A minute later Redwing walked out of the stall in a smart dark-tailored suit, the image of a cool successful lady lawyer totally unafraid of facing the male-dominated Supreme Court. What momentarily terrified her, however, was the sight of MacKenzie Hawkins. «Ahh!» she screamed.
«My sentiments exactly,» said Devereaux.
«General,» added Pinkus, in the title a soft but earnest plea. «This is not a costume parade at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. These proceedings are among the most serious and venerable of our legal system, and your outfit, as splendid as it is, is hardly in keeping with the occasion.»
«What’s the occasion, Commander?»
«Only the future of the Wopotami tribe and a large segment of the nation’s defense structure.»
«I’ll go with the first part. Case closed. Besides, it’s all I’ve got unless you want me to walk in like a member of Hoboes Anonymous—which from another point of view isn’t a bad idea.»
«We’ll go with the feathers, General,» said Jennifer quickly.
«That filthy overcoat’s probably still in the hallway,» mused Hawkins. «There’s no one up here to find it; everybody’s downstairs… Think of it, a downtrodden indigent from a disenfranchised people—in rags and maybe holding my stomach from hunger.»
«No, Mac!» yelled Sam. «They’d drag you out to be deloused.»
«I suppose that’s a possibility,» said the Hawk, frowning. «This is a heartless city.»
«Thirty-five seconds,» announced Redwing, glancing at her watch. «We’d better go.»
«I can’t imagine that a minute or two of tardiness would matter,» said Aaron. «I mean, that’s a veritable insurrection downstairs, the masses storming the barricades, as it were.»
«Not storming, Commander, but praying. There’s a difference.»
«He’s right, Aaron, and that’s not to our benefit,» said Devereaux. «As soon as the guards realize it’s basically a peaceful demonstration, the alert will be called off and all the others will return to their posts… You’ve been to these examinations before, haven’t you, boss?»
«Three or four times,» replied Pinkus. «Authenticity is established of the plaintiff’s identity, as well as that of the attorney-of-record, and those of whatever amid curiae are in attendance. Then the arguments are presented.»
«Who’s at the chambers’ doors, Commander?»
«An assigned guard and a law clerk, General.»
«Bingo!» roared the Hawk. «One of ’em or both of ’em will have our names on a list. They’ll get on a radio and a dozen others will come out of the woodwork and haul us away. We’ll never get in!»
«You can’t be serious,» said Jennifer. «This is the Supreme Court. No one can buy guards and law clerks to do that sort of thing.»
«Try billions in debt and red faces at the Pentagon, as well as State, Justice, and several dozen leeches in Congress who vacation on barrels filled with pork, against a few hundred thousand dollars spread through these hallowed halls!»
«Mac’s got a point,» said Sam.
«Flesh is weak,» observed Aaron.
«Let’s get the hell out of here!» concluded Redwing.
They did, all four hastening with as much decorum as possible toward the huge carved doors of the chambers. To their relief, they saw the massive figure of Cyrus standing in front of them; to their astonishment, they also saw the two Desis, kneeling on either side of him in their clerical garb.
«Colonel, what are my adjutants doing here?»
«General, what the hell are you wearing?»
«The mantle of my tribal office, of course. Now, answer my question!»
«It was Desi the First’s idea. He said they’d gone this far, and although they’re not sure what it’s all about, they figured you should have additional protection. It was no problem for them to get up here—it’s an insane asylum in revolt downstairs.»
«How sweet,» said Jennifer.
«How dumb!» cried Devereaux. «They’ll be spotted, arrested, and questioned, and our whole illegal entry will be front-page news!»
«Chu don’ unnerstand,» said D-One, raising his head, his palms still matched in prayer. «Número uno, we never say nodding. Número dos, we are misioneros who convert the poor bárbaros to dee ways of Christ. Who can arrest such padres? Also, if dey try, dey don’ walk for a couple of months, and nobody goes inside but chu.»
«I’ll be damned,» mumbled Hawkins, affection in his eyes as he looked down at his two aides-de-camp. «I brought you boys up right. In dark operations one should always have secondary egress personnel; they’re usually the first to take the fire. We hesitate to assign them because we know the odds, but you didn’t hesitate to volunteer. Fine show, men.»
«Daz nice, Heneral,» said D-Two, «but chu not be damned. I can straighten dat out myself, not my amigo. Chu see, I’m católico, he ees only a protestante—it don’ count.»
The thundering sound of pounding footsteps in the long hallway caused all of them to whip their heads around in shock. It diminished quickly as the running figure of Roman Z, a camcorder in each hand, his shoulder-strapped nylon pouch bouncing off his hips, came rushing toward them, his WFOG T-shirt drenched with sweat. «My dearest, most loving frenz!» he cried, stopping breathlessly. «You could not believe how magnificent I was! I got pictures of efferyone, including three peoples who were convinced by my blade to say they were sent here by a ‘general-attorney,’ and by a leetle man secretary in somzing they call ‘defance,’ and a beeg soccer player who told me he was only an ignorant represantive of somzing he call zee ‘Fanny Hill Society’—some society, we got better in Serbo-Croatia.»
«That’s terrific!» said Sam. «But how did you get up here?»
«Iss easy! Down in zee big marble hall, efferybody iss dancing and singing and laughing and crying like zee best of my Gypsy ancestors. Men in crazy clothes and painted faces are passing around bottles of fruity juice and efferybody is so happy it remind me of our camps in zee Moravian mountains. It iss all glorioso!»
«Oh, my God!» exclaimed Jennifer. «The yaw-yaw stills!»
«The what, my dear?»
«Stills, Mr. Pinkus. The most intoxicating drink ever devised by civilized or uncivilized man. The Mohawks say they invented it, but we refined it and made it twenty times more potent. It’s totally banned on the reservation, but if anyone could find those old stills and put them to use it would be that bastard, Johnny Calfnose!»
«I’d say at this moment he’s totally legitimate, both in birth and in timing,» said Devereaux.
«So that’s how you—we—people swindled the Western settlers,» said the Hawk.
«That’s irrelevant, General.»
«Yes, but interesting—»
«Let’s go in,» said Cyrus, his voice now commanding. «That kind of juice has two effects—oblivion and the sudden recognition of remembered responsibilities which brings on panic, which we don’t need. I’ll open the door.» He did so and added. «You first, General.»