Chapter 44

44
THE WHITE HOUSE

President Haskill had a rare firm look on his face when he stormed into the room. Admiral Peale. the President's National Security Advisor, had been waiting for twenty minutes.

He strode past the Admiral without inviting him to sit down. The President faced away, toward the far wall of the Oval Office. "Admiral, I just want it to stop. This country is not going down on my watch. This administration is not going to sit idly by while the total civil fabric of the greatest nation on earth falls apart before my very eyes. This is a National Security issue and I will goddamned well have a National Security solution to it." The President almost pounded on his desk, which would probably have been a first, but hesitated and turned to face the Admiral.

It was just then that Admiral Peale could look into the President's eyes. The Leader of the Free World was both irritated and terrified. President Haskill stared back deeply. His Presidential face had a melancholic look, the empty look of the lost.

"Admiral," he continued, now almost sobbing, "what can be so important about this man from Brazil? Don't these people have lives to live, families, jobs? How can ten million normally well composed and industrious citizens just go berserk? This is an industrialized country for Christ's sake!"

The President, obviously tired, put his palms to his forehead. "I guess I have lived in a world of conspiracies and dirty tricks from the other party for so long that I just can't consider something like this -- something straightforward, something that is simply what it is. If I cave in and deal, it won't make any difference. Hell, I don't even know what I'd have to do to cave in and deal."

Turning again to the Admiral, a noticeably calmer President issued his orders. "I want you and your helpers in here tomorrow morning at ten o'clock with a plan to eliminate all rioting within seven days. That man in Brazil is on the move as we speak. So far we don't know what He is planning. We don't know what He wants. We don't even know where He is! But I'm tired of Him raising hell in the United States when He's not even in the United States!"

"I will consider martial law as a last resort. I don't want to hear about any more Federal troops taking sides in the conflict like Baltimore, and I don't want even an inkling that this administration is on one side or the other. Whatever solution there is going to be it won't include the Haskill Administration taking a position on this thing!"