‘So, I guess the bottom line,’ O’Brien concluded, ‘is that we are being asked to regard ourselves as prisoners in this building until whatever situation is developing out there resolves itself. It’s not an attractive proposition…’
‘Damn right,’ a male voice broke in.
‘But I’m not sure what else we can do. If anyone has any better ideas, I’d like to hear them. But I must warn you that anything we decide to do will have to be accomplished without the aid of the Marines. And there is a very nasty-looking mob out there. So, whatever we do, we need to give it some serious reflection.’
O’Brien stopped to invite reaction to what he had said. He caught Kate Green’s eye, and nodded to her almost imperceptibly.
‘I agree with Senator O’Brien,’ Kate said in a firm voice, standing in place without moving to the podium. ‘Whatever the situation is out there, it’s obviously very dangerous.’
‘That’s my impression also,’ Alan Boswell added.
O’Brien wondered how the discussion would proceed. The Senate had no presiding officer. It was now long past considerations of protocol and rules of procedure. There was no longer any question of precedence in taking the floor, or yielding time. Under any ordinary circumstances, with the usual restraints removed, the senators would have been climbing over each other to speak first. But no one seemed anxious to take the lead. After a prolonged silence, Tom Danvers, the senior senator from West Virginia, an elderly man with a shock of silver hair and a stately, dignified bearing, slowly approached the podium.
‘Senator O’Brien,’ he began, the effect of the heat and fatigue obvious in his voice, ‘I understand that the situation out there is dangerous. And the whole Senate is grateful to you and the other senators who have been trying to get what information you can, and trying to find a way of dealing with it. But I believe it would just be wrong to lie down and allow ourselves to be held hostage here. President Trevathan needs us to function as a Senate. And it goes against principle to allow one of the branches of the legislature to be held hostage by a bunch of terrorists, which is what those folks are. We just shouldn’t allow it. That’s what I have to say.’
Danvers paused, trying his best to look combative despite his own inner feelings of disquiet. Several senators shook their heads, and there was some murmuring.
‘Well, that’s all very well, Tom,’ one shouted out. ‘But what exactly are you suggesting we do? Send them a message that we’re not going to stand for it? What if they say ‘no’?’
Danvers drew himself up to his full height.
‘No. I’m suggesting that we exercise our right to walk out of here,’ he said with conviction. ‘Hell, there’s a hundred of us, plus our staff, and the ladies and gentlemen of the press. What are these terrorists going to do, shoot us all? Shoot the entire Senate?’
‘Hell, Tom, if there are some of my constituents out there, some of them just might,’ a senator called out, to general laughter.
Danvers did not join in the laughter.
‘With all those Marines out there? I don’t think so. I was a Marine myself in my younger days, and I don’t believe I would have let that happen if I were in their position. Look, we did our duty today. We voted on the impeachment. Now I want to go home and see my wife, have dinner. Let’s just get the hell out of here, Ladies and Gentlemen.’
Danvers’s words were greeted by a substantial round of applause. Several senators shouted their agreement.
‘What do you think, Joe?’ one asked.
Danvers moved away from the podium slightly to allow O’Brien to approach, but showed no sign of resuming his seat.
‘I’d like to agree with Senator Danvers,’ O’Brien replied, ‘but it’s just not possible. For one thing, I don’t believe the Marines have the capability to protect us. There are too many of us, especially if we all run out of here in a hundred different directions. It would very likely precipitate a fire-fight, which could result in a huge loss of life. I don’t believe that risk is justifiable.’
‘I’m willing to take that risk,’ Tom Danvers insisted. ‘It’s a matter of principle.’
Quite a number of senators applauded and cheered. O’Brien felt his stomach begin to churn again. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
‘And in any case,’ he continued, ‘I’m afraid leaving is not an option. Physically, I mean.’
He paused.
‘What do you mean?’ Danvers asked.
‘I mean the colonel made it pretty clear that the Marines will not allow us to leave, at least for now.’
‘What?’ Danvers asked, incredulously.
‘It’s not up to the colonel,’ a senator shouted before O’Brien could reply. ‘It’s a matter for us to decide. Is this guy seriously telling us we can’t leave the Capitol? Hell, I think that constitutes a contempt of the Senate, right there.’
O’Brien closed his eyes.
‘Well, maybe it does, Bill,’ he said. ‘But what exactly are you going to do about that? You want to send the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest him?’
To O’Brien’s relief, this produced some laughter.
‘Look,’ he continued, ‘I agree with Tom in principle. This shouldn’t be happening. But it is. I also think the Marines have our safety in mind here. Obviously, there’s some serious disorder going on outside. They’re the experts, and I don’t see any point in forcing the issue, when we may be able to leave without any problem in a little while.’
