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The President had surprised him slightly by calling him first. He asked Clark to come over to the White House. Hayes made it known it was extremely important that they talk tonight. Clark worried briefly that his name might have somehow been dragged into the mess. If that was the case he could handle it, but it would, of course, be much better if the President never knew of his involvement.
The President's chief of staff escorted the senior senator from Arizona into the Oval Office and left. The President closed the classified documents he was looking at and set his reading glasses on his desk. Hayes had also put on a suit. He rose to greet the man whom he thought was his ally.
"Hank, thanks for coming in." He stuck out his hand.
"No, problem, Bob." The two men had served in the Senate together, and Hayes preferred to be called by his first name when no one else was around. "Let's take a seat over here." Hayes gestured to the couches by the fireplace. "Can I get you anything to drink?"
"No, I'm fine, thank you." Clark unbuttoned his suit coat and sat.
The President took the opposite couch and said, "Well, your old buddy Al Rudin has created one hell of a mess for us."
Clark was very conscious of the President's tone. He worried briefly that he might know more than he was showing, Clark let out a sigh and said, "Tomorrow is going to be a circus."
"There's no doubt about that." The President leaned back and draped his right arm over the back of the couch. "How are you going to handle it?"
"That's a good question. As you might imagine my phone hasn't stopped ringing since this morning. Every reporter in town wants to know what's going to happen tomorrow. Practically every member of my committee has called; most of them are furious. They all pretty much feel the same way. If there is any truth to what Albert said on TV this morning, Dr. Kennedy is toast."
This was no great revelation to the President. His chief of staff had already talked to several of the Democratic senators on the committee and they were already trying to distance themselves from the President and his nominee. The President used the moment of frankness to ask a question that he normally would not. With a sly grin he asked, "And just what is your party leadership saying?"
Clark stared unwaveringly at the President. "They want your balls, and they want me to serve them up on a silver platter."
Hayes stared back. "Are you going to?"
Clark blinked and looked away. "You know I don't like this crap, Bob"
"You didn't answer my question."
Clark kept up his act of looking torn. "I'm not going to call your capabilities into question."
"But someone else on your committee will." The President moved his head in an effort to get Clark to look him in the eye. "Senator Jet land perhaps?"
"Bob, this is beyond us. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, but you know how this works. There's blood in the water, and the sharks are circling."
"I'm sure they are." There was a trace of amusement in his voice. Hayes was silent for a while and then said, "Hank, you've been a good colleague over the years, so I'm going to give you a warning. Do yourself a favor and delay the hearings for a day or two."
"There's no way I can do that." Clark shook his head vigorously.
The President wondered how far he should go and after brief reflection decided that he didn't have to go far. The battle lines had been drawn. It was Republican against Democrat with Albert Rudin in the middle, a very dangerous place to be in Washington. "From one friend to another, Dr. Kennedy is going to be very tight-lipped tomorrow. Do yourself a favor and go easy on her."
"How tightlipped?"
"Invoking the national security nondisclosure document that she signed
when she went to work for the CIA, she is going to refuse to answer any
questions in an open hearing."
"I have a lot of respect for Dr. Kennedy, but this is beyond that. If she cops that kind of an attitude, she's going to give me no other choice but to go after her." "Don't," warned the President.
Clark frowned. "You remember the deal. If the Orion Team was ever found out, Stansfield and she were to fall on their swords." He paused to let the weight of his words sink in. "She needs to do the right thing and come before my committee and admit fault. I'll do everything I can to protect her."
"Well, she's not going to do it tomorrow, so be smart and go easy on her." The President stood. "As one friend to another. Hank, I'm giving you fair warning. Take the high road tomorrow."
Clark looked up at the President and wondered what he could possibly have up his sleeve. The man was clearly checkmated, and he had the gall to bring him into the Oval Office and think that he could intimidate him. Inwardly, Clark wanted to laugh in his face, but outwardly, he acted as if he was carefully considering the President's words, Clark stood and said, "I'll take your warning under advisement."
Situation Room, Sunday evening
the President left his meeting with Clark and went back downstairs where the secretary of defense, the national security advisor, Irene Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs awaited him. The secretary of defense Rick Culbertson had returned from Colombia just that morning and was briefed personally by the President on the situation in Iraq. Security was so tight around the ultimate target that the President had made the decision to keep the inner circle very small. The only member of the Joint Chiefs who knew was General Flood. To the individual heads of each branch, there was to be no mention of the Al Hussein Hospital and what lay beneath it.