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priceless.”
    â€œI’d be lost without her.”
    â€œHave you seen the Post ?”
    â€œNot yet.”
    Adkins laid the Washington Post in front of McGarvey. “Apparently we tried to recruit the good senator right out of college in ‘69, but he couldn’t make it through the confidence course. He ended up getting himself drafted and sent to ’Nam.”
    The headline read: CIA WANNA-BE GUNNING FOR NATION’S TOP SPOOK.
    â€œMaybe this will quiet him down.”

    â€œNot likely. Nobody likes us right now, and Hammond didn’t dodge the draft. There’s talk about putting him up for President in three years.”
    McGarvey sat back. “We’ve survived worse.”
    â€œName one,” Adkins shot back. He was a little irascible this morning, his eyes red. He was a short man, a little paunchy and usually diffident; this morning his cheeks were hollow, and he looked like he wanted to bite something.
    â€œBad weekend?”
    â€œRuth is sick again.” His eyes narrowed. “Every goddammed doctor we’ve taken her to says the same thing; it’s in her head. There’s nothing physically wrong with her.” His jaw tightened. “But they don’t have to hold her shoulders while she’s heaving her guts out in the toilet bowl at three in the morning—for the fifth time that night.”
    â€œWhat about a psychologist?”
    â€œShe won’t see one,” he replied bitterly. He had changed over the past months. They had two girls, but they were away at school. It was for the best, but it left Dick alone to handle the tough situation.
    â€œMaybe you should get out of here for a couple of weeks,” McGarvey suggested. “Take her someplace warm. Hawaii.”
    â€œAfter the hearings.” Adkins cracked a smile. “God only knows what I’d come back to if I left now.”
    â€œSeriously, Dick, there’s no job in the world worth your wife. Anytime you want to pull the pin, say the word and you’re out of here.”
    Adkins nodded tiredly. “I appreciate it. But for now she doesn’t seem to be getting any worse—same old same old. We’ll go after the hearings.”
    â€œI was thinking about that over the weekend.”
    â€œI know, I talked to Carleton on Friday. He’s worried that you’re going to tell the President no thanks, and hang on here only until someone else can be confirmed.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
    â€œTrue. But the general picked you for the job, and he’s a pretty good judge of character. At least stick it out for a couple of years. This place has never been run so well.”
    â€œDid you read the overnights? An idiot could do this job.”
    â€œAnd some have,” Adkins said. “Lots of grass fires out there, any one of which could start a forest fire.”
    â€œHaynes has other people he can name who’d get past Hammond without a problem.”
    â€œNeed we say more?” Adkins asked. “This place would go back to being
run like a Fortune 500 company, or worse, like a political constituency. I for one don’t think that would do the country any good. And I’m not alone in that opinion. But it’s your call. Take your own advice; if you want to pull the pin, just say the word. But don’t screw around, Mac. Don’t bullshit the troops. Either do the job, or get the hell out right now and save us all a lot of trouble.”
    Adkins was right, of course. Lead, follow or get out of the way. Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said THE BUCK STOPS HERE. The sign on McGarvey’s desk could have read, THE BULLSHIT STOPS HERE. He had a hell of a staff; the right people at the right time; professionals who were willing, like Adkins was this morning, to tell the boss the way it really was without fear of repercussions. The CIA had not been run that way for years, if it ever had.
    He