"I don't like it," whispered the President-elect, flashing his famous plastic smile to the crowds. "It if turns out publicly that the United States government is violating the very laws that make it the United States government, right then and there you might as well admit our form of government is inoperable."

"Well, I ain't saying nothin'? Are you?"

"Of course not."

"Well, what's the problem?"

"I just don't like it. How would I stop this thing?"

"You just make a phone call and the two men who know about it retire."

"That phone call in some way sets off something or someone who kills them, doesn't it."

"I 'spect so. They got more safeguards on this thing than Uncle Luke's still. Look, there are two things you can do with this group. Let it do whatever it does. Or stop it. That's all."

"But you did say I could suggest assignments?"

"Yup. But they're chock full anyhow. And anyway, they only take the kind of stuff that either endangers the constitution or that the country can't handle any other way. Sometimes, it's fun figuring out just which things they're involved in and which things they ain't. You get pretty good at it after awhile."

"I was thinking last night what if the man who runs this group decides to take over the country?"

"You always got the phone."

"Suppose he plots the murder of the President?"

"You're the only one who can OK the use of the one person who would do it. The other man who knows about that outfit. Just one man. That's the safeguard. Hell, I know you're shocked. You shoulda seen my face when the head of this group got a personal visit with me. The President didn't tell me a thing before he was shot. Just like you won't tell your vice president." He turned and smiled at the crowds. "Especially yours."

He smiled a creased smile and nodded solemnly to the people on his side of the car. The Secret Service bodyguards puffed alongside.