“We didn’t lead the carefree lives of your average American boy.” Jackson said it evenly. No humor in it. No bitterness.
“It’s all terribly cold-blooded. I mean, you and your brothers being deliberately trained like that from infancy.”
“Cold-blooded,” Jackson said emotionlessly. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“No, I guess I don’t.”
“There’s nothing wrong with planning,” he said. “Nothing wrong with setting your sights on a goal and then doing everything you can to attain it. That’s how this continent got discovered, you know. That’s how we gained our independence. Move heaven and earth to reach your goal. Pike’s Peak or bust. I shall return. That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
“You’re a historian?” I tried to make it sound light, but those footsteps echoing behind me gave my voice a hollow ring.
“Every President becomes a historian, Meric. You soak in history once you’re in the White House. And what’s the basic lesson of history? The goal justifies the means. If you win.”
“History’s written by the winners,” Jackson said. “Fix your sights on your goal and stop at nothing to reach it. That’s what makes history. Columbus. Old Sam Adams and his Minutemen. The Forty-Niners. MacArthur. Armstrong. Truman. The Kennedys. They all did it that way. And me. That’s the way I’m doing it. It’s the only way it can be done.”
My heart turned to ice.
“You
His smile returned. “Yes. I’m Jackson. Don’t be afraid. I am the President.”
Somehow that didn’t reassure me at all.
Jackson turned his head ever so slightly, looked past my shoulder. I turned. Instead of the ramrod-stiff figure of the General that I expected, it was Laura. Dressed in white. Like a bride. Or a mourner from some ancient tribe.
“Those stairs,” she said breathlessly as she approached us. “They’re killers.” Her eyes were bright, gleaming.
Jackson nodded. “Tourists used to collapse on the stairs. That’s why these galleries were closed to the public.”
Laura looked straight at me but didn’t say a word. It was as if she were looking through me, as if I no longer existed for her. She stepped over to the stone niche where the window was set and sat on its sill.
“You didn’t have to come,” Jackson said. “I told you I could handle this by myself.”
Laura smiled at him. “I just wanted to be sure, darling. I wanted to see it for myself.” Her eyes glittered as if she were on a drug trip. And I knew which drug it was: power.
“This is more than a family matter,” I said. “Unless you’re thinking of the whole population of the United States as your family.”
“Don’t be silly, Meric.” It was her first acknowledgment of my presence.
“We’ve got to stop these murders,” I said. “And Jeffrey’s snatched Vickie Clark, and…”
“You’re sure it’s Jeffrey?” Jackson asked.
“I explained it to the General, downstairs. John’s outside with the crowd, right?”
Jackson nodded.
“You’re both certain it’s John out there?”
Laura said, “Of course it’s John. None of the others could handle a crowd like that. John’s the face, the public figure, the candidate and hand-shaker. He enjoys crowds.”
“And we’re agreed it can’t be Joshua.”
“Josh couldn’t…”
Laura fidgeted with the little purse she was holding on her lap. “Do get on with it.”
“You’re absolutely certain Jeffrey’s the right one?” Jackson asked me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he called me this evening and threatened to kill Vickie and me both if I don’t call off my press conference tomorrow.”
Jackson looked at me curiously. “How do you know it was Jeffrey?”
“It had to be. John was already speaking here. We agree it can’t be Joshua. You were here with the General…”
“They have phones here,” Jackson said.
I stopped with my mouth still open. “But… your father said… the General told me he was with you all night.”
“That’s right, he was,” Jackson said. “Just as he is now,” Laura added. “Down there.”
I suddenly understood how a mouse feels when it is cornered by a pair of cats: very small, very alone, and scared mindless.
“Y… You’re the one who called me?”
“That’s right, Meric. Tonight I finish the task I started eighteen months ago. Tomorrow morning I will be the sole occupant of the Oval Office. I will be the President, alone and entirely.”
I turned to Laura. “And you’re going to let him?”
“Of course.”
“For God’s sake, Laura—stop him!”
“Why? So John can go on making pretty faces to the public and compromising with every beggar who comes in off the street? Or Josh can stay in hiding all the time? Or Jeff can keep on playing soldier? Jackson’s been the only real man in this whole family. I’ve known that for years. Jackson’s the strong one. It’s survival of the fittest.”
“But he’s killing his brothers!” My voice was a mousy squeak. I could barely hear it myself.
‘The President’s got to be
“But he’s a murderer!”
Jackson snapped, “Name one President who wasn’t. Truman? Lincoln? Either Roosevelt? Nixon? Brown? They all had blood on their hands.”
“Sweet Jesus, the two of you are insane.”
“Meric,” Jackson said, in that
I stared at him.
“We’ve been very patient with you, Meric. I’ve given you every opportunity to stop opposing me. Even Laura has tried to make you see…”
“Tried to buy me off, you mean.”
“You had your chance,” Laura said.
I started to shake my head.
Jackson said, “There’s no other way, Meric. We’ll have to do away with you. And Ms. Clark, too.”
“Like you killed the others?”
“No…” He fumbled in his tunic pocket and pulled out a small plastic syringe. “No, you’re not going to die of immunological breakdown. That would raise too many questions. And, incidentally, I got the virus from the University of Pennsylvania’s biochemistry labs. They have very lax security systems at universities, you know. A Government man can go anywhere and see anything he wants to. The professors all trail him with their tongues hanging out, hoping to lap up some droppings of Federal grant money.”
“How’d you know?”
“Don’t be naive. I didn’t do it personally. I’m an economist, not a biochemist.”
I turned back toward Laura. “You’re going to let him do it?”
She pulled a small handgun from her purse. “I’m going to help him.”
