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feel I have an
obligation to warn you."
    "About what?"
    "Well, I've been listening to you talk about bipartisanship and I admire
what you've been saying. I know the difference between truth and bullshit, and
I know you mean what you've said..."
    "But?"
    Exley ran a hand through his age-appropriate hair. "It's just this,
Charlie, I want you to know that your chances of getting real cooperation from
my party are somewhere between zero and none."
    "We're not so sure of that, Mr. President," said Eric Wang.
"I've been talking to the Republican Congressional leadership and Leader
Wendell has given me solemn assurances..."
    Exely was shaking his head. "You don't understand, Eric. That's just
duplicity and deception. Wendell is a weasel. I wouldn't believe him if he told
me it was Tuesday. I endorsed him for President, but I’m glad he lost. Now, his
only purpose is to shut down our friend Charlie, here. He and the others have
promised themselves your Boss will be a one-term President..."
    Callaway smiled. "I may have something to say about that, Howard."
    "Well, I hope so, Charlie, for your sake. All I can tell you is that
they're going to bust a gut trying to make you look like Benedict Arnold, a
black Benedict Arnold, if you'll forgive me. "
    Callaway shrugged.
    "President Exley," Wang said, "With all due respect. I don't
think any reasonable person is going to be fooled by that."
    "I know," Exley said, "but they're not going to be appealing to
reasonable people. They're going to be appealing to the morons and miscreants
among us."
    "A small fraction, thank God," Callaway said.
    Exley looked at his successor almost tenderly. "Ah, Charlie. You have so
much to learn, and you surely will. Just be prepared for the shit storm that is
about to rain down on you."
    "I'll keep my umbrella at the ready, Mr. President," Callaway said
with a grin.
    The former President slowly got to his feet. "Well then, Charlie, message
delivered. My conscience is clear."
    "Thanks for the warning," Callaway said. "And thanks for
dropping by."
    The two Presidents shook hands again. "Don't worry about me, Charlie, I
know the way out."
    Callaway and Wang watched him depart.
    "What do you make of that, Eric?"
    "Decent man, trying to make himself useful. But I wouldn't take him too
seriously."
    "Do you think he's going to make a habit of just dropping in?"
    "God, I hope not," said the President's Chief of Staff.
     
    Lunch with the German Ambassador went well, although it might have gone better
if Callaway's German was as good as Ambassador Puttkamer's English. Still,
there was promising talk of trade deals and increased German buying in the NAU
and a brief discussion of a possible Callaway visit to Berlin, to meet Chancellor Walther Wohler.
     
    The meetings with Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle were as
friendly as birthday parties, but then they were solely intended as
meet-and-greets. The subject of bipartisanship never even came up.
     
    Toward the end of the afternoon, the Chief of Staff fielded two cell phone
calls of enough interest for him to inform his Boss. "The British
Ambassador is begging off tea this afternoon," Wang reported. "His
secretary says he's under the weather."
    "Under the table, more likely," Callaway said.
    "Be nice now," Wang said.
    "Do I have time to go upstairs and canoodle with Julia?"
    "Unfortunately no. As delightful as I'm sure that might be, you have
another unexpected visitor and this one is much stranger than the
ex-President."
    Callaway shot him a skeptical look. "And who might that be?"
    "An emissary from Buddy Bourque. At least that's what he says he is."
    "Buddy Bourque? President of the Confederate States Buddy Bourque? You're
pulling my leg, Eric."
    "They've checked his credentials," Wang said. "Evidently, he is
the real thing."
    "And he just shows up here? No request from their Ambassador?"
    "He says he's on a confidential mission. Their Ambassador isn't in on
it."
    Callaway frowned. "What does he