bachelor life is going to kill you. Why don’t you make an honest woman out of that adorable girlfriend of yours?” O’Rourke had been hearing it from everyone lately, but he was in no position to get married. Maybe in another year … after he got out of Washington. He looked down and sighed, “Susan, I’m Irish, we tend to get married late in life. Besides, I’m not so sure she’ll have
“That’s a lie and you know it. She adores you. Take it from a woman: I’ve seen the way she looks at you with those big brown eyes. You’re the one, so don’t screw it up.
There aren’t too many like her out there.” Chambers slapped him in the stomach. “I hope being crowned the most eligible bachelor in Washington hasn’t gone to your head!”
O’Rourke frowned and shook his head. “Very funny, Susan.”
Chambers turned and walked away, laughing. “I’m glad you’re getting such a kick out of this, Susan. Hold all of my calls. I have an appointment at noon, and until then I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“What if your grandfather or Liz calls?”
“No one, I don’t want to be disturbed.”
O’Rourke shut the door and sat down behind his desk.
WHEN THE PRESIDENT ENTERED HIS OFFICE, HE FOUND GARRET AND
HIS budget director, Mark Dickson, sitting on a couch by the fireplace, poring over the prospective vote count, trying to figure out whom they could sway to their side. Stevens knew his chief of staff was in a bad mood, and he did not have the energy for an
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argument. So he decided to defuse the situation and take orders. As he walked over to them, he took off his jacket, threw it on the other couch, and clapped his hands together.
“All right, Stu, I’m all yours for the rest of the day. Just tell me what you want me to do.” Garret looked up and motioned for his boss to take a seat. Garret and Dickson had been in the office since 6 AM putting together a final list of possible holdouts. With one day to go, they had secured 209 votes. The opposition had 216 votes, and ten
Congressman were still undecided. Garret had a piece of paper in front of him with two headings: UNDECIDED and POSSIBLE DEFECTORS. Ten names were under the undecided heading, and six under the possible-defectors heading. Both columns had shrunk considerably in the past week as the vote approached. “All right, here’s the current situation, Jim.” No one but Stu Garret ever called the President by his first name. “We need to put this thing to bed today. Basset and Koslowski are up on the Hill playing good cop-bad cop with the fence-sitters. We’re going to try and start a stampede by noon.” Tom
Basset was the Speaker of the House, and Jack Koslowski was the chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee.
“Are we in a position to do that?” the President asked. Garret leaned back in his chair, placed his hands behind his neck, and smiled. Tom Basset has a meeting with
Congressman Moore at < eleven, and when that meeting is over, Frank Moore is going to make an announcement that he’s backing the budget.”
“How much is it going to cost us?” asked Dickson.
“Only about ten million.”
“You guys are going to bag Frank Moore for ten million? That’s nothing more than pocket change to Frank.” The President shook his head. “How are you going to get him to settle for so little?”
Garret’s smile emanated confidence. “We recruited some outside help to get him to see things our way.”
“What kind of help?” Garret paused for a long moment and replied flatly, “Arthur
Higgins arranged to have some photos taken of the Congressman and a certain young woman.” Arthur Higgins. There was no more mysterious name in all of Washington.
Stevens seriously wondered whether it was in his best interest to know any details. Arthur
Higgins was an ominous and legendary figure in the power circles of Washington and many Of the world’s other capitals. For forty years Higgins had run the most secretive branch of the CIA. Officially he never existed nor did his department. Higgins had been the author and controller of the Agency’s most delicate and dangerous covert operations since the height of the cold war. Several years earlier he had been forced out of the CIA
in a heated power struggle. What he had been doing with his time and talents since was something that was whispered about behind closed doors. Stevens looked up from the paper and said, “You’re going to blackmail Frank Moore?” Garret smiled and said, “Essentially.”
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“I don’t want to know the details, do I?”
“No.” Garret shook his head.
“Just trust me when I say Moore will see no other choice than to vote our way.”
Stevens nodded solemnly and replied, “Next time, I would prefer it if you would let me know about these things before they’re set in motion.”
“Understood.” After a brief silence Garret turned their attention back to the task at hand. “Jim, I need to get you working on a couple of these possible defectorsи Our staffers have been feeling these guys out, and I think that two of the six will give us their vote if you promise not to back their opponent in the next election. Out of the ten undecideds and the six possible defectors, we’re going to have to get at least nine or the budget is dead, and if that happens, we may as well kiss next year’s election good-bye.”
“What about any possible defections from our side?” the President asked. Garret leaned forward. “Don’t worry about that. If one of those little pricks steps out of line, Koslowski will cut every penny of Federal money from their
