The Means (12 page)

Susan takes this as a cue. She opens a folder on her lap and suggests to the team a two-week period to block out and a list of countries to visit and in what order, and that details will be forthcoming.

“Thank you, Susan.” Mason gives a job-well-done smile. He's looking forward to two weeks in hotels with her and the lingerie he's already requested. Evelyn will not be making this trip.

23

All that day Mason is looking forward to his 3:30 p.m. meeting with Susan Fitzgerald to review the plan for the overseas trip. Mason has instructed Stark to schedule a few one-on-one meetings with Fitzgerald each week. Not enough to satisfy him and not enough to draw too much attention.

Mason has a 3:15 p.m. meeting with the ambassador from Spain which he ends five minutes early by blurting out his thanks to the ambassador for stopping by. Stark shows the ambassador out and knows Mason will want to be left alone. This also gives Stark the time he needs to make sure the security cameras in the Oval Office are temporarily turned off.

For his part, Stark would prefer that the president didn't have this distraction and vulnerability, but Stark is a realist. He knows Mason can't be more than human. With that much power comes sexual entitlement and if he wants one extra girl on the side, so be it. At least he's discreet and measured. He was an effective governor for New York and he can be an effective chief executive for the nation. He's certainly doing great things for Stark's career.

Fitzgerald enters the office from the main door, passing the three secretaries. Nothing clandestine. Her arms are crossed and full of binders and she looks very important. The head secretary closes the door behind Fitzgerald who walks forward and drops the binders in the chair where she had sat during the morning staff meeting.

She lifts her right heel out of her pump so that the shoe dangles from her toes and she kicks it over the president's desk at Mason, then does the same with the left. She steps up on the square coffee table in stockinged feet and turns her back to Mason. With her feet in place she swings her hips side to side while she lifts her black skirt over her waist to show off a red thong. “I'm here for my three thirty, Mr. President.” Susan does this routine as much for herself as for Mason. Every woman should know what it feels like to do a striptease in the Oval Office, she thinks.

“We have only fifteen minutes, darlin'. Come on over here and don't adjust that skirt on your way.”

She steps off the table in the direction of his desk. She feels like a cat. Her walk is more exaggerated than just foot over foot, and with the placement of each step her foot crosses her center line which gives a pleasant motion to her ass.

She comes around behind the desk and rolls Mason's chair back by pushing on the armrests. She sits her ass, which is bare but for the thong so it's only ass touching anything, where a pad of paper might go.

Mason rolls forward. She's above him and he reaches to grab the flesh of her behind and rests his face against the cashmere sweater covering her breasts. She embraces his head and massages his neck, careful not to mess his hair beyond what can be fixed by 3:45 p.m. The intensity of their hasty fondling increases until they're like teens at a drive-in.

Stark stands in the hallway outside the office next to two Secret Service agents, which is where he'll spend the full fifteen minutes. All three know exactly what's happening. It feels like a sad moment. Stark hopes the other two also feel this is a small price to pay.

24

Mitchell sits behind his desk in the Oval Office feeling very comfortable. He's already learned how to make the most of his home court advantage. He doesn't overplay his hand by looking cocky or too relaxed. He just looks in control.

Across from him sit Ron Stark and Jason Warren, the Senate majority leader and a Republican. Mason remembers Obama didn't invite the opposition party leaders in for a meeting until a year and a half into his administration. He was supposed to be the postpartisan president but this was a snub to Republicans and the press hit him for it. Mason isn't going to give something like that to the media or to any loudmouths in the Republican Party.

Mason is six weeks into his term and it was his idea to extend the invitation. Stark agrees it's a smart move. Mason is a damn good politician, thinks Stark. Mason and his team are set to leave for their overseas trip the following day, which has the president in an excellent mood.

“Jason, thank you for coming.” Mason doesn't know Jason Warren well at all but knows that he and Hammermill had a good relationship. Hammermill governed as a moderate Democrat, even managing some entitlement reform including raising the social security retirement age to sixty-eight. The final two years of his administration had balanced budgets, something not achieved since Clinton, so the political frenzy around deficits and debt ceilings has abated. The last balanced budgets in decades were both under Democratic presidents, an effective sound bite for public consumption when Democrats paint Republicans as ridiculous for their key tenet of fiscal responsibility. Mason and Warren know it's more complicated.

