'It's innocuous, nothing that will upset you. Let's start with the FBI unit that's been assigned to the Vice President. Aren't you people doing your job? Do you need a special task force from the Bureau?'
'It hasn't anything to do with us. We're in place for protection. They're investigative.'
'You can't protect unless you investigate.'
'It's different levels. We come up with something, we turn it over to the Bureau.'
'What did you come up with that called for this unit?'
'We didn't,' answered the man. 'A couple of months ago a series of threats were made against Viper and—’
'Viper?'
'The Vice President.'
'It's not a very flattering code name.'
'It's not in general use, either. Just among the detail.'
'I see. Go on—these threats. Who made them?'
That's what the unit's all about. They're trying to find out because they're still being made.'
'How?'
'Phone calls, telegrams, paste-up letters—they come from different places, which keep the Feds in the air a lot tracing them down.'
'Without success?'
'Not yet.'
'Then they're a roving task force, here one day, somewhere else the next. Are their movements co-ordinated from Washington?'
'When Viper's there, sure. When he's out here, it's here, and when he's on the road it's wherever he's at. The unit's controlled by his personal stuff; otherwise too much time is wasted checking back and forth with DC.'
'You were out here five weeks ago, weren't you?'
'Around then, yes. We just got back ten days ago; he spends a lot of time out here. As he likes to say, the President covers the East and he covers the West, and he's got the better deal because he gets away from Funny Town.'
'That's a foolish statement for a Vice President to make.'
'That's Viper, but that's not to say he's a fool. He's not.'
'Why do you call him Viper?'
'As long as you want it straight I guess we don't like him, or the crowd he pals around with—especially out here. Those bastards treat us like Puerto Rican houseboys. The other afternoon one of them said to me, “Boy, get me another G and T.” I told him I'd better check with my superiors in the Secret Service to see if I was assigned to him.'
'Weren't you afraid the Vice—Viper—might take offence?'
'Christ, he doesn't mess with us. Like the Fed unit, we only answer to his staff chief.'
'Who's he?'
'Not he, she. We've got another code for her; it's not as good as Viper but it fits. We call her Dragon Bitch—Dame Bountiful in the logs, which she likes.'
'Tell me about her,' said Varak, the antennae of an adult lifetime picking up a signal.
'Her name's Ardis Vanvlanderen, and she came on board about a year ago replacing a hell of a good man who was doing a hell of a good job. So good he got a terrific offer from one of Viper's friends. She's in her forties and one of those tough executive ladies who looks like she wants to cut your balls off when you go into her office just because you're a male.'
'An unattractive woman, then?'
'I wouldn't say that. She's got a decent enough face and a foxy body, but it'd be hard to work up a letch for her unless you like the type. My guess is she screws by numbers.'
