Jeffrey Archer

by Shall We Tell The President (lit)

  Mark looked at her squarely. 'No, he wasn't involved in any way so let's try and start over again.'

  Still she didn't understand.

  When they arrived at the Rive Gauche, the maitre d' welcomed them with open arms.

  'Good evening, Mr Andrews, how nice to see you again. I don't remember your booking a table.'

  'No, it's in my name. Dr Dexter,' said Elizabeth.

  'Oh, yes, Doctor, of course. Will you come this way?’

  They had baked clams and, at last, a steak with no fancy trimmings and two bottles of wine.

  Mark sang most of the way home. When they arrived, he took her firmly by the hand and led her into the darkened living-room.

  'I'm going to seduce you. No coffee, no brandy, no music, just straightforward seduction.'

  'I should be so lucky.'

  They fell on the couch.

  'You're too drunk,' Elizabeth added.

  'Wait and see.' He kissed her fully on the lips for a long time and started to unbutton her shirt.

  'Are you sure you wouldn't like some coffee?' she asked.

  'Yes, quite sure,' he said as he pulled the shirt slowly free from her skirt and felt her back, his other hand moving on to her leg.

  'What about some music?' she said lightly. 'Something special.' Elizabeth touched the start button on the hi-fi. It was Sinatra again, but this time it was theright song:

  Is it an earthquake or simply a shock,

  Is it the real turtle soup or merely the mock,

  Is it a cocktail, this feeling of joy,

  Or is what I feel - the real - McCoy?

  Is it for all time or simply a lark,

  Is it Granada I see or only Asbury Park,

  Is it a fancy not worth thinking of,

  Or is it at... long . .. last. .. love?

  She settled back into Mark's arms.

  He unzipped her skirt. Her legs were slender and beautiful in the dim light. He caressed her gently.

  'Are you going to tell me the truth about today, Mark?'

  'Afterwards, darling.'

  'When you've had your way with me,' she said.

  He slipped his shirt off. Elizabeth stared at the bandage on his shoulder.

  'Is that where you were wounded in the line of duty?'

  'No, that's where my last lover bit me.'

  'She must have had more time than I did.'

  They moved closer together.

  He took the phone off the hook - not tonight, Julius.

  'I can't get through, sir,' Elliott said, 'just a continual busy signal.'

  'Try again, try again. I'm sure he's there.'

  'Shall I go through the operator?'

  'Yes, yes,' said the Director testily.

  The Director waited, tapping his fingers on the Queen Anne desk, staring at the red stain and wondering how it had got there.

  'The operator says the phone is off the hook, sir. Shall I ask her to bleep him; that'll certainly get his attention.'

  'No, Elliott, just leave it and go home. I'll have to call him in the morning.'

  'Yes, sir. Good night, sir.'

  He'll have to go - back to Idaho or wherever he came from, thought the Director, as he switched off the lights and made his own way home.

  Friday morning, 11 March

  7:00 am

  Mark woke first; perhaps because he was in a strange bed. He turned over and looked at Elizabeth. She never wore make-up and was just as beautiful in the morning as she was on the other side of a dinner table. Her dark hair curled in towards the nape of her neck and he stroked the soft strands gently. She stirred, rolled over, and kissed him.

  'Go and brush your teeth.'

  'What a romantic way to start the day,' he said.

  'I'll be awake by the time you get back.' She groaned a little and stretched.

  Mark picked up the Pepsodent - that was one thing that would have to change, he preferred Macleans - and tried to figure out which part of the bathroom he was going to be able to fit his things into. When he returned, he noticed the phone was still off the hook. He looked at his watch: 7:05. He climbed back into bed. Elizabeth slipped out.

  'Only be a minute,' she said.

  It was never like this in the movies, thought Mark.

  She returned and lay down beside him. After a moment she said, 'Your chin is hurting my face. You're not as clean-shaven as you were the first time.'

  'I shaved very carefully that first evening,' said Mark. 'Funny, I was never so sure of anything. Didn't happen quite the way I intended.'

  'What did you intend?'

  'It was never like this in the movies.' This time he stated the sentiments clearly. 'Do you know what the Frenchman said when accused of raping a dead woman?'

  'No.'

  'I didn't realise she was dead; I thought she was English.'

  After she had proved she wasn't English, Elizabeth asked Mark what he would like for breakfast.

  After Mark had told her, he disappeared into the shower.

  Mark turned on the shower, getting the temperature just right.

  'Disappointing, I thought we would take a bath together,' said Elizabeth.

