“You tell me.”

“Well, I can tell you I’ve found out some things. Lansdale is long gone, for one.”

“The Directorate is no more.”

“Right. It’s something else now.” Selfer sipped from his flask, then offered her a tug but she declined. “I thought I was one of them. But I’m not. I just get orders by goddamn teletype.”

“From those machines in your office.”

Selfer shook his head, and the veins on his temples swelled. “There’s no record of any so-called Directorate. Of Lansdale even. Only of us. Me. You. Lett.”

“Where’s Wendell?”

Selfer jumped up. He paced the room, looked out the window. He glared at her through smoke. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said.

She didn’t answer. She let him calm down.

“Where’s Wendell?” she repeated.

Selfer didn’t seem to hear. A sickly chuckle puttered out of him. “Do you know that President Truman’s approval numbers are plummeting? Look at him. He’s weak. Desegregating the military, wavering on other issues. And then, there’s General Douglas MacArthur.”

“Charlie . . .”

“The big man doesn’t even have to know about it, and he probably doesn’t, not the details. They simply prepare the throne for him and he strides up and he assumes. He never got the respect he deserved, and now by God he will.”

“Oh. Maybe I do see where you’re going with this. Who’s they?”

“Who do you think? Old money, new power; new money, old power. It’s a revolving door, all the same players. Damnit to hell.” Selfer formed a fist and pounded on his knee.

“Calm down.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re just a native.”

Kanani jerked back, raised a hand. She could’ve slapped him. “You got no idea, mister.”

“Well, maybe I’m starting to get an idea. I bought into this deal hook, line, and sinker. I had no idea missions were going to fund something like this. A coup?”

“Hold up, bruddah. A coup?”

“You heard me.” Selfer fell silent a moment. “San Francisco,” he muttered. “The president will be there soon, it’s on his schedule. All right, sure, supposing it’s a lesser important person. Only they make it look like a grave threat. It could even be a foreign leader, one not playing along. Or this could simply be a test run. But the havoc it might create? A vacuum for a strong man? What if it’s a first step?”

Kanani let her robe drop. She yanked her denim overalls off the chair. She put them on.

Selfer just glared into the carpet, didn’t look at her bare flesh. “All they have to do is say Lett did it. They could even deliver him to the very spot. By then it’s too late. It doesn’t matter what he says or claims to be.”