Executive orders - Tom Clancy [453]
You never printed that, the TV reporter objected.
No, I didn't. The family-well, they're not public figures, are they? By the time I found out, it was old news. I just didn't think it was newsworthy. That last word was one of the keys to their profession. It was news personnel who decided what got before the public eye and what did not, and in choosing what got out and what didn't, it was they who controlled the news, and decided what, exactly, the public had a right to know. And in so choosing, they could make or break everyone, because not every story started off big enough to notice, especially the political ones.
Maybe you were wrong.
Holtzman shrugged. Maybe I was, but I didn't expect Ryan to become President any more than he did. He did an honorable thing-hell, a lot more than honorable. John, there are things about the Colombian story that can't ever see the light of day. I think I know it all now, but I can't write it. It would hurt the country and it wouldn't help anybody at all.
What did Ryan do, Bob?
He prevented an international incident. He saw that the guilty got punished one way or another-
Jim Cutter? Plumber asked, still wondering what Ryan was capable of.
No, that really was a suicide. Inspector O'Day, the FBI guy who was right there across the street?
What about him?
He was following Cutter, watched him jump in front of the bus.
You're sure of this?
As sure as I've ever been. Ryan doesn't know that I'm into all this. I have a couple of good sources, and everything matches up with the known facts. Either it's all the truth or it's the cleverest lie I've ever run into. You know what we have in the White House, John?
What's that?
An honest man. Not 'relatively honest,' not 'hasn't been caught yet.' Honest. I don't think he's ever done a crooked thing in his life.
He's still a babe in the woods, Plumber replied. It was almost bluster, if not disbelief, because his conscience was starting to make noise.
Maybe he is. But who ever said we were wolves? No, that's not right. We're supposed to chase after the crooks, but we've been doing it so long and so well that we forgot that there are some people in government who aren't. He looked over at his colleague again. And so then we play one off against another to get our stories-and along the way we got corrupted, too. What do we do about that, John?
I know what you're asking. The answer is no.
In an age of relative values, nice to find an absolute, Mr. Plumber. Even if it is the wrong one, Holtzman added, getting the reaction he'd hoped for.
Bob, you're good. Very good, in fact, but you can't roll me, okay? The commentator managed a smile, though. It was an expert attempt, and he had to admire that. Holtzman was a throwback to the days Plumber remembered so fondly.
What if I can prove I'm right?
Then why didn't you write the story? Plumber demanded. No real reporter could turn away from this one.
I didn't print it. I never said I didn't write it, Bob corrected his friend.
Your editor would fire you for-
So? Aren't there things you never did, even after you had everything you needed?
Plumber dodged that one: You talked about proof.
Thirty minutes away. But this story can't ever get out.
How can I trust you on that?
How can I trust you, John? What do we put first? Getting the story out, right? What about the country, what about the people? Where does professional responsibility end and public responsibility begin? I didn't run this one because a family lost a father. He left a pregnant wife behind. The government couldn't acknowledge what happened, and so Jack Ryan stepped in himself to make things right. He did it with his own money. He never expected people to find out. So what was I supposed to do? Expose the family? For what, John? To break a story that hurts the country-no, that hurts one family that doesn't need any more hurt. It could jeopardize the kids' educations. There's plenty of news we can cover without that. But I'm telling you this, John: You've hurt an innocent