Executive orders - Tom Clancy [192]
We had a little deal, you'll recall.
Clark nodded. I haven't forgotten. That was for five years. Time isn't up yet. The reply wasn't much of a surprise.
Times change. Holtzman lifted the menu and scanned it. He liked Mexican food, though of late the food didn't seem to like him very much.
A deal's a deal. Clark didn't look at his menu. He stared straight across the table. His stare was something people often had trouble dealing with.
The word's out. Katryn is engaged to be married to some fox-chaser out in Winchester.
I didn't know, Clark admitted. Nor did he especially care.
Didn't think you would. You're not an SPO anymore. Like it back in the field?
If you want me to talk about that, you know I can't-
More's the pity. I've been checking up on you for a couple of years now, the reporter told his guest. You have one hell of a service reputation, and the word is that your partner is a comer. You were the guy in Japan, Holtzman said with a smile. You rescued Koga.
A scornful look concealed John's real feelings of alarm. What the hell would give you that idea?
I talked with Koga when he was over. Two-man rescue team, he said. Big guy, little guy. Koga described your eyes-blue, hard, intense, he said, but he also said that you were a reasonable man in your speech. How smart do I have to be to figure that one out? Holtzman smiled. Last time we talked, you said I would have made a good spook. The waiter showed up with two beers. Ever have this before? Pride of Maryland, a new local micro on the Eastern Shore. Then the waiter went away. Clark leaned across the table.
Look, I respect your ability, and the last time we talked, you played ball, kept your word, and I respect that, too, but I would like you to remember that when I go out in the field, my life rides on-
I won't reveal your identity. I don't do that. Three reasons, it's wrong, it's against the law, and I don't want to piss off somebody like you. The reporter sipped his beer. Someday I'd sure as hell like to do a book about you. If half the stories are true-
Fine, get Val Kilmer to play me in the movies.
Too pretty. Holtzman shook his head with a grin. Nick Cage has a better stare. Anyway, what this meet is about He paused. It was Ryan who got her father out, but I'm not clear on how. You went on the beach and got Katryn and her mother out, took them out by boat to a submarine. I don't know which one, but I know it was one of our nuclear subs. But that's not the story.
What is?
Ryan, like you, the Quiet Hero. Robert Holtzman enjoyed seeing the surprise in Clark's eyes. I like the guy. I want to help him.
Why? John asked, wondering if he could believe his host.
My wife, Libby, got the goods on Kealty. Published it too soon, and we can't go back to it now. He's scum, even worse than most of the people down there. Not everybody in the business feels that way, but Libby's talked to a couple of his victims. Once upon a time a guy could get away with that, especially if his politics were 'progressive.' Not anymore. Not supposed to, anyway, he corrected himself. I'm not so sure Ryan's the right guy, either, okay? But he's honest. He'll try to do the right thing, for the right reasons. As Roger Durling liked to say, he's a good man in a storm. I have to sell my editors on that idea.
How do you do that?
I do a story about how he did something really important for his country. Something old enough that it isn't sensitive anymore, and recent enough that people know it's the same guy. Jesus Christ, Clark, he saved the Russians! He prevented an internal power play that could have dialed the Cold War back in for another decade. That's a big fucking deal-and he never told anybody about it. We'll make it clear that Ryan didn't leak this. We'll even approach him before we run it, and you know what he'll say-
He'd tell you not to run it, Clark agreed. Then he wondered whom Holtzman might have talked with. Judge Arthur Moore? Bob Ritter? Would they have talked? Ordinarily he'd be sure