The Evening News (94 page)

"We can certainly bring him back. I'm less sure about firing him
.”

"Fired, I said! Are you having trouble hearing this morning, Margot? I
want the bastard out of CBA so that, first thing Monday, I can call the
President of Peru and say, 'Look! We threw the troublemaker out. We're
sorry we sent him to your country. It was a bad mistake, but won't happen
again
.”

‘Foreseeing
difficulties for herself at CBA, Margot said, "Theo, I have
to point out that Partridge has been with the network a long time. It
must be close to twenty-five years and he has a good record
.”

Elliott permitted himself a sly smile
.”
Then give the son of a bitch a
gold watch. I don't care. Just get rid of him, so I can make that phone
call Monday. And I'll warn you about something else, Margot
.”

"What's that, Theo
?
”

Elliott retreated to his desk and sat down behind it. He waved Margot to
a chair as he said, "The danger of thinking writers or reporters are
something special. They aren't, although they sometimes believe they are
and get exaggerated ideas about their own importance. 'The fact is
,
there's never a shortage of writers. Cut one down, two more spring up
like weeds
.”

Warming to his theme, Elliott continu
ed, "It's people like me and you
-wh
o really
count in this world, Margot.
We are the doers!-the
ones who
make things happen every day. That's why we can buy writers whenever we
want and-never forget this!-they're two-a-penny, as the English say. So
when you're through with some worn-out hack like Partridge, pick up a new
one-some kid fresh out of college-the way you would a cabbage
.”
Margot smiled; it was evident that the worst of her superior's wrath had
passed
.”
It's an interesting point of view
.”

"Apply it. And one more thing
.”

"I'm liste
n
ing
.”

"Don't think that people at Globanic, including me, are not aware how you
and Leon Ironwood and Fossie Xenos are jockeying for position, each of
you hoping one day to sit where I am
now. Well, I'll tell you Margot, as between you and Fossie
this morning Fossie is several noses out in front
.”

The chairman waved a hand dismissingly
.”
That's all. Call me later today
when the Peru thing is all wrapped up
.”

It was late morning when Margot, back in her office at Stonehenge, sent
a message to Leslie
Chippingham
. The news president was to report to her
"immediately
.”

She had not appreciated being sent for this morning, preferring to do the
summoning herself She found herself pleased at the current reversal of
that situation
.
Something
else Margot had not liked was Elliott's reference to Fossie
Xenos as being "several noses out in front
.”

If that relative position
was true, she thought, she would revise it promptly, Margot had no
intention of having her own career plans disrupted by what she was
already regarding as a minor organizational issue, capable of being
quickly and decisively resolved
.
Therefore, when Chippingham appeared shortly after noon she came as
speedily to the point as Theo Elliott had with her
.”
I don't want any discussion about this
,”
Margot stated
.”
I'm simply
giving you an order
.”

She continued, "The employment of Harry Partridge is to be terminated at
once. I want him out of CBA by tomorrow. I'm aware he has a contract and
you'll do whatever we have to under it. Also, he's to be out of Peru
,
preferably tomorrow but no later than Sunday. If that means chartering
a special flight, so be it
.”
Chippingh
am stared at her, open-mouthed and unbelieving. At length
,
having trouble finding words, he said, "You can't be serious
!”

Margot told him firmly, "I am serious, and I said no discussion
.”

"The hell with that
!”

Chippingham's voice was raised emotionally
.”
I'm
not standing by, seeing one of our best correspondents who's served CBA
well for twenty-odd years, thrown out without any reason
.”

"The reason is none of your concern
.”

"I'm the news president, aren't I? Margot, I appeal to you! What's Harry
done, for chrissakes? Is it something bad? If so, I want to know about
it
.”

"If you must know, it's a question of his type of coverage
.”

"Which is the absolute best! Honest. Knowledgeable. Unprejudiced. Ask
anybody
!”

"I don't need to. In any case, not everyone agrees with YOU
.”

Chippingham regarded her suspiciously
.”
This is Globanic's work, isn't
it
?
”

Intuition came to him
.”
It's your friend, that cold-blooded tyrant
Theodore Elliott
!”

"Be carefull
”
she warned him, and decided the conversation had gone on
long enough
.”
I don't plan to do any more explaining
,”
Margot said coldly, "but I'll
tell you this: If my order has not been carried out by the end of
business today, then you are out of a job yourself, and tomorrow I'll
appoint someone else acting news president and have them do it
.”

"You really would, wouldn't you
?
”

He was looking at her with a mixture
of wonder and hatred
.”
Make no mistake about it-yes. And if you decide to stay employed, report
to me by the end of this afternoon that what I wanted has been done. Now
get out of here
.”

