The Berlin Assignment Read Online Free PDF Page B

occasion had thrown good work out the window. The loftier the Priory’s client, the pettier Heywood became, as if wanting to prove that only he –
The Priest
– had the right touch for the papers needed by the highest levels. Take the Prime Minister’s trip to a summit in Vienna on a new European security pact. Hanbury developed an initiative, a proposal that Soviet SS 20 missiles be dismantled in return for an American slowdown of the development of the Stealth bomber. The idea was checked out with the ambassador to NATO, the PM’s security advisor, as well as a batch of generals sensitive to such issues. Everyone was eventually on side. But Heywood, fresh back from a conference in Helsinki, hit the roof. He said the proposal would be too ambitious for the Soviets who were keen to have ever more SS 20s, while a Stealth slowdown would hit the aerospace workers in San Diego.
Don’t you know who the current senator for California is?
he shouted in a rare moment of apoplexy.
Do you suppose the American Senate will love this?
Nearly beside himself, he ordered Hanbury off the file. Matters became confused. In the end, Hanbury’s idea was reinstated, because domestically there was nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Fuck the Californians
, was the way one of the PM’s advisors summed it up.
And screw the U.S. Senate
. Heywood did an about-face. He slaved for a weekto reinvent the wheel. He also managed to attract all the accolades. Hanbury was startled when Heywood, back from the Vienna conference, said, “Sorry to have been brutal a couple of weeks back, Tony, but you weren’t explaining the idea clearly. Still, all’s well that ends well. No hard feelings.”
    As Hanbury contemplated this and other priory injustices, Heywood’s valediction took a different turn. “Tony grew up in Indian Head. A hundred years ago that was frontier country, so I wasn’t surprised to learn he can be a fighter. He brings to all his assignments – how many have there been over the twenty-five-odd years, Tony? – that expansiveness of mind and gritty determination that opened up the West. I’ve never been to Indian Head, but I’ve flown over prairie towns like it. That’s a big country you come from, Tony. The roads out there just go on and on, in straight lines to the horizon and beyond. All I can say is that such vastness, if it forms part of a personal outlook, is something to which we should all aspire.”
    The lines around Jerry Adamanski’s mouth became ever tighter. He’d heard Heywood sermonize like this before. A wonderful – a priestly – gift. Rhetoric so pure that truth falls by the wayside. He looked down the table to see how others were taking it, raising his eyebrows twice in quick succession at Louise Tetrault at the far end.
    â€œTony stands poised to make a mark,” Heywood continued. “Consul in Berlin, a high appointment, his greatest career challenge.” Once more he addressed his deputy directly. “The grapevine whispers you speak German, one of your many unsung attributes. I’d like to say, Tony, that I am personally delighted that you’re progressing – if I may put it this way – from prairie elevators to the Brandenburg Gate.”
    Heywood, sensing restlessness growing around the table, ended quickly with a wish the assignment would go well. Glasses were raised in a toast. Zella, bridging the awkward moment that follows tablespeeches, asked Tony rapid-fire questions: about his departure date, would there be a visit to his family out West, did the works of art in the official residence in Berlin have historical importance, what kind of chauffeur-driven limousine would be at his command. Adamanski then injected fresh energy into the discussion. “Tell us about your briefings, Tony,” he sneered. “What did the Zealots tell you? What are you going to be doing out there on your own?