The Prodigal Daughter (67 page)

“I would also
like to join the board of Lester’s. Richard always wanted me to find out how a
bank worked from the inside. He never stopped telling me he paid his directors
a higher salary than the President of the United States.”

“You’ll have to
consult William on that, not me.”

“Why?” asked
Florentyna.

“Because
he’s taking over as chairman on January first next year.
He knows more
about banking than I ever will. He’s inherited all Richard’s natural instincts
for high finance. I’ll stay on as a director for a few more years, but I’m
confident that the bank couldn’t be in better hands.”

“
is
he old enough for such a responsibility?”

“Same age as you
were when you first became chairman of the Baron Group,” said Edward.

“Well, at least
we’ll have one president in the family,” Florentyna said as she missed a
two-foot putt.

“One
hole
each, V.P.” Edward marked his card and studied the
210-yard dogleg that lay in front of him. “Now I know how you intend to occupy
half of your time. So do you have anything planned for the other half?”

“Yes,” said
Florentyna. “The Remagen Trust has lacked direction since the death of
Professor Ferpozzi. I’ve decided to head it up myself. Do you know how much the
trust has on deposit nowadays?”

“No, but it
would only take one phone call to find out,” said Edward, trying to concentrate
on his swing.

“I’ll save you a
quarter,” said Florentyna.
“Twenty-one million dollars,
bringing in an annual income of nearly three million dollars.
Edward,
the time has come to build the first Remagen University with major scholarships
for the children of first-gene ration immigrants.”

“And remember,
V.P., gifted children, whatever their background,” said Edward, teeing up.

“You’re sounding
more and more like Richard every day,” shelaughed.

Edward swung. “I
wish my golf were as good as his,” he added as he watched his little white ball
headed high and far before hitting a tree.

Florentyna
didn’t seem to notice. And after she had hit her ball firmly down the middle of
the fairway, they both walked off in different directions. They could not
continue their conversation until they had reached the green, where Florentyna
went on talking about where the new university should be built, how many
students it should admit in its first year, who should be the first president.
She ended up losing the third and fourth holes. Florentyna began to concentrate
on her game but still had to scramble to square the match up by the ninth.

“I’ll be
particularly pleased to give your hundred dollars to the Republican Party
today,” Florentyna said. “Nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing Parkin
and Brooks bite the dust.”

Florentyme
sighed as she hit a bad short iron from the tee toward the tenth green.

“I’m far fiorn
beaten yet,” said Edward.

Florentymi
ignored him. “What a waste my years in govemment have been,” she said.

“No, I can’t
agree with that,” said Edward, still practicing his swings.

“Eight years in
Congress, a further seven in the Senate and ending up the first woman Vice
President. And I suspect history will ultimately record your role over the
invasion of Pakistan far more accurately than Parkin has felt necessary. Even
if you have achieved less than you’d hoped, you’ve made the task a lot easier
for the next woman who wants to go the whole way. Ironically I believe if you
were the Democratic candidate at the next election, you would win easily.”

“The public
opinion polls certainly agree with you.” Florentyna tried to concentrate, but
sliced her tee shot. “Damn,” she said as her ball disappeared into the woods.

“You’re not at
the top of your game today, V.P.,” said Edward. He proceeded to win the tenth
and eleventh holes but then threw away the twelfth and thirteenth with
overanxious putts.

“I think we
should build a Baron in Moscow,” said Florentyna when they had reached the
fourteenth green. “That was one of my father’s greatest
dreams,
Did I ever tell you that the minister for tourism, Mikhail Zokovlov, has long
been trying to interest me in the idea? I have to go on that frightful culture
trip to Moskow next month, which will be a wonderful opportunity to discuss the
idea with him in detail. Thank God for the Bolshoi Ballet, borscht and caviar.
At least they’ve never tried to get me in bed with some handsome young man.”

“Not while they
know about our golf deal,” chuckled Edward.

They split the
fourteenth and fifteenth and Edward won the sixteenth hole. “We are about to
discover what you are like under pressure,” said Florentyna.

Edward proceeded
to lose the seventeenth by missing a putt of only three feet, so that the match
rested on the last hole. Florentyna drove well, but Edward, thanks to a lucky
bounce off the edge of a small rise, came within a few feet of her. He put his
second shot only twenty yards from the green and found it hard to suppress a
smile as they walked down the center of the fairway together.

“You have a long
way to go yet, Edward” said Florentyna as she sent her ball flying into a sand
trap.

Edward laughed *

“I would rem.
ind
you how good I am with a sand wedge and putter,’ said
Florentyna, and proved her point by pitching the ball only four feet from the
hole.

Edward chipped
up from twenty yards to within six feet.

“This may be the
last chance you’ll ever have,” she said.

Edward held his
putter firmly and jabbed at the ball and watched it teeter on the edge of the
hole before disappearing into the cup. He threw his club high into the air and
cheered.

“You haven’t won
yet,” said Florentyna, “but no doubt it will be the nearest you’ll ever get.”
She steadied herself as she checked the line between ball and hole. If she sank
her putt, the match was halved and she was off the hook.

“
Don’t ]at
the helicopters distract you,” said Edward.

