Jason Wander #02 - Orphan's Destiny by Robert Buettner

Author:Robert Buettner [Buettner, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-07T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

I SAT UP, swung my pajamaed legs over the bedside, nudged Jeeb off the morning paper, and picked it up. Below the weather forecast and masthead I read:

Ganymede’s Hero Claims Slugs Still a Threat Wander Calls Defense Cuts Bogus

“What the hell? I never said—”

Jeeb shot to the door and opened it. Tway stepped through and stood in front of me, arms crossed. Jeeb hovered, then dropped a probe against my carotid artery. He did that if my breathing elevated.

The article’s byline read “Lynn Dey, Special to the Washington Post.”

“Fuck!” I slapped the page.

“Then you did say it?” Tway’s eyes burned me.

I pointed at the sub-headline. “Well, I never used the word ‘bogus.’ I didn’t know she was a reporter!”

Tway leaned forward. “She lied to you?”

“Well, she said she was a writer. I didn’t think—”

Tway’s breath hissed between her teeth. “Jason, how many times have we had this talk?”

I slumped. “Too many, Ruth.”

This was the end of nightly mints on my pillow. Which was fine by me. “Politics is impossible. You have to balance things when neither way is right. I’m tired of hotel sheets. I’m tired of eating dung bars to look prettier. I’m tired of being told what I shouldn’t say. I was going to tell you. I’m opting out.”

Ruth shook her head. “Too late for that.”

“Huh?”

“This administration has sweated bullets. It has called in every favor from every legislator with a defense contractor in his or her state or district. It has finagled around every possible filibuster. It has set in stone for next week a vote on an appropriately lean defense budget.”

“It’ll be leaner with one less general to pay.”

Tway said, “Lieutenant.”

“Huh?”

“Read the fine print. You can’t opt out under the Gratitude Act if you’re the subject of pending disciplinary proceedings.”

“I’m not under discipline.”

“You are now. Your demotion to lieutenant was filed two hours ago. You’re in the Army until your demotion’s final.”

“And when will that be?”

“When the Army says so.”

Now there was the military circularity I had come to know. “But if I’m such a screw-up, why do you still want me in? Me opting out is exactly what you should want.”

“Because we don’t have a replacement, yet. We’ve invested in you as our poster child. If you stay in and do what you’re told from now on, your years of service will still be adjusted by the Gratitude Act formula. You’ll still be allowed to retire with an honorable-discharge General’s pension.”

Jeeb buzzed. My blood pressure had hit pre-stroke levels.

“And if I don’t? I could talk to Grodt. My autobiography would sell better with a chapter about how the Hero of Ganymede got railroaded.”

Tway smiled and shook her head. “We can add lots of chapters to your bio, if that’s how you want to play it.”

“Huh?”

What had President Irons told me last night, a million years ago? In Washington, it’s not enough to be good. Something else has to be bad.

“Ruth, you know I never did anything bad.”

“That won’t matter to the media. Let’s pretend you go public.

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