'David, I agree. But we don't know what happened. We have only the stories of two battalion commanders, both of whom are tired, in the middle of a combat zone, and neither of whom was there, making judgments. I refuse to make any changes or to relieve an officer without at least a cursory investigation.' Dixon paused as he thought. 'The situation down there has stabilized, so there is little likelihood that 3rd of the 3rd will be engaged in a serious fight for a while. Contact both commanders involved and inform them that I have no intention of changing the task organization or relieving anyone at this time. Ellerbee will stay exactly where he is, doing his job, until I can personally look into this matter with a clear head and with all the facts in hand. Clear?'
'Loud and clear, sir.'
Taking a deep breath, Dixon looked around the command post one more time. 'David, Colonel Vorishnov and I have been on the road most of the day. We're going to get some sleep. Unless something exciting happens, no one's to disturb me until at least oh five hundred.'
Duncan stood and turned to Yost. 'I'll inform the duty NCO, sir, and then take the colonels to their quarters.'
Satisfied that all was in order and that his presence was not required, Dixon began to gather up his gear and put his parka on. 'I hope, for the sergeant major's sake, we don't have to make a major trek to find my bed. I'm beat.' Turning to Vorishnov, Dixon winked. 'It's hell getting old, isn't it.'
Vorishnov smiled. 'I wouldn't know, Colonel Dixon.'
Caught off guard by Vorishnov's subtle humor, Dixon shook his head. 'God, it's time for me to leave.' Turning and walking toward the exit, Dixon, followed by a smiling Vorishnov, mumbled, for the amusement of the staff still on duty, 'I get no respect, no respect at all.'
Shown into Congressman Lewis's office, Jan Fields-Dixon was greeted with a warm smile and a handshake. 'It's been too long, Jan. That's why I asked the President to invade another country. Seems that's the only way to get you to come and see me.'
Taken aback by Lewis's warm smile and relaxed manner, Jan returned his smile and took a seat. For a moment she just stared at him, almost as if she expected something to suddenly change. When he became conscious of her staring, Lewis blinked his eyes. 'What? What did I do wrong?'
Caught off guard again and suddenly aware of her staring, Jan shook her head and laughed. 'Oh, gee, Ed, I'm sorry. It's just that I expected something entirely different. Your mood, that is.'
Lewis chuckled as he grabbed the arms of his chair and leaned back. 'You and my wife, Amanda, must have been talking again. Every time she hears something on the news, she calls me to tell me to calm down.'
'Well, Ed, I must admit that you do have a reputation for shouting first, loudest, and longest whenever the administration, as you are so fond of saying, oversteps the bounds of logic and sanity.'
Again Lewis chuckled. 'Well, of course. It is a reputation well earned and, if I may say so, to my benefit.'
Jan cocked her head and looked at Lewis questioningly.
With a devilish grin that he used to disarm opponents and put friends at ease, Lewis let Jan ponder his statement for a moment before he spoke. 'You see, Jan, it's all a trick. In the beginning it wasn't. When I first came to Hell on the Potomac, I truly did get myself worked up and upset every time the administration or my fellow congressmen did something I thought was dumb. Hell, for the first year I was in a constant state of righteous rage. Then, shortly after the Mexico affair, I saw the light.'
'Ed, don't tell me you were born again.'
Lewis laughed. 'No, nothing as dramatic as that, although I imagine that would be good for a few votes back home in Tennessee. No, after thinking about how close we came in Mexico to the end, I remembered an Arab saying we used all the time in the Persian Gulf.'
Jan pointed, holding back her excitement. 'Don't tell me. Don't tell me. Let me think about it for a moment. Something about Allah and hands off, or something like that. Scott says it every time he wants to get out of doing something.'
'Inshallah, it is God's will.'
'That's it. What is it with you guys? Did they brainwash you over there and stencil that saying on the inside of your head?'
'No, nothing like that, I think. Anyway, as I was saying, after Mexico I thought a lot about what I was doing here in Washington, both as a representative for the people of Tennessee and for myself. To tell you the truth, Jan, I really didn't like what I was doing either.'
