"William W Johnstone - Ashes 32 - Destiny in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

17

tall and thin, and not averse to speaking his mind when he thought
Claire was going to do something stupid, but he was generally slow to
speak and weighed his words carefully, like a skinflint whose every
utterance cost him money.

Wallace W. Cox, her Minister of Finance, sat peering at her through
glasses as thick as Coke-bottle bottoms, nibbling at the ends of his
scraggly mustache, wondering if she were going to blame him for the
sorry state of the country's treasury as she usually did.

Gerald Boykin, her Ministry of Defense and liaison with the U.N., looked
bored. The meeting had been called to discuss the upcoming presidential
election, and he thought it would have little to do with him. He covered
a wide yawn with the back of his hand, and tried desperately to keep his
eyelids from drooping as he semi-dozed on the couch.

Clifford Ainsworth, her Minister of Propaganda, sat in a corner in a
wrinkled seersucker suit, holes dotting the front of it from cigarette
ashes. When he thought no one was looking, he poured dark, amber liquid
from a silver flask into his coffee. His head was splitting from a long
night at a bar and he needed a bit of the hair of the dog.

"Now," Claire said brightly after sampling her coffee, "does anyone have
any great ideas for propaganda for the upcoming election?"
Harlan Millard shook his head. "I just don't know why you're so worried,
Claire," he said in his typical whining tone of voice. "After all, we
control the voting booths and the counting computers and the press.
Anyone who dares to run against you won't have a chance of winning."

Claire's smile faded a bit and her eyes grew hard. "That's not
necessarily true, Harlan," she said, her voice hard. "There is talk the
United Nations has been asked to intervene in our election." She cut her
eyes to Gerald Boykin, who suddenly began to sweat a bit. "If that's
true, and Gerry over there can't block it, we may find it harder to
steal votes as we did in the last two elections."

18

General Goddard cleared his throat and took the cigar out of his mouth.

"Yes, Max?" Claire asked. "You have something you want to add?"

"I wouldn't worry overly much about the U.N., Madam President," he
growled in a deep voice.

"Why is that, General?"

He shrugged. "The U.N. can decree and fuss all it wants to, but the