Midnight Sun (121 page)

“
Yeah,
”
Marcus
said
,
“
those
were
some
hairy
ops
we
went
on.
”
Turning
to
the
Farris's
,
he
said,
“
This
is
Mike
Farris,
former
recon
officer
,
and
his
wife
Hilde.
”

“
We
met
at
the
airport
last
week
when
they
came
in
,
actually,
”
Jim
said
.
He
pointed
at
Farris
.
“
You
didn't
mention
you
were
an
officer.
If
I'd
known
that
,
I
wouldn't
have
been
so
cordial
.
”
H
e
grinned
mischievously.

“
So
what
are
you
doing
here
so
early?
”
Marcus
asked
.

“
Wife
wanted
to
come
see
the
p
resident.
Said
I
needed
to
come
too,
since
I
worked
for
the
past
several
Oval Office tenants
for
so
long.
”

“
What
time
did
you
get
here
to
be
on
the
ground
so
soon?
”
Hilde
asked.

“
Three
a.m.,”
Jim
replied
.
“
C
an
you
believe
it?
Waking
up
at
one
in
the
freakin'
morning
to
drive
an
hour
into
the
city
,
then
stand
in
line
for
an
hour
just
so
I
could
find
a
front
row
seat
for
my
lovely
bride
to
watch
a
speech
by
a
p
resident
I
didn't
even
vote
for.
”

“
As
I
recall,
”
Marcus
said
,
“
you're
not
in
to
politics
that
much.
”

“
I
wasn't,
”
he
replied,
“
but
since
retirement
,
I
somehow
got
into
listening
to
those
knuckle-headed
talk
radio
hosts
on
the
squawk-box
and
they
got
me
all
riled
up
with
their
nonsense
crap
talk
and
started
me
into
following
politics.
Nowadays
,
would
you
believe
I
actually
fill
in
on
the
radio
for
the
local
guys
sometimes?
”

“
Seriously?
”
Marcus
said
,
truly
shocked.
Jim
Walters
was
the
last
person
he
expected
to
be
a
talk
radio
host,
especially
in
a
conservative
town
like
Anchorage.
While
in
the
Navy
,
Jim
never
took
sides
in
a
political
conversation,
even
going
so
far
as
to
walk
away
if
the
talk
was
headed
that
direction.
He
usually
spouted
off
about
the
military
oath
meaning
serving
the
office
of
the
president,
not
the
man
in
the
chair.

“
So
,
you're
like
the
local
Rush
Limbaugh?
”
Mike
asked
.

“
Hell
,
no!
”
Jim
replied.
“
I'm
on
the
other
side
for
the
most
part,
Libertarian
style.
Definitely
not
a
whiny-assed
,
limp-dick
,
tweed
-
jacket
-
with
-
elbow
-
patches
rammed
-
in
-
the
-
ass
liberal
dweeb,
but
not
a
stuffed-shirt,
hypocritical,
blow
-
hard,
fat-ass
,
giving
-
blow
-
jobs
-
to
-
big
-
business
conservative
butt
-
head
,
either.
I've
got
my
own
agenda,
and
if
they
ever
put
me
in
office
,
I'll
fire
the
whole
lot
of
the
good
-
for
-
nothing
pecker-woods.
”
Turning
to
Hilde
he
,
added,
“
Please
excuse
my
French.
”