'He will if he learns how he was manipulated. He may not if he's convinced he is needed.'
Khalehla again leaned back in the booth, studying the Czech. 'If I'm hearing correctly, you're suggesting something that's deeply offensive to me.'
'It shouldn't be.' Varak sat forward. 'No one can force a man to accept elective office, Miss Rashad, he has to seek it. Conversely, no one can force a political party's leading senators and congressmen to accept a new candidate, they must want him. It's true that circumstances were created to bring out the man, but we could not create the man; he was there to begin with.'
'You're asking me not to tell him about this conversation, not to tell him about you… Have you any idea how many weeks we've been looking for you?'
'Have you any idea how many months we looked for Evan Kendrick?'
'I don't give a damn! He was manipulated and he knows it. You can't hide, I won't let you. You've put him through too much. Dear friends killed, now possibly an old man who's been a father to him for fifteen years. All his plans shot to hell—too much!'
'I can't change what's happened, I can only grieve for my errors of judgment and no one will grieve more, but I ask you to think of your country, my country now. If we've helped to produce a political force, it was only because the force existed in his own right, with his own instincts. Without him, any number of perfectly decent men will be acceptable to the party leadership because they're familiar and comfortable, but they will not be a force… Do I make myself clear?'
'According to history, a Vice President once said that the office wasn't worth a “bucket of warm spit”.'
'Not these days, and certainly not in the hands of Evan Kendrick. You were obviously in Cairo when he appeared on television here—'
'I was in Cairo,' interrupted Khalehla, 'but we have an American channel—tapes, of course. I saw him and I've seen him here subsequently and repeatedly, thanks no doubt to your… agenda. He was very good, very intelligent and appealing.'
'Miss Rashad, he's unique. He's unbuyable and he speaks his mind and the country is taken with him.'
'Because of you.'
'No, because of him. He's done the things he's done, they weren't invented; he's said the things he's said, the words weren't provided. What can I tell you? I analysed over four hundred possibilities, using the most advanced computers, and one man stood out. Evan Kendrick.'
'You want nothing from him?'
'You say you know him. If we did, what do you think he'd do?'
'Turn you over to some anti-corruption committee and make damn sure you spent time in prison.'
'Exactly.'
Khalehla shook her head, her eyes closed. 'I'd like a glass of wine, Mr. Milos. I've got a few things to think about.'
Varak signalled a waiter and ordered two glasses of chilled Chablis, leaving the choice to the waiter's discretion. 'Among my many deficiencies,' said the Czech, 'is a lack of knowledge of wines beyond those of my country.'
'I don't believe that for an instant. You're probably a certified sommelier.'
'Hardly. I hear friends order specific vineyards and vintages and I marvel at them.'
'Do you really have friends? I think of you as rather an eminence grise.'
'Je comprends, but you're wrong. I live quite a normal life. My friends think I'm a translator, freelance, naturally, at home.'
'Bien,' said the agent from Cairo. 'That's how I began.'
'There's no office to contact, only an answering machine, which I can reach from wherever I am.'
'Me, too.'
The wine arrived and, after sipping, Khalehla spoke. 'He can't go back,' she said, as if speaking to herself, then partially
