The Willard (17 page)

Director McCone was shaking his head. “This is a wonderful civics lesson, but again I ask what this has to do with Khrushchev?” He turned to the president. “Mr. President, with all due respect, we are wasting our time here. My agency has the best intelligence available and our analysts know everything there is to know about the way the Soviet premier’s mind works. What are we gaining by this exercise?”

All eyes turned to Tom. It seemed they might all be wondering the same thing. He knew it was now or never so Tom Kelly stood to his full height and looked the President of the United States in the eye.

“That’s what I’m trying to explain, Mr. President. Khrushchev believes you will blink first because that’s the message that’s been sold to the Soviet people for forty-five years and he inherently believes it himself.”

“And what is it that he believes?” the president asked.

“That at the end of the day, you’re a coward, sir.”

C
HAPTER 33

CALVIN WALKER

1963

If Edward Chase was taken aback by the 6’5” scowling man standing in his lobby, his good breeding didn’t allow him to show it. Calvin had pulled the concierge aside to explain his predicament while he left Tiny standing near a marble column that somehow didn’t seem to dwarf him the way it did most people. However, the looks he was getting from other patrons were enough to make Calvin uncomfortable. He was afraid Tiny might lash out at the well-heeled clientele. They represented everything Kifo was fighting against. Chase quickly made arrangements to give the man a room and was careful to place him far away from Dr. King and his entourage.

Calvin escorted Tiny to his room. The man was clearly impressed by the elegance of the hotel, but he tried not to show it. Calvin thought he could use this to his advantage.

“Ok, Tiny, here’s the thing. I can’t just walk into the room with Dr. King with you beside me. They know me, but they have no idea who you are and you scare me so I’m sure you’ll scare them too. Fish gave me the night to get the proof I need and you know exactly where to find me so I need for you to stay in this room all night and not come out. You can order anything you like to eat from room service. Just pick up the phone. Sign the bill and leave a nice big tip. Everything will be taken care of. At 6 a.m., leave the room and walk outside and across the street. I’ll meet you on the corner.”

Tiny didn’t look too happy about letting Calvin out of his sight for such a long stretch, but the idea of room service, a hot shower, and the very comfortable-looking bed was enough to convince him that it couldn’t hurt to give the guy some room to work. After all, he could always find him and hurt him in the morning if he tried a double-cross. He didn’t give much thought to the idea that Calvin might sneak out in the night but Kifo didn’t keep Tiny around because of his thinking skills. Calvin handed him the room service menu and quietly closed the door behind him. He went back to the lobby to find Edward Chase.

“Is your friend all settled in?” he asked.

“Yes, and I think you’re going to be handling some fairly monumental room service charges for the evening.” It might be petty but Calvin was pleased to at least stick Chase with the bill for getting him into this mess.

“I need another favor, Chase,” Calvin said.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Walker?”

“I need to spend the evening with Dr. King.”

Chase was silent for a moment but unruffled as ever. “I have an idea that should work,” he noted. “Give me half an hour.”

Thirty minutes later, Calvin had showered and dressed in a suit of the period that Chase had left in his closet. The concierge knocked on his door and Calvin followed him down the hall. They came to a double door marking the entrance to a large suite. Chase knocked and a gentleman answered the door.

“Hello, Mr. Abernathy. This is Calvin Walker, the gentleman I told you about,” Chase said by way of introduction.

“Yes, of course. Please come in,” Mr. Abernathy welcomed Calvin into the suite and led him to a sitting room where Dr. King was sitting surrounded by papers. Chase had left when Calvin was invited in. He had done everything he could to help. He just hoped it would be enough and that Calvin could prevent tragedy from marring the monumental occasion.

“Dr. King, this is Calvin Walker, the man Edward Chase sent up.”

Dr. King stood to shake Calvin’s hand. “We met earlier today at the elevator, I believe.”

“Yes, how do you do, Dr. King? I’m honored to meet you. Officially, I mean.”

“Mr. Chase tells me you’re an educated man of the people and that you are just the person I need to help me,” said Dr. King.

“I’m happy to assist you in any way, sir. What can I do for you?”

“I’m working on a little speech for tomorrow’s event and I’m concerned about how it will be received by the audience. I’d like for you to read over it and give me any suggestions you might have. I’ve been rewriting the last couple of paragraphs for a few hours and a fresh set of eyes would be a great help. Would you mind?”

Would I mind?
Calvin almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

“I would be honored, sir,” Calvin managed to say.

Dr. King motioned him to a seat across the table and handed him several handwritten pages. Calvin sat down to read and knew that somewhere in these pages he would eventually come to the words that would define a dream for millions of people just like him – people who would finally believe it was a dream they could achieve.

