Honorable Enemies (1994) by Joe Weber Page B

Beach.
    Steve's recollections came to an abrupt halt when the taxi slowed and stopped in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

THE WHITE HOUSE
    Bryce Mellongard was a straitlaced, no-nonsense reforme d s moker who was known for his leadership abilities and attention to detail. Tall and reed-thin, he always wore a dark-gray suit and white shirt with a narrow, conservative tie.
    Mellongard had made a career of positioning himself to fill the next-higher vacancy. He was a master of the game, a master who had a seemingly supernatural instinct for knowing exactly when the opportunity was ripe to move up a notch.
    From the ranks of a midlevel civilian manager in the Pentagon, he steadily climbed the ladder. Always managing to showcase himself, then switch boats before the previous one began leaking, Mellongard carefully and skillfully worked his way through the treacherous rapids.
    Now the wily, silver-haired veteran of the bureaucratic wars had reached his zenith: Secretary of Defense. Mellongard knew that being SECDEF could be a springboard to much bigger things. He just needed to slide through this obligation without committing any major blunders.
    His biggest fear was that the unstable geopolitical situation would force the U . S . military into a position that could lead to catastrophic consequences. Even though Mellongard was a savvy political climber, he was honest with himself and knew his own limitations.
    The chauffeur was just pulling away from the White House when Mellongard spotted Senator Frank Brazzell, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The trim, stylishly dressed senator was motioning for Mellongard's driver to stop.
    Mellongard swore under his breath before he told the chauffeur to pull Over. Brazzell walked up to the Continental and Mellongard lowered the window.
    "Bryce, I'm glad I caught you," the Senator said hastily. "I need to discuss an urgent matter with you, if you've got a couple of minutes."
    Mellongard knew that in Brazzell's time frame, a couple of minutes meant at least an hour of lobbying for his latest crusade. "Frank, I've got an appointment at the Pentagon," he sai d h astily and glanced at his watch. "Let's set up something for the first of next week, okay ?"
    Brazzell was not one to be placed on hold. "It'll only take a few minutes--I promise." He didn't give the Secretary a chance to answer. "In fact I'll ride over with you and then grab a cab back."
    "Okay," Mellongard replied stiffly and reluctantly slid across the seat while Brazzell stepped into the car and quickly shut the door.
    "Thanks."
    "What's on your mind, Frank?"
    "I'll get right to the point," Brazzell answered while the driver edged into the flow of traffic. "I've got all the ducks in order up on the hill, but I need you to apply some leverage on the President."
    "You're talking about the carrier?"
    They had had previous conversations about giving the Japanese the next U . S . aircraft carrier that was scheduled for decommissioning. The Japanese had asked for a large-deck carrier, ostensibly to be used as an antisubmarine warfare ship, but the last Administration had quietly rebuffed them.
    "Absolutely," Brazzell shot back in his boldly confident manner. "Politically, the time is ripe for us to calm the waters and show some real confidence in the Japanese government. At the same time we can smooth some of the ruffled feathers about all this terrorist crap.
    "I'm telling you," Brazzell went on without missing a beat , "that we're going to blow a major opportunity if we don't mak e t he announcement now and follow through with our promise.
    Let's give them the next carrier on the list instead of turning i t i nto a floating museum or cutting it up for the scrap dealers."
    Mellongard let his head rest on the back of the seat. "Frank,"
    he sighed heavily, "they've laid the keel for their second carrier.
    You know that's in violation of Article Nine of the constitutio n t hey are supposed to enforce. I think we should