The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [234]
The door opened seven seconds later. "Yes, Mr. President?"
"I think you know, Ellen," Jack told her.
"Yes, sir." She fished in her pocket and pulled out a fliptop box of Virginia Slims. Ryan took one out, along with the pink butane lighter stashed inside. He lit the smoke and took a long hit. "Thanks, Ellen."
Her smile was downright motherly. "Surely, Mr. President." And she headed back to the secretaries' room, closing the curved door behind her.
"Jack?"
"Yeah, Rob?" Ryan responded, turning.
"That's disgusting."
"Okay, I am not omniscient, and I'm not perfect," POTUS admitted crossly after the second puff. "Now, back to China."
"They can forget MFN," van Damm said. "Congress would impeach you if you asked for it, Jack. And you can figure that the Hill will offer Taiwan any weapons system they want to buy next go-round."
"I have no problems with that. And there's no way I was going to offer them MFN anyway, unless they decide to break down and start acting like civilized people."
"And that's the problem," Adler reminded them all. "They think we're the uncivilized ones."
"I see trouble," Jackson said, before anyone else could. Ryan figured it was his background as a fighter pilot to be first in things. "They're just out of touch with the rest of the world. The only way to get them back in touch will involve some pain. Not to their people, especially, but sure as hell to the guys who make the decisions."
"And they're the ones who control the guns," van Damm noted.
"Roger that, Arnie," Jackson confirmed.
"So, how can we ease them the right way?" Ryan asked, to center the conversation once more.
"We stick to it. We tell them we want reciprocal trade access, or they will face reciprocal trade barriers. We tell them that this little flare-up with the Nuncio makes any concessions on our part impossible, and that's just how things are. If they want to trade with us, they have to back off," Adler spelled out. "They don't like being told such things, but it's the real world, and they have to acknowledge objective reality. They do understand that, for the most part," SecState concluded.
Ryan looked around the room and got nods. "Okay, make sure Rutledge understands what the message is," he told EAGLE.
"Yes, sir," SecState agreed, with a nod. People stood and started filing out. Vice President Jackson allowed himself to be the last in the line of departure.
"Hey, Rob," Ryan said to his old friend.
"Funny thing, watched some TV last night for a change, caught an old movie I hadn't seen since I was a kid."
"Which one?"
"Billy Budd, Melville's story about the poor dumb sailor who gets himself hanged. I'd forgot the name of Billy's ship."
"Yeah?" So had Ryan.
"It was The Rights of Man. Kind of a noble name for a ship. I imagine Melville made that up with malice aforethought, like writers do, but that's what we fight for, isn't it? Even the Royal Navy, they just didn't fight as well as we did back then. The Rights of Man, " Jackson repeated. "It is a noble sentiment."
"How does it apply to the current problem, Rob?"
"Jack, the first rule of war is the mission: First, why the hell are you out there, and then what are you proposing to do about it. The Rights of Man makes a pretty good starting point, doesn't it? By the way, CNN's going to be at Pap's church tomorrow and at Gerry Patterson's. They're switching off, preaching in each other's pulpit for the memorial ceremonies, and CNN decided to cover it as a news event in and of itself. Good call, I think," Jackson editorialized. "Wasn't like that in Mississippi back when I was a boy."
"It's going to be like you said?"
"I'm only guessing," Robby admitted, "but I don't see either one of them playing it cool. It's too good an opportunity to teach a good lesson about how the Lord doesn't care a rat's ass what color we are,