  'I never bathe with the domestic staff. Just give me a call when breakfast is ready,' Mark replied from under the shower and started to sing 'At Long Last Love' in several different keys.

  A slim arm appeared through the falling water and turned off the hot-water tap. The singing stopped abruptly. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.

  Mark dressed quickly and put the phone back on the hook. It rang almost immediately. Elizabeth appeared in a brief slip.

  Mark wanted to go back to bed.

  She picked up the phone. 'Good morning. Yes, he's here. It's for you. A jealous lover, I shouldn't wonder.'

  She put on a dress and returned to the kitchen.

  'Mark Andrews.'

  'Good morning, Mark.'

  'Oh, good morning, sir.'

  'I've been trying to get you since eight o'clock last night.'

  'Oh, really, sir. I thought I was on vacation. If you look in the official book in the WFO, I think you'll find I've signed out.'

  'Yes, Mark, but you are going to have to interrupt that vacation because the President wants to see you.'

  'The President, sir?'

  'Of the United States.'

  'Why would she want to see me, sir?'

  'Yesterday I killed you, but today I've made you a hero and she wants to congratulate you personally on trying to save Senator Harrison's life.'

  'What?'

  'You'd better read the morning papers. Say nothing for now; I'll explain my actions later.'

  'Where do I go, what time, sir?'

  'You'll be told.' The line clicked.

  Mark replaced the phone and thought about the conversation. He was just about to call Elizabeth to ask if the morning paper had come when the phone rang again.

  'Answer it, will you, Mark darling. Now that the lovers have found your whereabouts, it's bound to be for you.'

  Mark picked it up.

  'Mr Andrews?'

  'Speaking.'

  'Hold the line one moment, please. The President will be with you in one moment.'

  'Good morning. Florentyna Kane. I just wanted to know if you could find time to drop into the White House this morning at about ten o'clock. I'd like to meet you and have a chat.'

  'I'd be honoured, Madam.'

  'Then I'll look forward to it, Mr Andrews, and the chance to meet you and congratulate you personally. If you come to the West Entrance, Janet Brown will be there to meet you.'

  'Thank you, Madam.'

  One of those legendary phone calls that the press so often wrote about. The Director had only been checking where he was. Had the President been trying to reach him since eight last night?

  'Who was it, darling?'

  'The President of the United States.'

  'Tell her you'll call back; she's always on the line, usually calls collect.'

  'No,
I'm serious.'

  'Yes, of course you are.'

  'She wants to see me.'

  'Yes, darling, your place or hers?'

  Mark went into the kitchen and attacked some Wheaties. Elizabeth came in brandishing the Post.

  'Look,' she said. 'It's official. You're not a villain, you're a hero.'

  The headline read: Senator Harrison Killed on Steps of Capitol.

  'It was the President, wasn't it?' she said.

  'Yes, it was.'

  'Why didn't you tell me?'

  'I did, but you didn't choose to listen.'

  'I'm sorry,' said Elizabeth.

  'I love you.'

  'I love you too, but let's not go through this every week.'

  She continued to read the paper. Mark munched his Wheaties.

  'Why would someone want to kill Senator Harrison, Mark?'

  'I don't know. What does the Post say?'

  'They haven't figured out a reason yet; they say he was known to have many enemies both here and abroad.' She began to read from the paper:

  'Senator Robert Harrison (D-South Carolina) was shot by an assassin on the steps of the Capitol yesterday morning at 10:06.

  'The assassination took place only moments before President Kane was due to arrive for her final assault on behalf of the Gun Control bill, which had been scheduled for a vote in the Senate yesterday. Because they had been warned of a demonstration on the steps of the Capitol, the Secret Service diverted the President's car to the Russell Senate Office Building.

  'The bullet lodged in Senator Harrison's brain

  and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Woodrow Wilson Medical Center. A second bullet grazed the shoulder of FBI Agent Mark Andrews, 28, who threw himself on the Senator in an effort to save his life. Andrews was treated at the same hospital and later released.

  'There was no immediate explanation of the fact that a second presidential motorcade did arrive at the Capitol steps a few moments before the assassination, without the President.

  'Vice President Bradley ordered an immediate recess of the Senate out of respect for Senator Harrison. The House then voted unanimously to extend the recess for seven days.

  'The President, who arrived at the Capitol via the congressional subway from the Russell Building, first learned the news of Harrison's assassination when she reached the Senate. Visibly shaken, she announced that the luncheon to discuss gun control would continue as planned but asked the assembled Senators to observe a minute of silence in honour of their dead colleague.

