The Road to Omaha (48 page)

“Wait a minute!” broke in Pinkus. “Shirley and I support the local theater groups—she likes to have her picture taken at the opening nights. There’s a particular favorite, an elderly performer who’s been in a great many Broadway plays; he’s in what you might call semiretirement. I’m sure I could convince him to help us out, for a fee, of course.… But only, of course, if he was completely safe.”

“You have my word on that, sir,” said Cyrus. “No possible harm could come to him, because Roman Z and I will be on either side of him.”

“An
actor
?” exclaimed Devereaux. “That’s
crazy
!”

“In truth, he frequently appears a touch that way.” The telephone rang on the table beside Aaron’s chair; instantly he picked it up. “Yes?… It’s for you, Sam. I believe it’s your maid, Cousin Cora.”

“Oh, my
God
, I forgot all about her!” said Devereaux, walking around the table to the phone.

“I didn’t,” interrupted Eleanor. “I spoke to her last night, but I didn’t tell her where we were or give her this number.”

“
Cora,
” cried Sam. “How are … you
talked
to her, Mother? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t ask. However, everything’s fine at the house. The police have been around constantly and I think she’s been feeding the entire force.”

“Cora? Mother says everything’s all right over there.”

“The hoity-toity’s fulla tea, Sammy. The damn phone’s been ringing off the hook all day and nobody could or would tell me where the hell you were.”

“How did you find out?”

“Paddy Lafferty’s daughter Bridget. She said Erin gave her this number in case there was any trouble with the grandkids.”

“That makes sense. What is it? Who’s been calling me?”

“Not
you
, Sambo—everyone
but
you!”

“
Who
?”

“First that nut general you’re always talking about, then that long-legged Indian girl who shouldn’t be let out in the streets. And I tell ya, there’s been at least twenty calls for each of ’em, all from the same two fellas, like every half hour or so.”

“What are their names?”

“One wouldn’t tell me and the other you wouldn’t believe. The first sounded panicky as all blazes, kinda like you get sometimes, Sammy. He keeps screaming that his sister should call her brother right away.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her. What about the other guy, the one for the general?”

“Well, yer gonna think I’ve been nippin’ again when you hear it, but I ain’t ’cause there’s been too many cops around.… Boy, what a butcher’s bill yer gonna get—”

“The name, Cora?”

“Johnny
Calfnose
, can you swallow that, Sammy?”

“Johnny Calfnose?” said Devereaux softly.

“Calfnose …?” gasped Jennifer.

“
Calfnose
!” shouted the Hawk. “My security’s been trying to reach me? Get off the phone, Lieutenant!”

“My former client’s trying to reach
me
!” cried Redwing, colliding with the general as each ran to Sam.

“No!” yelled Devereaux, turning and holding the phone out of reach. “Calfnose is for Mac. Your
brother
wants you to call him.”

“Give me that phone, boy!”

“
No
, me first!”

“If you’ll all calm
down
,” said Pinkus, raising his voice. “My brother-in-law has at least three, possibly four, lines on his phones, two at least for Shirley’s sister, and there are telephones all over the place. Just find one, each of you, and push an unlit button.”

It was like the brief pandemonium of a kindergarten recess as the Hawk and Jennifer raced around looking for separate phones. Mac spotted one on the redwood porch, ran to a glass door, and whipped it open with a vibrating crash; Redwing saw another on an antique white desk against the rear wall and pounced on it. The subsequent cacophony of voices shattered the stillness of the Swampscott evening.

“Bye, Cora.”

“
Charlie
, it’s me!”

“Calfnose, it’s
Thunder Head
!”

“You’re kidding, little Brother, tell me you’re
kidding
!”

“Goddamn,
zero
hour minus four days!”

“You’re not kidding …?”

“Send back my acceptance and sign it T. C. Chief of This Nation’s Most Oppressed People!”

“Send me an airline ticket to American Samoa, Charlie. I’ll meet you there.”

One in triumph, the other in defeat, the Hawk and Jennifer hung up their respective phones. The general strode through the porch door like a commander of a Roman legion entering the gates of Carthage, while Redwing turned away from the elegant white desk as might a lost, delicate bird buffeted by unfriendly winds.

“What is it, my dear?” asked Aaron gently, obviously touched by Jennifer’s demeanor.

