You boys just don’t get it. You did not see the look in Decker’s eyes. And I did some digging on him. He was one smart cop out in the Midwest. He was asked to work with a new task force the FBI formed. But forget that, I can read a man’s eyes. Just like I used to read the QB’s eyes on the field. Who had more interceptions than me in the high school conference the last three years, huh? Who? Tell me!”
“Nobody,” replied Eastland wearily. “Two-way Mac, O and D.”
“Exactly. And I’m telling you that this Decker dude is not going down that easily.”
“Yes, you made that point quite clearly,” said Huey.
Eastland said, “What exactly would you have us do, Mac? Just lay it out there.”
McClellan finished his drink and took a few moments to consider his response.
“In the old days the answer would have been clear enough.”
Eastland looked at Huey. Huey kept his gaze on McClellan.
“Are you suggesting that we, what, blow him up?”
Huey said, “That was fifty years ago, Mac. This is a different time. A far different place.”
McClellan slammed his fist on the table. “Our way of life was threatened back then and we took action. We didn’t let no damn sleeping dogs lie. Now we’re threatened again. And I say we have to take action. The world hasn’t changed that much. In fact, I see the pendulum swinging back to where it should be. You can see it all over the place. People want to take their country back. Politicians are saying it. Laws are being passed. Hell, Hugh, you see that from where you sit. People don’t want to take this crap anymore. And it’s about damn time. Hell, for future generations of Americans if nothing else.”
Huey looked out the jet’s window at the white clouds down below. “What we did back then was stupid. We were young and hotheaded. It was a mistake.”
“You don’t believe that,” said McClellan.
Huey looked at him. “Of course I believe it. I’m a lawyer. I’ve been a member of Congress for over three decades. I’m the chairman of arguably the most important committee on the Hill.”
“Blah-blah-blah,” said McClellan, waving his empty glass. “That means shit right now. Shit! So don’t pull that crap on me, Mr. High and Mighty.”
“I’m the CEO of a publicly traded company, Mac,” said Eastland. “This isn’t the 1960s anymore. Hugh’s right, we’re not young punks anymore with our brains in our ass.”
McClellan pointed a finger at them. “It’s attitudes like that that have led this country to the sinkhole it’s currently in. Bad things happen when good men do nothing.”
Eastland traded another glance with Huey.
Huey said, “We’ve always put things to a vote before, right?”
Eastland said, “Right.”
Huey said, “And I vote that unless the situation on the ground changes, we pull back and take no further steps.”
“I second that,” said Eastland.
McClellan glared at them for a long moment before saying, “You two have turned into a couple of real pansies.”
“We’re being practical, Mac,” said Huey. “And we’ve voted. Will you honor that vote?”
McClellan said, “I will. For now. But if the ground situation changes will you honor the fact that we will kill these sons of bitches?” When the two men said nothing, his voice rose. “Will you? Or you gonna take another vote and run away with your damn tails tucked?”
“If the ground situation changes we will act,” said Eastland, and Huey nodded.
“We will kill, you mean,” amended McClellan.
“If that’s what it takes,” said Eastland. “I’m not going to prison over this. It was too long ago, and I believe I’ve made up for it. We’ve done a lot of good in the world.”
“Amen to that,” said Huey. “A lifetime of service. It balances things. Even the things we did,” he added. “Fifty years of righteous living versus a few hotheaded acts that we regret now. I’ve helped many people over the years. My conscience is clear. God has forgiven me, I truly believe that.”
“I feel the same,” said Eastland. “I’ve given millions to charities. Tried to make the world a better place. I’ve even funded programs for black kids and Mexicans. Given them a helping hand. You know so many of their fathers are in prison. Very sad. But I’ve made peace with my past. I feel good about who I became as a person. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young. As we did. But we’ve repaid the debt, so to speak.”
“Maybe you regret the past, I sure as hell don’t,” snapped McClellan.
“You need to stop talking like that,” said Eastland warily. “The climate has changed. You can’t be a police chief, even in Mississippi, and talk that way. You just can’t. You can think those things if you want, but for God’s sake, keep those thoughts in your head.”