The Fourth K (21 page)

Salentine said, “According to the correspondents on my media payroll, Congress and the Senate are trying to veto the President’s decision. Is that possible?”

The image of Audick smiled at them. “Not only possible but almost certain. I’ve talked to Cabinet members. They are proposing that the President be removed temporarily from office by reason of his personal vendetta, which shows an imbalance of the mind. Under an amendment of the Constitution, that is legal. We need only get the signatures of the Cabinet and the Vice President on a petition that Congress will ratify. Even if the suspension is for only thirty days, we can halt the destruction of Dak. And I guarantee that the hostages will be released while I am in Sherhaben. But I think all of you should offer support to Congress to remove the President. You owe that to American democracy, as I owe it to my stockholders. We all know damn well that if anybody but his daughter had been killed, he would never have chosen this course of action.”

Greenwell said, “Bert, the four of us have talked this over and we have agreed to support you and the Congress—that’s our duty. We will make the necessary phone calls, our efforts will be coordinated. But Lawrence Salentine has a few pertinent observations he’d like to present.”

Audick’s face on the screen showed anger and disgust. He said, “Larry, this is no time for your media to sit on the fence, believe me. If Kennedy can cost me fifty billion dollars,
there may come a time when all your TV stations could be without a Federal license and then you can go fuck yourself. I won’t lift a finger to help you.”

Greenwell winced at the vulgarity and directness of the response. Inch and Mutford smiled. Salentine showed no emotion. He answered in a calm soothing voice.

“Bert,” he said. “I’m with you all the way, never doubt that. I think a man who arbitrarily decides to destroy fifty billion dollars to reinforce a threat is undoubtedly unbalanced and not fit to head the government of the United States. I’m with you, I assure you. The television media will be breaking into their scheduled programs with bulletins that President Kennedy is being psychiatrically evaluated, that the trauma of his daughter’s death may have temporarily disordered his reason. That should prepare the groundwork for Congress. But this touches an area where I have a little more expertise than most. The President’s decision will be embraced by the American people—the natural mob reaction to all acts of national power plays. If the President succeeds in his action and he gets the hostages back, he will command untold allegiance and votes. Kennedy has intelligence and energy, if he gets one foot in the door he can sweep Congress away.” Salantine paused for a moment, trying to choose his words very carefully. “But if his threats fail—hostages killed, problem not solved—then Kennedy is finished as a political power.”

On the console the image of Bert Audick flinched. He said in a very quiet serious tone, “That is not an alternative. If it goes that far, then the hostages must be saved, our country must win. Besides, the fifty billion dollars will already be lost. No true American wants the Kennedy mission to fail. They may not want a mission with such drastic action, but once it has been started we must see that it succeeds.”

“I agree,” Salentine said, though he did not. “I absolutely agree. I have another point. Once the President sees the danger from Congress, the first thing he will want to do is address the nation on television. Whatever Kennedy’s faults, he is a magician on the tube. Once he presents his case on that TV screen the Congress will be in a great deal of trouble in this country. What if Congress does depose Kennedy for thirty days? Then there is the possibility that the President is right in his diagnosis, that the kidnapers make this a long-drawn-out affair with Kennedy on the sidelines, out of all the heat.” Again Salantine paused, trying to be careful. He said, “Then Kennedy becomes an even greater hero. Our best scenario is to just let him alone, win or lose. That way there is no long-term danger to the political structure of this country. That may be best.”

“I lose fifty billion dollars that way, right?” Bert Audick said. The face on the huge TV screen was clearly reddening with anger. There had never been anything wrong with the color control.

Mutford said, “It is a considerable sum of money, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Bert Audick’s face on the screen was an astonishing blood-red. Salentine thought again that it might be the controls—no man could stay alive and turn such vivid hues. Audick’s voice reverberated through the room: “Fuck you, Martin, fuck you. And it’s more than fifty billion. What about the loss of revenue while we rebuild Dak? Will your banks loan me the money then without interest? You’ve got more cash up your asshole than the U.S. Treasury, but would you give me the fifty billion? Like shit you would.”

