The lead article on the front page announced the broadcast the world had just heard, assuring readers that the President would use the occasion to inform the world of his departure from office.
“Is there anything else I can offer you, sir, anything at all?” drawled a honeyed voice in his ear.
He turned and grinned with relief. Sam stood in the aisle, leaning over him.
“Just you, baby.”
He folded the paper on his lap. On the back page was a story neither of them noticed. It said, in the strange code of headline writers: VIET VETS XMAS WINDFALL. The subhead amplified the code: PARAPLEGIC HOSPITAL GETS NO-NAME $5M.
Sam sat down in the aisle seat.
“Got your message, Mr. Quinn. And yes, I will come to Spain with you. And yes, I will marry you.”
“Good,” he said. “I hate indecision.”
“This place where you live… what’s it like?”
“Small place, little white houses, little old church, little old priest…”
“Just so long as he recalls the words of the marriage ceremony.”
She reached her arms behind his head and pulled it down to her own for a long lingering kiss. The newspaper slipped off his lap and fell to the floor, back page upward. A stewardess, smiling indulgently, retrieved it. She failed to notice, nor would she have cared if she had, the lead story on the page. It was headed:
PRIVATE FUNERAL FOR TREASURY SECRETARY
HUBERT REED:
CONTINUING MYSTERY OF LATE-NIGHT DRIVE
INTO POTOMAC.
About the Author
FREDERICK FORSYTH is the author of eight best-selling novels: The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, The Fourth Protocol, The Negotiator, The Deceiver, and The Fist of God. He has also written an acclaimed collection of short fiction, No Comebacks, He lives outside London.
