Ultimatum Read Online Free PDF Page B

and it’s all this and then you can add some more.”
     
    Riedl nodded. “I’ve got those numbers as well.”
     
    The magnitude of what he was facing left Benton groping for something, anything, to get a handle on it.
     
    “I’m sorry to dump this in your lap, Joe. Truly I am.”
     
    Benton didn’t reply. Whatever Gartner said, Benton knew that the chance of cutting a secret deal and announcing it just before the election would have been to the fore in his mind.
     
    “Mr. President,” said Eales, “can you tell us what the current status of the talks with the Chinese government is?”
     
    “At the moment we have no talks, Mr. Eales. The latest word out of Beijing is they see no point continuing negotiations with my administration since it’s effectively no longer in power.”
     
    “Who was in your team?” asked Eales.
     
    “Art here. Art was the team. No one outside this room even knows we were talking with them.”
     
    Eales turned to Riedl. “You’ll give me a full briefing?”
     
    Riedl nodded.
     
    “Joe,” said the president, “I’m convinced now the Chinese never intended to cut a deal. They were stringing me along. They’re conniving, deceitful bastards, and you can’t trust them further than you can throw ‘em.”
     
    A perfect match, thought Benton.
     
    “They figured they’d buy time by letting me think they’d cut a deal before the election. But we had nothing back from them, all right? I want you to understand that. I’m telling you the truth here. Nothing.”
     
    Benton knew what that meant. Gartner had given the Chinese a proposal for the cuts he had outlined without receiving even a counterproposal in return, so chances were the Chinese would hold on to anything they considered favorable in Gartner’s proposal and demand that as a starting position in further talks.
     
    “I don’t know how you’re going to play it, Joe. I’m stepping back. I’ve got nine weeks left. I’ll go along with whatever way you want to do it.”
     
    “Do you think they’ll restart talks now?”
     
    “With you?”
     
    Benton nodded.
     
    “Maybe,” said Gartner, “but they’ll be playing for time. They’ll see if they can get anything out of you. If you ask for anything back, they’ll say you’re not in power yet.”
     
    Joe Benton thought that was probably right. “What about our allies internationally? Do any of them know about this?”
     
    Gartner’s lip curled. “Let me give you a word of warning, Joe. Whenever the Europeans say they’ll do something, halve it. That’s how much you’ll get. And you’ll get it about half as fast as they promise it. You want to act quick, you’ve got to go it alone. That’s why we did it like we did. I want you to believe that, Joe. I can only tell you again, you can take this into Kyoto, but that would be a disaster for our country.”
     
    “Anything else?” said Benton.
     
    “Isn’t that enough?”
     
    “More than enough.”
     
    “Then we’re done,” said the president. “Art’ll give Mr. Eales the details. We can talk again if you want after that. Just let me know. Anything else happens, I’ll keep you informed.” He stood up.
     
    Benton stood as well.
     
    “We have a meeting in a couple of weeks with our staffs. Pretty pictures. I guess you can understand now why I wanted to do this one a little more quietly.”
     
    ~ * ~
     
    Outside, a cold fog had descended with the dusk. The limo headed off past bare, sticklike trees.
     
    Joe Benton thought over what he had been told. “Usually the Republicans just tell you the budget deficit’s going to be twice what they said in the campaign,” he murmured. “But you’ve got to hand it to Mike Gartner. He always goes one better.”
     
    “He’s been president for four years and vice president for eight,” said Eales. “And he’s got the nerve to tell us now, after the election, that everything’s five times as fucked-up as he admitted. He was vice president