"Excuse me, Governor, but the title is Deputy Director (Intelligence). That means I currently head one of the Agency's principal directorates. The others are Operations, Science and Technology, and Administration. Admin is what it sounds like. The Ops guys gather data the old-fashioned way; they're the real field spooks. The S and T guys run the satellite programs and other scientific stuff. The Intel guys try to figure out what Ops and S and T deliver to us. That's what I try to do. The real DDI is Admiral James Greer, and he's -"
"I've heard. Too bad. I hear he is a fine man. Even his enemies say he's honest. That's probably the best compliment any man can have. How about some breakfast?" Fowler fulfilled the first requirement of political life. He was pleasant. He was charming.
"Sounds okay to me, sir. Can I give you a hand?"
"No, I can manage." Fowler used the cane to rise. "You are an ex-Marine, ex-broker, ex-history teacher. I know about the business with the terrorists a few years back. My people - my informants, I should say," he added with a grin as he sat back down, "tell me that you've moved up the ladder at CIA very quickly, but they will not tell me why. It's not in the press either. I find that puzzling."
"We do keep some secrets, sir. I am not at liberty to discuss all the things you might like to know, and in any case you'd have to depend on others to tell you about me. I'm not objective."
The Governor nodded pleasantly. "You and Al Trent had one pisser of a fight awhile back, but he says things about you that ought to make you blush. How come?"
"You'll have to ask Mr. Trent that, sir."
"I did. He won't say. He doesn't actually like you very much, either."
"I am not at liberty to discuss that at all. Sorry, sir. If you win in November, you can find that out." How to explain that Al Trent had helped CIA arrange the defection of the head of KGB - to get even with the people who had put a very close Russian friend of his in a labor camp. Even if he could tell the story, who would ever believe it?
"And you really pissed Beth Elliot off last night."
"Sir, do you want me to talk like a politician, which I am not, or like what I am?"
"Tell it straight, son. That's one of the rarest pleasures a man in my position has." Ryan missed that signal entirely.
"I found Dr. Elliot arrogant and abusive. I'm not used to being jacked around. I may owe her an apology, but maybe she owes me one, too."
"She wants your ass, and the campaign hasn't even started yet." This observation was delivered with a laugh.
"It belongs to someone else, Governor. Maybe she can kick it, but she can't
"Don't ever run for public office, Dr. Ryan."
"Don't get me wrong, sir, but there is no way in hell that I would ever subject myself to what people like you have to put up with."
"How do you like being a government employee? That's a question, not a threat," Fowler explained.
"Sir, I do what I do because I think it's important, and because I think I'm good at it."
"The country needs you?" the presidential candidate asked lightly. That one rocked the acting DDI back in his chair. "That's a tough answer to have to make, isn't it? If you say no, then you ought not to have the job because somebody can do it better. If you say yes, then you're an arrogant son of a bitch who thinks he's better than everybody else. Learn something from that, Dr. Ryan. That's my lesson for the day. Now let me hear yours. Tell me about the world - your version of it, that is."
Jack took out his notes and talked for just under an hour and just over two cups of coffee. Fowler was a good listener. The questions he asked were pointed ones.
"If I read you right, you say you do not know what the Soviets are up to. You've met the General Secretary, haven't you?"
"Well - " Ryan stopped cold. "Sir, I cannot -that is, I shook hands with him twice at diplomatic receptions."
"You've met him for more than a handshake, but you can't talk about it? That is most interesting. You're no politician, Dr. Ryan. You tell the truth before you think to lie. It would appear that you think the world is in pretty good shape at the moment."
"I can remember when it was in far worse shape, Governor," Jack said, grateful for having been let off the hook.
"So why not ease back, cut arms, like I propose?"
"I think it's too soon for that."
"I don't."
"Then we disagree, Governor."
"What is going on in South America?"
"I don't know."
"Does that mean that you do not know what we are doing, or that you do not know if we are doing anything, or that you do know and have been ordered not to discuss it?"
"I find that very strange, given your position."
"I was in Europe for a NATO intelligence meeting when all this started, and I'm a European and Soviet specialist."