The sudden reference to Scotty caused Jan to pause. He was there in the thick of it. Though the Army had not announced yet what units had been involved in the operation, in her heart Jan knew Scotty was there. Like the good worker who was rewarded by being given more work, Scott Dixon's superiors had a habit of throwing him into the breach whenever there was a nasty and difficult job to do. That his brigade was the one selected to provide the ground force was merely an accident of geography and the sector Scott's brigade had as part of the peacekeeping effort in Slovakia would never wash with Jan. While Scotty referred to his constant overuse as 'No rest for the wicked,' Jan always responded by claiming that the Army was good at beating dead horses. That she had used the analogy of the dead horse caused her a sudden pang of regret, one that Ed Lewis noticed. Seeing that the congressman was staring at her while she reflected on her accidental indiscretion, Jan forced herself to return to the matter at hand. With a forced smile, Jan picked up where she had left off. 'So you were born again.'
Looking up at the ceiling, Lewis thought about Jan's sudden change in mood and her statement before answering. He knew what was going on in her mind and for a moment thought about offering her some comfort or reassurance. But since she had chosen to press on with the interview, Lewis decided to follow along and not press the personal issues. There might be a time, after he knew more about the situation, when he might need to do so, but this was not it. 'I guess in a way you could say that.' When Lewis looked back at her, he did so with a serious, reflective look. 'It was more of an awakening. I suddenly realized that I was in my mid-forties. That I had two children in college with one about to be commissioned in the Army. That I had a wife who loved me and cared for me that I had lived with but had not talked to, I mean really talked to, in years. I suddenly realized that I was becoming like everyone else in this town, a self-centered, government-inspected, grade-A cynic.'
Jan was touched by the confidence that Lewis was showing by telling her this. Ordinarily, politicians didn't discuss their feelings in such an open and casual manner with a member of the media. But Ed Lewis and Jan Fields-Dixon had a relationship, a bond of friendship, that was important to both of them. After barely escaping with their lives from a brush with terrorists during the second Mexican Revolution, the two had developed a close friendship that neither let the business of news and politics interfere with. So as they spoke in the quiet privacy of Lewis's office before starting the interview, it was as friends. 'Sounds like midlife crisis to me, Ed.'
'Perhaps, Jan, that is what it was. All I know is that I realized that I was impaling myself on every crisis and every stupid issue, often to no effect, without thinking about what it was costing me or my family. So I told myself, 'Self, this is dumb!' That is when I remembered the old Arab saying and finally understood what it meant' Sitting up, leaning across the desk, Lewis looked at Jan, wide-eyed and smiling. 'Now, before I jump into the fray, I ask myself, 'Can I make a difference now, or should I wait? And when I do, what can I do to help?' '
'With age, Ed, comes wisdom?'
He nodded. 'Something like that. Now I don't think you came down here with a camera crew just to listen to an almost old man wax philosophical about the meaning of life. What do you want to discuss in the interview?'
Opening a notebook that she had on her lap, Jan went over some of the questions she had intended to ask, in no particular order, explaining that she had no clear idea yet what she would emphasize. Therefore she intended to skip around with questions until they hit upon something that they could develop into a coherent and intelligent on-camera discussion. Lewis, in full agreement, listened to Jan's questions, making short comments as the mood struck him, or giving her a thumbs-down when she hit him with one that he really didn't want to answer. This continued for several minutes until Jan asked him about Germany. Like a bull tweaked by a cattle prod, Lewis jerked and sat upright Pointing his finger, his eyes narrowed. 'There's going to be trouble with them. Mark my words, Jan. Big trouble.'
Lewis's strong reaction to a subject that Jan was interested in exploring excited her. Lowering her notebook to her lap, Jan asked Lewis to explain.
'Well, in the first place, the administration has really screwed up how they've handled the Germans from the beginning. I get the impression that Soares and the rest of his crew at the State Department haven't woken up to the fact that the Germany we are dealing with today is not the same Germany we tried to play big brother to in the
