The Secretary of the Treasury was positively beaming. Harper could tell he could barely contain himself. It was probably the only instance he had seen Jake Hilton smile since his contentious confirmation. Harper didn't like it. The smiling. It's not that he had anything against Secretary Hilton professionally; he didn't really have anything against him at all. Sure, he wasn't Harper's first choice to head up the Treasury Department. He wasn't even his fourth. Let's just say Harper had a little handholding in his ultimate selection. Harper wished, just once, they would let him have his own way. Anyhow, that smile was just too...too small and queer on a man of Secretary Hilton's physical stature. Particularly paired with that little mustache he was sporting. Had he always had one? Harper had to periodically keep himself from scowling as Hilton spoke.
HILTON: Listen, I know Anderson and Valetti were the popular choices. Both decent men. Fine men. But you looked past all the BS politics and picked the most capable person. I really have to commend you again, Mr. President.
Harper casually leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pressed the metaphorical air brake. What made the head of the United States Treasury so giddy was the fact that his high school sweetheart was just nominated and confirmed as the new Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board. Of course, the financial titans hadn't seen each other since high school graduation, but apparently, Jake Hilton thought this was finally his chance to try and rekindle that flame.
HARPER: I know she'll do a bang the job up.
Harper winked. Hilton nodded and licked his lips.
HILTON: We'll all have to have lunch together when she's back from Basel. Maybe you could give her a ring?
Hilton returned the wink. Hilton raised an eyebrow. Basel, eh? Hilton quickly noticed his err and changed the subject.
HILTON: So we're all square on the broad strokes of my suggestions? I can go over it again if you want.
Harper would probably need them digested a little before he would get it.
HARPER: Sure, sure. Less rich people, less poor people.
Ok. Maybe he did get it.
HILTON: Very good, sir.
HILTON: Heh. You're not the only one with one of them fancy degrees.
Harper hated condescension. More than anything. Well, almost anything.
HILTON: Of course, sir. I didn't mean...
HARPER: Don't get too big for your britches there, Jakie Jake.
HILTON: Certainly not, Mr. President.
HARPER: Let's not forget who's in charge here.
That sure wrinkled his mustache.
Right then, Secretary Hilton made this movement, this sort of jerk upwards, like he developed a hiccup at that very moment. Maybe he sneezed. But there was that smile. Weird.
HILTON: Not at all, sir. You are the undisputed leader of this country.
HARPER: And don't you forget it.
There was a time when a fellow may have called the President of the United States the leader of the free world. The one to set the example. The one to protect the little guy. So much swagger. It seemed as though this notion had evaporated, as other leaders didn't appreciate the United States traipsing through their back yards, raiding their fridges, and crashing on their couches in it's underwear...all in the name of fighting fear.
HAPER: The economies been fine on my watch. Long before you got here.
HILTON: It's been phenomenal, sir. The tax cuts are really helping people. Stueben and Winters did a lot of good work over the past decade. Greenstein too.
Perturbed that he wasn't receiving full credit for the superficial way things stood, Harper stood up himself and walked to the window to take in some reality.
HARPER: Housing market's surging also.
HILTON: Absolutely. It's on fire.
There was that hiccup again. Harper supposed it was becoming a tick. Perhaps even a tell.
HARPER: Did you know my Pops just sold his ranch for seven million?
Harper paused for a moment, expecting a hearty gasp since Hilton seemed to have trouble with his diaphragm. Nothing.
HARPER: Moved back up North. He said they missed the seasons and the cold salt water.
HILTON: That's a plum chunk of change. I hear that cold salt water clears you right up.
HARPER: Damn right. I'm thinking of having Jeffy put a down payment on a nice vacation home up there for me and Olivia. Been looking at it for a while now. She's thrilled about the idea. They're asking two million for it. It's got three bathrooms though. And a hot tub.
HILTON: It sounds wonderful, sir.
HARPER: Heh, yeah. I think I'm going to do it. If I sit on it, it could be on the open market for two and a half, three million. Right?
Harper turned to Hilton just as he flashed that smile again.
HILTON: The way that market has been going...no doubt, Mr. President.
Harper turned back to the window. His own haggard reflection stared back at him. All the grays. Harper reached up to touch what had formerly been a lush head of auburn hair. He was always a fighter, but the fight had been winning more recently. He could certainly use some rest and relaxation. Not just those changes of scenery where the whole White House apparatus had to be uprooted and transplanted into one of the Babington family's estates. He needed some real rest.
