Andrew Trevayne returned the President’s stare. «I find that an extraordinary statement.»
«No more extraordinary than I found your report. And the fact that you refused to announce—at least to any of the proposed recipients—the exact date when you’d deliver the report. You made no arrangements with the Government Printing Office; you did not, as is customary, avail yourself of Justice Department attorneys prior to the final assembling—»
«I was not aware of those customs; and if I had been, I doubt I’d have complied.»
«Courtesy, expediency, and simple protection might have made you aware of them,» interjected Hill. «As I gather, your mind was on other, more vital matters.»
«Mr. Ambassador, you’ve been pressing me against the wall since I walked in. I don’t like it! Now, with all due respect, I ask you to stop it.»
«With very little respect returned, Mr. Trevayne, I shall be guided by my chosen vocabulary until the President asks otherwise.»
«Then I do ask it, Bill… Mr. Hill has worked closely with this office, with a number of my predecessors, Trevayne. He looks upon your action more severely than I do.» The President smiled gently. «The Ambassador is not, nor will he ever be, a politician. He believes, quite simply, that you’re trying to rob me of my second term. I wish you luck; I don’t think you can. Or ‘could have,’ I assume, is more proper.»
Trevayne took a silent breath before speaking. «If I had believed for one minute that you were going to run for re-election, none of this would have happened. I’m sorry. Sorrier than I can ever express to you.»
The President’s smile diminished and was no more. Hill began to speak but was stopped by the President’s hand, held up firmly, commanding silence. «I think you’d better explain that, Mr. Trevayne.»
«I was told you would not seek a second term … the decision was irrevocable.»
«And you accepted that.»
«It was the basis of my discussions. Finally the only basis.»
«Were you told why?»
«Yes… I’m sorry.»
The President searched Trevayne’s face, and Andrew felt sick. He didn’t want to look at this good, fine man, but he knew he could not waver.
«My health?» asked the President simply.
«Yes.»
«Cancer?»
«I inferred that… I’m sorry.»
«Don’t be. It’s a lie.»
«Yes, Mr. President.»
«I said it’s a lie.»
«Very well, sir.»
«You’re not reading me, Mr. Trevayne. It is a lie. The simplest, crudest lie that can be used in the political arena.»
Trevayne’s jaw fell slack as he looked at the maturely lined, strong features of the man behind the desk. The President’s eyes were steady, conveying the truth of his statement.
«Then I’m a damn fool.»
«I’d rather that than face the diminishing returns of cobalt… I have every intention of assuming the standard of my party, campaigning, and being returned to office. Is that clear?»
«Yes.»
«Mr. Trevayne.» William Hill spoke softly. «Please accept my apologies. You’re not the only damn fool in this room.» The old man attempted a tight-lipped smile. «We’re neck-and-neck on a slow track for last place… We’re both a little ludicrous.»
«Who specifically read you my premature obituary?»
«It was read twice. The first time was at the Villa d’Este in Georgetown. I went there a skeptic—to see who would try to buy off the subcommittee report. To my astonishment, no one did; quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. I emerged a three-quarters candidate.»
«You still haven’t—»
«Sorry. Senator Alan Knapp. In what I think was called ‘true bipartisan spirit,’ he made the announcement that you were leaving at the end of your present term. And the good of the country came first.»
The President, turning his head only slightly in Hill’s direction, spoke. «You’ll follow this up, Bill?»
«The energetic Senator will retire before the end of the month. Consider it a Christmas present, Mr. President.»
«Go on, please.»
«The second instance was in New York. At the Waldorf. I held what I believed was a showdown with Aaron Green and Ian Hamilton… I thought I’d won; therefore, the report as you read it. Hamilton said you wouldn’t live out a second term; you were putting up either the Vice President or the Governor of New York. They couldn’t accept either one.»
«Scylla and Charybdis strike again, eh, Bill?»
«They’ve gone too far!»
«They always do. Don’t touch them.»
«I understand.»
Trevayne watched the short interplay between the two older men. «Mr. President, I don’t understand. How can you say that? Those men should—»
«We’ll get to that, Mr. Trevayne,» interrupted the President. «One last question. When did you learn that you’d been manipulated? Manipulated brilliantly, I might add, now that I see the pattern.»
«Paul Bonner.»
«Who?»
«Major Paul Bonner—»
«From the Pentagon,» said the President as a statement of fact. «The one who killed that man up at your house in Connecticut?»
«Yes, sir. He saved my life; he’ll be acquitted of the murder charge. He then faces court-martial; he’s being drummed out.»
«You don’t think that’s justified?»
«I do not. I don’t agree very often with the Major, but—»
«I’ll review it,» cut in the chief executive as he hastily scribbled a note on his desk. «What did this Bonner tell you?»
Andrew paused briefly; he wanted to be precise, completely accurate. He owed that to Bonner. «That a brigadier general named Cooper, in a state of depression, anxiety, told him I was the Pentagon’s candidate; that the irony of the Major’s situation was that in the final analysis …» Trevayne paused again, embarrassed by his own words. «Bonner’s court-martial might be rescinded by executive intervention… My intervention.»
«Good Lord,» uttered Hill almost inaudibly.
«And?»
«It didn’t make sense. I looked upon my meeting with Hamilton and Green as a success, a capitulation on their part. I was sure of two things. The first was that I was not their candidate; the second, that they accepted my terms. They were getting out… Bonner’s information contradicted everything I believed.»
«So you called in Cooper,» said the President.
«I did. And I learned not only that I was the Pentagon’s—Genessee Industries’—candidate, but I had been from the beginning. Every resource of the military—Army intelligence data banks, industrial collusion, even interservice voting indoctrinations—they’d all be used to ensure my election. Management, labor, the service ballot; voting blocs guaranteed by Genessee. There was no capitulation in New York; they weren’t getting out. They were wading me out. If I got the nomination—God forbid the office—I’d be hanged. To be independent, to expose them at that point, would be to expose myself.»
«At which juncture—junctures—you’d destroy your candidacy or—God forbid—the national and international confidence of your administration,» completed the President.
«They took considerable risks,» said William Hill. «It’s not like them.»
«What alternative did they have, Bill? He couldn’t be bought. Or persuaded. If our young friend hadn’t gone to them, they would have come to him. Same solution, on the surface. Orderly retreat as opposed to economic chaos. I would have subscribed; so would you.»