FISCAL: Red Year's End

(See front cover)

From the Treasury basement, where gold is stored, to the east wing of the White House runs a dark little tunnel under East Executive Avenue. Many times through this tunnel last week passed a thickset, youngish man with a big nose and eyes of clearest blue. He wore a linen suit. His teeth bit hard into a Benson & Hedges cigar. He walked fast. Out of the tunnel he skirted the rear portico of the White House (where the presidential kennels are), paced down the west colonnade,...