The Inner Circle (12 page)

"Who does he think he is?" Mansfield asked. "He only works for NASA. What's the worst news that he could possibly have? A broken space ship?"

"He said the news was Earth-shattering. His plane is landing around eleven, but I have that speech to give at Georgetown around noon. See if you can hand this guy off to someone else."

Mansfield opened his pocket PC and pushed a few buttons. It took him only a few seconds to come up with an answer to the problem.

"Henry Wilson, sir. The Secretary of Defense owes us a favor,” Mansfield said. “Let the old NASA coot blab away to the old Defense Secretary coot.”

"That's perfect," the President answered. “Call Wilson now, tell him to meet Armour at the airport himself. Things have been going too well for me to start dealing with tiny NASA problems.”

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James Armour was still recognized by many people and after decades of being mobbed by fans and admirers, he still tried acting friendly to any person who talked to him. Today was different, though. Today his mind was on other things, so when an elderly man asked to shake Armour's hand as the NASA Chief got off the plane and stepped into the busy Dulles airport, James breezed by him without as much as a hello.

In all of his years of dangerous space work – where one small move often meant the difference between life and death – nothing had ever frightened him as much as what he’d discovered earlier. And to make matters worse, he had – unknowingly at the time – allowed a constantly nervous, potentially imbalanced middle school science teacher to help uncover the biggest news in the history of humankind.

Armour was in a big rush to get to the White House and if it hadn't been for Earl Ackerman, he never would have spotted the limo driver holding up a sign with both of their names.

"Wow, you must have made quite an impression on the president," Earl said, following behind the driver and Armour. Armour did not realize until this moment how short Earl was, as the small man had to take two steps to every one the NASA Chief took. Earl continued to ramble on about all kinds of things and he apologized more than once for babbling, blaming his motor mouth on the building anxiety.

Armour paid the tiny man little attention though, as he was preoccupied with his own thoughts. Armour had made the trip to D.C. countless times in his life and had even been summoned here by a few ex-Presidents for one reason or another. But none had ever had a limousine waiting for him at the airport and he could not help but feel that something was not right. When the door to the limo opened and Armour saw who was inside, he knew the president had just pushed his warning aside.

"James, it's great to see you," Secretary of Defense Henry Wilson said. "It has to have been three or four years since the last time we spoke."

Armour shook the man's hand, trying to hide his disappointment that the president had sent Wilson to babysit him. To those people who were well connected in Washington, D.C., Henry Wilson did not have the greatest reputation. In fact, he was basically known as an idiot. He'd come from a popular, well-known family who was able to buy Henry just about any spot in the U.S. government that he wanted. He made his way through the House of Representatives, where he was able to blend in with the rest of the hundreds of House members without having to do much, as he served 6 consecutive terms before moving on to the Senate.

The Senate was a different story, though. Since there were only 100 Senators, it was not quite as easy for Wilson to disappear into the background. His reputation amongst his peers quickly soured, even though he stayed ignorant to the fact that he was not well liked. Since he came from the state of Oklahoma – where his family seemed to own a big slice of about every major industry’s pie – Wilson could have continued to run for Senate and won easily every time. He'd even considered a run for the presidency. This was when his own political party had to intercede.

Henry Wilson had a penchant for finding trouble. During his second year as a House member, a much younger woman claimed that she was carrying his baby. Enough money was thrown her way and the story never quite it to the media. Another time, after he was reportedly at a D.C. bar all night, a vehicle that met the exact description of his Mercedes was involved in a hit and run accident. More money put an end to this situation. Finally, during the last year of his Senate term – around the same time he was discussing a possibly run for the White House – a female intern had allegedly accused him over being a bit too 'grabby.' This problem was solved, though, when Harvard – which just happened to be Wilson's alma mater – awarded the girl a full-tuition scholarship for her two remaining years.

The fact that Henry Wilson was so popular and friendly, as well as his 20-plus years of government service meant that he could make a real stab at becoming President. His political party, though, was frightened of the possibility of several colossal scandals. First, they were scared that all of his scandalous cover-ups would be exposed during a nationwide campaign. This would cause a major black eye for the whole party, which had finally gained control of both the House and Senate. What they were more afraid of, though, was that he would actually win the presidency and
then
have every scandal leaked to the press. An impeachment would drive a stake into the party's heart and they refused to let that happen. To stop Wilson from even attempting to become president, his party asked him not to oppose Marshall in the primary election, promising Wilson a high-ranking Cabinet position if Marshall won the office. In essence, having a scandalous background allowed Wilson a cakewalk into one of the nation’s highest positions.

Armour introduced Earl, and the two men joined Wilson in the back of the limo.

"Why did Marshall dump me off on you?" Armour asked bluntly, as the limousine drove away from the airport.

"James, it's not like that. President Marshall is a very busy man and he asked me to help him out with some of his workload. He's very interested in what you have to say, but he needs to gauge its importance before he can commit a certain amount of time to dealing with your problem."

"My opinion is not important enough to gain his trust? I'm no fool, Henry, and I don't appreciate being treated like one."

All of this political posturing was sickening to Armour, especially since the information he had was of such epic significance.

