The President could not shake the heavy dread in his gut. 'Any excuse for failure has a hollow ring.'
Secretary of State Oates came through the door. 'The Prime Minister and the Governor-General have arrived in the Senate chamber, Mr. President. The ministers are seated and waiting.'
The President's eyes were sick with defeat. 'It seems time has run out, gentlemen, for us as well as for the United States.'
The 291- foot Peace Tower forming the center block of the Parliament building gradually grew larger through the windshield of a Scinletti VTOL aircraft as it banked toward the Ottawa airport. 'If we don't get backed up by air traffic,' said Jack Westler, 'we should land in another five minutes.'
'Forget the airport,' said Pitt. 'Set us down on the lawn in front of Parliament.'
Westler's eyes widened. 'I can't do that. I'd lose my pilot's license.'
'I'll make it easy for you.' Pitt slipped the old Mauser pistol out of Richard Essex's travel case and screwed the business end into Westler's ear. 'Now take us down.'
'Shoot…... shoot me and we crash,' the pilot stammered.
'Who needs you?' Pitt grinned coldly. 'I've got more hours in the air than you do.'
His facial color bleached brighter than a bedsheet, Westler began the descent.
A crowd of tourists who were photographing a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman lifted their faces to the sky at the sound of the engines, and then parted like a reverse whirlpool. Pitt dropped the gun in his seat, shoved open the door and leaped out before the landing wheels settled in the turf.
He ducked into the converging onlookers before the astonished Mountie could stop him. The door of the tall Peace Tower was jammed with cordoned lines of tourists waiting to catch a glimpse of the President. Pitt bulled his way through, ignoring the shouts of the guards.
Once inside the memorial hall, he was momentarily confused about which direction to take. Two dozen cables snaked across the floor.
He followed them at a dead run, knowing they would end at the video cameras taping the President's speech. He almost made it to the door of the Senate chamber before a Mountie the size of a small mountain, ablaze in scarlet ceremonial tunic, blocked his way.
'Hold it right there, mister!'
'Take Me to the President, quick!' Pitt demanded. As soon as he spoke he realized the words must have sounded absurd.
The Mountie stared incredulously at Pitt's strange attire.
Pitt had only had time to remove his wet-suit top and borrow Giordino's jacket-two sizes too short-before dashing to Westler's plane. He still wore the wet-suit bottoms and his feet were bare.
Suddenly two more Mounties clutched Pitt from flanking sides.
'Watch him boys. He might have a bomb in that satchel.'
'There's nothing in there but a piece of paper,' said Pitt, maddened to the core.
The tourists began to gather around them, clicking their cameras, curious to see what the disturbance was about.
'We better get him out of here,' said the Mountie, who snatched the travel bag.
Pitt had never felt such despair. 'For God's sake, listen to me-'
He was in the process of being none too gently jerked away when a man in a conservative blue suit shouldered past the crowd. He gazed briefly at Pitt and turned to the Mountie.
'Having a problem, constable?' he asked, displaying a U.S. Secret Service ID. 'Some radical trying to break into the Senate chamber-' Pitt suddenly broke loose and lurched forward. 'If you're Secret Service, help me.' He was yelling now but didn't realize it.
'Take it easy, pal,' blue suit said, his hand snapping to the holstered gun under his armpit.
'I have an important document for the President. My name is Pitt. He's expecting me You've got to get me through to him.'
The Mounties pounced on Pitt again, this time with fire in their eyes. The Secret Service agent held up a restraining hand.
'Hold on!' He stared at Pitt skeptically. 'I couldn't take you to the President even if I wanted to.'
'Then get me to Harrison Moon,' Pitt snarled, getting fed up with the absurdity of it all.
'Does Moon know you?'
'You better believe it.'
Mercier, Oates and Moon were sitting in the anteroom of the Senate, watching the President on a television monitor, when the door burst open and a horde of Secret Service men, Mounties and building guards, dragging Pitt with at least a half-dozen set of hands, flooded into the room like a tidal wave. 'Call off the hounds,' Pitt shouted. 'I've got it!'
Mercier spun to his feet, open-mouthed. He was too stunned to react immediately. 'Who is this man?' Oates demanded.
'My God, it's Pitt!' Moon managed to blurt.
His arms pinned, an eye swelling from a sneak punch, Pitt nodded toward the battered old travel bag held by the Mountie. 'The treaty copy is in there.'
While Mercier vouched for Pitt and swept the security people from the room, Oates studied the contents of the treaty.
Finally he looked up hesitantly. 'Is it real? I mean, there's no chance of a forgery?'
Pitt collapsed in a chair, tenderly probing the growing mouse under his eye, the long mission seemingly finished. 'Rest easy, Mr. Secretary, you're holding the genuine article.'
Mercier turned from closing the door and quickly thumbed through a copy of the President's speech. 'He's about two minutes away from his closing statement.'
'We better get this to him, fast,' said Moon.
Mercier looked down at the exhausted man in the chair. 'I think Mr. Pitt should have that honor. He represents the men who died for it.'
Pitt abruptly sat up. 'Me? I can't go in front of a hundred million viewers watching the Canadian Parliament and interrupt a presidential address. Not looking like a masquerade party drunk.'
'You won't have to,' said Mercier, smiling. 'I'll interrupt the President myself and ask him to step to the anteroom. You take it from there.'
In the deep red setting of the Senate chamber, the leaders of the Canadian government sat stunned at the President of the United States' invitation to begin negotiations for merging the two nations. It was the first any of them had heard of it. Only Sarveux sat unperturbed, his face calm and unreadable.
A wave of mutterings coursed through the chamber as the President's national security adviser stepped to the lectern and whispered in his ear. An interruption of a major address was a break in custom and was not to be taken without a minor fuss.
'Please excuse me for a moment,' the President said, heightening the mystery. He turned and stepped through the doorway to the antechamber.
In the President's eyes, Pitt looked like a derelict from hell. He came forward and embraced him.
'Mr. Pitt, you don't know how happy I am to see you.'
'Sorry I'm late,' was all Pitt could think to reply. Then he forced a crooked smile and carefully held up the holed paper.
The President took the treaty and carefully scanned its contents. When he looked up, Pitt was surprised to see tears rimming his eyes. In a rare instance of emotion he muttered a choked 'Thank you,' and turned away.
Mercier and Moon sat down before the TV monitor and watched the President return to the lectern.
'My apologies for the interruption, but a document of great historical significance has just been handed to me. It is called the North American Treaty.'
Ten minutes later, the President concluded solemnly 'and so for seventy-five years, under the terms set forth, Canada and the United States have unknowingly been existing as two nations while under international law they were only one…...'
Mercier let out a long sigh. 'Thank God, he didn't slap them in the face by saying they belonged to us.'
'The future will not look upon us kindly,' the President continued, 'if we fail to consider the tremendous potential our former leaders have laid before us. We must not stand separate from one another as we have in the
