The Charm School

respective governments.”
    “That’s a very strong statement,” Hollis observed.
    “Nevertheless it’s what the diplomatic community believes.”
    “Charles, I don’t like it when the diplomatic community here or anywhere tries to take the moral high ground. My work and Seth Alevy’s work may not be to your liking or your superiors’ liking. But it is, unfortunately, necessary work. And there is an implied understanding that the Foreign Service will provide support services to the intelligence personnel within the mission. No one in my office or Alevy’s has ever asked anything of you more than room and board and an atmosphere of cooperation and understanding. We have never compromised the diplomatic personnel here. Whoever takes over from me has a tough enough job, and he deserves your respect if not your sympathy.”
    Banks set his drink down on a bookshelf. “Personally, I agree with you. The world has changed since the days when the only spies in an embassy were a few Foreign Service people known unofficially as State Department Intelligence. However, the ambassador’s fear in this current problem… the fear of the White House itself, if you want to know the truth… is that one of you—you, Seth Alevy, the naval attaché, the Army attaché, or any of the people who work for you—will seize on this current Fisher and Dodson business as a tool to wreck the diplomatic initiatives. Enough said.”
    Hollis poured more scotch into Banks’ glass and handed it back to him. “I’m afraid I have to have the last word on that, Charles. You’re afraid of us troglodytes, but I want to remind you that many of the fruits of hard-won military and intelligence victories, paid for in blood, were lost by the State Department and the Foreign Service. I fought a war, and my father fought a war, and your father… well, I know the name Prescott Banks. I want to remind you of the sterling performance of the State Department at Yalta and Potsdam, when your forebears gave Stalin everything but the west lawn of the White House. That’s why we’re in the goddamned mess we’re in now.”
    Banks’ ruddy face turned even redder. He took a long breath, then sipped on his drink. “That was not our finest hour. My father regretted his role in that in his later years.”
    Lisa poured more scotch for everyone and said, “I know that the past is prologue for the future, but you old duffers are talking about things that happened before I was born.”
    Banks said, “Well, more recent news then. As you know, Gregory Fisher’s parents have had an autopsy performed on their son. We’ve received information on the results of that autopsy.”
    “And?” Lisa asked.
    “The medical examiner’s report states that the injuries were not the immediate cause of death.”
    “What,” Lisa asked, “
was
the cause of death?”
    “Heart failure.”
    Hollis observed, “Heart failure is the cause of all deaths. What caused the heart to fail?”
    “Partly trauma. But mostly alcohol. Mr. Fisher had a deadly amount of alcohol in his blood and brain tissue.”
    “The KGB introduced the alcohol before death,” Hollis said, “through a stomach tube. The perfect poison, because nearly everyone takes it now and then.”
    Banks seemed uncomfortable with this type of talk. “Really? Is it possible to do that?” He looked at Hollis as though he were discovering a new species of human being. “That’s terrible.”
    Lisa said, “So, we have no evidence that could be used in a court of law or in a diplomatic note of protest if anyone considered such a course of action?”
    “That’s correct,” Banks replied.
    Lisa asked, “Do you believe that Greg Fisher was murdered?”
    Banks considered a moment. “The circumstantial evidence seems to point in that direction. I’m no idiot, Lisa, and neither is the ambassador.”
    “That’s reassuring.” She added, “I do appreciate your position.”
    Banks smiled tightly. “Do you? Let me tell you that I personally admire your sense of integrity and moral courage. And
entre nous
, the ambassador is similarly impressed. However, I’m here to restate to you in the strongest possible terms that if either of you so much as breathes a word of this incident back in the States, you will both be unemployed and unemployable and perhaps subject to legal action. Is that clear?”
    Hollis moved closer to Banks. “I don’t think you or anyone outside the Pentagon is in a position to tamper with my