(1976) The R Document (42 page)

They crawled along in the heavy one-way traffic on N Street, turned left on 11th, and at last reached 11th and O.

‘Here we are,’ the driver said, pointing to Posey’s Cottage.

‘Find a place to park,’ said Collins hastily. I shouldn’t be long. I’ll meet you in front of the restaurant.’

He had the car door open, and picking up his attache case with the portable tape recorder inside, he hopped out.

He paused only to make out the time. It was nine minutes to two. He was fifty-one minutes late. He wondered if Keefe had managed to hold Duffield and Glass for him.

Collins hurried into the restaurant, asked for the Derby

Qub, and was directed to a back room with a bar. When he reached the Derby Qub, he was dismayed. The room was empty except for a lone melancholy figure at the bar.

From the bar, Olin Keefe saw him and slipped off his stool. His chubby, normally affable features were knotted with concern.

‘I’d just about given up on you,’ he said. ‘What happened?’

‘Fog. We had to land in San Francisco instead of here. I’ve been driving the last hour and a half.’ He looked around again. ‘Duffield and Glass… ?’

‘I had them here. I couldn’t hold them any longer. They went back to the Senate to get ready for the vote. There’s still seven minutes before the final reading and vote. I don’t know - but we can try to pull them out of the chamber.’

‘We have to,’ insisted Collins in desperation.

They went swiftly out of the restaurant, then, half walking, half running, dodging pedestrians, they headed south on 1lth toward the Capitol building.

Keefe said, ‘The Senate chamber is at the south end of the second floor. We may barely make it before they close the doors.’

Reaching the Capitol, hastening up a short flight of stone steps, they crossed the Great Seal of California, an inlaid colored mosaic, at the entrance.

‘The staircase over there,’ Keefe directed Collins. Going up the stairs, Keefe added, ‘You knew Director Tynan was here this morning?’

‘I knew. How did he do?’

‘Too well, I’m afraid. He knocked them over in the Judiciary Committee. The committee voted overwhelmingly for ratification of the 35th. It’ll go that way in the Senate, unless you can do better than Tynan.’

‘I can do better - if I get the chance.’ He held up his attache case. ‘In here I’ve got the only witness who can destroy Tynan.’

‘Who?’

‘Tynan himself,’ Collins said cryptically.

They had arrived at the Senate entrance.

While most of the forty State Senators were in their massive blue swivel chairs, a few still stood in the aisles. Lieutenant Governor Duffield, in a smart pinstriped blue suit, was on his feet behind the raised desk and microphone at the head of the chamber, squinting through his rimless spectacles at the various members.

‘Hell,’ said Keefe, ‘the sergeant at arms is starting to close the doors.’

‘Can’t you get to Duffield?’

‘I’ll try,‘said Keefe.

He hurried into the chamber, explained something to an obstructing guard, continued on his way to the front, circled to the carpeted steps, and from beneath the podium called up to the president of the Senate.

Anxiously, Collins watched the dumb play across the chamber. Duffield had leaned sideways to catch what Keefe was saying. Then he threw up his hands and made a gesture toward the filled chamber. Keefe was talking again. At last, Duffield, shaking his head, stepped down to join him. Keefe kept on talking, pointing to where Collins stood. For a hanging moment in time, Duffield seemed undecided. Finally, obviously with reluctance, he followed Keefe to where Collins waited.

They met just inside the chamber entrance, and Keefe introduced the Senate president to Collins.

Duffield’s flinty face was unhappy. ‘Out of deference to you, Mr Attorney General, I consented to leave the podium. Congressman Keefe says you have new evidence related to our vote on the 35th Amendment -‘

‘Evidence that it is vital for you and the members to hear.’

“That’s quite impossible to arrange, Mr Attorney General, It’s simply too late. All witnesses were heard, all evidence presented to the Judiciary Committee, the last four days. The hearings wound up this morning with Director Tynan. There’s no debate, so your evidence can’t be offered in debate. We’re about to come to order, hear a reading of the 35th Amendment, and put it to a vote. I see no way to interrupt the process.’

‘There is one way,’ said Collins. ‘Hear my evidence outside the chamber. Delay the session until you listen to my evidence.’

‘That would be without precedent. Highly unusual.’

