On Wings Of Eagles (1990)

"Well, we're going to have to put a firecracker under Precht's tail," Perot said angrily. "Now, Tom Luce is the man to do that." Luce, an aggressive young lawyer, was the founder of the Dallas firm of Hughes & Hill, which handled most of EDS's legal business. Perot had retained him as EDS's counsel years ago, mainly because Perot could relate to a young man who, like himself, had left a big company to start his own business and was struggling to pay the bills. Hughes & Hill, like EDS, had grown rapidly. Perot had never regretted hiring Luce.

Gayden said: "Luce is right here in the office somewhere."

"How about Tom Walter?"

"He's here, too."

Walter, a tall Alabaman with a voice like molasses, was EDS's chief financial officer and probably the smartest man, in terms of sheer brains, in the company. Perot said: "I want Walter to go to work on the bail. I don't want to pay it, but I will if we have to. Walter should figure out how we go about paying it. You can bet they won't take American Express."

"Okay," Gayden said.

A voice from behind said: "Hi, Ross!"

Perot looked around and saw T. J. Marquez. "Hi, Tom." T. J. was a tall, slim man of forty with Spanish good looks: olive skin, short, curly black hair, and a big smile that showed lots of white teeth. The first employee Perot ever hired, he was living evidence that Perot had an uncanny knack of picking good men. T. J. was now a vice-president of EDS, and his personal shareholding in the company was worth millions of dollars. "The Lord has been good to us," T. J. would say. Perot knew that T. J.'s parents had really struggled to send him to college. Their sacrifices had been well rewarded. One of the best things about the meteoric success of EDS, for Perot, had been sharing the triumph with people like T. J.

T. J. sat down and talked fast. "I called Claude."

Perot nodded: Claude Chappelear was the company's in-house lawyer.

"Claude's friendly with Matthew Nimetz, counselor to Secretary of State Vance. I thought Claude might get Nimetz to talk to Vance himself. Nimetz called personally a little later: he wants to help us. He's going to send a cable under Vance's name to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, telling them to get off their butts; and he's going to write a personal note to Vance about Paul and Bill."

"Good."

"We also called Admiral Moorer. He's up to speed on this whole thing because we consulted him about the passport problem. Moorer's going to talk to Ardeshir Zahedi. Now, Zahedi is not just the Iranian Ambassador in Washington but also the Shah's brother-in-law, and he's now back in Iran--running the country, some say. Moorer will ask Zahedi to vouch for Paul and Bill. Right now we're drafting a cable for Zahedi to send to the Ministry of Justice."

"Who's drafting it?"

"Tom Luce."

"Good." Perot summed up: "We've got the Secretary of State, the head of the Iran Desk, the Embassy, and the Iranian Ambassador all working on the case. That's good. Now let's talk about what else we can do."

T. J. said: "Tom Luce and Tom Walter have an appointment with Admiral Moorer in Washington tomorrow. Moorer also suggested we call Richard Helms--he used to be Ambassador to Iran after he quit the CIA."

"I'll call Helms," Perot said. "And I'll call Al Haig and Henry Kissinger. I want you two to concentrate on getting all our people out of Iran."

Gayden said: "Ross, I'm not sure that's necessary--"

"I don't want a discussion, Bill," said Perot. "Let's get it done. Now, Lloyd Briggs has to stay there and deal with the problem--he's the boss, with Paul and Bill in jail. Everyone else comes home."

"You can't make them come home if they don't want to," Gayden said.

"Who'll want to stay?"

"Rich Gallagher. His wife--"

"I know. Okay, Briggs and Gallagher stay. Nobody else." Perot stood up. "I'll get started on those calls."

He took the elevator to the seventh floor and walked through his secretary's office. Sally Walther was at her desk. She had been with him for years, and had been involved in the prisoners-of-war campaign and the San Francisco party. (She had come back from that weekend with a Son Tay Raider in tow, and Captain Udo Walther was now her husband.) Perot said to her: "Call Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, and Richard Helms."

He went through to his own office and sat at his desk. The office, with its paneled walls, costly carpet, and shelves of antiquarian books, looked more like a Victorian library in an English country house. He was surrounded by souvenirs and his favorite art. For the house Margot bought Impressionist paintings, but in his office Perot preferred American art: Norman Rockwell originals and the Wild West bronzes of Frederic Remington. Through the window he could see the slopes of the old golf course.