The Company [antikvár]

Prologue The Oval Office was in a shambles—the door to the hall stood ajar, the guard was gone, and the passageway leading to the door was jammed with the chairs, couches, tables and other furniture that had been hurriedly removed from the President's office. The huge three-screen television console had been left but a faded quilted cover had been thrown over it and the family pictures usually displayed on top of the television cabinet were gone. The desk top was bare. The curving west wall was inset with light-green bookshelves. Long ago some General Services Administration interior decorator had been called in to select sets of books to be placed on these shelves; he had chosen them for the color and design of their bindings, and had placed them, inert, between golden eagle bookends. Three china vases of obscure origin filled the gaps between the sets of books.