CHAPTER 35

   It was hard enough to do something as simple as just leaving her room. That was not something that Alisha was prepared for. Physically, she had come through the attack almost unscathed but, as she was now learning, the scratches and bruises were just the tip of the iceberg. Alisha had spent most of her life having to overcome one insurmountable obstacle after another and she handled this as if it were just one more, even if, in the back of her mind she knew that was not the case. As she walked down the hall, of the second floor of the White House, she realized that she had never considered this as 'her place' but, now, it seemed even more distant. Alisha had always felt that she belonged to the house more than it to her or her father. That was how she handled it before, and now, even that much was gone.
As she walked past the security of the west wing, something that she had done a million times before, she actually noticed it this time. They never stopped Alisha and never even so much as asked her what her business was here. Both the permanent staff and the Secret Service knew better. If they had been content to ignore Alisha, then she was perfectly content to return the favor but, now she could not help but look at those eyes that were following her as she walked past. They were looking at her differently than before. Alisha had to wonder why?
Even her father's personal secretary did not say much to her as she walked towards the door of the inner sanctum that was the Oval Office. The secretary did seem genuinely concerned when she asked Alisha how she was doing but, as Alisha realized, she did not sound so genuine as she replied. What was she supposed to say? No matter how many times Alisha had been asked, since that terrible day, she realized the answer was always the one she never gave, "hell no, I'm not all right! Would you be?"
Even though it was already dark outside, unsurprisingly, Alisha found her father with Mary Moore. They were both hovering over the Resolute Desk, each with a handful of papers, and obviously looking for some specific ones in a pile. They seemed quite frantic even if both were dressed for this evening's coming event. Alisha nervously stopped halfway into the office and waited to be noticed. It did not take long before Mary looked up and asked, "are you all right honey? I didn't expect that you would be going tonight."
Bill Devon followed that up by stating point-blank, "you don't have to go to this if you don't want to, you realize that, right?"
"No," Alisha replied with some degree of hesitation, "it's my job to be there and I'm perfectly fine."
Mary sounded quite motherly when she stated, "forgive me for saying so dear but, you don't sound fine. I think your father is right. You should give it a little more time." Alisha stood her ground and if there was one thing she hated more than how she was feeling right now, it was how everyone wanted to babysit her. She let the matter go and brought up the business that brought her to the office. Mary waived it all off and said, "we've got that taken care of. If you are so insistent then just go have a good time."
Alisha felt like arguing the matter but the buzzer on her father's desk put an end to it. He obviously had a meeting and, at that point, Alisha saw the handwriting on the wall. She excused herself and left by the door that she had came in. She was somewhat surprised to see who was in the outer chamber but, was actually pleased. She walked up to Secret Service agent Cutter and took his hand as she warmly said, "I never had a chance to thank you. Please accept my apologies for the delayed gratitude. Are you my escort tonight?"
Cutter seemed a little put on the spot and he played it off by pointing out, "no thanks are necessary Miss Devon. I was only doing my job the other day, like I am here now. When I was ordered to report here, I thought that maybe you were the one who asked."
Only then did Alisha put two and two together. Her father had summoned him? After a moment of thought, Alisha figured that, it just figured. She thanked the man again, even had to tell him that he did deserved it, and then left. Cutter looked to the secretary who just smirked and told him, "you deserve it son. This is your 11 minutes. Play your cards right."
When Cutter entered the oval office he was still just as nervous as he had been in the outer chamber. He stood rigid and it almost made the president want to laugh. Bill Devon told the boy, "would you relax son. I'm the one that owes you here." Bill could see that the boy was about to deny the fact, so, the president headed the boy off at the pass with, "it's good to know you're not a kiss ass. That's just one more thing I like about you. Okay, you want to get right down to business, we can do that."
Mary handed the agent a folder and said, "this man needs to debrief you. He should also have some useful information for you. We want you to talk with him as soon as possible."
Cutter glanced down at the paperwork in his hand and was a little surprised by what he saw. He looked back up and quizzically asked, "Interpol?" He then continued by asking, "I thought the FBI was being very territorial about all of this."
Devon sat down behind his desk and almost laughed as he replied, "funny little thing about being the president of the United States, I find that the FBI has to do what I say."
Mary looked like she almost wanted to scold the president but, obviously, resisted the urge. She crossed her arms and looked at the Secret Service agent, "this is unrelated to their investigation. They can pursue it all that they want but, that does not mean that we can't."
This made Cutter want to back pedal as he tried to point out, "uh, begging your pardon miss Moore, but I'm not an investigator."
The president sounded almost bored as he noted, "but you've had experience as I've been led to believe. Do you have to have special training just to ask some questions?"
Mary followed up by stating, "you have something far more critical at this juncture. You have proven yourself and we know that we can trust you. This is a sensitive matter that we are dealing with."
This only served to confuse Cutter who then shrugged and had to ask, "exactly what matter are we talking about?"
Mary raised an eyebrow as she replied, "would you like some get back at those guys who attacked you in New York? That is what we are offering here."
What could Cutter say to that? He simply nodded and asked, "when do I talk to this guy?"
Mary was right to the point and without hesitation, "right now. He's here and we have an interview room set aside for you."
Since Josh was not on the president's detail, he could actually count the number of times that he had been in the Oval Office on the fingers of one hand. He had never even dreamed he would have a meeting like the one he just did and that thought floated through his mind for his very short journey to the unused office down by the now deserted press room. Josh had never seen that particular room so empty but, he figured, all of the reporters must be getting ready for the big event tonight.
Josh found this Interpol agent sitting in the office and busy with his laptop. Without so much as an introduction, the man turned the laptop around so that Josh could see the screen. The man had something of a neutral accident but with just a hint of German. He pointed to the pictures on the screen and asked, "do you recognize any of these people, agent?"
Cutter failed to answer the question and in a slightly agitated tone he had one of his own, "wait a minute, who exactly are you?"
The man now seemed apologetic, "I am sorry agent Cutter, I was under the impression that the president told you. I am Inspector Sepp Dechert, currently assigned to Interpol and I was told that I could expect your full cooperation."
Josh gestured to the papers he sat down in front of him and then told the German point blank, "sorry but I have not had time to read all of this so you're going to have to fill me in. What is this all about? I was told this had something to do with the attack on the president's daughter."
"Indeed it does," Dechert replied. "Given your question for me, I am going to assume that currently you know nothing. To make a long story short, several years ago a prominent Englishman was killed in my jurisdiction. It looked like an automobile accident but, had all of the hallmarks of an assassination, or so I believed.”
Cutter cracked a smile and almost wanted to laugh. He knew that tone. It reminded him of similar feelings that he had had during his career in law enforcement. He leaned forward and told the German, "but your bosses didn't buy it, did they?"
The German did not answer the question directly. He simply continued his story with, "due to the political connections of the victim, it was decided that the case should be left open. I was the only one assigned and, even then, it was not my only case. No one ever expected me to find anything."
Josh had to ask, "but you did, didn't you?"
Dechert had to think the question over and then he replied, "not the kinds of things that one would expect. Certainly nothing that went towards solving the crime, however, there are sometimes... silver linings?" When Josh said nothing Dechert added, "I did manage to build a map of sorts, of a certain network, that up until recently had been virtually ignored. No one knew who these people were. You could not even claim them to be an organization. I found connections though."
Cutter simply shrugged and then noted, "that's nice inspector Dechert. What does all of this have to do with me?"
A smile formed on the Germans lips and he seemed a bit amused. He pointed to one of the pictures on his computer screen and stated, "this is the victim of my automobile accident. His name is Somerset. Sound familiar, no?"
The man now had Josh's full attention.