Air Battle Force

would enforce the law, no matter where in the world it was violated,” Martindale said acidly. “If Thorn showed even a fraction of the backbone my government had, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“I can’t comment on that.”

“Well, I can, and that’s how I see it.” Martindale paused for a moment, then sat back, picked up his cigar and puffed it to life again. “Tell me, Miss Hershel,” he asked, “what happened to Secretary Kercheval?”

“Nothing has happened to Secretary Kercheval,” she replied.

“There’s a rumor around that he’s taking medication for Parkinson’s disease.”

“He was given a completely clean bill of health in his last physical. He hasn’t told us a thing about Parkinson’s.”

“There’s also a rumor that he’s extremely displeased with President Thorn’s overall handling of foreign affairs and that he may retire rather than continue to serve in this administration.”

“I’ve heard nothing of the kind.”

“There seem to be an awful lot of ugly rumors circulating around all of a sudden, Miss Hershel — and they correspond closely to your frequent appearances at the White House recently. How do all these rumors get started, Maureen?”

“You should know, Kevin.” She shifted slightly, an amused glimmer in her eyes. “You talked about it on Crossfire last week, remember?”

“Will Secretary of State Kercheval resign over the Turkmenistan issue?”

She retrieved her cigar and sat back in her seat, her eyes riveted on his. She knew he was trying to interrogate her, and she sent up a cloud of cigar smoke as a screen in front of her. “No,” she replied.

“Are you being considered to replace Kercheval, like it says in the press?”

“I’ve been asked to spearhead a State Department position paper on Central Asian affairs for Secretary of State Kercheval,” Hershel replied. “I retain my position as deputy secretary of state. Mr. Kercheval is still in charge of the State Department, a valuable member of the administration, and a trusted adviser and friend of the president. That’s all.”

“Sounds like a carefully scripted talking point — as if you were preparing for the Sunday talk shows,” Martindale said.

Hershel said nothing, only stared at him through the cloud of pungent smoke.

“You have been with the State Department for seven years, but the FBI Counterintelligence Operations Office for twelve. Why did you leave that office?”

“Counterintelligence — like the military, I believe — serves diplomacy,” Maureen replied. “I preferred to be on the policy side of diplomacy rather than on the operations side.”

“But you were a good spy-catcher, Maureen — one of the best, according to my sources,” Martindale said.

She did not respond — except with her eyes. Those very blue eyes suddenly adopted what soldiers called the “thousand-yard stare,” as if she were reliving some event triggered by his question, watching the replay as if it were being projected onto the back of Martindale’s skull and she was looking right through him at it. The cloud of Lars Teten smoke only served to heighten the sense of mystery and danger.

“You miss it, don’t you, Maureen?” Martindale asked in a low, almost seductive voice.

Again she did not reply — but he could see his response in her eyes.

“Maureen,” he went on, “what sorts of efforts has the president directed the State Department to pursue on the diplomatic front in regard to Turkmenistan?”

“My study is one response,” Maureen said. “But the president usually doesn’t direct anyone to do anything. He tells the cabinet what he will support and what he expects, and they go forth and do the job.”

“The chief of staff doesn’t coordinate efforts between the cabinet members…?”

“The vice president acts as chief of staff, and, yes, he does have meetings and coordinates activity via e-mail, but the cabinet officers call the shots and then report directly to the president.”

“I’m curious, Maureen: How does the cabinet know if what they’re doing is what the president wants done?”

“It’s not that kind of organization, Kevin. The president just lets the cabinet members do their jobs. They listen to the president, he tells them what he’s thinking, and… they leave and go back to their offices and do what they think needs to be done.”

“How does that system work for you?”

“I’m new at this, but it seems to work just fine, every day.”

“It doesn’t seem to be working fine now, does it?” Martindale commented. “And it didn’t work in Egypt, or Libya, or Kosovo, or Russia. It seems like Thorn’s foreign policy is a hopeless mess.”

“That’s not an accurate characterization at all.”

“So I’ll rephrase my question, Maureen: What are you doing about the Turkmen situation?”

“I’m in daily contact with the foreign minister from Turkmenistan and delegates from the United Nations,” she replied. “We are also in contact with representatives of all the other parties involved, including the Taliban, who are represented by the Saudi Arabian embassy.”

“And?”

“And we’re trying to get an official sense of exactly what the different factions have in mind before we issue a policy statement to the American people,” Hershel replied. “The president believes in carefully studying a situation; getting official, nonofficial, and intelligence information; and reaching a consensus with his advisers before making a decision.”

“Sounds like a fancy way of saying Thorn’s not sure what he wants to do and he’s stalling for time.”

“Again I disagree with your characterization.” She paused, then asked, “If I may ask, sir, what’s your opinion regarding this matter?”

“I believe the United States is the greatest nation on earth and the protector of liberty, freedom, justice, and democracy for the rest of the world,” Martindale said. “I also believe in concepts as simple as ‘a deal’s a deal.’ If Gurizev thinks he can hand over control of eight billion dollars of American pipe and petroleum infrastructure to the Russians, or if these Taliban insurgents think they can disguise their invasion of Turkmenistan as a fight for freedom and take American pipelines, they’re seriously mistaken.”

“First of all, Kevin, the Americans don’t own those pipelines — the people of Turkmenistan own them,” Hershel said. She held up a folder that had been sitting on the table beside her. “TransCal takes forty percent of all the income they earn from crude, refined products, flowage, duties, transshipment, storage, and even futures, for the next fifty years, in exchange for the cost of building and maintaining that system. A pretty sweet deal. According to the IRS, they’ve already recouped half their investment in Turkmenistan’s oil industry in just three years, and by the looks of it they’ll move into the black in less than two years.”

“And I’d like to make sure they have a chance to make it there,” Martindale said.

“With the help of the U.S. military,” Hershel said.

“Like you said, Maureen, the military is an important extension of foreign policy.”

“May I ask you, Kevin, if the CEO of TransCal Petroleum, William Hitchcock, has decided to spearhead your reelection campaign?”

“Bill Hitchcock and I are old friends. He’s a successful businessman and strategist, and he’s supported me and the party for years,” Martindale said. “If he offered, I would consider myself lucky to have him in my corner, in a variety of capacities. But I’m not here discussing Turkmenistan because TransCal’s pipelines are in great jeopardy — although they are. I’m here because intervening on their behalf is the right thing to do. The military is supposed to protect the American people.”

“The people, yes — not their bank accounts.”

Martindale just stared at Maureen without commenting.

“Speaking for myself, Kevin, I don’t see that many differences between my opinion of President Thorn and your position. President Thorn wants justice and freedom, too, but he doesn’t believe in using the military in every conflict, especially overseas. What do you think you’d be doing right now?”

“I certainly can’t speculate on that, because I don’t have access to the information you have.” He saw Hershel smile. It was well known that Martindale kept himself actively involved in foreign affairs, even to the point