Part One
The Oval Office
Early March, after the inauguration...
Jim: Absolutely Mr. President. Thanks for having me.
POTUS: Have you been here before?
Jim: I have been to the White House many times, but only once before to the Oval Office. Almost exactly four years ago.
POTUS: Yes that's right; you came to see my predecessor, shortly after he took office.
Jim: Yes, he let me have a look through that box on the coffee table there.
POTUS: I'm sorry?
Jim: Well, Mr. President, as best I can tell, that's the very same box he showed me.
POTUS: Oh I see. Yes, it's a fascinating historical archive. A bit risqué for my taste.
Jim said nothing.
POTUS: Yet, he never found a use for it. I wonder why?
Jim: I'm surprised to see it. I thought he would have taken it with him.
POTUS: Well we all know he was losing it at the end of his term. I found the box in my study, the one in the residence, with the classified files only accessible to the sitting president. He probably just forgot it. But I do wonder why he did not turn it over to the Department of Justice earlier?
Jim: Yeah, well, I paid him to make it go away.
POTUS: You should have paid him to give you the box.
Jim: I did try Mr. President.
POTUS: Bribing a president, can you imagine? How much did you pay him?
Jim: I'd rather not say.
POTUS: Well you know Jim, before he lost his marbles, he did add the financial records of that transaction to the box. It's all in there.
Jim: So you know what I paid him.
POTUS: Yes Jim, I do. You got off cheap.
Jim: Well you know, if you've never had real money, it's hard to know what real money is.
POTUS: Yeah, I can see that.
They were both quiet for a moment.
POTUS: Jim, you know that I know what real money is.
Again Jim said nothing.
POTUS: Let's come back to that. I have another question.
Jim: Okay.
POTUS: How did you two get the people who filled the box with its contents to keep quiet about it? Oh, and other people in his administration who knew about it?
Jim: Yeah, that was my idea. Your predecessor and I agreed that he would just tell everyone in his administration that it was a long term top secret intelligence operation. He would keep it vague, but shut down any further investigation, or even discussion. I mean government types...no one wants to lose their precious security clearance.
The President nodded slowly.
Jim: He also leaked this possibility to a number of internet conspiracy types, as sort of a back door explanation for dropping the matter. These were not leaks exactly, more like breadcrumbs that they could stumble upon.
POTUS: Very clever. And of course, he never mentioned exactly what agency was running this operation. It may have been one of ours or it may have been foreign.
Jim: Yes, that may have been the most ingenious part of the subterfuge.
POTUS: What about your friend, the principal player who died in prison.
Jim: He was never my friend Mr. President. He recorded me...betrayed me.
POTUS: Okay, your associate. You should have listened to your ex-wife about that guy.
Jim: Indeed.
POTUS: And?
Jim: Well intelligence assets sometimes die. It is not unexpected. So that worked out okay.
POTUS: And his lady friend, also in prison?
Jim: Are you kidding, she was the very first person to find out he was dead. She does not want to suffer a similar fate.
POTUS: The box says you had him killed.
Jim: Well he also knew what real money is. And besides, he proved himself to be...untrustworthy. Something had to be done.
They looked at each other. A minute passed.
Jim: Are you going to let me have the box?
POTUS: Yes Jim, I don't see why not.
Jim: What is it going to cost me?
POTUS: Fifty billion dollars.
Jim: That is about a third of everything I have.
POTUS: Yes Jim, but this time, you get the box. Besides, you'll still be one of the richest men in the world. Good to keep up appearances and all. No one will be the wiser.
Jim: And you'll keep the misdirection in place?
POTUS: My predecessor did all the work. I don't have to do anything except keep quiet about it.
Jim: And your people? Your attorney general seems to be a bit of a loose cannon.
POTUS: Well, she likes to see herself on television. But you know, without intending to, she's been great at obfuscating this whole thing.
Jim: And the others?
POTUS: So long as I keep quiet about it, my people will react just like my predecessor's people. It's all need to know. And what they don't know, what they cannot even imagine, is that no one knows. It's the perfect secret...one that does not actually exist.
They both let that sink in.
Jim: Undoubtedly you have other boxes belonging to other men...
POTUS: I will not confirm or deny, but I needed to start with you.
They sat there.
POTUS: Do we have a deal?
Jim: Yes Mr. President.
POTUS: The transfer details are there in the envelope beside the box.
Jim: It will take time for me to get that much cash together.
POTUS: No doubt; you have until the end of the month.
Jim: May I come back to collect the box myself? I don't really trust anyone with it.
POTUS: Sure Jim. Let's schedule a dinner for the first. I have lots of dinners with lots of people. I'll invite the vice president. It will be a robust, but cordial exchange of ideas. Again, no one will be the wiser.
Jim: Thank you Mr. President.
Part Two
After Jim leaves, Smiley enters from the President's adjoining private study.
POTUS: Did you hear all that?
Smiley: Yes, the mics worked fine. I wish you would have let me record it all.
POTUS: Are you kidding? Then you'd have me on tape. I just wanted you to hear what he said. Why does Jim think he killed the guy?
Smiley: Well back when they were engaged in their shenanigans, Jim got to know the principal's head of security.
POTUS: So?
Smiley: He was one of ours as well.
POTUS: And?
Smiley: Like I said they got to be close. And when Jim thought he needed to get rid of the principal, he approached this guy.
POTUS: So what happened?
Smiley: Well the head of security told him he could take care of it for the right price.
POTUS: And did he?
Smiley: You know, I've always thought it bad form to assassinate our own assets. That's a Russian move.
POTUS: So what really happened?
Smiley: We faked his death.
POTUS: He's alive? Where is he?
Smiley: Well after extensive plastic surgery, he's been living quietly as a retired American banker. In Paris.
POTUS: So let me get this straight. Jim thinks he killed the principal. But since he was one of yours, you faked his death, and he's living in Paris?
Smiley: Yes, quite freely. We chose France because, you know, the French have a much more libertine attitude towards all this kind of stuff. Just if it ever comes to that; don't think it will.
POTUS: But Jim thinks he successfully engineered his death?
Smiley: Well I was not sure about that until your conversation with him just now.
POTUS: And the money Jim just agreed to pay me?
Smiley: I would not feel any guilt about that...you did see what was in that box.
They were quiet for a moment.
Smiley: You are going to honor our agreement?
POTUS: Yes Smiley, you get ten percent.
Smiley: On all the boxes?
POTUS: Yes of course. But I do have a final question. This operation, was there ever any legitimate national security interest involved? Or at least hoped for?
Smiley: Well on operations like this, you never know ahead of time. You just have to see what develops. In this case, nothing ever developed. In the end, it became just another garden-variety extortion ring.
POTUS: That worked out well for us.
Smiley: Indeed.
POTUS: That perfect secret business...my God, that was genius. Where did you get that?
Smiley: Oh that...I read it in a John le Carré novel.