Greenwell said hastily, “Bert, Bert, we are with you. Salentine was just pointing out a few options you may not have thought of under the pressure of events. In any event we
could not stop Congress’s action even if we tried. Congress will not permit the executive to dominate on such an issue. Now, we all have work to do, so I suggest this conference come to an end.”

Salentine smiled and said, “Bert, those bulletins about the President’s mental condition will be on television in three hours. The other networks will follow our lead. Call me and tell me what you think, you may have some ideas. And one other thing, if Congress votes to depose the President before he requests time on TV, the networks can refuse him the time on the basis that he has been certified as mentally incompetent and is no longer President.”

“You do that,” Audick said, his face fading now to a natural color. And the conference call ended with courteous good-byes.

Salentine said, “Gentlemen, I suggest we all fly to Washington in my plane. I think we should all pay a visit to our old friend Oliver Oliphant.”

Mutford smiled. “The Oracle, my old mentor. He’ll give us some answers.”

Within the hour they were all on their way to Washington.

Summoned to meet with President Kennedy, the ambassador of Sherhaben, Sharif Waleeb, was shown secret CIA videotapes of Yabril having dinner with the Sultan in the Sultan’s palace. The Sherhaben ambassador was genuinely shocked. How could his Sultan be involved in such a dangerous endeavor? Sherhaben was a tiny country, a gentle country, peace-loving, as was wise for a militarily weak power.

The meeting was in the Oval Office with Bert Audick present. The President was accompanied by two staff members, Arthur Wix, the national security adviser, and Eugene Dazzy, the chief of staff.

After he was formally presented, the Sherhaben ambassador said to Kennedy, “My dear Mr. President, you must believe I had no knowledge of this. You have my personal, my most abject, my most heartfelt apologies.” He was close to tears. “But I must say one thing I truly believe. The Sultan could never have agreed to harm your poor daughter.”

Francis Kennedy said gravely, “I hope that is true because then he will agree to my proposal.”

The ambassador listened with an apprehension that was more personal than political. He had been educated at an American university and was an admirer of the American way of life. He loved American food, American alcoholic drinks, American women and their rebelliousness under the male yoke. He loved American music and films. He had donated money to all the necessary politicos and made bureaucrats in the American State Department rich. He was an expert on oil and a friend of Bert Audick.

Now he was in despair over his personal misfortune, but he was not really worried about Sherhaben and its Sultan. The worst that could happen would be economic sanctions. The American CIA would mount covert operations to displace the Sultan, but this might be to his advantage.

So he was profoundly shocked by Kennedy’s carefully articulated speech. “You must listen closely,” Francis Kennedy said. “In three hours you will be on a plane to Sherhaben to bring my message to your Sultan personally. Mr. Bert Audick, whom you know, and my national security adviser, Arthur Wix, will accompany you. And the message is this. In twenty-four hours your city of Dak will be destroyed.”

Horrified, his throat constricted, the ambassador could not speak.

Kennedy continued: “The hostages must be released and
the terrorist Yabril must be turned over to us. Alive. If the Sultan does not do this, the state of Sherhaben itself will cease to exist.”

The ambassador looked so stricken that Kennedy thought he might have trouble comprehending. Kennedy paused for a moment and then went on reassuringly. “All this will be in the documents I will send with you to present to your Sultan.”

Ambassador Waleeb said dazedly, “Mr. President, forgive me, you said something about destroying Dak?”

Kennedy said, “That is correct. Your Sultan will not believe my threats until he sees the city of Dak in ruins. Let me repeat: the hostages must be released, Yabril must be surrendered and secured so that he cannot take his own life. There will be no more negotiations.”

The ambassador said incredulously, “You cannot threaten to destroy a free country, tiny as it is. And if you destroy Dak, you destroy billions of dollars’ worth of American investment.”

