Empire (Empire 1)

“That’s pretty cynical. Does he really think people will give up freedom that easily?”

“Here’s the funny thing,” said Reuben. “That’s not an old saying. Where I first heard it was at Princeton. Averell Torrent said it.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot he was your professor there.”

“He’s a brilliant man, and a constant devil’s advocate. I thought he had it in for me, and then he . . .”

“Recruits you.”

“I’m not sure he got me the contacts that I’ve been working with. They never mentioned his name.”

“But you assumed.”

“Anyway, he said it twice in class—and it was in one of his books. You know me, that guaranteed I’d memorize it. ‘All the common people want is to be left alone. All the ordinary soldier wants is to collect his pay and not get killed. That’s why the great forces of history can be manipulated by astonishingly small groups of determined people.’ ”

“That’s not exactly what Alton said to Cole. If Cole remembered it right.”

“Cole’s a memorizer,” said Reuben.

“Like you.”

“Word for word,” said Reuben. “I think Alton has met Torrent. Or at least read his books.”

“Of course he’s met him,” said Cecily. “Torrent is NSA.”

“As of this morning,” said Reuben.

“But he’s been in the NSA’s office for a couple of years.”

“This may shock you, my dear, but the NSA staff and the top brass at the Pentagon don’t get together every night and schmooze.”

“But you think Torrent and Alton did?”

“I think Alton heard Torrent speak. About how America can’t become an empire during its democratic phase. About how we’ve outgrown our democratic institutions. They need to be revised, drastically, but everybody has so much invested in the old system that nobody can build the consensus to change it. A Gordian knot. Time to slice through it if America is ever going to achieve its greatness.”

“Not manifest destiny, manifest dictatorship?”

“I always took it as Torrent warning us about the movement of history. What lies ahead if we’re not careful. But it’s possible to hear him the wrong way—to hear what he’s saying and think, Oh, good idea, let’s do that.”

“So you think Alton’s been planning to move America away from democratic institutions for a while now, and this is just a pretext?”

“You don’t build a coup overnight,” said Reuben. “Here’s the thing. Cole asked him outright if his group stole my plans and gave them to the assassins. Of course he said no. But Cole believes him. He thinks Alton isn’t a good enough actor to sound so genuinely appalled at the thought.”

“Do you know this General Alton?”

“I know of him,” said Reuben. “I never actually served under him. Well, I guess technically I did, but never under his direct command. Layers, you know?”

“So you just have to take Cole’s word for it?”

“Col

e’s a smart guy,” said Reuben.

“But you still can’t do anything about it.”

“No,” said Reuben. “But what I’m thinking is, Torrent is smart, he’s charismatic. What if, by writing about the great forces of history, he’s accidentally changed them? Like he said, they can be manipulated by astonishingly small groups of determined people.”

“Like Alton’s coup.”