  'The President went on to say, "I know we are all shocked and saddened by the tragic and horrifying event which has just occurred. This senseless killing of a good and decent man must, however, only strengthen our determination to work together in making our country safe from the easy access of arms."

  'The President plans to address the nation at nine o'clock tonight.'

  'So now you know everything, Liz.'

  'I know nothing,' she replied.

  'I didn't know very much of that myself,' Mark admitted.

  'Living with you is going to be difficult.'

  'Who said I was going to live with you?'

  'I took it for granted from the way you're eating my eggs.'

  At the Fontainebleau Hotel a man was sitting by the side of the swimming pool reading the Miami Herald and drinking coffee. At least Senator Harrison could cause no more trouble which made him feel a little safer. Xan had kept his part of the bargain.

  He sipped the coffee, a little hot; it didn't matter, he was in no hurry. He had already given new orders; he couldn't afford any further risks. Xan would be dead by the evening; that had been arranged. Matson and Tony would be freed for lack of evidence, so his lawyer, who had never let him down yet, had assured him, and he would not be visiting Washington for a while. He relaxed and settled back in his beach chair to let the Miami sun warm him. He lit another cigarette.

  At 9:45, the Director was met at the White House by Janet Brown, the President's Chief of Staff. They waited and chatted. The Director briefed her on Special Agent Andrews' background. Brown made careful notes.

  Mark arrived just before 10:00. He had only just managed to get home and change into a new suit.

  'Good morning, Director,' he said nonchalantly.

  'Good morning, Mark. Glad you could make it.' Slightly quizzical but not disapproving. 'This is the President's Chief of Staff, Janet Brown.'

  'Good morning, ma'am,' said Mark.

  Janet Brown took over. 'Will you be kind enough to come through to my office, where we can wait. The President will be videotaping her address to the nation for this evening's television broadcast so that she can fly to Camp David at 11:15. I imagine you and the Director will have about fifteen minutes with her.'

  Janet Brown took them to her office, a large room in the West Wing with a fine view of the Rose Garden through a bow window.

  'I'll get us some coffee,' she said.

  'That'll be a change,' murmured Mark.

  'I'm sorry?' said Janet Brown.

  'Nothing.'

  The Director and Mark settled down in comfortable chairs where they could watch a large liquid crystal monitor screen on one of the walls, already alive with comings and goings in the Oval Office.

  The President's forehead was being powdered in preparation for her speech and the cameramen were wheeling around her. Janet Brown was on the phone.

  'CBS and NBC can roll, Janet, but ABC is still fixing things up with their OB unit,' said an agitated female voice.

  Janet Brown got the producer of ABC on the other line.

  'Get a move on, Harry, the President doesn't have all day.'

  'Janet.'

  Florentyna Kane was on the middle of the screen. She looked up. 'Yes, Madam President?'

  'Where's ABC?'

  'I'm just chasing them, Madam President.'

  'Chasing them? They've had four hours' warning. They couldn't get a camera to the Second Coming.'

  'No, ma'am. They're on their way now.'

  Harry Nathan, ABC's producer, appeared on the screen. 'We're all set now, Janet. Ready to record in five minutes.'

  'Fine,' said Florentyna Kane and looked at her watch. It was 10:11. The digits changed - and were replaced by the rate of her heartbeat - 72; normal, she thought. They disappeared again, to be replaced by her blood pressure, 140/90; a little high; she'd get it checked by her doctor this weekend. The digits were replaced by the Dow-Jones index, showing an early fall of 1.5 to 1,409. This disappeared and the watch showed 10:12. The President rehearsed the opening line of her speech for the last time. She'd gone over the final draft with Edward that morning, and she was satisfied with it.

  'Mark.'

  'Sir?'

  'I want you to report back to Grant Nanna at the WFO this afternoon.'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'Then I want you to take a vacation. I mean a real vacation, some time in May. Mr Elliott is leaving me at the end of May to take up the post of Special Agent in Charge of the Columbus Field Office. I'm going to offer you his job, and enlarge it to your being my personal assistant.'

  Mark was stunned. 'Thank you very much, sir. I would be delighted.' Bang goes the five-year plan.

  'You said something, Mark?'

  'No, sir.'

  'In private, Mark, you must stop calling me "sir", if we're going to work together all the time; it's more than I can stand. You can call me Halt or Horatio - I don't mind which.'

  Mark couldn't help laughing.

  'You find my name amusing, Mark?'

  'No, sir. But I just made $3,516.'

  'Testing: one, two, three. Loud and clear. Could you give us a voice test, please, Madam President?' asked the floor producer, now less agitated. 'What did you have for breakfast?'