need to bomb this place, Mongo-especially since you, Garth, and the others were still inside. The National Security Agency managed to identify and scramble the signal from here to the satellite; in fact, I think they might even have found a way to destroy the satellite itself, although they don't want to confirm that, even to me. The point is that the thermonuclear bombs weren't going off once the signal had been disrupted; we confirmed that from the bomb that was dismantled in
New York. Our next concern was the welfare of the Frederickson brothers, the child, and the rest of the people in this cursed place. We had no way of knowing how those inside would react to our forced entry, and virtually no chance of getting in without announcing our presence. Considering the forces and technology the planners of this thing had at their disposal, it was even conceivable to some people, including me, that they might have some sort of doomsday device-say, another hydrogen bomb-inside that they could set off if they were attacked. We just didn't know. You can't see it from here, but we did manage to attach a listening device to the section of the dome over the living quarters. We obviously couldn't hear everything, but we heard enough to know that the two of you were still on the loose and taking care of business, so to speak.' Lippitt paused, looked back and forth between Garth and me, smiled wryly. 'Past experience with you two has taught me never to underestimate the ability of the Fredericksons to take care of business, and themselves. If we'd heard anything to indicate that you'd been captured, then we'd have gone in. As it was, I felt the best course of action was to wait and see what happened. As I said, the situation was uncertain when the door was finally opened, which is why I ordered the lights turned on.'
A khaki-clad angel of mercy appeared beside me with a china cup filled with what turned out to be chicken broth. It seared the roof of my mouth when I sipped it, but I couldn't remember anything ever tasting so good. Then the female medic held up a little paper cup with two purple pills in it. Garth took the cup from her, set it down on the bed next to me.
'Thanks, Lippitt,' I said between more sips of the steaming broth. I was almost ready for sleep-lots and lots of it. 'Thanks for taking care of business at your end, and thanks for caring about the kid and us. You do good work.'
'No, my friends,' Lippitt said. Then he really surprised me by hugging Garth, and then me. 'You are the ones who do the good work. Because of your willingness to risk everything, including your lives, to help one child, the lives of millions of other people have been saved from a singular act of evil and insanity. The entire world owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude. And who knows? When the parts of this story that won't be classified come out, perhaps people will come to listen to deranged hatemongers like William Kenecky with just a bit less credulity and tolerance. Incidentally, our mutual acquaintance, the president, would like to speak to both of you on the phone when you feel up to it. He'd have been here in person, but he felt that his place was in the White House situation room until this matter had been resolved. I agreed, of course.'
I looked at Garth. 'You want to talk to Shannon?'
He shook his head. 'Not at the moment.'
Lippitt smiled thinly. 'You're still angry with him over the Archangel business, aren't you?'
Garth said, 'Mongo and I are still angry with a lot of people over the Archangel business, Lippitt. But not you.'
'Hmm. Well, anyway, he wants to mount a very big White House dinner to honor the two of you with the Medal of Freedom; your second, I believe. But these won't be awarded in secret. There'll be a lot of publicity. I suggested to him that he consult with you before he starts making a lot of plans for your futures-he sometimes neglects these little niceties, as you're aware. And so he delegated me to ask if you would accept the honor, and agree to the publicity. My opinion is that it would be good for you to accept. I know you don't much care for the president, but he likes and respects the two of you very much. I also know that you think he's amoral, but in this case I think much benefit could come from the publicity surrounding the story; perhaps it could serve as a warning to others about the kinds of religious charlatans and zealots exemplified by the people who built Eden.'
I thought about it, and almost laughed when a most diabolical thought occurred to me. I looked at Garth-and could tell by the look on his face that the same thought had occurred to him. He raised his eyebrows mischievously, grinned, and nodded to me.
'You tell him, Mongo.'
'Garth and I accept, Lippitt-but there are conditions.'
'And what would they be?'
'There are two other men who have to be similarly honored-one in particular.'
'Who are they?'
'One is Lieutenant Malachy McCloskey of the NYPD, now retired. The other is Frank Palorino, another cop. If it weren't for McCloskey, Garth and I would have been vaporized hours ago-along with New York City and those millions of people you mentioned. We'll tell you all about it when we're feeling a bit more chipper.'
'I'll look forward to it,' Lippitt said evenly, his eyes, if not his voice, mirroring his interest. 'And I don't see that there would be a problem in honoring the other two. In fact, I suspect the president might feel it would be to his political advantage to honor the common man, so to speak.'
'Another thing, Lippitt,' my brother said.
'What is it, Garth?'
'Palorino will advance very quickly in the department. It's McCloskey we want really taken care of-the full treatment; that's as it should be. We want him to get the full honors and publicity treatment. Like Mongo said, he's retired now, and he'll be looking for a decent job to while away his retirement years.'
'In short, Lippitt,' I said, 'Garth and I want Malachy McCloskey to suddenly find himself very famous and very rich.'
Mr. Lippitt narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between my brother and me. 'Somehow, I get the impression that there are things you're not telling me.'
'We'll tell you all about it, Lippitt,' I said. 'Later. There are also two pilots from British Airways-'
'Of course.'
'For now, you give Shannon the message about our conditions. If he wants our help in getting political mileage out of the Eden business, he has to take care of those other people-especially McCloskey. And McCloskey can't know that we had anything to do with it.'
Lippitt merely shrugged. 'Politics, patronage, and influence aren't within my jurisdiction. But if I tell the president that the Frederickson brothers would like to see a retired police lieutenant become rich and famous, I wouldn't be at all surprised if such a thing came to pass.'
'Hot damn,' I said.
'I love it,' Garth said, grinning at me.
A soldier wearing general's stars came up to Lippitt and whispered something in his ear. Lippitt nodded.
'Excuse me,' the old man said. 'I have to take care of some matters. Mongo, take your medicine.'
I took the purple pills Garth handed me, washed them down with the last of the chicken broth. As far as I was concerned, it was time to go to sleep. I lay back on the bed, sighed, closed my eyes-and felt Garth gently nudge me.
'One more thing, Mongo,' Garth said in an oddly stern tone of voice.
'Mm.'
'Did you tell Vicky you were one of Santa's helpers?'
Thoroughly puzzled by such a question, I opened one eye-and was startled to see that Garth was, if not angry, at least upset. 'Yeah. As a matter of fact, I did.'
'Why did you do that?'
'Because it seemed like a good idea at the time, that's why. What's the problem. Garth?'
Garth raised his arm over me and pointed out the window to the bright lights, the emergency vehicles, the dense, poisonous mist oozing out of Eden's door and rising into the night sky. '
'You're putting me on, right?'
'I want you to tell her the truth. She's already got enough shit in her head that's going to have to be flushed out. She doesn't need any more.'