HARPER: Then I'll do it.
Harper could see Hilton's smile get larger in the window reflection. Jesus, Hilton was becoming an excitable guy. Funny, Tripp was never one to be sweet on the uppity type.
HILTON: Did you have a plan, in case, maybe it wasn't?
The rapid change from sunshine and sugarplums to doom and gloom caused Harper to whip his head around.
HARPER: What do you mean? Everything's great, isn't it?
HILTON: Certainly, sir.
HARPER: There's a lot of steam in this engine. A lot of gas in the tank. Not a chance things go south on my watch.
HILTON: I think we'll be fine. I just meant...it's always good to be prepared.
Harper turned back to the window. An economy in the crapper would be the perfect capstone to his time at the wheel.
HARPER: That's rather grim.
HILTON: Apologies, sir. I just think it's worth having something in the back pocket.
HARPER: Well then, Jakie, get on a plan. Just in case.
HILTON: Yes, sir. I'll have something for your office as soon as possible.
The President decided he didn't need to jinx it.
HARPER: No rush there.
That noise. Again. Officially a tick. Harper turned back to ask Hilton if he was aware of it, when he was preempted by a knock at the door. Without response, the door cracked open, and Tripp Sweetwater poked his head in.
TRIPP: Oh, Jake, it's you in here.
Secretary Hilton stood up with a nod, almost a bow, and began to gather his things.
HILTON: Hello, Mr. Vice President.
TRIPP: Am I interrupting anything?
Harper only assumed he was talking to him.
HARPER: No, we were done here. Right, Jakie?
Hilton gave a shallower nod and made his way to the exit.
HILTON: Good day, Mr. President.
Just as he passed Tripp by, he extended him a light jab on the shoulder and snickered. He also leaned into Tripp's ear and whispered what Harper made out to be "I'll see you on the plane". Tripp just smiled and ushered his new cabinet colleague out of the Oval office, shutting the door behind him.
Tripp paused with his back turned to the President for a moment, presumably to gather his thoughts.
HARPER: So, Bas-
Tripp interjected.
TRIPP: Harper. What the hell?
Harper slummed into his throne.
TRIPP: Speaker Taggert says you haven't been answering, or returning his calls. His office has been trying to get ahold of you for hours.
Harper spun around and looked out the window. How he wished he could be free again.
TRIPP: Harper! Now more than ever, we all need to cooperate and get things done. We had a whole plan, Harper. Do you remember that? Do you remember the plan we had before all of it got hijacked.
Tripp paused for a second to reflect on his poor choice of words. Harper didn't seem offended.
TRIPP: We've still got a couple weeks to push some things through. Some things just can't be ignored. There are people counting on us.
The sound of a pressurize can cracking just about caused Tripp a conniption.
TRIPP: Christ Shitting Almighty. You're joking. It's not yet 10:00 AM and this is the Oval office. Show a little respect. Show a little dignity for yourself.
From beyond the chair, Harper extended his arm to display his refreshing beverage of choice. A sparkling water. Cranberry hinted.
Tripp hung his head and made his way to The President's desk. Like a recently disciplined puppy, Tripp cozied up to the chair and sat on the desk. Harper spun around, trying to hide his smugness.
TRIPP: Look, buddy. We've still got control.
HARPER: It's over.
TRIPP: That's not true.
HARPER: It is. We've got no shot at getting anything meaningful through now.
TRIPP: Things are going to be a grind starting next year, and you're going to have to veto the hell out a lot of popular stuff, sure. But we have to act now to show you're not just here to be the heavy.
Harper appeared to entertain the idea.
TRIPP: The tax reparation bill is a big ticket item. We need to get that through. All that money that's tucked away in some other country's pockets. It's God honest treason.
Harper made the soda opening sound with his mouth and shook his head in disbelief.
Tripp had him on the hook.
TRIPP: We need that money working here, in the good ol' U.S. of A. Then there's the tax cuts for the people. We can't just rubber stamp a tax cut for corporations without giving average Jane a little something sweet.
Harper raised and eyebrow and looked up at Tripp. Tripp couldn't hold it in.
TRIPP: Ha! Ok, Average Jane Ferrari. But these are the people that keep this engine running. Trickle trickle.
Harper grinned. He fancied Trickle as a funny word.
TRIPP: There's broad support for shoring up the boarder. We can do something there. Keep that strong man image up.
