CHAPTER 12

She had to drop everything, right in the middle of the day, on what was quite literally, five seconds notice. Alicia was not particularly happy about it but, Bill Devon was more than just the Secretary of State and the fourth in line for the Presidency. He was even more than Alicia’s boss which was enough for her to drop everything with a single word. Bill also happened to be Alicia’s father and the only good news there, was that sometimes she could turn on ‘that act’ and get her way. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.

None of these facts kept her from complaining in the passenger seat as her father drove his rather mediocre looking car down the streets of Washington D.C. Just the fact that he was doing it made Alicia shiver in terror. As hard as she had been working on his exploratory committee, this one act could blow all of it right out of the water. Did he have any idea what would happen if some photographer saw them? Once the resulting pictures, of this most ‘un-presidential’ behavior, went and hit the internet then his election was all but finished before it even got started. She pointed it out, to her father, and then she saw where they were going.

Alicia was a little stunned as they eased past the side gates after having cleared the security. She was still gaping as she said, “Dad, this is the White House?”

Bill almost wanted to laugh, “you know Alicia, I do work for the President so, on occasion, I do visit this place.”

It was not that Alicia had never been here before. Even putting aside her own job, her father was a somebody in this town, a BIG somebody, and that meant she had been here for many state dinners and other minor functions. Yet, despite her father’s importance, Alicia was still considered nothing more than a minor functionary by most and, that was an opinion shared by the Secret Service. That was why she had never entered by this particular gate. She had sure as hell never got to park in a space that was sitting right next to the West Wing. Her Dad had a space here that even had his name on it!

Of course the majesty of the moment was interrupted when they got out of the car. The Secret Service came right out and began searching them again and Alicia almost wanted to protest. She did mention to her dad, “you have your own parking space and we still get searched?”

Bill thought nothing of it and simply shrugged with a grin, “hey, some terrorist could be holding a family member hostage and using me to get at the big guy.”

Alicia accepted that at first until she said, “Dad, I’m your only family member and I’m standing right here.”

One of the agents nodded to the others and sent them packing. He was obviously satisfied and quite polite as he handed out a pair of passes. He graciously said, “Mister Secretary, good to see you again.” He then nodded to Alicia, “Miss Devon. If you will both please follow me.”

They were deposited in the hallway that led up to the Oval Office. Bill checked his watch and did not suspect that they would be too long. He peeked in the nearest office door that belonged the press secretary and it was empty. There were no reporters currently strolling the hallway so, that told Bill something was going on in another part of the complex. He had to seriously wonder if that was by accident or design. Given the way things were going these days, he knew which way he would bet.

The only good news was that Alicia was not aware of any of this. It almost made Bill sad that if he actually won his presidential bid then she might get consumed by all of this shit. It was almost enough to make him pull out, retire, and go home. Of course, the key word there was almost. Alicia would never understand why he would do such a thing. She had worked harder on this than he had. A defeat she could take but, quitting was not something that his restless daughter would ever settle for. It almost felt like a trap to Bill because, he was sick of politics now. He’d been at it too long and the stench was finally clogging his nostrils. It might be a rose colored stench but, a stench it was, none the less.

Alicia showed how much she was unaware of it by the way she looked nervous. She was actually shivering when she said, “am I really going to get to meet the President?”

“Dear god Alicia,” Bill told her, “you’ve met the guy before. He hasn’t changed just cause he got crowned.”

Alicia gave her father a ‘you’re a dumb ass’ look and told him, “not since he’s been President! It’s been almost eight years now since I last got to shake his hand. I bet you he doesn’t even remember.”

They were about to find out. The inner chamber doors opened and someone left. The guy was a someone that Bill realized he did not recognize. It was some guy with frizzy hair, carrying a lap top, and Bill would bet money the man was some kind of engineer or architect. As Bill led his daughter into what was the metaphorical throne room of America, he made a mental note to check with the Chief of Staff about who that guy was.

The President was on a hard line as they walked in. He had the cord stretched over the front of the Resolute Desk since he was standing in front of it. He waived his two new guests in and nodded for Bill to shut the rounded door behind him. When he was done on the phone the President then came at Alicia with a kindness campaign that was almost overwhelming. He shook her hand and told her what kind of good work she had been doing before saying, “and after all your Dad has told me, I got a present for you.”

Alicia was so nervous she almost wanted to feint. She mildly protested the gift but, the President was insistent as he replied, “that’s one of the benefits of this office. Besides that, you might be humble about your work but, without you a lot of stuff wouldn’t happen and, it’s of prime importance to me because I want to see your old man take this office when I get ready to leave.”

He handed Alicia a little jewelry box and inside it was a strange looking pin. The President sat it on the front of his desk and told the girl, “that’ll get you anywhere in the White House. I want you to get familiar with this place. I also have a few people lined up that you need to talk with about campaign donations. We’ve got you set up to have lunch with them and, don’t worry, this one is all on me.”

Alicia looked confused and her father explained, “he’s paying for lunch sweetie. You see, even the President has to pay for meals around here.”

The President laughed, “the damn truth of it is that I’m about the only poor schmuck who usually does.” Then he saw the confused face on the girl and told her, “you see Alicia, that’s the kind of thing you are going to need to know about. There’s a lot more too it so…” The President picked up the phone and a couple of aids came to escort Alicia around. When the door shut the President looked back to his foreign policy guy and told him, “all right Bill, go ahead and say it. You always do.”