“The only thing
that is distracting me, Edward, is you. Be warned, you will not succeed. Since
the rest of my life depends on this shot, you can be assured I shall not make a
mistake. In fact,” she said, taking a step back, “I shall wait until the
helicopters, have passed over.”

Florentyna
stared up into the sky and waited for the four helicopters to fly past. Their
chopping noise grew louder and louder.

“Did yon have to
go to quite such lengths to win, Edward?” she asked as one of the helicopters
began to descend.

“What the hell
is going on?” said Edward anxiously.

 
“I have no idea,” said Florentyna. “But I
suspect we are about to find out.”

Her skirt
whipped around her legs as the first helicopter landed a few yards off the
green of the eighteenth hole. Even as the blades continued to rotate an army
colonel leaped out and rushed over to Florentyna. A second officer jumped out
and stood b~ the helicopter, holding a small black briefcase. Florentyna and
Edward stared at the colonel as he stood to attention and saluted.

“Madam
President,” he said. “The President is dead.”

Horentyim
clenched her hand into a tight fist as the eighteenth hole was surrounded by
agents from the Secret Service. She glanced again at the black nuclear command
briefcase which was now her sole responsibility, the trigger she hoped she
would never have to pull. She was reminded that moment what real responsibility
meant.

“How did it
happen?” she asked calmly.

The colonel
continued in clipped tones. “The President returned from
nis
morning jog and retired to his room to shower and change for breakfast.

It was over
twenty minute before any of us felt that something might be wrong so I was sent
to check, but ii was already too late. The doctor said he must have had a
massive coronary. He had had two minor heart attacks during the last year, but
on both occasions we managed to keep them out of tl~e press.”

“How many people
know of his death?”

“Three
members of his personal staff, his doctor, Mrs. Parkin and the ittorney
general, whom I infortned immediately.
On his instructions, I was
detailed to find you and see that the oath of office is administered as quickly
as is convenient. I am then to accompany you to the White House, where the
attorney general is waiting to announce the details of the President’s death.
The attorney general hopes that these arrangements meet with your approval.”

“Thank you,
Colonel. We’d better return to my home immediately.”

Florentyna,
accompanied by Edward, the colonel, the officer with the black box and four
Secret Service agents, climbed aboard the army aircraft. As the chopper whirled
up into the air, Florentyna gazed down at the eighteenth green where her ball,
a diminishing white speck, remained four feet from the hole. A few minutes
later, the helicopter landed on the grass in front of Florentyna’s Cape Cod
house while the other three remained hovering overhead.

Florentyna led
them al] into the living room, where young Richard was playing with his father
and Bishop O’Reilly, who had flown in for a quiet weekend.

“Why am there
helicopters flying over the house, Grandma?” Richard asked.

Florentyna e,
,plained
to her grandson what had happened. William and
Joanna rose from their chairs, not sure what to say.

“What do we do
next, Colonel?” asked Florentyna.

“We’ll need a
Bible,” said the colonel, -and the oath of office.”

Florentyna went
to her study table in the comer of the room and from the top drawer took out Miss
Tredgold’s Bible. A copy of the Presidential oath was not as easy to find:
Edward thought it might be i2 Theodore White’s The Making of the President:
1972, which he remembered was in the library. He was right.

The colonel
phoned the attorney general and checked that the wording was correct. Pierre
Levale then spoke to Bishop O’Reilly and explained how he should administer the
oath.

In the living
room of her Cape Cod home, Florentyna Kane stood beside her family, with
Colonel Max Perkins and Edward Winchester acting as witnesses.

She took the
Bible in her right hand and repeated the words after Bishop O’Reilly.

1, FloTentyna
Kane, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President
of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and
defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Thus Florentyna
Kane became the forty-third President of the United States.

William was the
first to congratulate his mother and then they all tried to join in at once.

“I think we should
leave for Washington, Madam President,” the colonel suggested a few minutes
later.

“Of course,”
Florentyna turned to the old family priest. “Thank you, Your Excellency,” she
said. But the bishop did not reply; far the first time in his life, the little
Irishman was lost for woids. “I shall need you to perforin another ceremony for
me in die near future.”

“And
what might that be, my dear?”

“As
goon as we have a free weekend Edward and I are going to be married.”

Edward looked
even more surprised and delighted thait he had at the moment he heard
Florentyna had become President. “I remembered a little too late,”
she
continued, “that if you fail to complete a hole in
match-play competition, it is automatically awarded to your opponent.”

Edward took her
in his arms as Florentyna said, “My darling, I will need your wisdom and your
strength, but most of all your love.”

“You’ve already
had them for nearly forty years, V.P. I mean...”

Everyone
laughed.

“I think we
should leave now, Madam President,” the colonel prompted Florentyna nodded in
agreement as the phone rang.

Edward walked
over to the desk and picked it up. “It’s Ralph Brooks.
Says
he needs to speak to you urgently.”

“Would you
apologize to the Secretary of State, Edward, and explain I am not available at
the moment.” Edward was about to convey the message when she added, “And ask
him if he would be kind enough to join me at the White House immediately.”

Edward smiled as
the forty-third President of the United States walked toward the door. The
colonel accompanying her pressed a switch on his two-way radio and spoke softly
into it: “Baroness returning to Crown. The contract has been signed.”

The End

Table of
Contents

Also
by Jeffrey Archer Novels

Prologue

THE
PAST:
1934-1968