“The worst,” she replied, barely audible. “The elevator to hell.”

“Come now, Jennifer—”

“Lear jets and limousines, oil wells on Lexington Avenue, and distilleries in Saudi Arabia.”

“Oh, my
God
.…” whispered Sam. “The Supreme Court.”

“
Bull’s-eye
!” roared the Hawk. “All rounds blowing out the center of the target! The
Supreme Court.
”

“Chu sendin’ us back to
jail
?” cried Desi-One.

“Heneral, why chu do dat?” said the stunned Desi-Two.

“You’ve got it wrong, Captains. You’re on your way up the Ranger ropes to fine military careers.”

“Everybody be
quiet
!” yelled Devereaux, somewhat startled to see that he was obeyed. “All right, Red, you first. What did your brother say?”

“What the Cro-Magnon just confirmed. Charlie called Johnny Calfnose to see if everything was okay back there, and Johnny was crawling up the walls trying to find your over-the-hill mutant. A telegram arrived yesterday morning requiring an immediate reply, by phone or fax.… General Bomb Balls, alias Thunder Nuts, is to appear in the Court’s chambers to certify his tribal authority in five days from yesterday at three o’clock in the afternoon and present his case. It’s all over but the long agonizing process of watching a people being destroyed. The Court’s arguments are going public.”

“We did it, Sam! The old team hasn’t lost its touch.”

“
Nothing
!” screamed Devereaux. “I did absolutely
nothing
! I haven’t anything to
do
with you.”

“Well, I hate to contradict you, son—”

“I’m
not
your son!”

“No, he’s mine,” said Eleanor. “Anybody want him?”

“… you
are
the legal attorney-of-record,” completed Hawkins, somewhat less loudly than before.

“
Oh
no, that invitation was for you,
not
me!”

“Wrong again, Counselor,” said Jennifer disconsolately. “You’ve replaced not only my unauthorized brother but me at the whim of your Ape Man. Charlie was very clear, as well as personally relieved. The invitation included one Samuel L. Devereaux, Esquire, attorney for the Wopotami tribe.”

“They can’t
do
that!”

“They did, and Charlie wants to thank whoever S. L. Devereaux is with all his heart. As he put it, ‘I’d love to buy that asshole a drink, but I don’t think he’s going to live long enough.’ ”

“General,” said the quiet voice of Cyrus M, his following words like cracks of muted thunder. “Do we forget the Soldier of the Century?”

The Hawk’s face went white; his eyes roamed in short spastic movements seeing nothing, bespeaking only the furies of his inner conflict. “Oh, Jesus and Caesar!” he murmured gutturally as he sank into the chair across from Pinkus. “My God, what do I
do
?”

“It’s a trap, sir, I sincerely believe that,” added the huge black mercenary.

“Suppose you’re
wrong
?”

“There’s nothing in the Nobel committee’s history to support that kind of error.”

“
History
? For Christ’s sake, man, there’s nothing in the last forty years of history to support the tearing down of the Berlin Wall or the breaking up of the whole Soviet Union! Things are changing everywhere.”

“Some things don’t change. Stockholm doesn’t change.”

“
Goddamn
, Colonel, I’ve given my life,
devoted
my life to the army and got screwed by the panty-laced, pricky-shit politicians! Do you know what that award would mean to me—to every man who served under me in three
wars
!”

“Just a minute, General.” Cyrus looked over at Devereaux. “May I ask you a question—Sam … and may I call you Sam, since I think we’re beyond the hired-guard situation?”

“ ‘Massa’ doesn’t fit, from either side. Sure, what is it?”

“Does this trap, as I know damn well it is, have anything to do with this Supreme Court thing you’re all yelling about? I understand your security, but you need my help, and in all conscience, I can’t professionally give it without knowing more than I do. As a chemist, I demanded accurate component equations from my subordinates; as a mere, I have to know the fundamental components, period, in order to act accordingly.”

Devereaux turned first to Aaron, who nodded without hesitation, then looked at Jennifer, who paused, then nodded reluctantly. Finally, Sam walked over to Eleanor on the couch. “Mother, it would please me greatly if you and Mrs. Lafferty could find something to do in the kitchen.”

“Call Cora,” said the grand dame of Weston, Massachusetts, without moving.

