Games of State - Tom Clancy [33]
He rolled a shoulder. "I dunno."
"You don't know?" Melissa asked.
"Well," Billy said, "last night, when I saw the photo I thought about my dad being killed. Then I was upset."
"You understand," said Rodgers, "that these people are really, really bad. And that most people don't believe the terrible things they believe in."
"Jim said that people do but they just don't admit it."
"That isn't true," Rodgers said. "Everybody's got 'pet peeves,' little things that really annoy them like barking dogs or car alarms. And some people do hate one or two other people, like a boss or a neighbor or--"
"My dad hated people who drank instant coffee," Billy said. "He said they were Phyllis-somebodies."
"Philistines," Melissa said. She looked away quickly and rolled her lips together.
Rodgers smiled at the boy. "I'm sure your dad didn't really hate them. We use that word pretty freely when it's not exactly what we mean. The point is, Jim is wrong. I know a lot of folks, and I don't know anyone who hates whole bunches of people. Guys like Jim-- it makes them feel good to put other people down. They have to hate, it's like a disease. A mental disease. If they didn't hate immigrants or people who followed a different religion, they'd hate people with different color hair, or people who were shorter, or people who liked hamburgers instead of hot dogs."
Billy chuckled.
"What I'm trying to say is, these people are evil and you shouldn't believe what they tell you. I've got books and videotapes about people like Winston Churchill and Frederick Douglass and Mohandas Gandhi."
"That's a funny name."
"It may sound a little strange to you," Rodgers said, "but his ideas are really good. All of these men have wonderful things to say, and I'll bring some of that stuff next time. We can read and listen to them together."
"Okay," Billy said.
Rodgers stood and cocked a thumb toward the printer stand. All of a sudden, a long-haired Superman didn't seem so bad.
"Meantime," Rodgers said, "I brought some comic books for you. Batman. today, Gandhi next time."
"Thanks!" Billy said. He stole a look at his mother, who nodded once. Then he bolted over and grabbed the stack of magazines.
"You can read those after school," Melissa told her son as he flipped through them.
"Right," Rodgers said. "And if you finish getting ready, I'll give you a lift to school. We can stop at the diner for C-rations and maybe a video game, and you can be the first person to ride shotgun in my brand-new Blazer."
"A video game?" Billy said. "They have Blazing Combattle at the diner."
"Great," Rodgers said.
Billy threw the General a snappy salute, thanked him again for the comic books, and ran off.
As the boy thumped up the stairs, Melissa gently put her hand around Rodgers's wrist. "I owe you big time," she said. She kissed him on the cheek.
Rodgers was caught off guard and blushed. He looked away and Melissa released his arm. He started after Billy.
"Mike," Melissa said.
He stopped and looked back.
"It's okay," she said. "I feel very close to you too. What we've all been through-- you can't help it."
The flushing around his collar intensified. He wanted to say something about how he loved them all, including Charlie, but he didn't. At that moment, he wasn't sure what he felt.
"Thanks," he said.
Rodgers smiled but said nothing more. Billy thundered back down the stairs and the General followed him, like straw caught in a whirlwind, as he raced across the living room, backpack in tow, carrying his young man's morning appetite into the parking lot.
"No sugar, General!" Melissa shouted as the screen door slammed behind them. "And don't let him get too excited on the video game!"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Thursday, 8:02 A.M.,
Washington, D.C.
Senator Barbara Fox and her two aides arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in the Senator's Mercedes. Senior aide Neil Lippes was sitting in the back, with the Senator. Junior aide Bobby Winter was driving, a briefcase on the seat beside him.
They were early for their 8:30 meeting, as the