“Ok Francis,” Bill replied, “now that the bullshit is over with and, oh, classy way you got rid of Alicia…”

The President waved that off, “that wasn’t an excuse Bill, she really is going to need to know all this crap, that is, if we’re lucky in November.”

Bill remained unconvinced and, for the first time in a year, he suddenly had enough private face time with the boss to express his displeasure at the current state of affairs in the White House. He sarcastically chuckled in a way that almost sounded scornful, “funny you should say that Frank, because that’s not the vibes I’ve been getting from you, for some time now.”

Before the President could answer, the phone on his desk rang and he walked behind it before picking up. All he had to say was, “yeah we’re ready.” Then he got back to Bill, “I know you’re mad at me Bill, and, you have a right too be. What you don’t know is, I’ve been protecting you.”

Still, Bill was not convinced, “from what? All I’ve seen is, you’ve cut me out of the loop on a lot of shit that I need to know.”

With his fists on his desk, and somewhat frustrated, the President replied, “has Bunker been fully briefed yet?”

Bill wondered what that was all about when he answered, “he’s already on his way back to Coven Hill.”

“Good,” the President straightened his posture and said, “you know, I hate to say this but, history is probably going to remember me more than it ever will you, even if you win in November. With that said, I also have to note that all it means is, I was lucky enough to be here when all this new reality crap happened. My job hasn’t been the important one though.”

Bill crossed his arms and nodded, “ok Frank, I’m listening.”

“Your job,” Frank told him, “if you win, is going to be what makes or breaks us. That’s why I want you in this office after me. Not because I think you’ll follow my policies. Not because I think you are my protégé. It’s like, more to the point, I think you’ll do the right thing and, trust me Bill, there are some hard choices coming down the pike, not just for us but, the whole world.”

Bill was not sure how to take that but, for the time being, he knew exactly what he wanted to say and it did not sound happy, “ok you definitely know a lot more than you’ve been telling me because, so far, the biggest issue we’ve had with all this magical mumbo jumbo, and the middle earth on the other side of it, is the fact that the Fey’s have been ripping us off with one trade right infringement after another. That’s not exactly world shattering because we’ve been dealing with the Chinese doing it, for years.”

“I know,” Frank admitted with sorrow. “I apologize Bill but, under the circumstances I wanted any administration, that you might have, not to be burdened with any fall out from what might happen. I’ll be out of office, retired, and they won’t be able to touch me. You need to have full command when the time comes.”

It made Bill think about the snippets of information that his own spooks had been picking up. None of it made much sense to him but, it had allowed him to bluff his way past a few meetings that he might not have otherwise done. Bill was afraid that, as bad as what he had seen up till now, it was only the tip of the iceberg. Instead of going at it head on he said, “you know Garret is not a hundred percent behind this operation. His guy Isaacs isn’t ether. I personally have been wondering about it. I know the Fey’s want our help but, when we sent those Rangers in, did we strengthen our hand or just give the Elves nine hundred new hostages. You know if they decide to close down their side of the Dell, there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it.”

“The only good news there,” the President replied, “is that now any people we have over there can at least defend themselves.”

Bill shrugged, “so is that the real reason we did it?”

“Partly,” the President replied just before his office door opened again and two people entered.

Bill was familiar with the woman in the conservative business skirt. Mary was CIA and had been working on the elf thing since before they actually knew it was the elf thing. These days, as Bill heard it, somebody had taped a sign up on her row of cubicles, at Langley, that said “Middle Earth Desk.” That was not even the most interesting part to Bill. He read her body language and could easily tell how comfortable she was at being in this office. That told the Secretary of State that she had been spending some time here and, Mary was not even a Director down there. Apparently, her rank was not so important anymore.

The man that came in with her was older, wore an expensive suit, and he was not only comfortable at being here but, seemed almost arrogant about it. He didn’t act like walking in the Oval Office was just natural for him but, the guy’s mannerisms screamed, “I own it!” His face looked somewhat familiar but, Bill could not place a name with it. The President saved Bill the trouble, “you already know Mary. This here, is Mister Lasky.”

Bill knew that name and it suddenly clicked in his head, “CEO of Tideman industries? You’re the guys that build subs up in Connecticut, or something like that, right?”

“Good to meet you mister Secretary,” Lasky said as he shook hands. “subs are only one of the things we do.”

The President sat down behind his desk and said, “Bill, you may not know it yet but, Lasky here is already one of your chief campaign contributors.”

That alarmed Bill to no end and his tone spelled it out, “you’re right Frank, I didn’t know it.”

Now the President was deadly serious when he said, “and the other stuff that Mister Lasky’s people have been working on, it’s why you’re really here today.”

Lasky added, “Mister Secretary, it’s time we bring you in to the fold. Consider this your briefing.”

When Bill gave an angered look at his boss, Frank simply shrugged, “I only found out a couple of years ago myself. To be fair to Mister Lasky here, it wasn’t all that important before but…”

Bill decided to sit since it was obvious they were going to be at this for a while. As he did he unbuttoned his jacket, got comfortable, and said the obvious and with no small degree of frustration-, “and then our friends the elves showed up.”