Executive orders - Tom Clancy [135]
We will, Ryan told him. But it would be nice to know how.
That evoked a snort. Damned if I know. On the substance of the issue, anyway. On the form, it has to appear totally clean, no questions at all. That's impossible, but you have to try anyway. That's the legal side. The political side I leave to you.
Okay. And the crash investigation? Ryan was slightly amazed with himself. He'd actually turned away from the investigation to something else. Damn.
This time Martin smiled. That pissed me off, Mr. President. I don't like having people to tell me how to run a case. If Sato were alive, I could take him into court today. There won't be any surprises. The thing Kealty said about the JFK investigation was pretty disingenuous. You handle one of these cases by running a thorough investigation, not by turning it into a bureaucratic circus. I've been doing that my whole life. This case is pretty simple-big, but simple-and for all practical purposes it's already closed. The real help came from the Mounties. They did a nice job for us, a ton of corroborative evidence, time, place, fingerprints, catching people from the plane to interview. And the Japanese police-Christ, they're ready to eat nails, they're so angry about what happened. They're talking to all of the surviving conspirators. You, and we, don't want to know their interrogation methods. But their due process is not our problem. I'm ready to defend what you said last night. I'm ready to walk through everything we know.
Do that, this afternoon, van Damm told him. I'll make sure you get the press coverage.
Yes, sir.
So you can't be part of the Kealty thing? Jack asked.
No, sir. You cannot allow the process to be polluted in any way.
But you can advise me on it? President Ryan went on. I need legal counsel of some sort.
That you do, and, yes, Mr. President, I can do that.
You know, Martin, at the end of this-
Ryan cut his chief of staff off cold, even before the attorney could react. No, Arnie, none of that. God damn it! I will not play that game. Mr. Martin, I like your instincts. We play this one absolutely straight. We get professionals to run it, and we trust them to be pros. I am sick and fucking tired of special prosecutors and special this and special that. If you don't have people you can trust to do the job right, then what the hell are they doing there in the first place?
Van Damm shifted in his seat. You're a naif, Jack.
Fine, Arnie, and we've been running the government with politically aware people since before I was born, and look where it's gotten us! Ryan stood to pace around the room. It was a presidential prerogative. I'm tired of all this. What ever happened to honesty, Arnie? What ever happened to telling the goddamned truth? It's all a fucking game here, and the object of the game isn't to do the right thing, the object of the game is to stay here. It's not supposed to be that way! And I'll be damned if I'll perpetuate a game I don't like. Jack turned to Pat Martin. Tell me about that FBI case.
Martin blinked, not knowing why that had come up, but he told the story anyway. They even made a bad movie about it. Some civil-rights workers got popped by the local Klukkers. Two of them were local cops, too, and the case wasn't going anywhere, so the Bureau got involved under interstate commerce and civil rights statutes. Dan Murray and I were rookies back then. I was in Buffalo at