CHAPTER 46

The meeting in his office was long forgotten when Bill reached the White House. He was already late so, when a television caught his eye, he figured another minute was not going to hurt anything. Bill stopped by a staffers desk and listened to the reporter who was standing just outside the very building he was in. She was doing what Bill figured to be filler but, some of what she said, he thought, was very relevant.

The woman told the anchor desk in Atlanta, “even the President Elect is in the meeting right now. As you all know he is still the Secretary of State and this tells us…”

The staffer, who was also watching the television, looked to Bill and laughed, “I guess they didn’t check their facts too hard.”

Bill grumbled, “yeah well they know I’m here and thought enough of it to say something. That’s the important part.”

The reporter was still talking as the laughter quickly died, “and we have confirmed that the Feyland Ambassador was here, just this morning. We are not sure who he was meeting with but…”

Now Bill chuckled, “bout time they reported something I needed to know.” Bill then checked the clock on his phone and decided he really did need to be in the cabinet room. He entered the closed door meeting that did not have all the usual trappings of many cabinet sessions. There were no reporters, cameramen, or even staffers roaming around and making a general nuisance of themselves. As Bill sat his briefcase down he told the President, “well they’re talking about it now. They’re still speculating but, how long is that going to hold?”

Frank nodded and said, “glad you finally made it Bill. What’s the word from your corner.”

“Not much more than we already know,” Bill replied to the President, “the good news is that they haven’t cut off diplomatic communications. In fact, my guy at Coven Hill is telling us that stuff is coming and going, out of Building Thirteen, like it’s business as usual.”

Bill did notice that the Secretary of Defense had brought along General Diehl with him, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He answered in a very business like manner, “it looks like the only thing they’ve restricted is all military. That’s been in totality, couriers, supplies, replacements, the whole nine yards.”

Bill also noticed that Paul Corbin was sitting in the room, right next to the President. Those two had been having more than a few disagreements but, the chief of staff had yet to really offer his resignation like he kept blustering about. Bill figured that would never happen. What good would it do him now? In fact, he was acting pretty much his usual indignant self today, “we sent those boys there to help them and now they’re shitting on us.”

That drew more than a few agreements from around the table but, Bill had to state, “let’s save the moral outrage for the camera’s, shall we? I think it’s obvious, since they didn’t cut everything off, they’re sending us a message of some kind. Has anybody bothered to even ask them what they want?” Bill was looking directly at the President now, “the TV just told me that their ambassador was here this morning. Who met with the guy? My staff didn‘t have time to fill me in on it.”

There was one definite thing about the way Frank looked these days. Bill remembered how vibrant the guy was back when he first took office. He always had that youthful glow about him. These days, out of camera view, his shoulders were always slumped and his head was usually tilted down. When he spoke he sounded depressed, “he saw me Bill. I’m afraid he didn’t have much to say that was of any use. I still don’t understand their customs. I am assuming that is what happened.”

General Diehl thumped the table, “we already know it’s about those eggs. What if we give them back? Are they really that important.”

“No,” Bill said before the conversation flared up. “Actually no to all of that. They aren’t that important or else they would have never made it out of Feyland. Those things were through the Dell and in Boston before they even said one word about it. Even if they were, how could we give them back after this becomes public, and believe me guys, it’s about too.”

Frank nodded in agreement, “they could blackmail us anytime they felt like it, after that.”

“Exactly,” Bill replied. He caught quite a bit of heat for that, and especially from Corbin but, Bill defended himself, “I’ve met a lot of elves over the past couple of years. They are not stupid enough to think a bone headed play like this is going move us. We haven’t even admitted that we got the damn things, not to them, not to anybody.”

Diehl protested, “that doesn’t really matter Mister Secretary. I’ve gotten most of my reports from your couriers now. General Garret was pretty explicit that one of their advisors tipped our hand on the matter. That’s the only thing that’s happened that makes any sense. I mean, otherwise, they need us more than we need them.”

“Exactly,” Bill replied thoughtfully as he pointed to the General, “that’s exactly why I don’t think Solenceaus is going to push us too hard on this matter. He doesn’t want us gone. I really don’t think he gives two shits about those eggs. I think somebody over there wants something else. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

SecDef replied, “we have considered that.”

His man Diehl added, “none of which matters.” The general looked directly to the President, “sir, it is the opinion of your senior military commanders that, no matter the reason, this is a hostile act. We have plans on the board and our recommendation is that we put the preliminaries of Tin Man into effect, at once.”

SecDef finished up with, “at the least, it would strengthen our hand, Frank.”

The President held up his hands, “no, we are not going there yet. These people are still technically our allies and…”

Bill added, “we’ve had worse.”

“Exactly,” Frank said pointing to the President Elect, “so we are not treating this as a hostile act. If any of you had sat in my office this morning, listening to the Ambassador sound like a singing monk, you’d realize that these peoples customs are so alien to us that we can’t hope to understand them all. That’s why I am choosing, officially, to regard this as a misunderstanding between friends.”

Bill nodded and replied, “we need a back door.”

SecDef was not convinced, “your people have been trying to do that for two years now, Bill. It hasn’t exactly worked out, now has it?”

The President injected, “maybe something has finally turned up. Bill, have you had a chance to talk with Mary since you got back.” Like Bill had had a chance to talk to anyone other than that sniveling little twit Oldham. He just shook his head in the negative and that sent Frank for the phone in the table. He told the other end, “have the helicopter ready in five.”

That got Bill to sit up, “what do you need Marine One for?”

“Not me,” Frank told him. When he got a funny look from Bill, the President told him, “it’s about to be yours anyway. The funny part is, when it is, you’re going to be stuck here just like I am right now.”

That led to a practical problem that Bill pointed out, “what about the press?”

Frank waived it off, “I’ll have Joel tell them you’re taking it for a test run. They’ll get bored with that. Where you’re really going is Langley. We’ll call ahead and Mary will be waiting.” As Bill gathered his things and walked out the door, Frank gave him a parting comment, “check her out and see how you like it. I guess you need to get used to that now.”