‘That depends what you mean by ‘a little while’,’ another senator observed. ‘Judging by what you just told us, the colonel didn’t hold out much hope that this would end any time soon.’
‘I think we have to accept that Ellen Trevathan and those working with her are doing all they can,’ O’Brien replied. ‘I don’t see any reason to doubt that. We need to be patient and hang in there; give them time to work it out.’
Danvers moved back to the podium, making O’Brien shift to one side.
‘So, if I’m understanding you correctly, Senator O’Brien,’ he said, ‘the Marines had no solution to propose to us except to wait it out?’
O’Brien looked uneasily at Kate Green. Before he could reply, Alan Boswell got to his feet.
‘Well, that’s not exactly true,’ he said.
O’Brien looked down in irritation. ‘Shit,’ he muttered to himself.
‘Do you want to tell them about it, Joe, or shall I?’ Boswell was asking.
O’Brien looked for help to Kate Green, but Kate merely shrugged her shoulders. They would both have preferred not to raise the issue but, with so much at stake, they had already agreed that the Senate was entitled to hear everything.
‘Be my guest, Alan,’ O’Brien replied.
He stepped back as Boswell made his way forward to a heavy, expectant silence.
Boswell gripped the podium tightly.
‘The colonel did have one suggestion,’ he said tentatively. ‘And I think I’m right in saying that those of us who were there agreed we should bring it to your attention, not recommend it, you understand, but at least give you the option of thinking about it. He suggested that, since most of the hooligans out there are apparently supporters of Steve Wade, they might be persuaded to go away if they were given the impression that we had reversed the impeachment vote.’
To O’Brien’s surprise, Boswell’s words were greeted with almost total silence. Kate Green raised her hand, then stood.
‘The colonel also said that couldn’t be guaranteed,’ she pointed out.
‘That’s correct,’ Boswell confirmed.
The silence continued.
‘You said, ‘if they were given the impression’,’ a senator asked eventually. ‘You mean, put out a statement to that effect, rather than actually do it?’
‘Yes,’ Boswell replied. ‘For one thing, I think there would be serious questions of legality surrounding any actual vote we took under the present circumstances. The Constitution says we can impeach the President, but it doesn’t
say we can put the President back into office after he’s been impeached.’
He looked behind him at the Chief Justice.
‘At least, I believe I’m right in saying that?’
‘I wouldn’t want to comment on the record,’ Mayhew replied, ‘in light of the fact that if such a thing actually happened, it would certainly come before the Court eventually, but off the record, I would say you are probably right.’
‘So, the idea would be just to issue a statement,’ Boswell continued. ‘We would repudiate it the moment the siege is lifted. I don’t believe anyone would hold it against us in the circumstances. I’m sure our colleagues in the press would help us.’
O’Brien had now lost the floor. With some alarm, he realized that Boswell was going a little further than just providing information. Boswell actually thought there was some merit in the idea. Animated conversation broke out all around the Chamber. The senators huddled in small groups. Some aides, suddenly springing back to life, moved in to join them. The journalists also woke up, extracting pens, notepads, and tape players from their discarded briefcases. After some time, Boswell turned and approached the Chief Justice, who nodded his agreement, and hammered his gavel down several times with enough force to cause the hubbub to die down.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Boswell said. ‘If I may have your attention. It seems we are not following strict procedure just now, which may be just as well. I would suggest that any senator who wishes to speak on this issue should be free to do so, and that we should then take a vote. If that meets with your approval…’
Joe O’Brien stepped quickly up to Boswell’s side, interrupting him.
‘Senator Boswell, I think you and I agree that we mentioned the possibility of making a statement because it was our duty to report back on everything that had taken place during our discussion with the Marines. But I don’t believe we for one moment thought it was the right thing to do…’
‘That doesn’t mean we can’t vote on it,’ a voice shouted from the back of the Chamber. ‘It sounds like a damn good idea to me.’
To O’Brien’s dismay, a chorus of voices shouted agreement.
‘There’s no guarantee of anything, even if we did issue a statement,’ O’Brien protested.
But his voice was now uncertain, and was almost lost in the renewed conversation. With his long experience of the Senate, Joe O’Brien was well able to recognize an emerging consensus when he saw one, and he was seeing one now. He looked hopelessly at Frank, who was sitting on the floor near the podium. He shrugged and shook his head.
‘You did your best, Senator.’
