Executive orders - Tom Clancy [113]
Sit down. Jack waved to one of the couches. Relax. How was the trip down?
The usual. A Navy mess steward appeared seemingly from nowhere and poured two cups of coffee, because it was that time of the day. The coffee, he found, was excellent, and the china exquisite with its gold trim.
I need you, Ryan said next.
Sir, look, there was a lot of damage done to my-
Country.
I've never wanted a government job, Jack, Winston replied at once, speaking rapidly.
Ryan didn't even touch his cup. Why do you think I want you? George, I've been there and done that, okay? More than once. I have to put a team together. I'm going to give a speech tonight. You might like what I'm going to say. Okay, first, I need somebody to run Treasury. Defense is okay for the moment. State's in good hands with Adler. Treasury is first on my list of things that have to be filled with somebody new. I need somebody good. You're it. Are you clean? Ryan asked abruptly.
What-bet your ass I am! I made all my money within the rules. Everybody knows that. Winston bristled until he realized that he was expected to.
Good. I need somebody who has the confidence of the financial community. You do. I need somebody who knows how the system really works. You do. I need somebody who knows what's broke and needs fixing, and what isn't and doesn't. You do. I need somebody who isn't political. You aren't. I need a dispassionate pro-most of all, George, I need somebody who's going to hate his job as much as I hate mine.
What exactly do you mean by that, Mr. President?
Ryan leaned back for a second and closed his eyes before going on. I started working inside when I was thirty-one. I got out once, and I did okay on the Street, but I got sucked back, and here I am. The eyes opened. Ever since I started with the Agency, I've had to watch how things work on the inside, and guess what? I never did like it. I started on the Street, remember, and I did okay then, too, remember? I figured I'd become an academic after I made my pile. History's my first love, and I thought I'd teach and study and write, figure out how things worked and pass my knowledge along. I almost made it, and maybe things didn't work out that way, exactly, but I've done a lot of studying and learning. So, George, I'm going to put a team together.
To do what?
Your job is to clean up Treasury. You've got monetary and fiscal policy.
You mean-
Yes.
No political bullshit? He had to ask that.
Look, George, I don't know how to be a politician, and I don't have time to learn. I never liked the game. I never liked most of the people in it. I just kept trying to serve my country as best I could. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I didn't have a choice. You remember how it started. People tried to kill me and my family. I didn't want to get sucked in, but God damn it, I learned that somebody has to try to get the job done. I'm not going to do it alone anymore, George, and I'm not going to fill all the vacant posts with ticket-punchers who know how to work 'the system,' okay? I want people with ideas in here, not politicians with agendas.
Winston set his cup down, managing not to rattle the saucer as he did so. He was a little surprised that his hand wasn't shaking. The length and breadth of what Ryan proposed was quite a bit more than the job which he'd had every intention of declining. It would mean more than was obvious. He'd have to cut himself off from his friends-well, not really, but it meant that he would not make executive decisions based on what campaign contributions the Street would give the President as a result of the nice things that Treasury did for the trading houses up there. That's the way the game had always been played, and though he'd never been a player, he'd talked often enough with those who were, working the system in the same old way, because that was how things were.
Shit, he whispered half to himself. You're serious, aren't you?
As founder of the Columbus Group, he'd assumed