‘What I have to present to you and the members is also without precedent and more than unusual. I assure you, if I’d had this evidence earlier, I would have been before you with it. I was able to obtain it just last night. I immediately flew to California with it. The evidence is of the greatest import to you, to the Senate, to the people of California, to the entire United States. You cannot vote without hearing what I have in this attache case.’

The intensity of Collins’ speech had made Duffield weaken slightly. ‘Even if what you have is of such importance - well, I don’t know how I can prevent an immediate vote.’

‘You can’t vote if you don’t have a quorum, can you?’

‘You want to ask a majority of the members to absent themselves from the chamber? It wouldn’t work. There’d be a motion for a call to the house. The sergeant at arms would be instructed to bring in the absentees -‘

‘But I’d be finished with my evidence before the sergeant at arms could do that.’

Duffield remained doubtful. ‘I don’t know. How much time would you need?’

‘Ten minutes, no more. The length of time it takes you to hear what I have to offer.’

‘And how are the members of the Senate supposed to hear the evidence?’

‘You’ll summon them informally - twenty at a time, two groups of twenty - and you’ll advise them to hear what you’ve already heard. By then, you’ll want them to hear it. After they’ve heard it, they can vote.’

Duffield still hesitated. ‘Mr Attorney General, this is an extraordinary thing you are requesting.’

‘This is extraordinary evidence I have with me,’ Collins insisted. He was aware that in his position of Cabinet officer, he could be even more insistent than he had been. But he was also aware of how determinedly state officials defended their states’ rights. So still under restraint, but conveying a sense of urgency in his voice, Collins went on. ‘You must find a way to hear it. Surely, there must be some means. Isn’t there anything on earth that could make you defer the vote?’

‘Well, certainly there would be some factors - factors like - Well, if you had evidence to prove the joint resolution about to be voted upon was fraudulent or harbored elements of conspiracy - if you could prove that -‘

‘I can! I have evidence of a national conspiracy. The life or death of our republic depends on your hearing this evidence, and keeping what you’ve heard in mind when you vote. If you fail to hear the evidence, you’ll carry the burden of your mistake to the grave. Do believe me.’

Impressed, the Lieutenant Governor gave Collins a long, hard look. ‘Very well,’ he said suddenly. ‘Let me arrange for Senator Glass to see that we have no quorum for ten minutes. You go up to the fourth floor, to the first committee room off the elevator. It’s vacant. Assemblyman Keefe will show you the way. Senator Glass and I will join you shortly.’ He paused. ‘Mr Attorney General, this better be something.’

‘It’s something, all right,’ Collins said grimly.

*

They were in the modern committee room on the fourth floor, the four of them, seated about the light-colored wooden table that stood in the center of the room.

Chris Collins had just finished explaining to Duffield and Glass the circumstances under which he had learned about The R Document, a supplement to the 35th Amendment, which Colonel Noah Baxter had warned on his deathbed must be exposed.

‘I won’t bother you with the details of my long quest for The R Document,’ said Collins. ‘Suffice it to say, I located it this morning. It proved to be not a document but a verbalized plan, which was caught on tape accidentally by Colonel Baxter’s twelve-year-old grandson. There were three persons present when the tape was made last January. One was FBI Director Vernon T. Tynan. Another was Deputy Director Harry Adcock. The third was Attorney General Noah Baxter. Only the voices of Tynan and Baxter will be heard on this tape, which the boy made as a lark, unaware of its importance. To be certain beyond question that Director

Tynan’s own voice had been captured on this tape, we had a voiceprint made of Tynan’s speech on the tape and Tynan’s speech during a recent network interview. You will see that they are one and the same.’

Collins bent over, pulled the sheaf of voiceprints and Dr Lenart’s certificate of authentication from his attache case, and handed them over to Duffield.

The Lieutenant Governor gravely examined the materials, then passed them to Senator Glass.

‘Are you both satisfied you will be hearing the voice of Director Tynan?’ Collins asked.

Both Senate leaders nodded.

Collins bent over again and brought his portable tape machine out of the attache case. He adjusted the volume to High. With deliberation he set the machine down in the middle of the table.

‘We can proceed then,’ he said. ‘You will hear Tynan’s voice first, then Baxter’s. Listen closely. This is the secret known as The R Document. Now, listen.’

Collins reached out, pressed down the Play button, and then, elbows on the table, chin in his hands, he fixed his eyes on the president and the president pro tempore of the California State Senate.

