Establishment Read Online Free PDF Page B

Jean Seldon, or to his divorce and his subsequent marriage to May Ling, or to his years of poverty when he fished mackerel out of San Pedro, or to the incredible shipyard he had built during the war years on Terminal Island. It was all grist for their mills, and the enticing thing about Lavette was that he never ceased to make good copy. He and his former wife, Jean, scorned to disguise that they were living together, a condition still regarded with censure in 1948. He operated a fleet of tankers that already held a commanding position in the trade, and, true to form, he made the headquarters of his shipping company in Jack London Square in Oakland. The fact that his son, Thomas—to whom he had not spoken for years—was in partnership with Jean’s ex-husband, John Whittier, operating the largest cargo fleet on the West Coast, only made the copy more intriguing.
    That Bernie Cohen came to him was not solely dependent on their relationship. If there had been no relationship at all and if Cohen had asked for the one man in the Bay Area who might respond to the strange scheme in which he was involved, he surely would have been recommended to Lavette. Now he sat in Dan’s office, listening uneasily as Dan said, “I have to get my bearings, Bernie. You’re married to my daughter for two years, and you’ve never asked for a nickel, breaking your ass with that damn garage of yours, and now it’s a hundred and ten thousand dollars. I almost like it. Is there any chance of seeing any of that money again?”
    â€œNot much, no. I could give you a note, and Brodsky could sign it as a representative of the Haganah, but I’d be a liar if I said there was any chance of them repaying it.”
    â€œSo it’s charity.”
    â€œNot deductible.”
    â€œJust to sweeten it. You’re a strange man, Bernie, but you’re not crazy. At least, not much crazier than most of us. What in hell ever gave you the notion that I’d go for this?”
    â€œDesperation. There’s nowhere else to go.”
    â€œYou don’t think I owe you something because you married my daughter?”
    â€œI’m the one who owes you. No.”
    â€œAnd you’re walking out on her for a month, two months, six months. Does she know that?”
    â€œShe knows.”
    â€œDoes she like it?”
    â€œWhat do you think, Dan? No, she doesn’t like it. But she won’t tell me not to do it.”
    â€œWhat about the garage?”
    â€œGomez, my foreman, he’s a good man. I can trust him. He’ll run the garage. If we get the planes and if everything goes according to schedule, I could be back in three weeks.”
    â€œYou don’t really believe that?”
    Bernie shrugged. “No, not really. It could take a few months.”
    Dan reached into a drawer and took out a box of cigars. “Smoke? These are clear Havana.” Bernie shook his head. Dan clipped the end and lit the cigar. “Ten C-54s for one hundred and ten thousand. This is a demented world we live in, Bernie. Ford’s Willow Run plant cost the government five million and better. They sold it off as war surplus, and someone walked in and bought it for seventy thousand dollars. A part of the plant was filled with cases of sterling silver screws; they were worth ten times what he paid for the plant. No one knew it. I started the first airline out here on the Coast. That was back in twenty-eight. We flew Ford trimotors—tin geese, they called them. One of them cost more than these ten C-54s. By the way, what makes you think they’re in any condition to fly?”
    â€œThey checked them out.”
    â€œI think the whole scheme is totally insane. I don’t know whether Barbara ever told you how I feel about war. I made two fortunes out of two wars. It’s the filthiest, bloodiest, stupidest rotten game man ever invented. There are no good guys and no bad guys. It’s a lousy, rotten