Removal (40 page)

She paused.

‘I think if I could get Steve alone for half an hour, I could talk him out of it. I think perhaps that’s what I should be trying to do.’

Lazenby and Gutierrez shook their heads emphatically.

‘Forget it,’ Gutierrez said.

‘Why not, Raul? He trusts me. He’s always listened to me.’

‘Not this time,’ Gutierrez replied.

‘Ellen, have you forgotten that you already tried to see him, and you couldn’t get past his secretary?’ Lazenby asked. ‘He’s not going to see you. And even if he did, it’s gone way too far for him to pull back now. Later today, you will be the President of the United States. The time to act is now.’

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Lazenby’s secretary opened it and entered. She stopped abruptly, momentarily taken aback, but then, as a veteran of many unusual situations, made an instant and complete recovery.

‘I’m sorry, Director. I just got in. I had no idea you were already here. Good morning, Madam Vice President.’

‘Good morning, Rose,’ Ellen smiled.

‘I’m not
already
here, Rose,’ Lazenby said. ‘I’m
still
here.’

‘Yes, Director. Just so I know, is anything I’m seeing here happening?’

‘No.’

‘All right. Director, I thought you ought to know the breakfast television shows are saying the crowds around the Capitol got a lot bigger overnight, and there are reports that a lot of them may have weapons.’

Everyone in the room was suddenly more awake.

‘What kind of weapons?’ Lazenby asked.

‘They’re not sure. One reporter says she saw handguns. And several of our agents monitoring the situation there called in to say the same thing.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘Yes, Sir. The Chief of Police is now saying the situation is out of his control. I’m having it taped for you.’

Kelly bit her lip. ‘Frank was right,’ she said.

‘Wonderful,’ Lazenby said. ‘Why in the hell didn’t Bryson call us? Why in the hell didn’t our agents call sooner?’

‘I don’t know, Sir. Anything else I can do? Do you need coffee?’

‘No, thank you. We’re about through. But I need Dean Ken Hunt’s home telephone number in Houston.’

‘Right away, Director,’ Rose said, on her way out of the office.

‘Kelly,’ Lazenby said as soon as she had left, ‘get Ellen out of here and into a Yugo. Have a second Yugo follow you. And stay well out of range of the Capitol. I’m not sure exactly how you’re going to do that, but try.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ Kelly said, getting to her feet and stretching.

‘Wait one moment, Kelly,’ Ellen said. ‘Ted, Raul, would you both please face me and raise your right hands?’

Lazenby and Gutierrez looked at each other.

‘Can we know why?’ Lazenby asked.

Ellen smiled.

‘If I’m going to be President in exile, I’m going to need some help in place right away, and there may not be time to do this later. So if you wouldn’t mind…’

Both men faced the Vice President with their right hands raised.

‘Mr. Lazenby, on a provisional basis, and assuming it becomes necessary, will you promise faithfully to execute the office of Vice President of the United States, and General Gutierrez, will you on a similar basis promise faithfully to execute the office of Secretary of Defense of the United States, and will you both promise to uphold the Constitution of the United States, so help you God?’

‘Ellen,’ Lazenby asked quietly, ‘doesn’t the Senate have something to say about this?’

‘Yes,’ Ellen Trevathan replied. ‘And I’ll ask them the first chance I get. Right now, we have other things to do. So, I need to know. Are you with me or not?’

A
FTER
HE
AND
Kelly had escorted Ellen Trevathan safely back to her residence, Raul Gutierrez asked Kelly to drop him off, still in disguise, at his office. He changed back into uniform, ordered vast quantities of strong black coffee and a street map of Houston, and went to work. Air transport for Ellen was his first priority. He commandeered an executive jet aircraft for a flight from Andrews Air Force Base to Ellington Field, and ordered six fighters to stand by for escort duty. Soon afterwards, he placed Andrews, Ellington Field, and other strategically important air force bases under heavy guard, and scrambled every available fighter to give Houston round-the-clock air protection. Next, Gutierrez made unobtrusive preparations to mobilize all Air Force Reservists for active duty. Finally, he came to the most difficult part of the operation. He placed a call on a top-secret encrypted telephone line to his only potential ally.

‘I was wondering when you’d call,’ General Terrell said. His voice sounded tense.

