The Jehovah Contract

They are allied to maintain their power and privilege. They're part of the same club. Have you ever seen the leader of one government personally jump for the throat of the leader of an `enemy' government?'

'That's not how affairs of state are handled.' Lenny sat again. He hadn't incited the audience enough.

'Indeed not,' Tom replied. 'Affairs of the God State are handled by forcing some eighteen-year-old to kill another eighteen-year-old while those who planned the slaughter call each other on hotlines to talk about the weather.'

'

That does it!

' Lenny jumped up from his desk, advancing on Russell. 'This is

my

show, and

nobody

says the U.S. of A. is in cahoots with the Commies!' He seized Tom's shirt and pulled him up to shout, '

Get off my show!

'

The audience went wild. They cheered, hooted, stomped. Someone threw confetti. They started to chant.

'

Beaver, Beaver, Beaver, Beaver...

'

Tom smiled, flashed his fingers in an 'okay' sign.

The cameras barely registered the friendly grin that appeared and vanished from Lenny's face in the course of an instant. There was nothing 'Beaver' Lenny enjoyed more than someone who understood the joke.

I switched the screen off to think for a bit.

I'd heard all the conspiracy theories before, probably even caused a few of them by the nature of my activities. I knew enough to figure out that any particular conspiracy must allocate its resources and confine its activities to areas that present either the greatest opportunity or the greatest threat.

If the 'God States' were on my trail, I might have a difficult time surviving one breath to the next.

I needed a drink. Something to numb my mind. Reaching toward the desk drawer, I hesitated.

I had someone to drink with! I punched up the number of Ann's room over at Auberge.

'Sure,' she said. 'Give me ten minutes.'

I poured two drinks. Getting drunk together was better than getting drunk alone. Even though the alcohol blocked the world out, it permitted me to concentrate more closely, however fuzzily, on my own thoughts and on my partner's.

She arrived in a little over ten minutes. A sleek red dress that had been poured on made her look like a pillar of fire topped by golden sunlight.

I handed her a glass and said, 'Here's to open government and numb minds.'

'Been watching Congress on satellite again?'

'Close-

Ad Hominem Attack.

'

Ann snorted. 'Those twits in his audience have their minds set on getting hypnotized by that insulting creep.'

'Hypnotized,' I muttered. The bourbon trickled into my brain. I took another slug. Something started to click.

Minds set.