“Thank you for inviting me, Mr. President. We look forward to continuing a close relationship with the White House.”

“Of course, and I hope this meeting will set the tone for that.”

“I hope so too.” Warren is pleasant but cautious. He's heard the new president is a politician through and through, which could be made to be a good thing. Warren is a sixty-one-year-old senator from Arizona. The hair he has left is only around the sides and is gray. He's average height, average build, and he always wears a black suit, white shirt, and red tie. He's a conservative and proper man that nobody in the Senate dislikes.

Mason recognizes this as a sort of dance but as the leader of the world decides he doesn't need to play along so he charges in. “Jason, I want achievements in my first year. I'd like to do it with your support and deliver it to the American people wrapped in a bow. Now, I've called my shots and they're easy ones for you to get behind. I've chosen these issues in part for that reason. I want additional funding for green energy jobs and I want to cut back on tax breaks for oil. Oil companies are doing fine and we can present this as a package that will be cash flow neutral to the budget.”

Warren shifts in his chair.

“Second is an increase in budget for the Department of Education with a mandate to improve urban public schools. We'll think of a name more clever than No Child Left Behind and roll it out.”

“Well, it's in the details, sir. Education certainly needs help and I think people would certainly send more money in that direction provided they feel the money is spent efficiently. The Department of Education is seriously mismanaged. Any additional funding would have to be coupled with reform.”

“We'll work in some reform. We'll appoint a bipartisan committee. You and I will choose the members. Don't put any of your hard-asses on it. Let's both pick people who can play ball. I want legislation passed in these two areas in year one, Jason. Just these two areas. I need that for my base. And I'll reciprocate support for your hot-button area. I can make some moves with regard to illegal immigration.” Mason knows this would play well with Warren in Arizona.

Warren is a powerful man but Mason knows congressional leaders can't pull their party together in a block the way they used to. People at home watch Kevin Spacey play the House majority whip on TV and he uses leverage to intimidate congressmen to vote the way party leadership wants. People at home think that's how it really works but it hasn't worked that way in years.

The Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United let corporations give unlimited amounts to campaigns. For better or worse, that means party leadership can't pull their caucus together because congressmen don't owe the party, they owe whichever group gives them the money to win elections. The whip doesn't have a whip anymore.

When Senator Warren and others from Congress come to the Oval Office, they don't have the power they had a decade ago. It's a relative advantage to Mason. Congress isn't what it used to be. Most congressmen serve a few terms hoping they can turn that into a job in cable news.

“Again, it'll be in the details,” says Warren.

“Of course. Let's set a bipartisan committee and you be the chair of it. Come up with a set of recommendations and brief Homeland Security two months from now.”

“Okay. It'll be done.” The new chief executive is much more prone to delegation that Hammermill was, thinks Warren. Hammermill was deep in the details. He loved it. That wasn't always for the best but he knew the issues as well as any of the lawmakers. Maybe Mason's methods are better. Mason was a governor and Hammermill a senator, so maybe that accounts for the different style.

“Very good. I think we have an understanding, Jason.”

Cuts to oil company tax incentives have not been discussed. Warren knows that's a tough issue. It's been on the table for years and never gets resolved. Maybe he can get something very small. A token that's at least directionally correct. “As far as the big picture goes, sir, I think we do have an understanding. Let's see what we turn up.”

The president's goal is to push his two issue areas and to keep it friendly. He knows detail will interrupt the friendliness. “You're a golfer, aren't you Jason?”

“I'm from Arizona.”

“Of course. We'll get a round on the schedule. Maybe after your Homeland Security briefing.”

“Certainly. I'd like that.”

Mitchell knows Warren is sizing him up and decides to be active rather than passive in the process. “I'm a different man from Hammermill. People describe him as a collector of friends. They say that as a compliment. I think that's a bullshit way of being a friend and I never trust a man who is a collector of friends, a person who would acquire friendships like baseball cards on a shelf. That may make for good politics but it's shallow and it's bullshit. I'm the opposite. If someone is a friend of mine, they've likely put up with a hell of a lot of crap over the years. So we'll see how things work out for you and me.”

Stark knows his cue and helps wrap things. He shows Warren out then returns to his chair by Mason. “What did you think, Mitchell?”

