this business myself but I must agree using an outsider was better. Not, of course, if you don't cooperate. So what did you find?" His voice was more insistent and Lily's left hand moved to Powers' knee where he placed fingers like a vice on the tendons and cartilage just behind the joint.
"None of that," Karp ordered in the same voice. The pressure eased but the threat remained. "Let's be reasonable, Mr. Powers, but as I said, there is more at stake here than you can know, more than even Mrs. Tufts is aware of. Let me tell you what I know about your situation. Maybe that will get us off on a better footing."
Karp unbuttoned his jacket and eased himself more comfortably into the seat. He extracted an art deco designed gold case from an inside pocket and lifted a slender cigarette. Powers had never seen a cigarette case anywhere before but in films.
The lighter was part of a set and Karp put both away as he inhaled then continued. "You are a lifelong friend of Mrs. Tufts. She is being blackmailed by a certain Marei woman who is a friend of the President. How am I doing?” He briefly paused for a response. “Nothing to say. I generally appreciate someone who knows how to keep his peace. We need more of them in Washington. That much you know. Now I'm going to tell you matters you must also keep to yourself. There are national security issues involved here." He pronounced the last as if it were sentence of death.
"Isn't that phrase a bit shopworn?" Powers said.
"I'm not responsible for the excesses of other administrations," Karp answered levelly. "I can only tell you it is true in this situation. Pillow talk may not sound that serious but in this case it could lead to disaster given the current international situation. What you are involved in is highly dangerous. I don't just mean for you personally, but for the country as well."
"What are you talking about?"
"In the next week or two, once the nomination is secure, the President will be compelled to make a decision about the Gulf. If Saddam has nuclear weapons, and we are trying our damnedest to confirm that, then we are facing a possible calamity. Where will Saddam stop? He's already in actual control of forty percent of the world's oil and with the threat of more aggression can exercise effective control over thirty percent more. The stability and security of this planet hangs on the web of a constant, affordable supply of oil. If we attempt to dislodge him, he is in the position to destroy a major portion of the world's oil supply, disrupting the global economy to an extent we can only imagine. And I suspect our imaginations will not be vast enough for the consequences. Not to forget that with an easily modified SCUD rocket he will be in a position to kill tens of thousands of American troops. You get my point?"
"I read the newspaper."
Karp made a dismissive gesture with his cigarette. "If that doesn't impress you, then maybe this will. Julie Marei is not French. True, she was raised primarily in France and is a French citizen, but she is not French. She is Lebanese. A mixture to be sure, as much Armenian as of French descent. But on her father's side she is all Arab. She lived in Lebanon until the civil war and sometime after her family relocated to France. Consider that for a moment. This woman flies to Paris at least twice a week. Every month or so she's routed to Athens, the European hub for flights to the Middle East. Now are you beginning to see how perilous pillow talk can be? I've had my suspicions that she was the leak for certain inside information but the President refused to listen. He assured me she knew nothing of his business. I wish I could believe him. Now tell me: What did you find?"
“The President controls the intelligence resources of the most powerful country in the world. He can learn anything he wants about this woman. Someone as close to him as she will have been checked every way there is.”
“That’s what I
"None of that," Karp ordered in the same voice. The pressure eased but the threat remained. "Let's be reasonable, Mr. Powers, but as I said, there is more at stake here than you can know, more than even Mrs. Tufts is aware of. Let me tell you what I know about your situation. Maybe that will get us off on a better footing."
Karp unbuttoned his jacket and eased himself more comfortably into the seat. He extracted an art deco designed gold case from an inside pocket and lifted a slender cigarette. Powers had never seen a cigarette case anywhere before but in films.
The lighter was part of a set and Karp put both away as he inhaled then continued. "You are a lifelong friend of Mrs. Tufts. She is being blackmailed by a certain Marei woman who is a friend of the President. How am I doing?” He briefly paused for a response. “Nothing to say. I generally appreciate someone who knows how to keep his peace. We need more of them in Washington. That much you know. Now I'm going to tell you matters you must also keep to yourself. There are national security issues involved here." He pronounced the last as if it were sentence of death.
"Isn't that phrase a bit shopworn?" Powers said.
"I'm not responsible for the excesses of other administrations," Karp answered levelly. "I can only tell you it is true in this situation. Pillow talk may not sound that serious but in this case it could lead to disaster given the current international situation. What you are involved in is highly dangerous. I don't just mean for you personally, but for the country as well."
"What are you talking about?"
"In the next week or two, once the nomination is secure, the President will be compelled to make a decision about the Gulf. If Saddam has nuclear weapons, and we are trying our damnedest to confirm that, then we are facing a possible calamity. Where will Saddam stop? He's already in actual control of forty percent of the world's oil and with the threat of more aggression can exercise effective control over thirty percent more. The stability and security of this planet hangs on the web of a constant, affordable supply of oil. If we attempt to dislodge him, he is in the position to destroy a major portion of the world's oil supply, disrupting the global economy to an extent we can only imagine. And I suspect our imaginations will not be vast enough for the consequences. Not to forget that with an easily modified SCUD rocket he will be in a position to kill tens of thousands of American troops. You get my point?"
"I read the newspaper."
Karp made a dismissive gesture with his cigarette. "If that doesn't impress you, then maybe this will. Julie Marei is not French. True, she was raised primarily in France and is a French citizen, but she is not French. She is Lebanese. A mixture to be sure, as much Armenian as of French descent. But on her father's side she is all Arab. She lived in Lebanon until the civil war and sometime after her family relocated to France. Consider that for a moment. This woman flies to Paris at least twice a week. Every month or so she's routed to Athens, the European hub for flights to the Middle East. Now are you beginning to see how perilous pillow talk can be? I've had my suspicions that she was the leak for certain inside information but the President refused to listen. He assured me she knew nothing of his business. I wish I could believe him. Now tell me: What did you find?"
“The President controls the intelligence resources of the most powerful country in the world. He can learn anything he wants about this woman. Someone as close to him as she will have been checked every way there is.”
“That’s what I
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