(1976) The R Document (41 page)

Collins’ heart fell.

‘ - everything is done,’ Young went on. I duplicated the tapes, too - that’s why you see two machines over there, because I had to rent an extra one - but I haven’t finished actually transcribing the tapes. That’s a tedious job. I have to do it all myself, because Tynan doesn’t want me to have any outside secretarial help. I started typing up what’s on the tapes just three days ago.’

Collins’ heart lifted. ‘But you did duplicate or copy all the tapes taken from Baxter’s file?’

‘Whatever Tynan gave me, and I think he gave me everything.’

‘How did you copy them?’ Collins asked quickly.

‘Well, there were two sizes, so I had to use two different machines to play them into my larger Wollensak recorder.’

‘That’s right,’ said Collins, ‘two sizes. Norelco miniature cassettes and Memorex normal cassettes. Did you hear them when you were recording?’

‘God, no - I’d lose too much time. There’s a jack and they record from one machine to another silently.’

‘Where are the larger Memorex cassettes?’

‘I returned them to Tynan some days ago. Those were the originals. I copied - rerecorded - maybe six of the cassettes on larger reels I had.’

‘Do you know what’s on those spools of yours?’

‘Not until I transcribe them. But I identified each one and noted its place on the larger spool. Every cassette, large or small, had some kind of identification or date. I kept a sort of index.’ He stepped to his desk, and found several sheets of paper clipped together. ‘You can see.’

‘I’m looking for one special Memorex cassette. It - it’s marked “AGG”, and then it’s marked “January”, on the outside. Would that help you?’

‘Let me find out.’

Ishmael Young began to scan and flip the pages of his tape index. In a state of feverishness, Collins watched.

‘Sure, it’s here,’ Ishmael Young announced, pleased with himself. ‘The tape is the first recording on my second spool.’

‘You have it? You’re sure?’

‘Positive.’

‘Man, oh man!’ Collins exclaimed jubilantly. He gave the writer a bear hug. ‘Ishmael, you don’t know what you’ve done.’

Ishmael Young was at a loss. ‘What have I done?’

‘You’ve turned up The R Document!’

‘The what?’

‘Never mind,’ said Collins excitedly. ‘Play it. Find the goddam spool you copied it on - put it on your machine and play it.’

The three huddled around the large Wollensak machine on the table as Ishmael Young found the reel of tape and brought it to them, Carefully, he set it on his player, threaded the thin strip of tape through the machine, and attached it to the pickup reel.

Ishmael Young raised his head and stared at Collins, Pierce, and Van Allen. He said, ‘I don’t know what this is all about, but I’m ready if you are.’

‘We’re ready,’ said Collins. Then he himself leaned over and punched the lever marked Play. The spools began to turn.

A moment later, the voice of Vernon T. Tynan filled the room.

Seated restlessly in the back seat of the Cadillac limousine that had brought him from San Francisco to the suburbs of Sacramento, Chris Collins came forward once more to speak to his driver.

‘Can’t you go a little faster?’ he implored his chauffeur.

‘I’m doing the best I can in this traffic, sir,’ the driver replied.

Collins made a determined effort to contain his nervousness as he settled into his seat again. Lighting a fresh cigarette from the butt of the old one, he looked out the window and saw the distant city growing nearer and larger. They were in the western sector of Sacramento, he noted, and had entered an area of interchanges. The driver wheeled the car into the right lane, picking up State Highway 275, which would soon lead them up before the Capitol Mall.

Soon, he knew, but perhaps not soon enough.

It was ironic, he thought, that the success of his long quest might be thwarted at its climax because of a conspiracy of nature. The fog was lifting now, he could tell, but Sacramento’s Metropolitan Airport was probably still socked in by it.

Originally, he had been due to arrive in Sacramento by air at twelve twenty-five California time. His date to meet Assemblyman Olin Keefe was for one o’clock in the Derby Club of Posey’s Cottage, the restaurant where legislators

and lobbyists gathered daily for lunch. If everything had gone properly, Keefe would have Lieutenant Governor Edward Duffield, president of the State Senate, and Senator Abe Glass, president pro tempore of the State “Senate, on hand. Collins might yet have time enough to reveal The R Document to the Senate leaders before the Senate convened to vote at precisely two o’clock.

