Part 33 (1/2)
Xenos nodded, bit his own finger, then fully and deeply shook each man's hand-gripping them tightly for long moments each.
”Uccidi il lupo. Kill the f.u.c.king wolf.”
Franco watched intensely, feeling the long-healed wound in his own finger from the years before when he had become a brother to these men.
To Xenos.
”And if the tribunale rules against us tomorrow?” Vedette asked him.
”Well”-he shrugged-”then G.o.d is dead,” Franco said flatly. ”And there is nothing that can then happen to us in this world that matters.”
In the back of the presidential stretch limousine, surrounded by Secret Service and press, Apple Blossom made his final... checks.
”You're sure they're dead?” he said simply.
Steingarth nodded. ”Without question. All final impediments have been removed.”
The man across from him looked skeptical. ”You said that before, with the college kid.” He paused. ”What does the man say?”
”Well,” the old traitor said to the younger one, ”he's susceptible to the insecurities that are part and parcel to his profession. He's not completely convinced. But that's just him.”
Apple Blossom considered that. ”Then I'm not either. It's too d.a.m.ned late in the game to take chances.”
”And it's too late to change our plans significantly.” Steingarth's voice contained the slightest parental hint of reproach. ”They're waiting for you in there.”
”Contingencies?”
”In place, and unnecessary, as I said.” Steingarth reached out, supportively tapping the man's knee. ”Haven't you caused your own inquiries to be made as well? Relax. He smiled encouragingly.”
”I'll relax,” the man said as he checked his tie, ”when it's over, and not one d.a.m.ned minute before.” He opened the door to the flashes and buzz of the press.
”Relax,” my boy, Steingarth said happily. ”These are your winnings.”
Twenty-five minutes later the show began.
”Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help you G.o.d?”
Jefferson Wilson DeWitt-attorney general of the United States, nominee for vice president of the United States-held his left hand high, held a corner of the American flag in his right, and answered in a strong, deep, committed voice.
”By almighty G.o.d's divine wrath, I do!”
The Senate Committee Room echoed with thunderous applause. Packed beyond capacity with congressmen, aides, security men, and three times the usual press, the sound bounced off the marble floors and ceilings, wrapping itself lovingly around the man facing the combined Senate/House Judiciary Committee.
DeWitt stood proudly, strongly-as he'd practiced for hours in front of a mirror. His expression set, firm; his posture ramrod straight and a little arrogant.
His eyes set firmly and completely on the future.
”Please be seated, Mr. Attorney General, the aging committee chairman said brusquely.”
Frankly he could think of ten men more qualified for the number two job in the country, maybe fifty men that he personally liked more than the young AG.
But the world was in crisis, and the president ent.i.tled to have his own man at his side. Reluctantly the chairman had agreed-in the interest of national security-to expedite the hearings.
”Mr. Attorney General, let me be the first to thank you for your appearance before this committee; and to a.s.sure you, sir, that we will do everything we can to accommodate your schedule in light of the current, well, events.”
DeWitt looked up from a whispered conversation with Michael. ”Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you know I am on call to the White House but will, of course, do all I can to stay before this ill.u.s.trious group and answer all your questions to the best of my abilities.”
Considering all the questions have been cleared in advance, the traitor thought as he looked stoically at the committee.
”Very well, sir.” The chairman leaned back in his extra-padded seat. ”You may begin.”
DeWitt nodded, sipped his water, then opened his notebook, glancing at a note at the top of his aide's pad.
Patience! Pace!! Power!!!
”Mr. Chairman, Chairman Ruskin, Senators, Congressmen, a.s.sembled guests, ladies and gentlemen, my fellow citizens of the planet's greatest hope for true freedom and democracy; it is a sobering honor to appear before you. An honor, because the president has seen fit to entrust with me a part in the future of this great land. Sobering, because of the tragic and horrid circ.u.mstances that led to this nomination.
”My life,” he said with the vaguest crack in his voice, ”has been proof of the American dream. Testimony to the greatness that is still available to any-and everybody living under the banner of liberty. That it has led to this moment-when our nation stands so sorely tested and requires so much more commitment from all of us-is the grandest fulfillment of my immigrant grandfather's favorite phrase: 'Only in America.'”
Grandfather, he thought bitterly, the old man that smelled of p.i.s.s and couldn't be left alone with little girls.
”My mother-G.o.d rest her soul-raised me in the midwestern traditions of loyalty to G.o.d, family, community, and country. A schoolteacher, a cook for the poor and deserted, a s.h.i.+ning example of what Americanism means, was all to me. It was at her feet that I first heard the stories of Was.h.i.+ngton and Lincoln, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. Was taught that country was not just a word, but a faith and a dedication requiring sacrifice and hard work.
”From my father I learned discipline. Many thought he was not an easy man-and as a veteran of too many trips to the woodshed to smile about-I can attest to that. But he was a man, all in all, who asked nothing from anyone. Who believed that hard work was its own reward, and that dedication to something larger than one's self is what defined a man.”
Mommy and Daddy. Oh what teachers they were.
He continued reading from the well-rehea.r.s.ed statement as his mind journeyed back to years he would deny any existence to.
Mommy-the belle of Racine-seldom home with her causes and missions. A woman so disdainful of her blue-collar husband and albatross-around-the-neck son that she sought diversion in as many other places-with as many other men-as she could.
And Daddy.
He'd found his own... diversions. The private pleasures that he'd share with me at-oh, what was I? Eleven? Twelve? The booze and the hookers; the beatings... and the touchings.
”Mr. Attorney General?”
DeWitt pulled himself back from the memories. ”My apologies, Mr. Chairman. But as I stand on the brink of this pinnacle of life, I'm overcome with emotion at those two giants of my life not being here to share it with me.”
To choke on it.
”If I may return to my statement,” he said after a long drink of cold water.
”Of course.”
”My friends,” he said, returning to the text that had undergone twenty-three drafts in the last two weeks. ”It was in college that I think I began to fully appreciate how best I might serve my country.”
And he smiled.
It was in England-in the late sixties-that the future vice presidential nominee felt alive for the first time in his life.