“Hey, come on, fancy-dan girl!” cried Erin Lafferty. “I gotta get rid of the salad bowl and you can make us some tea! Guess what I found, Mrs. Great One? Hennessy, VSOP!”

“She’s been talking to our shameless cousin,” said Eleanor, instantly rising. “It
is
quite past time for tea, isn’t it? Come along, Aaron, we’ll do tea.”

“That’s
Erin
, Missy—”

“Yes, of course, you don’t look at all Jewish. Do you like chamomile?”

“No, I like Hennessy.”

“Definitely, Cora. Have you known her long?”

“Well, she’s from the Roman side and I’m the other, but we get together on this committee we formed to try to get those idiots together—”

“We’ll discuss it all over tea, Errol, and perhaps I’ll join your committee. Of course, I’m High Anglican.”

“Cora couldn’t spell it.” The two ladies, arm in arm, walked through the kitchen door.

“
Desis
One and Two,” said Sam. “Will you
stop
looking like that! Everything General Mac promised you will happen—believe me I know, both the good and the bad, and yours is only good.”

“
Privado,
” explained the Hawk. “
¿Confidential, comprenden
?”

“Sure, man, we go out with the
romano gitano
. He’s crazy, y’know, man? He spins around a lot and always he’s smiling. But, he’s gotta be good in the streets, y’know what I mean? We could do good together.”

“
Bear
in mind, my
captains
!” shouted MacKenzie. “You are now under
my
command! No more
streets
, no more muggings, no more thievery, and no more hostility to civilians! Haven’t you learned a goddamned
thing
?”

“Chu right, Heneral,” answered Desi the First contritely. “Sometimes we just slip back widdout t’inking. We’re gentlemen an’ h’officers now, so we godda t’ink different. Chu right.… We go outside wid the
loco gitano.
” Desis One and Two walked into the tiled foyer and out the front door.

“What was that all about?” asked Cyrus, looking at the deserted foyer. “I understood the Spanish, but not your ‘command’ and the fact that they were captains. In what army?”

“In the
Army
of the United States, Colonel—oh, sorry, you don’t like that.… Let’s say I’m training ’em up, because we could do a lot worse.”

“Never mind, General,” said the mercenary, shaking his head. “It’s beyond me, and at this moment, I’d rather concentrate on—this moment, on where we are. Will someone explain?”

Glances were exchanged, but it was Jennifer Redwing, daughter of the Wopotamis, who held up her hand and insisted on speaking. She described everything they knew about the Wopotami brief to the Supreme Court, then persuasively outlined what she believed was the forthcoming destruction of the Wopotamis as a result of the Court’s action, whichever way it went.

“With merely the specter of the suit, the entire federal government will react furiously, making our people out to be traitors and pariahs, and setting in motion the condemnation of our land, shutting down the reservation and dispersing all those living there. Washington
has
to, for the absolute preservation of the Strategic Air Command is uppermost, and not exactly secondmost is the army of defense contractors—hell, the Pentagon itself—who will be calling for our blood.… On the other side, there’ll be
hordes of carpetbaggers of every persuasion descending on the tribe and corrupting everyone in sight, hoping for a hunk of the improbable but potential legal pie, or publicity, but all with their eyes on the bottom line. My God, there’ll be more Rainbow Coalitions after a dollar than there are colors in a Jackson Pollock, and every bit as wild.… Finally, there’ll be nothing left of us but censure and decadence, a people surfeited with slander, greed, and rot, ultimately losing the no-win fight and discarded. That’s not what I want for my brothers and sisters, whom I dearly love.… There, I’ve said it, and I hope you were listening, General Genghis Gun-in-the-Cookie-Jar.”

“Except for your final comment,” said Aaron Pinkus, riveted in his chair, “that was a lovely summation.… I make no judgment about that comment, my dear, merely its effect on a jury, which, I suspect, would be negative.”

“I don’t know about that, Commander.” MacKenzie Hawkins sat motionless, his eyes locked with those of the Wopotami daughter. “I figure I’m part of the jury here, and it had a pretty positive effect on me.”

“What do you mean, Mac?” asked Devereaux, from his expression obviously anticipating the unexpected.

“May I present my side, little lady?” said the Hawk, rising to his feet. “… Excuse me, you’re not ‘little’ in any sense, but you are a lady, and I mean no disrespect by the term.”