The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Ballet.' The President laughed uproariously at that.
'Christ, woman, don't ever let anybody hear you say that!'
'Robert, we both support the estimable Mr Trent's choice of sexual preference,
but he is a prissy son of a bitch and we both know it.'
'True,' Fowler had to agree. 'So, what are you telling me, Elizabeth?'
'It's time for Cabot to put Ryan in his place.'
'How much of this is envy for Ryan's part in the treaty, Elizabeth?'
Elliot's eyes flared, but the President was looking at his plate. She took a
deep breath before speaking, and tried to decide if it were a goad or not.
Probably not, but the President wasn't the sort to be impressed by emotions in
matters like this. 'Bob, we've been through that. Ryan connected a few ideas
that other people had already come up with. He's an intelligence officer, for
God's sake! All they do is report what other people do.'
'He's done more than that.' Fowler saw where this was going, but it was fun to
play games with her.
'Fine, he's killed people! Is that what's special about him? James goddamned
Bond! You even let them execute the ones who – '
'Elizabeth, those terrorists also killed seven Secret Service agents. My life
depends on those people, and it would have been damned ungracious and just plain
idiotic of me to commute the sentences of people who had killed their
colleagues.' The President almost frowned at that – So much for strongly-held
principle, eh, Bob? a voice asked – but managed to control himself.
'And now you can't do it at all, or people will say that you failed to do it
once out of personal self-interest. You allowed yourself to be trapped and
out-maneuvered,' she pointed out. She had been goaded after all, Liz decided,
and answered in kind, but Fowler wasn't buying.
'Elizabeth, I may be the only former prosecutor in America who doesn't believe
in capital punishment, but . . . we do live in a democracy, and the people
support the idea.' He looked up from his meal. 'Those people were terrorists. I
can't say I'm happy that I allowed them to be executed, but if anyone deserved
it, they did. The time wasn't right to make a statement on that issue. Maybe in
my second term. We have to wait for the right case. Politics is the art of the
possible. That means one thing at a time, Elizabeth. You know that as well as I
do.'
'If you don't do something, you'll wake up and find that Ryan is running CIA for
you. He's able, I admit, but he's something from the past. He's the wrong person
for the times we live in.'
God, you're an envious woman, Fowler thought. But we all have our weaknesses. It
was time to stop playing with her, though. It wouldn't do to offend her too
deeply.
'What do you have in mind?'
'We can ease him out.'
'I'll think about it – Elizabeth, let's not spoil the day with a discussion like
this one, okay? How do you plan to break the news of the treaty terms?'
Elliot leaned back and sipped at her coffee. She reproached herself for moving
too soon and too passionately on this. She disliked Ryan greatly, but Bob was
right. It wasn't the time, wasn't the place. She had all the time in the world