C
HAPTER 34

OLIVIA FORDHAM

1913

James Franklin Asher. Of the Middleburg, Virginia Ashers. Horse breeders and land owners. American landed gentry. Royalty in a land without royals. Olivia had never met him, but she had seen photos of him all over her grandmother’s house. One day he would be known as “Senior” when his son and Olivia’s father, James Franklin Asher, Jr. was born. He would die in a car accident in 1941 at the age of forty-seven. Her grandmother would mourn his death for the rest of her own life and Olivia’s father would swear there had never been a better man. Her family would reap the benefits of his wise counsel for years to come. But today he’s only a nineteen-year-old boy with elementary driving skills. This isn’t the story Olivia had always heard about the way her grandparents had met but she did recall it had been in Washington, D.C.

In all of the chaos he had offered to drive them back to the Willard. Olivia was so stunned she took him up on his offer and he managed to get them back to the hotel in one piece. Edward Chase met them at the door and escorted Olivia to her suite so she could clean up and get changed. The young man was clearly distraught over the mess he had caused and when Chase heard the boy’s name was Asher he knew there was more to the story. Chase was well aware that Olivia Fordham had been an Asher before her marriage. He determined the young man should stay at the hotel until Mrs. Fordham could regain her
composure. He settled Victoria and James into a corner booth in the restaurant and told them to please have an early dinner and wait. He sent two maids up to help Olivia and kept an eye on the young people to make sure they stayed put.

It took an hour for Olivia to get cleaned up and changed so that she felt presentable again. The entire time she’d been upstairs she had been thinking about the young people downstairs. Chase told her he was keeping them in the restaurant. She had just witnessed the meeting of her grandparents and she was trying to remember what she had heard before. She recalled a story about how they had met as young people in Washington, D.C., but there had been a carriage accident involved. She supposed that with both horses and the new motorcars on the streets at the same time it could have been a car and not a carriage. Either way, they were downstairs getting to know each other, which was a good sign.

In the restaurant, the two young people found themselves surprisingly shy with one another, as neither was particularly shy normally. They tripped over each other’s sentences when the silence between them felt awkward, but eventually they managed to get past the
Who, What, When
and
Where are you from?
parts. James told Victoria he was in the city for a few days with his older brother who was doing some work for their local congressman. James had come along to help with anything his brother might need. The car belonged to the brother and James had been learning to drive before they left Middleburg and thought he was ready for the city traffic, but he told her he was rethinking that now and they both laughed. It seemed to break the tension and conversation flowed more easily after that. Things were going well and Victoria was taken with the handsome gentleman, and he with her. He noticed her stunning eyes and the way her voice seemed to dance across the table toward him. She noticed his strong jaw and elegant hands.
Piano hands
, she thought. He was musical, but it was the trumpet
he played, not the piano. Still, she thought he was amazing. She blushed outwardly when she found herself thinking her parents would approve of such a boy. He noticed the blush and asked her about it. She said she was feeling a bit warm and he flagged down the waiter and ordered her a fresh glass of cool water.

What an elegant young lady. Even my mother would approve
, he thought and then he reprimanded himself internally for such thoughts about a woman he had only known for an hour.

It wasn’t until they got to the
What brings you to Washington?
portion of the conversation that things began to go downhill. In under an hour Victoria had felt she could tell him anything and he would understand and agree, but when she told him she had come for the suffrage march she was surprised at his response.

“Suffrage? Oh my dear, Victoria, please tell me you aren’t getting caught up with those busybodies! Those women are not of high repute and they have no business meddling in affairs best handled by men.”

Victoria was nearly struck speechless. Nearly, but not quite.

“Busybodies? You believe women who are actively campaigning for rights that they deserve are busybodies?”

“From what I hear they plan to parade themselves down Pennsylvania Avenue and make demands of the new president. I’ve read that sometimes they carry picket signs or even go to jail. It’s not at all ladylike. My mother says these are not women of quality.”

“Your
mother
says? And what do you say?”

It was at this moment, when Victoria practically spat the word “mother” at him that Olivia came near the table. The young people didn’t seem to notice her, but she clearly saw the anger flashing in Victoria’s eyes and the steadfast defiance of James.

“I agree with her! Women of quality, women like her and like you are not the type to parade around making demands when you have everything in life you could possibly need.”

He didn’t mean to sound smug, but he was infuriating Victoria with every word out of his mouth. She completely changed her opinion of him and thought he belonged back on his horse farm and she told him so.

“Perhaps your horses like to be saddled and directed where to go, but modern women do not require such instruction!”

“My horses are champions and they don’t need me to tell them where to go. They know exactly where they are
supposed
to go and where they are
not supposed
to go!”

Victoria was sliding out of the booth and pulling her hat and bag with her as her anger blossomed. Olivia watched in stunned silence.

“Well then,
Mr. Asher
, I’d better go where I’m
supposed
to go which is anywhere you are not! Good day, sir.”

And with that Victoria stormed away from the table leaving Olivia and James flabbergasted, and a waiter holding a pitcher of cool water.

“You didn’t hear them, Edward. They were going at each other like warring nations.”

“I understand, Olivia, but you remember what it’s like to be their age. They think they know everything and little disagreements get blown out of proportion. They’ll calm down.”

“I don’t know. Victoria was livid. She went to her room, which is down the hall from my suite. I hope she didn’t damage your door because she slammed it quite definitively.”