JК
The Third Option :: Flynn Vince
Страница: 252 из 267Midleton imagined Hayes marching down the hall to the press room to tell the world that he was firing his secretary of state. The embarrassment would be too much to handle. Midleton would have no platform from which to launch a counterattack. Hayes was too popular to confront. He had once again misjudged Robert Hayes. There was no way out. With great reluctance, Charles Midleton began to sign his name. He knew at that moment he would never recover from the embarrassment. His whole life, everything he had worked for in politics, was over.
CONGRESSMAN RUDIN WAS not amused by the skullduggery that had been used to get him to this meeting. He had received a call from the speaker of the House the previous evening requesting that he meet him in his office the next morning. Rudin had arrived on time and was forced to wait fifteen minutes. When Speaker Kaiser emerged from his spacious office in the Capitol he told the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that they were going for a ride. Rudin, never one to shy away from confrontation, demanded to know where they were going. Kaiser told him in very clear terms that if he had any hopes of keeping his chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee, he'd better change his attitude and keep his mouth shut.
Kaiser was a former offensive lineman from the University of Alabarna and still looked as if he could rumble through the Cloak Room knocking fellow representatives from their feet. His stern rebuke left Rudin scrambling to try to figure out what he'd done wrong. When the speaker's limousine pulled through the Secret Service checkpoint at the south end of West Executive Avenue, Rudin was still unsure of what he'd done to offend the gods of politics. The two congressmen were escorted to the White House Situation Room – a further sign that things were serious. In Rudin's thirty-four years in Washington, he'd never seen the inside of the Situation Room. Matt Rohrig, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was waiting for them in the room. This was another bad sign. Rohrig was the party's money man.
When Rudin attempted to ask Rohrig what was wrong, Kaiser took the opportunity to tell Rudin one last time to sit quietly until the president arrived. Rudin racked his brain trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. At one point, he thought of the breakfast he'd had with Secretary Midleton and his friend Senator Clark earlier in the week, but he ruled it out as the source of the problem. It was no secret what Rudin thought of the CIA, and the president had yet to nominate anyone as Stansfield's successor. All he was trying to do was head the president off from making a horrible mistake.
Finally, the president entered the room with Thomas Stansfield.
CONGRESSMAN RUDIN WAS not amused by the skullduggery that had been used to get him to this meeting. He had received a call from the speaker of the House the previous evening requesting that he meet him in his office the next morning. Rudin had arrived on time and was forced to wait fifteen minutes. When Speaker Kaiser emerged from his spacious office in the Capitol he told the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that they were going for a ride. Rudin, never one to shy away from confrontation, demanded to know where they were going. Kaiser told him in very clear terms that if he had any hopes of keeping his chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee, he'd better change his attitude and keep his mouth shut.
Kaiser was a former offensive lineman from the University of Alabarna and still looked as if he could rumble through the Cloak Room knocking fellow representatives from their feet. His stern rebuke left Rudin scrambling to try to figure out what he'd done wrong. When the speaker's limousine pulled through the Secret Service checkpoint at the south end of West Executive Avenue, Rudin was still unsure of what he'd done to offend the gods of politics. The two congressmen were escorted to the White House Situation Room – a further sign that things were serious. In Rudin's thirty-four years in Washington, he'd never seen the inside of the Situation Room. Matt Rohrig, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was waiting for them in the room. This was another bad sign. Rohrig was the party's money man.
When Rudin attempted to ask Rohrig what was wrong, Kaiser took the opportunity to tell Rudin one last time to sit quietly until the president arrived. Rudin racked his brain trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. At one point, he thought of the breakfast he'd had with Secretary Midleton and his friend Senator Clark earlier in the week, but he ruled it out as the source of the problem. It was no secret what Rudin thought of the CIA, and the president had yet to nominate anyone as Stansfield's successor. All he was trying to do was head the president off from making a horrible mistake.
Finally, the president entered the room with Thomas Stansfield.