The Brethren by John Grisham Read Free Book Online Page A

followed the quilt-laden wheelchair into the bunker and sat across the table. Pleasantries were exchanged. York watched from a room down the hall where three monitors hooked to hidden cameras relayed every word, every movement. Next to York were two men who spent their time studying tapes of people as they talked and breathed and moved their hands and eyes and heads and feet, in an effort to determine what the speakers really meant.
    “Did you sleep much last night?” Teddy asked, managing a smile.
    “Yes, actually,” Lake lied.
    “Good. I take it you’re willing to accept our deal.”
    “Deal? I didn’t know it was exactly a deal.”
    “Oh yes, Mr. Lake, it’s exactly a deal. We promise to get you elected, and you promise to double defense spending and get ready for the Russians.”
    “Then you have a deal.”
    “That’s good, Mr. Lake. I’m very pleased. You’ll make an excellent candidate and a fine President.”
    The words rang through Lake’s ears, and he couldn’t believe them. President Lake. President Aaron Lake. He’d paced the floor until five that morning trying to convince himself that the White House was being offered to him. It seemed too easy.
    And as hard as he tried, he couldn’t ignore the trappings. The Oval Office. All those jets and helicopters. The world to be traveled. A hundred aides at his beck and call. State dinners with the most powerful people in the world.
    And, above all, a place in history.
    Oh yes, Teddy had himself a deal.
    “Let’s talk about the campaign itself,” Teddy said. “I think you should announce two days after New Hampshire. Let the dust settle. Let the winners get their fifteen minutes and let the losers sling more mud, then announce.”
    “That’s pretty fast,” Lake said.
    “We don’t have a lot of time. We ignore New Hampshire and get ready for Arizona and Michigan on February twenty-second. It’s imperative that youwin those two states. When you do, you establish yourself as a serious candidate, and you’re set for the month of March.”
    “I was thinking of announcing back home, somewhere in Phoenix.”
    “Michigan’s better. It’s a bigger state, fifty-eight delegates, compared to twenty-four for Arizona. You’ll be expected to win at home. If you win in Michigan on the same day, then you’re a candidate to be reckoned with. Announce in Michigan first, then do it again hours later in your home district.”
    “An excellent idea.”
    “There’s a helicopter plant in Flint, D-L Trilling. They have a large hangar, four thousand workers. The CEO is a man I can talk to.”
    “Book it,” Lake said, certain that Teddy had already chatted with the CEO.
    “Can you start filming ads day after tomorrow?”
    “I can do anything,” Lake said, settling into the passenger’s seat. It was becoming obvious who was driving the bus.
    “With your approval, we’ll hire an outside consulting group to front the ads and publicity. But we have better people here, and they won’t cost you anything. Not that money will be a problem, you understand.”
    “I think a hundred million should cover things.”
    “It should. Anyway, we’ll start working on the TV ads today. I think you’ll like them. They’re total gloom and doom—the miserable shape of our military, all sorts of threats from abroad. Armageddon, that sort of stuff. They’ll scare the hell out of people. We’ll plug in your name and face and a few brief words, and in notime you’ll be the most famous politician in the country.”
    “Fame won’t win the election.”
    “No, it won’t. But money will. Money buys television and polls, and that’s all it takes.”
    “I’d like to think the message is important.”
    “Oh, it is, Mr. Lake, and our message is far more important than tax cuts and affirmative action and abortion and trust and family values and all the other silliness we’re hearing. Our message is life and death. Our message will change the world and protect our affluence.