I After Chippingham had gone, Margot realized with satisfaction that, when necessary, she could be as tough as Theo Elliott.

Back at CBA News headquarters, knowing he was procrastinating, Les
Chippingham
attended to several routine matters before instructing his
secretary, shortly before 3 P.m., that he was not to be disturbed and to
hold telephone calls until further notice. He needed time to think
.
Closing his office door from inside, he sat down in the conference area
away from his desk, facing one of his favorite paintings-a desolate
Andrew Wyeth landscape. But today Chippingham barely saw the painting;
all he was aware of was the crucial decision he faced
.
He knew he had reached a crisis in his life.
If he did as Margot had ordered and fired Harry Partridge without
apparent cause, he would forfeit his self-respect. He would have done
something shameful and unjust to a decent, highly skilled and respected
human being, a friend and colleague, merely to satisfy another person's
whim. Who that other person was and whatever was the whim, Chippingham
didn't know, though he was sure that he and others would find out
eventually. Meanwhile, all he was certain of was that Theodore Elliott
was somehow involved-a thrust which, judging by Margot's reaction, had
gone home
.
Could Chippingham live with having done all that? Applying the standards
he had tried to live his life by, he ought not to be able to
.
On the other hand-and there was another side-if he, Les Chippingham
,
didn't do it, someone else would. Margot had made that clear. And she
would have no trouble finding someone. There were too many ambitious
people around, including some in CBA News, for it not to happen
.
So Harry Partridge was going down the drain anyway-at least at CBA
.
That was an important point: at CBA
.
When word got around, as it quickly would, that Harry Partridge was
leaving CBA and was available, he need not be unemployed for fifteen
minutes. Other networks would fall over themselves vying for his
services. Harry was a star
, a "Big Foot"-with a reputation
as a nice guy
,
too, which didn't harm him
.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, would keep Harry Partridge down. In fact
,
with a new contract at a fresh network he would probably be better off
.
But what about a fired and fallen news president? That was a totally
different story, and Chippingham knew what he was facing if Margot kept
her -word-as he knew she would-assuming he did not do as she wished
.
As news president, Chippingham had a contract too, and tinder it would
receive roughly a million dollars in severance payments, which sounded
a lot but actually wasn't. A substantial amount would disappear in taxes
.
After that, because he
was deeply in debt, his creditors would attach most of the remainder. And whatever was left, the lawyers handling Stasia's divorce would scrutinize covetously. So in the end, if he was left with enough for dinner for two at the Four Seasons, he would be surprised
.
Then there was the question of another job. Unlike Partridge, he would
not be sought out by other networks. One reason was, there could only be
one news president at a network and he had heard no rumor of an opening
anywhere else. Apart from that, networks wanted news presidents who were
successes, not someone dismissed in doubtful circumstances; there were
enough living ex-news presidents around to make that last point clear
.
All of which meant that he would have to settle for a lesser job, almost
certainly with a lot less money, and Stasia would still want some of
that
.
The prospect was daunting
.
Unless-unless he did what Margot wanted
.
If he expressed in dramatic terms what he was now doing, Chippingham
thought, he was peeling away the layers of his soul, looking inside and
not liking what he saw
.
Yet a conclusion was inescapable: There were moments in life when
self-preservation came first
.
I hate to do this to you, Harry, he attested silently, but I don't have
any choice.

Fifteen minutes later, Chippingham read over the letter he had typed personally on an old, mechanical Underwood he kept-for old times' sake --- on a table in his office
.
It began:

Dear Harry.-
It is with great regret I have to inform you that your employment by
CBA News is terminated, effective immediately
.
Under the terms of your contract with CBA . .
C
hippingham knew, because he had had occasion to review it recently, that
Partridge's contract had a "pay-or-play
”
clause, which meant that while the
network could terminate employment, it was obligated to pay full benefits
until the contract's end. In Partridge's case, this was a year away
.
Also in the same contract was a "non-compete
”
clause under which Partridge
,
in accepting the "pay-or-play
”
arrangement, agreed not to work for another
network for at least six months
.
In his letter, Chippingham waived the "non-compete
”
clause, leaving
Partridge with his benefits intact but free- to accept other employment at
once. Chippingham believed that in the circumstances, it was the least he
could do for Harry
.
He intended the letter to go by fax machine to Lima. There was a machine
in his outer office and he would use it himself He had decided earlier that
he could not bring himself to telephone
.
About to sign what he had written, Chippingham heard a knock at his office
door and saw the door open. Instinctively, he turned the letter face down
.
Crawford Sloane entered. He was holding a press wire printout in his hand
.
When he spoke, his voice was choked. Tears were coursing down his cheeks
.”
Les
,”
Sloane said, "I had to see you. This just came in
.”