Down a dry gulch he had staggered and walked into the El Dorado of the inside-straighter; the cards that unfolded to his view were the king-queen-jack of clubs. Drawing to a three-card gut shot, he had hit a royal flush.
Defense, with a half flicker of irony in his eyes, bet into Talliaferro’s pat hand. Talliaferro raised him a hundred. Now was the time, Hansen decided, to separate the cabinet officers from the protocol clerks. With icy calm, he shoved in a thousand chips, the man who had drawn three cards, the man who was known to bluff.
He was so intent on the game that he did not hear the telephone ring and would not have known it had not the orderly walked up to the table and said, “Captain Hansen, a Dr. Drexel is calling from the White House.”
“That’s it!” State said, rising with s
