“Well, blow me down! All right, I’ll try to get all that together for you.”
“Perfect. As for my cover story . . .” Jack admitted to Hewitt that he was concerned that if his unexpected appointment wasn’t made to seem credible, it would arouse the Soviets’ suspicion.
“That won’t be necessary,” Hewitt reassured him. “I’ll tell Sergei the truth: that I needed someone to replace McMillan, that I asked Dearborn for your file, and that you were the best man for the job. The only thing I’ll hide is the real purpose of your role. He’ll assume you’ll keep him up to date with everything you find out, but in reality you’ll tell him only what we want him to know.”
“So, Sergei knew about the problem with McMillan?”
“There ain’t much the Soviets don’t know. They always ask for a list of the American specialists that Ford is sending to their factory ahead of time. That’s why it makes sense to hire a replacement for McMillan.”
“OK. In that case, there’s just the matter of my friends.”
“I don’t understand. What do they have to do with this?”
Jack admitted to Hewitt that he and his friends had come up against a setback trying to validate the contracts that Amtorg had granted them in the United States.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s a separate matter. I don’t see how I can help them.”
“It’s simple. There’re just five of them: my wife, my friend Walter, Harry Daniels, his elder son, and Joe Brown. They’re all qualified, and they would help me integrate as a supervisor. Their presence at the factory would enable me to ask questions without arousing suspicion.”
“Five, you say?” He blew out. “Honestly. I don’t think it’ll be necessary.”
“Look, sir. It’s not like you’re hiring a bunch of good-for-nothings. As I said, they all came with signed contracts, but apparently the Soviets filled their quota and no positions will be available again for three months. All I’m asking is that you speed up the process. It won’t be hard for a man of your influence to do that.”
“Jack, as well as being difficult, it would be expensive. I’m sorry, but if you want me to hire them, you’ll need an argument with more weight than that.”
“Is the weight of the machine I lifted off your arm not enough?”
Wilbur Hewitt breathed in and clenched his teeth before taking a final bite of his sausage.
“All right, kid. But don’t tell anyone I was the one who hired them.”
14
Jack didn’t expect his companions to welcome him with applause and confetti, but neither did he imagine that, when he arrived at the guesthouse, even Joe Brown would refuse to speak to him. They were all in the bedroom, a funereal look on their faces. He asked what was wrong, but nobody responded. Jack approached little Danny in silence to hand him a cookie he’d taken from the buffet at the Metropol, but when the boy went to take it, his mother pushed it away. Harry Daniels lowered his head. Sue ignored him. When Jack insisted on knowing what was wrong, Walter exploded.
“You still have the gall to show up and ask us what’s wrong? Us? Ask yourself what’s happening with you! Or even better, let Joe tell you, because until the last minute, he defended you, saying that it was impossible that you’d let us down. Or ask Harry, damn it, who went without eating, hoping that you’d finally appear. Or Sue, who went to the trouble to go find you because she was so worried that something had happened to you. Or ask me, your best friend. Ask me why I, while you were having fun at a luxury hotel, went down on my knees to beg the Commissariat to give us jobs. Jobs for all of us, including you!”
“Wow! I see I can’t leave you alone for a minute.” He tried to put an arm over Walter’s shoulder, but his friend pushed it away.
“Some balls you have, Jack! Why don’t you keep your goddamned jokes for your friend Hewitt? Maybe he can stomach them.”
Jack grasped that it wasn’t a time for sarcasm. “All right. I know I should’ve told you, but—”
“No! It’s not all right, Jack! It’s far from all right! Our jobs are far from all right! Your passport’s far from all right! The food is far from all right! And this fucking guesthouse is far from all right! And while we bust a gut trying to change things, even if it’s just to know that we’ll still be able to sleep between these four walls tomorrow rather than freeze to death in a park, you decide to spend your time at parties, staying in suites, and abandoning the friends who helped you not so long ago.”
“Hang on, Walter. You don’t know what happened. I—”
“I don’t know? Damned right I don’t know! And you know why? Because although Sue asked you at the hotel, you didn’t deign to answer her.”
“For God’s sake! Let me explain!”
“You ain’t gonna persuade me with your hot air. Joe Brown and the Danielses know about what you did with the train tickets. They know how you took advantage of everyone. Nobody wants your explanations here. Thought you were a big shot, huh? Jack the indispensable, the man who fixes everything, but of course, only when you pay him enough. Well, guess what? I got jobs for them, free of charge. Do you hear me? Free.”
“Well, I’ll be damned, Walter! I’m impressed.” Irony returned to his voice.
“Look, Jack. I can’t even be bothered to talk to you.”
“Oh no. Let’s talk!” he said in the same sarcastic tone. “You got jobs for everyone, huh? Gee! That’s great news! And I guess they’re well paid, right?”
“Well paid or not, they’re jobs.”
“How much, Walter? A hundred and eighty dollars a month? Because that’s what you promised us we’d receive, isn’t it?”
“No.” He lowered his head. “Those wages were for specialized workers with contracts.”
“We had contracts.”
“Which are no longer valid. They produced them for us overnight, and they weren’t confirmed. Don’t ask me why, but they’re not worth the paper they’re printed on.”
“Oh! So the wages you promised us were just for specialized workers. And what’s Joe Brown? A farmhand? As far as I knew, until the damned depression, he was working at a Kosciusko foundry where he’d been working since before he was out of diapers. And Harry Daniels? Is Harry not specialized? Because as I understand it, in Massachusetts, he handled a lathe like he was riding a bicycle. And his son Jim? Did Jim not study at the Institute of Technology and work at Jason and Brothers Presses? I don’t know what you think, but I reckon they’re pretty specialized.”
“It’s not like I thought it would be here. There are more and more qualified Soviets now, and the immigrants who arrive without a valid contract have to make do with—”
“With what, Walter? A hundred and fifty? A hundred and twenty a month?”
Walter didn’t respond. Jack looked at everyone else for an answer, but they all remained silent.