Harper snorted at the implication. Recent polled had told him the public saw him as a bumbling buffoon when it came to law and order.
HARPER: Even after I got that bastard Udir. They still didn't give a damn.
Tripp was growing impatient.
TRIPP: As you'll recall, I advised against the decision to hand him over to the Iraqis. It was the Wild West out there after Udir fell. We could have had his head in our noose for the rest of his tinpot life.
Harper rolled out his neck with an accompanying groan.
TRIPP: Either way, the people wanted Al-Azad more. What, with his constant internet videos boasting and bragging. Disgraceful. He's the real villain in our saga.
Tripp put his hand on Harper's shoulder.
TRIPP: Let's make a pact. Right here. Right now. Let's vow to catch that son of a bitch and waterboard the hell out of him until he tells us where his entire fucking family is. To pull out all his finger and toe nails. To cut his-
Harper put his hand on Tripp's.
HARPER: Deal.
Tripp smiled and cleared his throat.
TRIPP: Maybe we can try again at the Sex Offender bill.
Harper raised his fingers to his eyes to offer them a massage.
HARPER: That should have been a no brainer. Why should I be pushing all these things. They're common sense. That was pure horse shit.
Ever since Hurricane Bartholomew ripped through Florida, President Babington wasn't especially seen as a protector. What a disaster that was.
TRIPP: Maybe this changes the "Absentee President" narrative that they've got running. It show's you still care about the small stuff.
Harper relented.
HARPER: Perhaps. Maybe.
Tripp precluded victory.
TRIPP: That's my guy. Now, the first thing we have to do, is squash whatever this beef it is you and Taggert have between yourselves.
Harper flared up.
HARPER: Don't you think for a second I'm extending the olive branch to that shit.
TRIPP: Look, I don't see what the big-
Harper's left eye twitched in what resembled rage.
HARPER: He completely blew up my Social Security package!
TRIPP: Don't get started there. Extenuating circumstances. He had no choice.
Harper banged his palm on the desk in frustration.
HARPER: We had a deal in principle. Then he turns around and makes me look like a jackass. Like I'm standing here holding my dick in the wind, like I'm completely out of the loop.
Tripp looked at his watch. He only had a few more minutes to spare. He had much more important places to be.
TRIPP: If I can whip up the votes for these measures, and make it look like you're the hero in the process, we wouldn't have a problem correct?
Digestible sentences enticed Harper.
HARPER: Well now, those are the ideas I'm paying you for.
TRIPP: Good man.
The duo simultaneously shifted their attention outside the window, each deciding victory in the exchange. The elephant in the room soon weighed too heavy on President Babington.
HARPER: You know he blames me. Taggert. Grist too. I doubt they can get over it.
Tripp hesitated a moment.
TRIPP: I think we all deserve a little bit of blame of the meltdown. Some, more than others.
HARPER: It was a bloodbath, alright; A God damn earthquake. I didn't see any urgency coming out of the Hill. I've got my own house to worry about. I need to make sure they're getting reelected? They wanted me on a plane every damn day of the week. I'm the President! I'm supposed to govern, not stump for gumps.
Tripp nodded his head.
TRIPP: There was a lot of bad luck on our side, too.
Harper raised another eyebrow.
HARPER: Chet Boweling was "bad luck"?
Tripp cleared his throat.
TRIPP: Well, maybe not Chet Boweling.
HARPER: You think it was just a spot of "bad luck" that he willingly corresponded the most heinously explicit things I've ever read to that boy from Arkansas? You remember what he said, right? The photos he sent. He wanted to-
TRIPP: I read the testimony, thank you. Irredeemable.
HARPER: And they think I'm the ass hole that lost it for them? The House is full of these...these pedophiles and degenerates.
A bit of hyperbole, but an apt assessment.
HARPER: They killed the party. Not me.
TRIPP: You may be right about that, but I was talking about LeMay.
A bit of sadness overcame Harper.
HARPER: Oh. LeMay. What a screw job that was.
TRIPP: Indeed that was. Unfortunately, it was probably the straw that broke the camels back.
HARPER: Clearly a set up.
Harper couldn't help but imagine himself in Todd LeMay's situation. A whole privileged life ahead of him, taken away because he took a couple bucks from the wrong tribe. Life behind bars. Harper reassured himself he had the fortitude to take his own life before he was put in a cage.
HARPER: A pardon is still out of the question?
Tripp mulled it over.
TRIPP: Maybe in a couple years. At the very end.
Harper nodded.