The casette in the machine was rolling. The speaker came to life.

Tynan’s voice: ‘We’re alone, aren’t we, Noah?’

Baxter’s voice: ‘You wanted to see me in private, Vernon. Well, I guess my living room here is about as safe a place as there is in town.’

Tynan’s voice: ‘It should be. We’ve spent thousands of dollars having your house debugged. I’m sure it’s safe enough for what we have to discuss.’

Baxter’s voice: ‘What do we have to discuss, Vernon? What’s on your mind?’

Tynan’s voice: ‘Okay, it’s this. I think I have the last element of The R Document figured out. Harry and I think it’s foolproof. Just one thing, Noah. Don’t go squeamish on me at the last minute. Remember, we agreed we must sacrifice anything - and might I add, anyone - if we are to save

this nation. Now, you’ve been with us all along, Noah. You’ve agreed the Amendment is the best idea yet, the only real hope, no matter what obstacles had to be overcome to get it through. Well, there’s only one more step. Remember, you’ve been in it with us up to now. You’re in too far to back out. You couldn’t back out if you wanted to.’

Baxter’s voice: ‘Back out of what? What are you talking about, Vernon?’

Tynan’s voice: ‘It simply amounts to doing something for the people that they can’t do for themselves. Bringing security to their lives. The moment the 35th Amendment becomes part of the Constitution, We put The R Document into effect - the reconstruction of the country. We put into motion all our legal prerogatives under the 35th -‘

Baxter’s voice: ‘But you can’t, Vernon - you can’t invoke the 35th. There has to be a real, a legitimate national emergency. Under the Constitution, with the 35th, there will have to be an actual crisis - emergency - conspiracy - before we can move. If there is none, you can’t -‘

Tynan’s voice: ‘But we can, Noah. Because we will have our emergency, our crisis. That’s been arranged, Noah. I’ve taken care of it myself. Often one person has to be sacrificed for the survival of the rest. One of us - you or me -probably you - will invoke the emergency in a television speech. You will address the nation. That’s the essence of The R Document. I’ve got the essentials of the speech worked out. You’ll address the nation, beginning something like this: “Fellow Americans, I have come to speak to you in this hour of mourning. We are all equally bereaved, all suffering the deepest grief together, over the shocking assassination of our beloved President Wadsworth yesterday His terrible death by an assassin’s hand - a hand directed by a conspiracy to overturn the nation - has cost us the person of our greatest leader. But perhaps his death will serve us all in life, and will serve the life of the nation. By uniting together, we must see that such violence is never repeated again inside our borders. To this end, by the order of our new President, I am taking direct steps to curb the reign of lawlessness and terror that now exists. I am now proclaiming suspension of the Bill of Rights, as provided for in the 35th Amendment.

and announcing that hereafter the Committee on National Safety - ”’

Baxter’s voice: ‘My God, Vernon! Did I hear you right? President Wadsworth assassinated - by your orders?’

Tynan’s voice: ‘Don’t be a sentimental slob, Noah. There’s no time for that. We sacrifice one two-bit politician to save an entire nation. Do you understand, Noah? We’ll save - ’

Baxter’s voice: ‘Oh, God, God, God - ohhh -‘

Tynan’s voice: ‘Noah, we - Noah - Noah! What is it? What’s wrong with you? What is it, Harry - is he having some kind of stroke, or what? Try to hold him up. Let me get Hannah…’

End of tape.

Collins studied the faces of Duffield, Glass, and Keefe. They all sat frozen in shock.

‘Well, gentlemen,’ said Collins, ‘does justice have its day in court?’

Duffield came heavily to his feet.

‘Justice has its day,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll go summon the Senators.’

*

It was night in Washington, D.C., when the sleek Boeing jet dipped earthward, floating lower and lower toward the landing strip of National Airport.

From his window seat, Chris Collins watched the lights dance toward him, rise swiftly, and then the plane touched down, and he braced himself for the jolt of homecoming.

Minutes later, he followed the line of passengers out of the plane and into the air terminal.

It was Hogan he saw first, and his bodyguard was wearing an uncharacteristic broad smile. ‘Congratulations, Mr Attorney General,’ Hogan said, taking over Collins’ attache case. ‘I was upset when you got away without me. But I’d say it was worth the risk.’