Ed Monahan had been listening to the argument from his seat at counsel’s table with a mixture of concern and disbelief. As he saw the consensus build, he did something he would never in his wildest dreams have imagined himself doing. He rose abruptly from his seat, strode to the podium, and half pushed Senator Alan Boswell to one side, at the same time raising his right hand in supplication to the Chief Justice. He saw Sam Mayhew look at him closely and then, to his surprise, nod almost imperceptibly and gavel for order. Order took some time in coming, especially when the senators saw who was standing at the podium.
‘Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the Senate,’ Monahan began hesitantly. ‘I realize that this is probably out of order. In fact, I’m sure it is. But you were kind enough to listen to me for quite a while over the last few days, and I would ask for your further indulgence, just for a few minutes, because I have something to say which I believe is important. So, please, listen to me for just a moment.’
Out of the corner of his eye, Monahan saw that Senator Boswell was looking none too pleased. But his audience gave no such sign. He decided to continue until he was interrupted.
‘Now, you all know that I represented President Wade, and tried my best to stop you impeaching him. So you know which side I was on in that debate. But things have changed now. Because of your vote, Ellen Trevathan is now President of the United States. With all respect, you can’t put the clock back. There’s no way to undo what you did and put Wade back in office, which is what those people out there want.’
‘That’s not the suggestion,’ a senator called out. ‘The idea is to say that we…’
‘I understand that, Senator,’ Monahan interrupted, fearful of being drowned out in a sea of protest. ‘But hear me out. That isn’t just a mob out there. Those are intelligent people, people smart enough to have orchestrated whatever is going on. And those people are probably more than smart enough to figure out that you would not, and could not, have taken a vote to reverse your position on the impeachment. If that’s the case, the only thing you’re going to achieve by spreading a false rumor is to make them even more angry than they are now. At best, nothing changes.’
Monahan saw a large number of senators began to nod. No one was disagreeing. Boswell’s consensus was beginning to die as quickly as it had been born. Ed Monahan decided to add what was really on his mind.
‘But the most important point is, that if you did put out a story like that, it might jeopardize whatever President Trevathan and her advisers are doing out there. We know from Senator O’Brien’s Chief of Staff that the President is in Houston. We’re not sure why, but I think it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s not so she can enjoy the climate.’
‘Hey, not so fast there, young fella,’ the senior senator from Texas drawled, breaking the ice and drawing some sympathetic laughter towards Monahan. ‘Ain’t nothing wrong with Houston.’
Monahan smiled, despite his anxiety.
‘I’m sure that’s true, Senator, and I didn’t mean to disparage your home town. But my point is, I think we have to assume that the President is in Houston because it’s not safe for her to be here in Washington. Now, we may not know all the details, but one thing we do know. She needs all the help she can get. If you suggest that the Senate has capitulated, it may send a message to her enemies that her support is falling away, and it may encourage them to go even farther than they have. So I believe you have to hang tough now, for the sake of our Government, for the sake of our Constitution. I beg you, don’t go along with this idea.’
Monahan waited only for a moment before resuming his seat. The conversation resumed, but only momentarily. To everyone’s surprise, Sam Mayhew gaveled again and, once he had induced silence, he walked slowly to the podium and took the floor himself.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s probably just as much out of order for me to interrupt the Senate’s proceedings as it was for Mr. Monahan. Now, this may be the first time I’ve agreed with him since this whole thing started, but since he took the risk of speaking up, I guess it’s probably all right for me to do the same.’
There was a little laughter, dying quickly away.
‘Mr. Monahan is right. If you release this story of a vote that was never taken, everybody will find out the truth eventually, that’s true. But ‘eventually’ is not the problem. The problem is here and now. I believe President Trevathan is in a good deal of trouble right now. Like you, I don’t exactly know why. But I have been made aware that my colleagues on the Court have gone to Houston with her, so I have to assume that the danger goes beyond the President herself, and is reaching out to our Government as a whole. So, in my estimation, whatever is going on is of a very grave nature. If you undermine the President’s position now by releasing a story that you have been pressured into changing your vote, it might give her enemies, the enemies of America, perhaps I should say, just enough encouragement to make a decisive difference. I want to get out of here as much as anyone else. But I believe it to be our duty, mine as well as yours, to stay and to support the new Administration.’
After almost a full minute of silence, Senator Joe O’Brien walked to the podium and stood alongside the Chief Justice.
‘I don’t believe there’s any way to argue with what the Chief Justice has said,’ he observed gravely. ‘I guess, if necessary, we can take a vote, but I sincerely hope that will not be necessary.
Anyone who feels it is, please raise your hand now.’
Not a single hand was raised. From his seat at counsel’s table, Ed Monahan nodded to Sam Mayhew. For the rest of his life, Ed would believe, and would tell everyone he could, that he distinctly saw the Chief Justice of the United States wink back at him.
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