The final vote would take place minutes after two o’clock, he had been informed. The joint resolution would be read in the chamber for the third and last time. Further debate, by legislative agreement, would be suspended. The roll-call vote would begin. Once under way, it could not be stopped. Once tabulated, it could not be reversed or voted again. In the old days, even after voting negatively, a state legislature could consider a bill again, vote it again, and change its stand. This had happened when the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment, the 27th, had gone out to the states for ratification. Two of the states, Vermont and Connecticut, had voted against it, then later had reversed their votes. But this was no longer allowed in most states, and one of them was California. The vote following two o’clock would be final. The 35th Amendment would become the law of the land. Tynan would have won, after all - and the people would have lost.

His wristwatch told him it was nineteen minutes to two.

He dragged steadily on his cigarette, reliving the events of the night, of the morning hours, of the dawn. He relived them as if they were part of the present.

Leaving Ishmael Young’s with the crucial tape, they were less in a state of manic enthusiasm than in a state of high fever. They were aroused. Their mission had become a crusade. Driving from Fredericksburg to the Department of Justice at two in the morning, they had sought to define their assignments. There was much to be done, and only a short time to do it in.

Working out of Chris Coffins’ office, they went about their assignments. Collins took it upon himself to make the phone calls. With the authority of his position as Attorney General, it was agreed, he would get the attention needed. Pierce accepted the task of authenticating the tape through

voiceprints. They all knew the tape was authentic, but others might require absolute proof. Van Allen prepared to make Collins’ reservations to California. There had been a brief discussion about commandeering a military plane. Collins had finally vetoed it out of fear that his mission might become known to the wrong parties. A commercial flight, even if it slowed him down, was safer. Van Allen also set about acquiring a portable tape machine. Once the voiceprint was made, he was to take over Young’s cumbersome large reel of tape and transfer the portion that carried The R Document to a cassette for Collins’ trip.

All the assignments had been carried out smoothly, except the one Collins had taken for his own.

Collins’ first phone call proved no problem. He woke the head of a major network in New York, invoked his authority, spoke of emergency, and persuaded the executive to arrange for the network’s manager in Washington, D.C., to cooperate. This done, Pierce then roused Dr Lenart of Georgetown University from his bed. Since Pierce was an old acquaintance, the criminologist had grouchily agreed to scan the spoken sounds in his laboratory.

Pierce hastened off to the local network offices to pick up the portion of a film and sound track to an interview Vernon T. Tynan had recently given, as well as a videotape unit on which to play it. These, along with Ishmael Young’s tape, Pierce carted off to Dr Lenart’s laboratory at Georgetown University. There, the renowned consultant in voice identification, using his sound spectrograph, applied his equipment to selected words Tynan had spoken in his network interview and those same words when he had uttered them on the Ishmael Young tape. The scanner made 400 passes over the tapes every eighty seconds, visually reproducing a series of wavy lines that caught the pitch and volume of Tynan’s voice. When Dr Lenart had finished, it was clear that the voice heard on the tape of The R Document was unquestionably Tynan’s own. Dr Lenart wrote a certificate of authentication, and packed Pierce off with his proof.

Meanwhile, Van Allen, after locating a portable tape machine for Collins to take with him to California, obtained

plane reservations. The earliest flight to Sacramento left Washington National Airport at eight ten in the morning. It would bring Collins into Chicago at nine eight. There would be an hour between planes, and then Collins ‘would depart from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport at ten minutes after ten, to arrive in Sacramento at twenty-five minutes after twelve California time. The schedule was perfect, and Collins was pleased.

It was Collins, however, who was having trouble with his own assigmnent. He had decided that he must notify the officers of the California State Senate of his impending arrival, and make an appointment to meet with them before the joint resolution came to a vote. He wanted to tell them he had evidence of a most devastating kind that would affect the Senate’s vote on the 35th Amendment. He wanted to tell them that, and no more. It was useless, he knew, to explain on the phone the evidence in his possession. It had to be heard to be believed. But even if it were believed, there was danger in phone transmission. Knowledge of it might be passed on to Tynan, who was already in Sacramento, and Tynan would go to any lengths to recover the material from Collins and destroy it.