‘It’s now or never, Bill,’ Gutierrez replied. ‘All hell is going to break loose this afternoon. I need to know for sure which side you’re on.’

Gutierrez heard the Army Chief of Staff sigh into the phone.

‘I don’t know what to do, Raul. I don’t like what’s going on any more than you do. But the Williamsburg Doctrine has been around for a long time. You and I didn’t have anything to do with it, but since it is in place, we have to assume there was a good reason for it. And if two of our colleagues feel it should be invoked…’

‘The Williamsburg Doctrine goes against the Constitution, Bill. You know that as well as I do.’

‘Look, Raul, I’m not a lawyer, and…’

‘Bullshit,’ Gutierrez interrupted. ‘You don’t need to be a lawyer to know that the Constitution is about to be torn to shreds, any more than you need to be a lawyer to know you don’t let your soldiers butcher civilians in time of war. All you have to be to know those things is a professional soldier, which is what you are.’

There was silence for some time.

‘Bill,’ Gutierrez continued, ‘I’m going to tell you something that I’d like you to keep to yourself. I can’t control what you do with it, but I’m making the request. OK?’

‘OK,’ Terrell replied.

‘Yesterday afternoon, my office received credible information that Ellen Trevathan’s life would not be safe after the vote.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake…,’ Terrell broke in. ‘They wouldn’t…’

‘No, listen to me. Last night I got hold of Ellen and two Secret Service Agents, and we got into disguise, looking like goddamned street people, and we went to see Ted Lazenby at the Hoover Building. He agreed with my assessment of the situation. He and I have taken steps to make sure she’s safe. You need to know what you are getting yourself involved in if you side with Hessler and McGarry.’

‘I would never have agreed to anything like that,’ Terrell said quietly.

‘I know that, Bill. That’s why you have to help me here. Look, I remember what you said at that meeting we had with Latham. You were with me then. I need you to be with me now that the chips are down. You know I’m right.’

There was a long silence as Terrell weighed his options. Gutierrez closed his eyes.

‘What do you want me to do?’ Terrell asked finally.

‘Thank you,’ Gutierrez replied, the relief evident in his voice. ‘First, I want you to put a blockade around Houston. I want you…’

‘Houston? Why Houston?’

‘That’s down to Ted Lazenby. I’ll explain as soon as I can. I need you to trust me on this for now.’

‘OK.’

‘I want all the protection you can give. I’ve already arranged air support. I want check points on every freeway and every road leading into the city, including every point where those roads intersect with the ring roads. I want a strong presence downtown, tanks, personnel carriers, whatever you have, and I want every building, except for two, within ten square blocks of San Jacinto and Clay Streets evacuated. The police chief is on standby to help you with that.’

‘Slow down, Raul. San Jacinto and Clay. OK. What are the two exceptions?’

‘South Texas College of Law and the Four Seasons Hotel.’

‘OK.’

‘And I want you to have all forces under your command stand by for alert, including mobilizing all reservists for active duty.’

Terrell hesitated. ‘Raul, that kind of decision needs an order from the President. At the very least, I’d need something from the Secretary of Defense.’

‘The Secretary of Defense is still in Russia,’ Gutierrez said. ‘I tried to contact him. Wade has ordered him to stay there until sent for.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘Later today, President Trevathan and her new Secretary of Defense will ratify every action you take. You have my word on that.’

‘Who is the new Secretary of Defense?’

‘Later. Will you do what I’ve asked?’

‘I’m on it,’ Terrell replied.

‘We’ll need to be in constant contact. I suggest we adopt war procedure now and continue until further notice.’

‘Agreed,’ Terrell said, before hanging up.

Gutierrez looked at his watch and wondered when the second American Civil War would begin.

* * *

During the hurried drive from FBI Headquarters to Andrews Air Force Base, Lazenby took the only chance he had to brief Kelly on what he expected of her.

‘When you get to Houston, there will be transport waiting. Take Ellen straight to the law school. Ken Hunt has already closed the place to students and faculty, and none of his people will be there, except for a few administrators, secretaries, librarians, computer technology personnel, catering staff, the kind of people you’ll need anyway. Our field office has already taken over security inside the building. You should find they’ve installed additional phone lines and a bunch of computers. There will be a strong military presence outside, covering all of downtown, so I don’t think you’ll have any problems. Everybody is staying at the Four Seasons, which is two blocks away. They’ve emptied about half the hotel already, and you can have as many more floors as you need there. Ellen has to get to work right away, and she’s going to need as many members of the government as we can get to join her. You’re in charge of making it possible for them to work, but delegate as much as you can.’

