The Sixth Man by David Baldacci

of course. She could afford to appear cooperative and magnanimous to her competitors. For in the end, she knew she would come out on top.
    Foster rose to greet him. “Peter, good to see you. Family well?”
    “Yes, Secretary Foster, all well. Thank you.”
    She motioned to the couch and chairs set against one wall. A pot of coffee and cups were on the table there. “Let’s relax a bit. This isn’t a formal meeting, after all.”
    This gave Bunting no comfort at all. More professional executions occurred at informal meetings than did at the official ones.
    They sat.
    “I saw Mason Quantrell out in the hall.”
    “Yes, I suppose you did.”
    “Anything interesting going on with Mercury?”
    She smiled and pushed the sugar bowl toward him. Obviously no answer to that was coming.
    “He doesn’t know about…?” said Bunting.
    “Let’s focus on you, Peter.”
    “Okay.”
    He had just placed the cup to his lips when she struck.
    “The vaunted E-Program has obviously crashed off the tracks.”
    He swallowed too large a mouthful of coffee and tried to keep his eyes from watering as the liquid burned his throat. He set the cup down, sponged his lips with his cloth napkin.
    “We have issues, yes, but I wouldn’t say that we’ve crashed.”
    “How would you describe it?” she asked pointedly.
    “We’ve gone off course, but we are working hard to get back on. And I—”
    She held up a finger, silencing him. Foster lifted a phone and spoke three words. “The reports, please.”
    Moments later an efficient-looking aide delivered the folder to her. She leisurely turned the pages as Bunting stoically watched. He wanted to say,
You still use paper files? How quaint.
But he didn’t dare.
    She said, “The report quality has degraded considerably. Usable intel from the E-Program has fallen thirty-six percent. The reports are a mess. The dots are not being connected like they were. You told me the operation would not be measurably impacted. It clearly has.”
    “It’s true that the bar has been set very high. But I—”
    She broke in again. “Now, you know you have no bigger supporter than me.”
    He knew that was a blatant lie but automatically said, “I appreciate that very much. You’ve been a true asset and marvelous leader during very stressful times.” Cabinet secretaries’ butts were large indeed and required an inordinate amount of kissing.
    She smiled for the requisite few seconds, then her expression turned dour. “There are those out there, however, who do not share my enthusiasm. Over the years the E-Program has ruffled some important feathers. Taken budget dollars and mission responsibility from other agencies. That is the Holy Grail in our world. The pie is what it is. Someone gets a bigger slice, others have to make do with a smaller one.”
    And DHS, thought Bunting, had taken by far the biggest slice of all.
    He said, “But it’s indisputable that the E-Program has been tremendously successful. It’s kept this country safer than if every agency was competing with each other. That model just doesn’t work anymore.”
    She said slowly, “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that assessment. But nevertheless it’s the old question: What have you done for me today? The barbarians are at the gate. And do you realize what might happen if this all becomes public?”
    “That will not happen. I can assure you.”
    She closed the file. “Well, I’m not assured, Peter, not at all. And neither are the other people who matter. When the CIA director learned of it I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He thinks it’s a colossal time bomb waiting to explode. How do you respond to that?”
    Bunting took another swallow of coffee, giving him a few more precious seconds to think.
    “I believe strongly that we can turn this around,” he said finally.
    She looked at him with incredulity. “That’s your answer? Really?”
    “That’s my answer,” he said firmly. He was too exhausted mentally to