"Laurence M. Janifer - Martyr" - читать интересную книгу автора (Janifer Laurence M)

there with two cars and chauffeursтАФ"
"And that's another thing," the President said. "There are hundreds of experienced men, Carson.
You've seen them come and go forтАФwhat is it, thirty years?" He waved a hand, forbidding reply. "But
this Suessman . . . well, I ran a check. Had Combined Records do it, rush-star-rush. He came into State
three years ago. Wanting, the form says, 'to serve his country'; not many of those left, or at any rate not
many who'll admit it. But before that he spent four years with Actors' Studio. A few off-off-Broadway
parts, nothing special . . . a drama student, Carson. A drama student! No negotiating
experienceтАФbasically a clerk . . ." The President shut his eyes. "Carson," he said softly, "will you tell me
one thing?"
"If I can," Carson said, "certainly, sir."
"Why this one?" the President said. "Why Suessman?"
Carson took a breath. "Well," he said, "for one thing, he was never much of a success as an actor,
sir. Never even appeared on television; he won't be recognized."
"I suppose that makes sense. ButтАФ"
"And for the other," Carson said, as the President opened his eyes, hoping, apparently, that all was
now to be made clear, "he's never seen Denver, sir. Or any of the country out there. I think he'll rather
like it; I know that I do."
Long training among hecklers prevented a Presidential explosion. After a time he said: "Now,
reallyтАФ" and felt proud of his moderation.
"We're running short of time," Carson said. "If your security precautions have been tightened, and the
technical mattersтАФ"
"Damn right," the President said. "I mean: certainly. Certainly. No drone flying to Colorado Springs is
going to get off the ground again without six checkovers. Or sixteen. If there'd been a pilot . . . well, we
might have had a dead pilot as well, I suppose. But the idiotic luck of the thing . . . the crash, these kids
finding the cushioned bomb in the wreckage . . . for God's sake . . . I mean: for Heaven's sakeтАФ"
"God," Carson said with a perfectly straight face, "is quite acceptable."
"Idiotic . . . I thought the coast of Spain, years ago, had been the last of it. But it is not going to
happen again. Believe you me," the President said, in a voice that sounded, briefly, very much like that of
his native Ohio.
"Good. I'm glad of that," Carson said, meaning it, of course, quite sincerely. "Then all that
remainsтАФ"
"Is your trip," the President said. "I suppose so. I suppose so . . . I don't know what else can be
done, I don't know . . . Carson, there's nothing else left. You understand that, don't you?" He looked into
the spare, pale face always diplomatically bland but never less than competent in appearance. "Of course
you do," he said. "Certainly. Anyhow . . . well, Carson, I hope you do. I have to: it's the only hope we
have, any of us."

The five (three male, two female, though the point of sex was quite irrelevant) were waiting in what
they called their "conference room," after having tried "clubhouse" with a less dramatic effect. It had been
their choice for a meeting, an abandoned shack in rocky country some five miles beyond the
posh-suburban outskirts of Mountainview. Carson had taken some care to reassure his associate on one
point, at least. "They won't shoot. Not at once, at any rate. They're negotiating with the entire U.S.
Government, as equals. They should rather like the feeling of power that provides; our hope is that they
continue to like it for just long enough." Suessman showed no signs of nervousness as he came to the
opened door, and Carson hoped that he had done, outwardly, at least as well.
The tallest of the men, who seemed to be the spokesman and who had been the most heavily
featured on spy-eye TV coverage, stood in the open doorway and looked the two men up and down.
Carson: long, lean, fifty-odd. Suess-man: middle-sized, middle-thirtied, middling-bald. Behind them two
automobiles waited, and the chauffeurs stood, as Carson had insisted, at an easy attention in the broiling
afternoon sun. The area had the temperature and the general feeling of a large oven.