No, he would tell the Senate officers only enough to get him an immediate hearing upon his arrival.

He began by telephoning Lieutenant Governor Edward Duffield at his home number. He called and let the phone ring and ring, without an answer. He called several times more, and still no answer. Finally, he decided that Duffield probably had a cutoff on his telephone, so that he could not be disturbed at night. He gave up on Duffield.

Next, he tried Senator Abe Glass, president pro tempore of the Senate. His first two calls again brought no response. His third call summoned up the sleepy voice of a woman, who turned out to be Mrs Glass, who said her husband was out of the city and could not be reached until late morning, when he would be back in his office preparing for the vote.

Frustrated, Collins tried to think of where to turn. Briefly, he considered calling the White House, speaking to President Wadsworth, dumping the whole matter in his lap. Surely, the President of the United States would have no trouble

getting the message to Sacramento. One thing bothered Collins about this. The President might not want to get the message to Sacramento. He might want the 35th Amendment to pass, despite The R Document, thinking he would handle the rest of it later in his own way.

No, President Wadsworth was a risk. So was the Governor of California, who was the President’s political friend.

Better someone else in Sacramento, Collins decided.

And then he thought of the someone else, and he put through a call to Assemblyman Olin Keefe, and he got him immediately.

‘I’m going to be in Sacramento at one o’clock this afternoon,’ he told Keefe. I have momentous evidence against the 35th that must be heard before the vote. Can you round up Lieutenant Governor Duffield and Senator Glass for me? I’ve been trying to get them all night. No luck. I must see them.’

‘They’ll be lunching in the Derby Club - it’s in the rear of Posey’s Cottage - at that time. They’re sure to be there until a quarter to two. I’ll tell them to wait for you. In fact, I’ll stay with them.’

‘Tell them it’s positively urgent,’ said Collins.

‘I’ll do my part. Just be on time. Once they go back to the chamber floor and the vote begins, you won’t be able to reach them.’

‘I’ll be there,’ Collins promised.

It was settled, and he felt easier.

After that, he stretched out on his office sofa and slept fitfully for two hours, before Pierce and Van Allen awakened him to inform him it was time to head for National Airport.

Everything went on schedule, up to a point. He left Washington on time. He arrived in Chicago on time. He departed from Chicago on time. He was expected to land in Sacramento on time.

But an hour out of Sacramento, the captain of the 727 jetliner announced that an unexpected heavy fog had engulfed the Sacramento airport and their flight was being diverted to San Francisco. Sorry about the inconvenience, but they would deplane in San Francisco at twelve thirty.

There would be a special bus to take them the eighty miles to Sacramento.

For the first time on the journey, Collins was worried. He had traveled from San Francisco to Sacramento often enough, in the past, to know this would add an extra hour and a half to his trip. Even by hiring a private car, and having the driver go the limit, he would not reach Posey’s Cottage much before Duffield and Glass would be leaving it.

At the San Francisco airport, while his skycap rushed off to put a hold on a private limousine for him, Collins got on the telephone to try to locate Olin Keefe. But Keefe was neither in his legislative office nor at lunch yet. Not wanting to waste another minute trying to chase him down - or trying to find Duffield or Glass - Collins left the phone booth and hurried toward his skycap, who was beckoning him.

All of that he now relived as his limousine entered the center of Sacramento, with the elegant golden dome of the State Capitol within sight.

‘Where was it again, sir?’ the driver asked.

‘It’s a restaurant a block south of the Capitol Mall. It’s called Posey’s Cottage or Posey’s Restaurant. It’s on the corner of 11th and O Streets.’

‘We’ll be there in a minute, sir.’

Off to his left, Collins could see the expanse of Capitol Park: forty acres bearing at least a thousand varieties of trees, shrubs, flowers, and then on a gently sloping terrace there rose the Capitol building, with its shining dome and four stories surrounded by Corinthian columns and pilasters.