“That may be true,” Kennedy said. “We will see. Make sure your Sultan understands that I am immovable in this matter—that is your function. You, Mr. Audick and Mr. Wix will go in one of my personal planes. Two other aircraft will accompany you. One to bring back the hostages and the body of my daughter. The other to bring back Yabril.”

The ambassador could not speak, he could scarcely think. This was surely a nightmare. The President had gone mad.

When he was alone with Bert Audick, Audick said to him grimly, “That bastard meant what he said, but we have a card to play. I’ll talk to you on the plane.”

In the Oval Office Eugene Dazzy took notes.

Francis Kennedy said, “Have you arranged for all the
documents to be delivered to the ambassador’s office and to the plane?”

Dazzy said, “We dressed it up a little. Wiping out Dak is bad enough, but we can’t say in print that we will destroy the whole country of Sherhaben. But your message is clear. Why send Wix?”

Kennedy smiled and said, “The Sultan will know that when I send him my national security adviser I’m very serious. And Arthur will repeat my verbal message.”

“Do you think it will work?” Dazzy said.

“He’ll wait for Dak to go down,” Kennedy said. “Then it sure as hell will work unless he’s crazy.”

To impeach the President of the United States in twenty-four hours seemed almost impossible. But four hours after Kennedy’s ultimatum to Sherhaben, Congress and the Socrates Club had this victory well within their grasp.

After Christian Klee had left the meeting, the computer surveillance section of his FBI special division gave him a complete report on the activities of the leaders of Congress and the members of the Socrates Club. Three thousand calls were listed. Charts and records of all the meetings held were also part of the report. The evidence was clear and overwhelming. Within the next twenty-four hours the House and Senate of the United States would try to impeach the President.

Christian, furious, put the reports in his briefcase and rushed over to the White House. But before he left, he told
Peter Cloot to move ten thousand agents from their normal-duty posts and send them to Washington.

At this same time late Wednesday Senator Thomas Lambertino, the strongman of the Senate, with his aide Elizabeth Stone and Congressman Alfred Jintz, the Democratic Speaker of the House, were meeting in Lambertino’s office. Sal Troyca, chief aide to Congressman Jintz, was there to cover up, as he often said, the asshole of his boss, who was an idiot manqué. About Sal Troyca’s cunning there was no doubt, not only in his own mind but on Capitol Hill.

In that warren of rabbity legislators, Sal Troyca was also a champion womanizer and genteel promoter of relationships between the sexes. Troyca had already noted that the senator’s chief aide, Elizabeth Stone, was a beauty, but he had to find out how devoted she was. And right now he had to concentrate on the business at hand.

Troyca read aloud the pertinent sentences of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, editing out sentences and words here and there. He read slowly and carefully in a beautifully controlled tenor voice:” ‘Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments’ ”—in an aside to Jintz he whispered, “That’s the Cabinet”; then his voice grew more emphatic—” ‘or of
such other body as Congress may by law provide
, transmit to … the Senate and … House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.’ ”

“Bullshit,” Congressman Jintz yelled. “It can’t be that easy to impeach a President.”

“It’s not,” said Senator Lambertino in a soothing voice. “Read on, Sal.”

Sal Troyca thought bitterly that it was typical that his boss did not know the Constitution, holy as it was. He gave up. Fuck the Constitution, Jintz would never understand. He would have to put it in plain language. He said, “Essentially the Vice President and the Cabinet must sign a declaration of incompetence to impeach Kennedy. Then the Vice President becomes President. One second later Kennedy enters his counterdeclaration and says he’s OK. He’s President again. Then Congress decides. During that delay Kennedy can do what he wants.”

Congressman Jintz said, “And there goes Dak.”

Senator Lambertino said, “Most of the Cabinet members will sign the declaration. We’ll have to wait for the Vice President—we can’t proceed without her signature. Congress will have to meet no later than ten
P.M
. Thursday to decide the issue in time to prevent the destruction of Dak. And to win we must have a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. Now, can the House do the job? I guarantee the Senate.”