The president leans back with his hands in prayer position under his chin. Mason doesn't like dealing with congressmen because he doesn't respect them, especially those in the House. Congressmen think the people hate them and that's true. They think they accomplish nothing and that's also true. With the crackdown on earmarks, they can't even swindle money home for their constituents. They have no individual power but are around power all the time and when they meet with a powerful person they scramble around for the second-most-important chair in the room, or in the Suburban, thinking that the chair will bring them some respect if they get it. DC is a hierarchical town. “Nice enough. Very civil. This wasn't a meeting about commitments, but he seems like a noncommittal bastard.”

“He's got his own base to look out for. There's enough common ground that we'll get something done, even if it's small. Then each side will start the spin on why it was a win and real progress for their own party.”

“Exactly. And I have the bigger podium.” Mason never would have run for Congress. It was the governor's mansion then the White House. He's a natural executive. He finishes that thought and is on to another. “He looks awfully stressed out for a guy from Arizona.”

“The baldness doesn't help. He looks healthy enough for sixty-­one.”

*   *   *

Warren stops just outside the door to the Oval Office, trying to burn in his memory of the meeting with Mason for further review later. Little things in his subconscious will eventually surface to shape his opinion of the president. At the moment, he has no read of the man. He can't decide if he likes him or not, though there's no question he's very different from Hammermill. Things are changing here, he thinks.

*   *   *

After the meeting with Senator Warren, Mason needs to get to a Washington, DC, school where he is doing a reading with a kindergarten class. He and Stark leave the Oval Office for the motorcade.

Just outside the Oval Office are the three secretaries, seated at desks with their backs to the Rose Garden. Marianne Aidala is seated at the desk closest to the office door and when Mason steps out he sees her hand rush to her face to wipe tears. His pace never changes but he makes a ninety-degree turn to her desk as though he has planned to do it.

“Marianne, what's the matter?”

“I'm sorry, sir.”

“What is it? Tell me.” In a soft voice.

She looks at him without squaring her shoulders to him. “It's nothing, sir. I'm fine, thank you.”

Mason is standing straight up in front of her desk, trying not to invade her personal space. He turns to Stark. “Ron, back in my office.”

Mason and Ron Stark return to the Oval Office and close the door. The entourage that was on the way to the motorcade waits outside by the secretaries. “Ron, what's that all about? It's not the first time she's looked upset about something.”

“I think that she and Regis Child are working through some issues.” Regis Child is the president's personal aide. He's responsible for making sure the president stays on schedule, knows the dress code for events, and anticipates any and all needs. He also manages the secretaries and sits in a small room across from their desks.

“What are the issues?”

“Regis has had a problem with her commitment. The hours she works.”

“She's in here at six a.m. every day, at least two hours before I am.”

“And she leaves at four.”

“Exactly. It's a ten-hour day. She has two kids she picks up from school. We went through all this when she started and we agreed to this schedule. Regis agreed to it.”

“Regis works a lot more than ten hours and he thinks that from time to time, if certain days require it, she should stay late and find an accommodation for the kids.”

“What does ‘working through issues' mean? How has Regis been handling this?”

“He's been a little hard on her lately. He's working hard, under pressure. I guess it bothers him to see a regular ten-hour day.”

“We agreed on a ten-hour day with her.” Mason rubs his chin. “Damn.”

“Sir?”

“Regis is good and he does a hell of a lot for me. But I won't have this. Fire him.”

“Sir?”

“Marianne's a tough lady and he has her in tears for Christ's sake. Fire him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ron, number one, I won't have any bullies around here. I have no tolerance for that. Number two, I'm not going to lose talented people, especially young women, because they need to balance work with family commitments. The woman needs to be with her children, we told her that would be fine, and I'll be goddamned if we're going to give her a hard time about it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell Regis he serves at the pleasure of the president and it is no longer my pleasure that he serve. If anyone asks why you let him go, you tell them exactly.”

They walk back out of the Oval Office to the secretaries' desks. Mason walks back to Marianne's desk and this time puts his palms down on her desk and leans into her space.

“Marianne, I value the work you do here. Very much.”

This triggers a response in Marianne right away. She's not recovered but is recovering quickly. Small praise from the president is powerful. “Thank you, sir.”

Mason straightens back up and the entourage moves on without another word.

Stark is smiling. He likes Regis and isn't looking forward to firing him, but watching Mason make this decision is one of the occasional reminders he likes to have of why he loves the man.