“Should we tell Jim?”
“No! That way he’ll have complete deniability. We can tell him after the meeting that we wanted to protect him. Just let me do the talking, and whatever you do, don’t lose your cool.” Nance finished filling Garret in on the plan, and when he was done, they went down to the Situation Room.
Nance stopped when he entered the room and looked for Stansfield. He wasn’t there yet, but the Joint Chiefs, the secretary of state, and the secretary of defense were.
Nance quickly realized they could not be present when he gave Stansfield their excuse. Nance walked to the far end of the room where the President was sitting and whispered into his ear. “Sir, for reasons I can’t discuss right now, I need you to excuse the
Joint Chiefs, the secretary of defense, and the secretary of state from the meeting.”
“Won’t that look rather unusual?”
“Please, trust me, sir. We need to talk to Director Stansfield alone.
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и . . It’s for the best. I’ll explain later.” Stevens hesitated for a second and then looked at Garret and made the connection. Clearing his throat, he said, “Gentlemen, there has been a slight change of plans.
I am going to need to talk to Director Stansfield alone. If the rest of you could wait for us in the Cabinet Room, we’ll join you just as soon as possible.” The generals and admirals all stood and gave Garret a look as they headed for the door.
They all knew who Arthur Higgins was and wanted to know why he had been found dead on the chief of staff’s lawn. They continued out the door, and Nance closed it behind them. Stevens asked, “Are you two going to tell me what in the hell is going on?”
“Mr. President, sir… I think it would be best if we waited for Director Stansfield to get here,” replied Nance in his cool and detached voice. “Why?”
“You are going to want complete deniability on this one, sir.” Stevens frowned.
“What in the hell have you two been up to?” The President looked to Garret for the answer, but Nance gave it. “Sir, this will not affect your presidency.
You are just going to have to trust me that it will be best if you look surprised when we tell Director Stansfield what our connection with Arthur was.” MICHAEL sat
ABOVE THE REST OF THE MORNING TRAFFIC AS HE ROLLED through downtown D.C. in his forest green Chevy Tahoe. He was tired and nervous. His nerves were shot from a lack of sleep and too much coffee, not to mention the little excursion involving Arthur.
When he was about four blocks away from the Hoover Building, he dialed the phone number for the main switchboard. After several rings a woman with a pleasant voice answered. “Federal Bureau of Investigation. How may I help you?”
“Special Agent McMahon, please.”
“Just one moment.” The phone started to ring again and then another person answered. “Special Agent McMahon’s office.”
“Special Agent McMahon, please.”
“Special Agent McMahon is away from his desk right now. May I ask who is calling?”
“Is he in the building this morning?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to answer that. May I ask who is calling?” Michael hit the brakes to avoid ramming a cab that pulled out in front of him. “This is Congressman
O’Rourke, and I need to speak with him. it’s extremely urgent!”
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“Special Agent McMahon is very busy right now-. It would help if I could tell him what it was that you wanted.”
“I don’t want anything. I need to give him something that I think he will be very interested in.”
“What is it regarding?” Michael let out an audible sigh. “Listen, I know you’re only trying to do your job, but this is something that I can’t talk about over the phone.”
“You said your name was Congressman O’Rourke?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll see if I can track him down, but it would help if I could give him even the slightest hint as to what you wanted. He has been getting a lot of phone calls from
Congressman and Senators lately.”
“I don’t want anything from him. I want to give him something.
Something that will have an enormous impact on his investigation.”
“Just one minute, Congressman. I’ll see if I can track him down.”
With his digital phone clutched to his ear, O’Rourke circled the Hoover Building.
Several minutes later, McMahon answered the phone.
“Congressman O’Rourke, sorry to keep you waiting. How are you doing?”
