(1964) The Man

(1964) The Man Read Online Free PDF

Book: (1964) The Man Read Online Free PDF
Author: Irving Wallace
time, Edna Foster started around the Cabinet table toward Eaton and the portable loudspeaker.
    Passing Representative Wickland, she saw him lean across the table and ask Talley, “What’s this about Earl MacPherson flying to Frankfurt from Buenos Aires? He was supposed to be here in Washington today.”
    “Just a one-day detour,” said Talley. “The President felt you boys in the House could spare your Speaker for one more day. T. C. wanted him on hand.”
    “On African economic aid legislation?”
    “Probably. If T. C. tells you what’s going on, you boys in the House might not listen. If your own Speaker tells you, then you might listen. MacPherson’ll be back on the Hill tomorrow.”
    Edna had taken a position behind Eaton, and was about to inform him that it was precisely seven o’clock, when the telephone rang out shrilly. Instantly the room was hushed.
    Edna bent between Eaton and Talley, punched down the “On” button atop the beige loudspeaker, then she hit the “On” button above the microphone box, turned the volume to “Medium High,” and stepped away.
    She reached her waiting chair and shorthand pad, beside Leach, as a far-off erratic voice came indistinctly over the loudspeaker, and then suddenly broke out loudly and clearly.
    “—calling from Frankfurt am Main, this is Signal Corps Captain Foss calling from Frankfurt am Main. Do we have the White House in Washington?”
    Calmly Secretary of State Eaton addressed the microphone box. “This is the White House, Captain. This is the Secretary of State. We are assembled and ready for the conference call.”
    “All right, sir. The President is waiting to speak to you.” A muffled crossing of voices slapped against the loudspeaker, and then a jagged arrow of static, and at once T. C.’s hurried, bouncy, unceremonious voice was upon them in the Cabinet Room.
    “Arthur, are you there?”
    “Everyone is here, Mr. President. How are you? Is everything going well?”
    “Never better, never better. In fact, I just this moment talked MacPherson into betting all even on Dartmouth against Princeton next month. I want you to ask Internal Revenue if my winnings are tax-free, since we made the wager in Germany. Remember to do that, Arthur.”
    Everyone in the Cabinet Room laughed, hoping the laugh would be unscrambled in Frankfurt, and then settled into silence.
    T. C. was coming through the loudspeaker again. “We broke up at the Roemer before noon. We’re reconvening at two. Our gang stayed over there to eat, but a few of us slipped out on the press and the rest of them, and came over here to talk it out in privacy. I’ve been sitting in this beat-up old Palace study—it’s cold as hell, Arthur—tell Edna she was smart not to come along—and I’ve been conferring with Ambassador Zwinn, and Secretary Steinbrenner, and our obliging Speaker of the House. One second, Arthur—” There was a long pause, and then T. C. was on once more. “Just said good-bye to the Ambassador—he’s heading back to Bonn—and to Steiny—he’s needed over at the Consulate. Okay, we can settle down now. There are a few problems to contend with, at once. I want to talk this over with you, and then I’ll put MacPherson on, and he can concentrate on Harvey Wickland. Incidentally, Harv, I want to let MacPherson rest here tonight, and you’ll have him back in the Speaker’s chair tomorrow.”
    There was a pause, and then T. C. resumed through the loudspeaker. “Arthur—Wayne—all of you there, the problem is Premier Kasatkin. I’d forgotten what a tough bastard he can be. He seems determined to be difficult in four-letter words, except in Russian they’re forty-letter words, and my backside is aching after these last hours. I’m determined to get out of here in a few days, but I want to get out with the knowledge that I haven’t given up New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Bombay, and Baraza City to the Muscovites for the right to stay in Berlin.”
    Wayne Talley
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