Chapter 34

To avoid appearing as anxious as I felt, I hung around the Cabinet Room after we broke up, talking to various people, listening to stories about the ‘dark days’ after the assassination of Charles and John Gray and seeing who talked to the Ag Secretary and who he talked with.

To my surprise he seemed to be a pariah to the rest of the group. No one so much as made eye contact with him. There had to be a story attached to that. The best source of information about the lack of connection between Agriculture and the rest of the Cabinet would be Stacy Covington, the President’s Assistant Chief of Staff. I decided that I needed to go see her as soon as doing so wouldn’t cause undo suspicion.

Stacy was at her desk, as usual and it was pleasant to visit with her and enjoy the sparkling, lithe, young, thirty-two year old blonde with killer hips and a beautiful smile. As kind on the eyes as Stacy might be, her personality could cause a porcupine to seek psychotherapy. One did not wander by and waste Stacy’s time. One stated their business and hurried away, knowing she would handle whatever it was. In this case, with her boss in a hospital bed and me having command and control, she had no choice but to cooperate.

And boy did she come through.

“Mr. Burger, at Agriculture is a bit of a loose cannon,” she spoke softly but looked me directly in the eye. This was no shrinking violet. “Secretary Burger may not know it, Mr. Vice President, but the President intends to replace him quite soon.” Stacy paused to allow me to factor that bit of info into my course of action.

“The President has said to me - on several occasions - that he will appoint a replacement for the Secretary before the end of March. If the President shared that with me, it is reasonable to suspect that he would have said the same thing to a small group of others and they might not be as careful as they should when repeating things that should not be repeated.”

I thought I had what I came for, but Stacy surprised with another jolt of news.

“Mr. Vice President, you do know that the President has a very serious heart condition, correct?”

I couldn’t have kept the shock off of my face no matter who I was speaking with. Stacy guessed without a word passing my lips, that she had rocked my world.

“How bad,” I asked, quietly?

Her face seemed to shrink in on itself. “It’s very bad, and the surgeons say a heart transplant might not be enough...”

She was sad.

She was so sad that I knew she cared about the man she served. There was no chance that Stacy was involved. Not even by accident. This one lived her loyalty. I liked her more and more for her strength and courage.

My mind was turning all this over, refitting pieces, moving others, making plans, rejecting plans and generally trying to create a picture of how ugly this might get. All Burger might need to do was cause Sam too much stress and he could die before anyone could help him.

Then I had an idea.

“Stacy, could you see if the President is able to take a call from me?”

She smiled.

Somehow Sam was far ahead of me. He probably knew exactly what I was going to ask permission to do.

“Mr. President, Would you be willing to authorize me to fire Secretary Burger, forthwith? Please, Sir?”

Sam didn’t hesitate. “Stacy told me that she was going to tell you about my heart. When you called, I knew you would be plowing the road to remove obstacles that might upset me.

“Thomas, you are a good friend and good leader but tonight, you have Command and Control. If YOU need to fire a Cabinet Secretary, then you do what YOU need to do...”

It was obvious that he wanted to see how sure I was that Burger was involved, while also checking to see if my balls were of sufficient density and circumference for what was coming if he died before I was thirty-five years old. That was over two years away and we still had a campaign to win. Sam was not going to die on my watch and that was the end of it.

“Mr. President, it is my intention to receive Mr. Burger’s resignation before I head to bed tonight. I hope that doesn’t cause you distress.” That was as far as we took it. Sam asked me to pray for him and I left so he could rest.

As I walked toward Marine One I had a thought. Turning to the head of my detail, I said, “Let’s call up a Defense Department bird to run me back to the White House. Don’t let anyone know, and let Marine One and the twins sit right where they are. I don’t want a certain Cabinet Secretary to know my movements right now, OK?”

The detail chief never blinked. “Of course, Mr. Vice President, you are making a very wise choice. I will see to your ride immediately.”

When my ride dropped me off at the White House, Burger was waiting in an alcove near the Oval Office. There was no way I was firing him in there, but I bet he was hoping I’d do something he could attack me for.

Too bad.

Its cliché, but my mother told me that I was born at night. It just wasn’t last night.

“Secretary Burger, good to see you again. Thanks for coming out.” I was smooth and calm.