‘Who’s coming with us?’ Kelly asked.

‘Today, four Supreme Court Justices, the Head of the Postal Service, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Tomorrow, we should have the remaining members of the Court, except for the Chief, a lot of senior military officers, the Director of the CIA, and most of the House committee chairs. That should be enough to hold things for a few days.’

Lazenby looked out of the car window.

‘Nothing we can do about the Senate or the Chief Justice for now. They’re stuck in the Capitol until after the vote.’

As Kelly stepped out of the car to walk to the hangar where the aircraft waited, Lazenby called her back.

‘Oh, Kelly, there are two other things.’

‘What?’

‘In this envelope there are numbers to contact Raul Gutierrez and me at any time. We may have to go underground, so don’t share them with anyone except Ellen and Jeff.’

‘OK. What’s the second thing?’

‘I have to function as Vice President for a while. You’ll take over as acting director in my absence.’

Leaving Kelly open-mouthed and speechless, Lazenby drove away. Kelly had never suffered from air sickness in her life, but spent the entire flight fighting back the urge to throw up. Ellen, on the other hand, seemed composed and, sensing Kelly’s stress, made no demands on her. The Vice President took charge of the cabin crew, and spoke reassuringly to the other officials on board the aircraft, who were as worried about the families they had left behind as they were anxious about what lay ahead. Each of them had been whisked from home with no preparation and with little information, except that a national emergency was expected, during which it was important that they continue their official functions. Kelly knew that she should be playing some part in helping them cope, but she was overwhelmed. The fact that there was nothing she could do during the flight made the situation worse. She felt nothing but relief when the aircraft touched down, and she had no alternative but to take command of the operation.

On Ted Lazenby’s instructions, a convoy of black limousines, accompanied by every available FBI field agent, was waiting at Ellington Field to drive the party into Houston. Houston’s Mayor and Police Chief contributed a procession of police motorcycle outriders, which accompanied the group through a succession of city streets which had been closed off to traffic in advance of its arrival. The convoy attracted little attention. Things were quiet in town. Most people were in their offices and homes, waiting for the Senate’s vote and Steve Wade’s television address to the nation.

By the time the party arrived at South Texas College of Law, the Dean’s suite on the second floor had already been prepared for the Vice President’s use. The moot court room and the law library had been reserved for the use of the Supreme Court. Several large screen televisions had been installed in the student lounge, and CNN could already be heard reporting on the last phase of the Senate impeachment proceedings. Armed agents were patrolling the building. The Four Seasons had sent a large vase of flowers and a tray of fruit, with a note welcoming the Vice President to her exclusive floor of the hotel. Ellen explained the possible developments of the next several hours to Dean Ken Hunt, and asked him to serve as interim Attorney-General. Hunt swallowed hard, and asked if he could call his wife to tell her he would be late getting home.

Late in the afternoon, they gathered in the student lounge to watch the story unfolding in Washington. CNN’s coverage alternated between the proceedings in the Senate Chamber and the increasingly menacing scene outside. A nervous female reporter was speaking from the main entrance to the Capitol, which was guarded by a number of police officers armed with sub-machine guns.

‘We’re expecting the vote to be taken within the next hour or two,’ she said. ‘The crowds have now spilled over from the area outside the Capitol to the surrounding streets, and they appear to be filling up the Mall. It’s been many years since demonstrations on this scale have been seen in Washington. But there is no sign that the Senate has been intimidated. In fact, according to one chief aide, it has made them even more determined to press ahead with the vote, which, it now seems inevitable, will go against President Wade. There is one new development. Marines are taking up positions around the Capitol – you may be able to see some of them as our camera scans the area – and they are spreading out, surrounding the building. They are heavily armed, and we have seen several armored vehicles in the area. We’re trying to get more information about this development but, so far, no one is saying anything about it officially. And we still have no comment from the White House. Apparently, they’re waiting to see what happens. But we’re still expecting the President to address the nation as soon as the result of the vote has been announced.’