The Almighty Part 37

'Knowing all the while that Bradshaw didn't exist, didn't write them.'

'I guess so.'

'But Nick, somebody did get those scoops, somebody wrote those stories. What I'm asking is - who?'

Again there was a marked silence from Ramsey.

Victoria persisted. 'Somebody on the Record found out about the king of Spain, the UN secretary-general, the Dead Sea scrolls, the prime minister of Israel, before anyone else found out. Who could know about these things just as they happened, know about them and give them to the Record alone and instantly?'

'Vicky, I can't imagine.'

'I can imagine. Armstead could have a contact with someone who has a connection with a terrorist gang, or even someone who is part of a terrorist gang. That someone could be selling material to Armstead on the spot. Can you buy that?'

'No. Too fanciful.'

'Well, I have no other answer. I was hoping you might.'

'Not at the moment. Let me think about it. Right now I've got to run over to the White House and hear Hugh Weston's statement on the President's decision to add a nuclear arms reduction plan to the London agenda.'

180.

'Okay,' said Victoria unhappily. 'Say h.e.l.lo to my father.'

'Listen, Vicky, let me give the whole thing more thought.' He was obviously attempting to cheer her up. 'I'll try to see you shortly. You haven't forgotten, have you? Your father is taking a small group of the White House press corps with him on Air Force One to London. We'll be accompanying the .

President to cover his meetings with the British prime minister. That's very soon. I'll try to skip out for an afternoon and fly over to see you. We can talk the whole thing over. How's that?'

'I can't wait that long, Nick.'

'What are you going to do?'

'I'm going right on - right on until I solve this, no matter what.'

After eighteen holes of golf and a convivial lunch, Edward Armstead had returned to his office to be ready for the scheduled phone call. It had come on time, and he had been engrossed with it the past ten minutes, and now he was finis.h.i.+ng up.

'Okay, that explains it, Gus,' he was saying. 'I wish it had worked, but it didn't. Like Cooper said, you can't win them all. Just tell him for me not to fret. Maybe the next one will be easier. Tell him to stand by.'

Setting down the phone, Armstead saw Dietz hovering in the doorway.

'Hey, Harry, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be taking the day off.'

'I've been hanging around waiting for you. I knew you had this call coming from Pagano, and I was waiting for you to be finished with it.' He entered the office and went thoughtfully to one of the chairs before Armstead's desk and sat in it uneasily. 'Did he tell you what went wrong in Lourdes?'

'It was just an impossible setup.. They got the lights out and had their men in place, but there was a ma.s.s of people, too many people, who got out of hand. Also, too much security around the Pope. It became high-risk so Cooper aborted it. I hate to face our first complete miss, but I wouldn't want them to try anything they couldn't finish.'

'Agreed,' said Dietz.

Armstead studied his a.s.sociate's face. 'Something else seems to be troubling you, Harry. What's on your mind?'

'A couple of things I wanted to mention.'

'I'm listening.'

Dietz slid forward in his chair, a.s.suming a confidential air. 'I suppose you know Time magazine has been prying into your affairs.'

'Bruce Harmston has that under control. He's even encouraged them. Up to a point. They won't find out much.'

'I don't know. That's playing with fire.'

'They won't,' said Armstead with finality.

'All right. If Bruce is looking over their shoulder, I won't worry.' Dietz hesitated. 'But there's something else'

181.

'Yes?'

'Do you realize that the new girl on your staff, Victoria Weston, has been snooping around, trying to find out about Mark Bradshaw?'

Armstead grinned. 'I'm afraid she won't get very far.'

'She already made a call from Paris, got Mrs. Crowe in personnel to ask your secretary where Bradshaw might be found.'

Armstead waved it off. 'Aw, that's only natural. Jealous of someone who broke several big stories ahead of her. She wants to meet him, find out how it's done. You and I know she's not going to get anywhere.'

'Still -' said Dietz. 'Chief, I don't like it. I don't like all this curiosity. You've pulled off some great ones without a ripple. I say call it quits while you're ahead.'

'Aren't you being a bit of a worrier, Harry? It's foolish to quit when you're on top of the world.'

'I'd advise it,' said Dietz gravely.

Armstead's euphoria dissolved before his a.s.sociate's gravity. Armstead nodded. 'Very well, Harry, let me sleep on it. Let's see what tomorrow brings.'

Tomorrow brought Time magazine.

An ebullient Edward Armstead arrived in his office, a copy in his hand. He saw that Dietz was seated in front of the oak desk, waiting for him.

Beaming, Armstead held up the magazine, pointing to the portrait sketch of himself on the cover, the vaporous, indistinct face of a second man in the distant background (presumably the elusive Bradshaw) and the boldface cover line. The cover line read: journalism's almighty. 'Have you seen it, Harry?' Armstead boomed out. 'Not bad, eh?'

Dietz lifted a magazine off his lap. 'I have it. I read the piece.'

Going to his desk, Armstead continued'to be enchanted with the cover. 'I guess it looks like me. A little jowly, maybe.'

'The portrait is good enough,' Dietz a.s.sured him. 'It represents you as vigorous, fresh, fa.r.s.eeing.'

'I suppose I couldn't do better myself,' said Armstead, settling into his swivel chair. He continued to contemplate the cover with pleasure. '"Journalism's Almighty,"' he read. 'Almighty. How do you like that?'

'It's true,' said Dietz.

