ashes out into the night. He let time pass before coming about. He was smiling when he did. 'It seems one of the judge's chairs is missing.'
'Really?' said Knox. 'I wouldn't know.'
'It was here last week when I came to see him. No matter.' He remained at the window, leaning back against the sill.
'One day, Mr. Knox, the government will come to the purely utilitarian decision that to efficiently and successfully deal with profligates it must enlist the services of efficient and successful profligates. As a matter of fact, I could foresee a time when our law enforcement hierarchy, the backbone of your prized bureaucracy, will all be onetime members of that wayward class.'
'I guess that means my job would be in jeopardy under your definition of government service.'
'Is it better to hire good men and fail, or solicit men who are ... contra bonos mores ... and succeed?'
Knox leaned forward. Thoughts were forming, possible plans of action, the weighing of realities. He rested his elbows on the table, set his chin on clasped and upturned hands. He studied Burr. The electric light from the wall sconce left the lawyer's complexion all the more sallow; his neck was noticeably too thin for the ruffled shirt collar. 'Was it the drugs?' he asked.
Burr exhaled a rail-thin line of smoke.
'The morphine. It is morphine, that-'
'Turned me into a dissolute.' Burr fingered his cigarette out the window. 'I have had a taste for the unsavory . . . ever since childhood. Perhaps that's what makes me such an effective and successful attorney.'
'What you are proposing would demand crossing the border, would it not?'
'Yes.'
'We have no authority there.'
'That doesn't mean you couldn't, or shouldn't, send an operative with him, for the gathering of evidence, the ascertainment of fact, against individuals or groups that have the potential to negatively affect domestic security. This operative could have authority over my client. We would agree to that.'
'How does one have authority over someone with his biography?'
'There's a way.'
'You said a few minutes ago you would never allow your client-'
'To rely on the future goodwill of the government. I emphasized the word-future.'
When John Lourdes heard justice Knox say 'earned immunity' he wanted to vomit with rage. He stood in the light of that great dome trying to grasp the implications of the meeting with Burr.
'Now,' said justice Knox, 'there will be an operative with him when he goes into Mexico. That operative will have complete authority, or at least tactical control. I'm considering you for this assignment.'
'Sir?'
'You don't have the most field experience, but you're the only one who's truly bilingual. I'm going to be honest. I have reservations.'
He kept hearing himself say, 'Sir?'
'It's about character.'
'Character ... my character?'
He could feel the anger coming through in his voice.
'Not a lack of character. It's ... I noted your reaction to Howell when we were interrogating the girl. I heard the anger in your voice just a minute ago when I told you what is going to happen. I do not question your dedication. But I need to be assured the operative I send can remain dispassionate and view this as ... a practical application of strategy. Just as I have to remain dispassionate in my judgments.'
Dispassion had been an essential condition to John Lourdes's successes. And rulership of the self demanded extreme concentration and commitment, so in certain respects justice Knox was correct. He had failed.
'Once in Mexico, sir, I would have no legal authority over him.'
'No.'
'How do we control him?'
'He knows if he fails to live up to his responsibility by trying to
