Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand [256]
“Why, I remember who promised to. That was the party who then pulled every string he could lay his hands on to try to prevent that particular directive from being issued, because he figured he might need rail of Rearden Metal in the future.”
“Because you spent ten thousand dollars pouring liquor into people you hoped would prevent the directive about the bond moratorium!”
“That’s right. So I did. I had friends who had railroad bonds. And besides, I have friends in Washington, too, Jimmy. Well, your friends beat mine on that moratorium business, but mine beat yours on Rearden Metal—and I’m not forgetting it. But what the hell!—it’s all right with me, that’s the way to share things around, only don’t you try to fool me, Jimmy. Save the act for the suckers.”
“If you don’t believe that I’ve always tried to do my best for you—”
“Sure, you have. The best that could be expected, all things considered. And you’ll continue to do it, too, so long as I’ve got somebody you need—and not a minute longer. So I just wanted to remind you that I’ve got my own friends in Washington. Friends that money can’t buy-just like yours, Jimmy.”
“What do you think you mean?”
“Just what you’re thinking. The ones you buy aren’t really worth a damn, because somebody can always offer them more, so the field’s wide open to anybody and it’s just like old-fashioned competition again. But if you get the goods on a man, then you’ve got him, then there’s no higher bidder and you can count on his friendship. Well, you have friends, and so have I. You have friends I can use, and vice versa. That’s all right with me—what the hell!—one’s got to trade something. If we don’t trade money—and the age of money is past—then we trade men.”
“What is it you’re driving at?”
“Why, I’m just telling you a few things that you ought to remember. Now take Wesley, for instance. You promised him the assistant’s job in the Bureau of National Planning—for double-crossing Rearden, at the time of the Equalization of Opportunity Bill. You had the connections to do it, and that’s what I asked you to do—in exchange for the Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule, where I had the connections. So Wesley did his part, and you saw to it that you got it all on paper—oh sure, I know that you’ve got written proof of the kind of deals he pulled to help pass that bill, while he was taking Rearden’s money to defeat it and keeping Rearden off guard. They were pretty ugly deals. It would be pretty messy for Mr. Mouch, if it all came out in public. So you kept your promise and you got the job for him, because you thought you had him. And so you did. And he paid off pretty handsomely, didn’t he? But it works only just so long. After a while, Mr. Wesley Mouch might get to be so powerful and the scandal so old, that nobody will care how he got his start or whom he double-crossed. Nothing lasts forever. Wesley was Rearden’s man, and then he was your man, and he might be somebody else’s man tomorrow ”
“Are you giving me a hint?”
“Why no, I’m giving you a friendly warning. We’re old friends, Jimmy, and I think that that’s what we ought to remain. I think we can be very useful to each other, you and I, if you don’t start getting the wrong ideas about friendship. Me—I believe in a balance of power.”
“Did you prevent Mouch from coming here tonight?”
“Well, maybe I did and maybe I didn’t. I’ll let you worry about it. That’s good for me, if I did—and still better, if I didn’t.”
Cherryl’s eyes followed James Taggart through the crowd. The faces that kept shifting and gathering around her seemed so friendly and their voices were so eagerly warm that she felt certain there was no malice anywhere in the room. She wondered why some of them talked to her about Washington, in a hopeful, confidential manner of half-sentences, half-hints, as if they were seeking her help for something secret she was supposed to understand. She did not know what to say, but she smiled and answered