"James, please, you must understand that the president is a very busy man –"

"I know, Henry. You are repeating yourself now. There's no need for you to placate me like some silly politician by giving generic answers about the president's busy schedule. And believe me, what I have to tell him will take precedence over anything the president will ever have to do."

"What the hell can you have to say that’s so important?" Wilson asked, intrigued by the urgency of James Armour, a man who'd gained a strong reputation over the past thirty years for being calm and collected.

"I'm sorry, Henry. It might be in your best interests not to know."

Wilson did not want to hear this and he could play hardball just as easily as James Armour could.

"In that case then, I'm sure you won't mind sharing your information with a defense team I've set up at the Pentagon. We are on our way there now and if it is determined that your information really is as important as you say, you might have your audience with the president by the end of the day."

Earl had been quiet throughout this whole discussion, watching in awe as two of the most important men in the country squabbled like school children. Armour sighed in apparent defeat when he realized Wilson was not going to give in, but Earl decided he would make his opinion known as well.

"Look, I know I might just be a nobody in the grand scheme of things," Earl said. "But if you knew what we know, you would not be dismissing us so readily."

"Like I've said, I am not dismissing you. But things have to run a certain way. The president can't just interrupt his schedule for everybody who thinks it’s urgent to talk to him."

Earl was normally a quiet man who avoided confrontation of any kind, but now was not the time to be passive. Against his better judgment, he continued to press the Secretary of Defense, hoping that by doing so, he would not be casting himself in a negative light to one of the most important men in the government.

"Things might run a certain way, but believe me, every second we waste by waiting to go through the proper political channels, the greater the chances that you, me and the president will die sooner than expected."

"Are you threatening the president? You do know that is a crime in this country and is punishable by a court of law," Wilson shot back, angry that a normal citizen was speaking to him in such a manner.

"Henry, I wanted this information to be heard by as small a group as possible," Armour said, trying to divert Wilson's anger away from Earl. "But I guess you're involved now no matter what so you have a right to know. And if I have to tell you now so we can skip this whole charade with a Pentagon defense team, then I guess that's what I have to do. But what I'm about to tell you can not leave the three of us. Do I have your word on that?"

"Come on, James. I'm the Secretary of Defense, for God's sake. Don’t you think I can be trusted with important information about the country?"

James Armour took a deep breath. He started the story from the arrival of the space data, and continued to tell him everything that had happened up to that moment.

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President Marshall stood at a small, makeshift podium facing a sea of mostly young faces, faces eager and excited to have the opportunity to see such a powerful man in person. They cheered wildly for him and the president could not remember ever receiving such a rousing ovation.

These kids will probably remember this moment for the rest of their lives,
Marshall thought proudly.
It will give them a story to tell their grandchildren one day.

"Some people say that the years spent in college are the best years of your life. Well, those people were describing Georgetown University perfectly," he started, receiving a louder and longer cheer than when he first appeared in front of the thousands of students.

Behind Marshall was a brand new building, a library built solely for the use of Georgetown's extensive collection of books and resources for the most popular choice of major at the college: law. A large yellow ribbon stretched across the front doors, where the Dean of the Law Department was holding an oversize pair of scissors. Above the front doors was a large sign with the name of the library, which had been named after one of the college's most famous graduate.

GEORGE MARSHALL LIBRARY

"I am proud to call Georgetown my alma mater, but I think of it as more of a second home. Although graduating with my law degree was one of the most difficult challenges of my life, it was also one of the most rewarding."

Peter Mansfield watched and listened as the president continued to speak to the thousands of students who showed up for the library’s grand opening. Mansfield could not believe that after only a few months in office, the president already had a building named after him. Listening to him speak, though, really made Mansfield gain more respect for the man. He had such a good way of getting crowds to eat out of the palm of his hand, a trait that certainly helped him gain the White House in the first place. The students cheered wildly after every sentence Marshall completed and Peter could just see thousands of more potential votes the President was winning for the next election, which was just less than four years away...

A buzzing in Peter's pocket signaled him that his cell phone was ringing. He would have preferred to ignore the phone and continue listening to the president’s speech-making eloquence, but a very few select group of people had this cell number, all of whom knew that it was to be used for dire circumstances only. Mansfield quickly moved away from the podium - moving far enough away to hear over the crowd noise – and saw on the caller ID that it was Defense Secretary Wilson.

Was the meeting with Armour over already? Or did he run into some kind of problem? Knowing Wilson, it’s probably the latter.

"Henry, how is everything going? Did you deal with Armour already?"

"No," Wilson said. "There's a --lem, I think the Pres--- needs --- ---- it right away."

"Could you say that again, Henry? There must be a bad connection."

Mansfield moved around and fiddled with cell phone's antenna, trying anything to get better reception.

"I said, --ere's a problem. I think the President needs to hear about it right away."

Of course there’s a problem,
Mansfield thought.
There's
always
a problem when Henry Wilson is involved.

"Is it really that big a deal, Henry? You are the Secretary of Defense, you should be good at dealing with problems."    

"Sorry, -eter. There are some things that --- - bit over my head, and this is one. The president really needs to hear this, I can't stress that enough. And I think he'll -ant - hear this ri-- away."