HARPER: Have you heard anything from him, or I suppose Tammy?
TRIPP: Not a thing. Maybe I'll give her a call now that mid-terms are over.
HARPER: Give her my warmest regards.
Tripp smiled warmly.
TRIPP: Of course.
Harper shuddered as his mind reverted back to Boweling.
HARPER: Now Boweling...Boweling should be the one behind bars. Justice really botched that. Sick prick. What would possess a man to want to do something like that?
TRIPP: You mean, prey on young children?
Harper puzzlingly backtracked.
HARPER: Well. Certainly not the boys. That's sick. It's disturbing.
TRIPP: Appalling.
HARPER: Now, the girls. That's where we have a problem. We try to keep them safe from all those creeps out there, but God bless 'em, we all know how sometimes the girls grow up a little too fast for their overalls these days. Some of them come through here on those tours and I just have to convince myself that those girls are not over eighteen. It sure looks like they can walk the walk to me.
Harper winked.
TRIPP: You've got to be careful talking like that.
HARPER: I know, Tripp. I'm just talking between us.
TRIPP: You sure are lucky we banned audio recording in the Oval Office.
Harper refocused the point.
HARPER: You're telling me, when Richards brings his daughter through here, and she's wearing those tight black legging things and those furry boots, you aren't copping a peak?
Tripp raised him own eyebrow and reminded Harper of the implications.
TRIPP: She's sixteen, Harper.
He wasn't surprised.
HARPER: And you are flat out denying that you want to be the first to get into that?
Tripp didn't give it a second thought.
TRIPP: In a heartbeat.
Harper stood up, slapped Tripp on the back and chuckled.
TRIPP: Keep that between us. Olivia would murder you.
HARPER: Sure, sure. She'd probably choose slow acting poison, or some other drawn out process to really put me in agony.
Tripp winced.
TRIPP: On that slightly off-color note, I really have to go. Promise me you'll call Taggert. Smooth it all over. Be the bigger man.
Harper groaned.
TRIPP: We can really get some good done here as long as we don't throw in the towel. We have to be fighters. But it's going to take teamwork. Let's be team players. For country.
An appeal to Harper's patriotism was always a smart play. Harper nodded, signaling he was game.
TRIPP: Call him. Tonight. Don't ask about his daughter.
Tripp smirked as he worked towards the door. Harper's shaken confidence stopped him.
HARPER: You think I can rehab my image?
TRIPP: I truly do. There's plenty of time.
HARPER: Two years will be gone quick. Faster than the first six.
Tripp couldn't tell if Harper was joking. He sure as hell hoped he was.
TRIPP: Even after we get kicked out of here, you have a lifetime to change how people remember you. Look at Fenton Ross and Barney Page. They went from rock bottom to Elder Statesmen. Ross just got those Americans freed from North Korea. Page is doing that Malaria thing with Iota. People eat that shit up. You just have to fade away for a decade, maybe an administration, and then do something wonderful.
That notion seemed to console Harper.
TRIPP: But it all starts here. Now. Tonight.
Harper nodded. Tripp returned the nod and resumed his exit.
HARPER: Tripp?
Tripp turned around to face The President, braced for the question.
TRIPP: Yes, Harper?
Harper Hesitated. Tripp looked at his watch again.
HARPER: Are you going to-
TRIPP: NO! I am not going to Basel this weekend. I rarely get out there anymore. It's not the same team. It's just not the same.
Tripp turned and made his way towards the exit when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He turned over said shoulder to see an earnest looking Harper.
HARPER: Tripp. Look me in the eye and tell me you're not going to Basel this weekend.
Tripp faced his President and childhood friend, reached out to adjust Harper's disheveled tie, and looked him strait in the eye.
TRIPP: Harper, I promise I would not keep it from you if I were going. Without you there, I'm not good to them. Trust me. I am not going.
A look of relief washed over Harper's face. That made sense. Tripp was relieved he could end that conversation.
TRIPP: And by the way...that whole Schnapps in the soda can bit isn't fooling anyone. Everyone can smell you.
Harper just stared, swaying under the influence. Tripp found it more than pathetic.
TRIPP: Look, all that's happened is behind us now. We did the best we could for this country. It might not be anytime soon, but they will look back and love you for keeping them safe.
Tripp folder his hands in apparent prayer.
TRIPP: Please. Harper. Please, for the love of God. Keep it together these last two years. We're in the home stretch, and I need you more than ever. It's our time now.
