Page 282 of Never
She surprised herself. But it was the truth.
‘I know,’ he said.
‘We may not have five years.’
‘We may not have five days.’
She took a deep breath, thought hard, and at last said: ‘If we live to the end of this day, Gus, shall we spend the night together?’
‘God, yes.’
‘Are you sure you want to?’
‘With all my heart.’
‘Touch my face.’
He put his hand on her cheek. She turned her head and kissed his palm. Desire swelled inside her. She felt she might lose control. She did not want to wait even until tonight.
The room phone rang.
She stepped back guiltily, as if the caller might be able to see into the room.
Gus turned and picked up the handset. After a moment he said: ‘Okay,’ and hung up. Then he said: ‘President Chen is calling you.’
The mood changed in an instant.
‘He’s up early,’ Pauline said. It was 5 a.m. in Beijing. ‘I’ll take the call in the Situation Room so everyone can hear.’
They left the room together.
She put her feelings for Gus aside and focussed her mind on what was ahead of her. She had to forget about everyday life now. She was the mother of a teenager, the wife of an unfaithful husband, and a woman in love with a colleague, and she had to leave those relationships behind and be the leader of the free world. And yet she had to remember that if she made the wrong decision, the consequences would be suffered by Pippa, Gerry and Gus.
She straightened her back and walked into the Situation Room.
The screens around the walls showed all the available sources of information: satellite, infra-red, and the TV news in the US, Beijing and Seoul. Her most important colleagues and advisors were at the table. It was not so long ago that she had liked to begin Cabinet meetings with a joke. Not anymore.
She sat down. ‘Put him on the speaker.’ She made her voice friendly. ‘Good morning, President Chen. This is very early for you.’
His face appeared on screens around the room. He was wearing his usual dark-blue suit. ‘Good morning,’ he said.
Nothing else. No polite preliminaries, no chit-chat. His tone was cold. Pauline guessed he had people in the room with him, monitoring every word.
She said: ‘Mr President, I think we both have to end the escalation of this crisis. I’m sure you agree.’
His reply was instant and aggressive. ‘China has not escalated! The US has sunk an aircraft carrier, attacked North Korea, and deployed nuclear weapons! You have escalated!’
‘You bombed those poor Japanese sailors in the Diaoyu Islands.’
‘That was defensive. They had invaded China!’
‘That’s a matter of dispute, but in any case they used no violence. They did not harm one single Chinese person. But you killed them. That’s escalation.’
‘And what would you do if Chinese soldiers occupied San Miguel?’
Pauline had to think for a moment to recall that San Miguel was a large uninhabited island off the coast of Southern California. ‘I’d be very angry, Mr President, but I wouldn’t bomb your people.’
‘I wonder.’
