Executive orders - Tom Clancy [386]
We will watch this process with great interest, Ambassador Ochoa promised. Cutting the income of the drug traffickers by that much would reduce their ability to buy protection, and help his government do what it had so earnestly tried to do, for the monetary power of the drug trade was a political cancer in the body of his country.
I regret the circumstances that brought this meeting about, but I am glad that we've had a chance to discuss the issues. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for being so forthright. I want you to know that I am always open to any exchange of views. Most of all, I want you and your government to know that I have great respect for the rule of law, and that respect does not stop at our borders. Whatever may have happened in the past, I propose a new beginning, and I will back up my words with action.
Both men stood, and Ryan took his hand again, and led him outside. There followed a few minutes on the edge of the Rose Garden in front of some TV cameras. The White House Press Office would release a statement about a friendly meeting between the two men. The photos would run on the news to show that it might not be a lie.
It promises to be a good spring, Ochoa said, noting the clear sky and warming breezes.
But summers here can be very unpleasant. Tell me, what's it like in Bogota?
We are high up. It's never terribly hot, but the sun can be punishing. This is a fine garden. My wife loves flowers. She's becoming famous, the ambassador said. She's developed her own new type of rose. Somehow she cross-bred yellow and pink and produced something that's almost golden in color.
What does she call it? Ryan's entire knowledge of roses was that you had to be careful about the branches, or stalks, or whatever you called the thorny part. But the cameras were rolling.
In English, it would be 'Dawn Display.' All the good names for roses, it seems, have already been taken, Ochoa noted, with a friendly smile.
Perhaps we might have some for the garden here?
Maria would be greatly honored, Mr. President.
Then we have more than one agreement, seńor. Another handshake.
Ochoa knew the game, too. For the cameras his Latin face broke into the friendliest of diplomatic smiles, but the handshake also had genuine warmth in it. Dawn Display-for a truly new day between us, Mr. President.
My word on it. And they took their leave. Ryan walked back into the West Wing. Arnie was waiting inside the door. It was widely known but little acknowledged that the Oval Office was wired like a pinball machine-or more properly, a recording studio.
You're learning. You're really learning, the chief of staff observed.
That one was easy, Arnie. We've been fucking those people over for too long. All I had to do was tell the truth. I want that legislation fast-tracked. When will the draft be ready?
Couple of weeks. It's going to raise some hell, van Damm warned.
I don't care, the President replied. How about we try something that might work instead of spending money for show all the time? We've tried shooting the airplanes down. We've tried murder. We've tried interdiction. We've tried going after pushers. We've exhausted all the other possibilities, and they don't work because there's too much money involved for people not to give it a go. How about we go after the source of the problem for a change? That's where the problem starts, and that's where the money comes from.
I'm just telling you it's going