Armstead shook his head in wonder. 'Not even my father even had that.'

'Have you read the story inside?' Dietz inquired.

'Of course. Pretty fair-minded, I thought. Even Hannah liked it.'

For a moment Dietz looked puzzled, but then seemed to remember. 'Your wife read it?'

'She wanted to find out about me.' Armstead laughed coa.r.s.ely. 'Yes. Even the old bag liked it. What did you think, Harry?'

182.

'Impressive, no question. Maybe a little snotty about Bradshaw, about our treating him like a prima donna, withholding information about him as if we're afraid we'll lose him to a compet.i.tor, but overall an impressive piece. It's brought in a swarm of telephone calls. Estelle has recorded most of them for you to handle when you have time.' He reached to the desk top for several memos.

'I brought in a few of the more important ones I thought you'd want to see right away.'

Armstead took them.

'You'll see one call was from Hugh Weston, the President's press secretary, with President Callaway's congratulations and a presidential invitation to dinner at the White House the night before he leaves for London.'

Armstead had found the phone message. 'How do you like that?'

'I think Weston wants an answer right away. The President is having in a number of media bigwigs, but you'd definitely be the star. I didn't know if - if you'd want to go.'

Armstead looked surprised. 'Wouldn't miss it for anything in the world.' Armstead fingered the magazine lovingly. 'So you found the story, the profile, impressive?'

'Very.' Dietz paused. 'Only thing that troubles me a little -it could lead to more prying around in your affairs. Did you give any more thought to what we discussed yesterday?'

The publisher's expression had sobered. 'You mean the advice you gave me? Yes, I have.' He sat back in his swivel chair and met Dietz's eyes squarely. 'You're right,' he said, 'I've decided to take your advice. I'll quit - but only after one more big one, the big one.'

'Chief, I'm not sure of that one.'

'I am,' said Armstead, without equivocation. 'I'm on the upside. A man in my position doesn't get out with a miss, with a failure like Lourdes.'

'But n.o.body knows about that.'

'/ know it, Harry. I won't let myself go out with a whimper. I'm going out with a huge topper. I want my last act to be a big bang.' His expression creased into a smile. 'I know what I'm doing, Harry.

You can trust the Almighty.'

Dietz was resigned. 'Whatever you say.'

'The last one,' Armstead promised. 'And I say let's get moving on it fast.'

'Very well.'

Armstead was all business now. 'Pagano should be back in Paris. Get him for me. I want to tell him to arrange one more meeting for me with Cooper - in Paris, tomorrow night at the Lancaster.'

Dietz frowned. 'Chief, I want to caution you. Our nosey girl reporter Victoria Weston is in Paris now, standing by for an a.s.signment. I wouldn't want her to see you.'

'No chance,' said Armstead airily. 'I'll be in the Lancaster only one night, and never leave the hotel.

If it worries you, I'll s.h.i.+p the Weston girl off to London and have her stand by there.'

'Better.'

183.

'Meanwhile, first things first. Get Pagano for me. And on your way out tell Estelle to book me on the Concorde's early flight tomorrow morning.' He winked at Dietz. 'The last one, Harry. I promise you.'

At daybreak Victoria was snuggled in her bed, fast asleep, when she stirred, reacting to some distant sound. Gradually the sound penetrated, half awakened her. Opening her heavy-lidded eyes, she listened and realized it was the bedside telephone persistently ringing in her ear.

She struggled to a sitting position on the mattress, trying to clear her head, and her hand groped for the phone receiver. She had hold of it, dropped it, retrieved it, and brought it to her mouth and ear.

'h.e.l.lo.'

'Hi, Vicky. It's Nick. I know you're an early riser, but - did I wake you up?'

'No,' she lied.

'I think I did.' He paused. 'My G.o.d, just looked at the time. It's almost midnight here, so it must be nearly dawn in Paris.'

'Never mind, Nick. It's good to hear from you at any time. What is it? Something up?'

'Not exactly. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I wasn't satisfied with the way our last conversation ended.'

'How did it end?'

'You were wondering how Armstead was getting all those beats he's been crediting to the nonexistent Bradshaw. I said I wanted to think about it, and I'd be in London in a week or so with the President. I said I'd try to sneak an afternoon off to come over to Paris and talk to you. And you said -'

Victoria was fully awake now. 'I said, "I'm going on - right on until I solve this, no matter what."'

'That's what I'm calling to find out about. What've you been doing -'

'I've been shopping, overeating, waiting for an a.s.signment, and trying to think, in that order.'

'But have you gone on with your investigation?' Ramsey pressed.

'I've done nothing more,' she replied. 'I've been stymied. I don't know which way to turn.'

'Maybe I can help you,' Ramsey said. T don't know either, but let's see. I've been giving your theory some serious thought.'

'Yes?' she said eagerly.

'Your theory is that Armstead has some inside contact with a terrorist gang. I don't think that's true, but I don't know any other possibility. So let's say I go along with you. If our boss has made contact with a gang, I still believe it has to be the Carlos crowd. It's the only one I know capable of staging all those recent operations. I know you disagree.'

'Nick, I'm open to anything at this point. Okay, let's say the Carlos crowd. Even though Armstead told us he followed through the Surete and tried to have them arrested and missed them.'

'Honey, along with your theory goes the theory that Armstead is a liar. He didn't try to have Carlos arrested because Carlos is the source for his stories.'