Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

She was a smart woman, knowledgeable about the political flora and fauna inside the beltway, and she was jealous of Kate Lee, because she had a real job, while Evelyn no longer did, except to the extent that Cal Ferguson was a job. “You want to go over there and look down her dress?” she asked.
    â€œCertainly not,” Ferguson replied testily. He was a bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he did not like that kind of talk—not when someone might overhear it, anyway. The Marine Band began to play some Glenn Miller. “Tell you what I do want to do,” he said, as the president and his wife led everyone to the dance floor. “I want to dance with her for a minute. How would you like to dance with the president?” He took her hand, hoisted her from her chair and shuffled a beeline across the floor toward the First Couple.
    â€œEvening, Cal,” Will said as they came close.
    â€œGood evening, Mr. President,” Ferguson said. “I wonder if we might change partners for a moment?”
    â€œOf course,” the president said, gracefully steering Kate into Cal’s arms while bringing Evelyn into his own.
    â€œGood evening, Cal,” Kate said, flashing a brilliant smile.
    â€œHey, Kate. Tell me, what’s happening in the Caribbean these days?”
    â€œThe Caribbean? Well, let’s see: I can’t think of a thing. Were you thinking of invading some place down there?”
    â€œI was thinking about a certain former Haitian who got his head blown off in St. Marks.”
    â€œSt. Marks? Isn’t that in the Mediterranean somewhere?”
    Ferguson managed a chuckle. “My friend, Hugh English, tells me it’s not.”
    Kate formed her features for tragedy. “Oh, isn’t it sad about Hugh?”
    Ferguson frowned. “What?”
    â€œOf course, I replaced him with Lance Cabot the minute we began to suspect. Just today, in fact.”
    â€œKate, you’re not telling me Hugh English is a mole, are you?”
    â€œOf course not,” Kate said, shocked. “The man is a patriot!”
    â€œThen what’s sad about him?”
    â€œI’m sorry, Cal, I shouldn’t have mentioned it; I thought you already knew.”
    â€œKnew? Knew what?”
    Kate looked around, as if to see if she might be overheard. “Cal, you have to promise me faithfully that you’ll keep this to yourself. We don’t want this to get around; we just want a happy retirement for Hugh.”
    â€œOf course.”
    Kate sighed. “Well, this isn’t exactly a diagnosis, but some of Hugh’s actions over the past few days have caused a number of people to feel that he is suffering the early stages of…” She shrugged and made a face.
    â€œNonsense,” Ferguson said. “Why the man is as sane as I am.”
    â€œThat’s what I told everybody,” Kate said, “until…”
    â€œUntil what?”
    â€œWell, there was an incident a couple of days ago during a staff meeting about…well, about a classified matter, and Hugh suddenly piped up and said, ‘We’ve got to get the man out, and quickly.’ That pretty much brought the proceedings to a halt, and somebody said, ‘Who, Hugh? And out of where?’”
    â€œAnd what did Hugh say?”
    â€œHe said, ‘Nelson, of course; out of East Berlin.’”
    â€œBut East Berlin as a political entity doesn’t exist anymore,” Ferguson said.
    â€œExactly,” Kate replied, “and neither does Nelson, but at that moment, they both existed for Hugh. Someone had the presence of mind to say, ‘Right, I’ll get on it, Hugh,’ and the meeting continued, but Hugh got up and left. When I inquired about it, I was told that he had been exhibiting…memory issues and flashbacks. Someone thought it came on after his wife died.”
    Ferguson looked perplexed. “We were going to call him in to testify next week.” Ferguson was the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
    â€œWell,” Kate said, looking sympathetic, “if there’s anything the committee wants to know about East Berlin…” She ducked under his arm, put her own around her husband’s waist and, effectively, left Evelyn Ferguson to rejoin her husband.
    â€œWhat was that all about?” Will asked.
    â€œIt was about neutralizing Hugh English,” she