CHAPTER 33

This was the last place he should be right now but, Bill Devon really didn’t give a rats ass. He had Alicia roaming the house to remind him of the fact that he had a lot to do but, Bill had learned how to pace himself a long time ago. He always built in time to go home and, the way he was seeing it, if things kept going the way they were then he wanted to spend as much of the precious time that he had left here. Bill suspected that he was about to become too busy to get back home.

Of course any vacation, for someone in his position, was a working vacation. That was a fact that Bill had come to grips with years ago. He might have been sitting in his own study but, the files he was reading were coming in just like he was back in his office at Foggy Bottom. Most of them were marked top secret or better and that was half the reason there were a few Diplomatic Security Agents wandering around his lawn. That was also why he had an Army Captain flirting with his daughter in the kitchen, and two staffers around just to keep that guy honest. It went with the turf and was not quite as good as the old days when all Bill had to worry about was his dearly departed wife, nagging him about mowing the lawn. That made Bill stop and think, when was the last time he actually had the time to do that simple chore? He didn’t even remember!

Bill did feel a little less pressure while sitting in his own study, a good cup of coffee on his side table, and reading in his own reclining chair. The television was even on but, Bill wasn’t paying much attention to it. It was currently tuned over to a morning network show, and they were running yet another fluff piece about that Ian Dominique guy. Bill had seen enough of his face on the tube. It made Bill wonder if the guy was a scientist or rock star? He sure did not give the impression he was as smart as everybody was claiming him to be. Bill was absolutely positive he didn’t deserve the Einstein chair for physics.

As Bill flipped through the electronic screen to the next page of his most recent document, he heard Alicia clomping into his study, across the hardwood floors, obviously wearing heels. Why was she wearing heels in her own house, on a Sunday morning? Bill filed that one under too much information and, without looking up, he said, “hi honey.”

All she had to say was, “god I hope somebody doesn’t get a picture of this.” She gestured to his bathrobe, his reading glasses, his rumbled pajama’s and the electric throw he had in his lap. She told him straight up, “you look like a near sighted, tired, old man right now.”

“That might have something to do with the fact,” Bill said as he put his coffee down, “that I am a near sighted, tired, old man right now.”

“Dad!” Alicia stomped her foot, “right now is when we have to be the most careful! You’re ahead in the polls now! We got this, in the bag! All we have to do is make sure we don’t fuck up!”

“Really,” it was not like Bill was unaware of any this, so, he decided to stick his daughter with, “you mean like say something, um, like maybe, ‘fuck up,’ in front of the TV cameras?”

Alicia suddenly shrank, “um, yeah?”

“Good point,” Bill nodded as he got to the next page of his report. It had started out as bland as all the rest but, now it did have Bill’s interest.

Alicia saw that look and she prepared to leave. She had learned, a long time ago, when it was time to do that. She also knew not to ask too many questions about her Dad’s work. That had come about a long time before she was running a Presidential campaign and, it was a campaign that was moving along, largely, without his help. Her father did show up at the times he was told, he said the things he was supposed too but, behind the scenes, he did almost nothing. Alicia knew he was preoccupied almost as much as she knew not to ask why. Since things were going well, she did not bother to complain.

This time, it was different. As Bill reached for his hardwired, secured phone, he told his daughter, “no, stay.” He then hit one button on the phone and Alicia recognized that he was patched in directly with the com center at the State Department, “Joyce, I need you to contact Compton for me.” He listened for a moment and then said, “try her offices in Atlanta. If not, I’m sure we have several numbers on her. Thank you.”

Bill hung up the phone and looked to his daughter, “sit down honey. We have to talk.”

Alicia pulled up the big stuffed chair that she had been using since she was a little girl. It was a lot easier to slide these days but, that did not make her any less nervous about doing it. Usually, she was in trouble when she sat there. This time her old man put his hand on hers and said, “I know you been carrying the lions share of all this. I know I haven’t exactly been helpful.”

“Dad,” Alicia waived it off, “I understand that…”

“No,” Bill Devon interrupted with, “you don’t honey. You don’t have a clue and, for that matter, I’m afraid nobody else does ether. It’s why I’ve been so busy lately. I actually think this more important than getting in the White House.”

Alicia took a heavy breath and dropped her head as she told her dad, “you really don’t want it, do you?”

“Honey,” Bill reassured her, “you’ve been noticed. There are a lot of people talking about you now. No matter what happens in a few weeks, you’re career is good to go. I guess, in the end, that’s all I really ever cared about.” Bill then gestured to his files and the electronic tablet in his lap, “this though, it’s a lot more important than you realize.”

Alicia nodded to the door, “that’s why I was…”

“If we win,” Bill told her and then paused before saying, “and I say we, you’re kind of going to be the unofficial first lady. Usually, around that fish bowl circus, that means you’re picking out drapes and shit. Not going to happen on my watch. You’ve proved yourself kiddo. This isn’t about you being my daughter, this is about you showing your chops.” Bill considered that for a second and then said, “ok it is partly because you’re my daughter but, that means I can trust you.”

“Dad,” Alicia did not know what to say, “you’re actually giving me a job in your administration?”

“Yeah well,” Bill lightly replied, “the elves are really into nepotism so you got to figure it’s in vogue again. Now I can’t give you chief of staff and you know damn well a cabinet job is beyond me here.”

Those jobs had pretty much been promised out. Alicia knew that all too well and she also knew why. Getting those appointments were largely political and usually done for favors that you would never get into the White House, without. She had negotiated most of them so, it was no big deal. Then, suddenly, something lit up in Alicia’s mind. She pointed to the stacks of files, “you’re going to tell me something, aren’t you? Dad, I thought the CIA lia….”

“Screw the CIA,” Bob told her, “if Frank says I can read you in then I can read you in. He’s their boss after all.” The phone beeped and Franked picked it up, “Didi, I just got your report from two days ago. I have to admit I don’t understand any of it but, the summary was… yeah?”

As Alicia listened to her father her mind began to drift. What job did he have planned for her? Did she really even want it? Sure, Alicia was excited about the prospects of working in the White House but, never in a million years, had she thought her dad would hand her something important! Alicia knew she deserved it but, it just seemed unnatural. It almost felt like the Christmas that her father had given her that big play house, only now it was a real one!

After hanging up the phone, Bill told his child, “sorry about that. I think we may have a new problem.”

“Ok,” Alicia nervously replied, “I don’t even know what the old ones are so…”

“Well,” Bill had to decide how he wanted to lay this out. He had been thinking on it for a while and it was still a puzzle, “I can’t tell you everything yet. For now, I’m kind of restricted to the State Department stuff only. You’ll get the full CIA brief if we win in a couple of weeks.”

After her father laid out only what he claimed was a fraction of what had been going on, Alicia felt like she was going to puke. That was only part of it? How bad could the other stuff be? Alicia had to take a moment before she could respond, “war? When did this come to war?”

“Sweetheart,” Bill said passively, “we’re already at war.”

How was that possible? Alicia was supposed to be more than just an average viewer of the cable news. She was supposed to be plugged in! She was supposed to be making that news even! Sure, she had heard rumblings and, sure, there had been some news reports on the Rangers in Feyland but, how was everybody this blind? Her Dad just told her they were at war?

Bill let all that sink in and then he told her, “we’re not really pushing that right now. Frank was right, if that gets overblown then my chances at replacing him are next to zero.”

“What?” Alicia stood up from the chair and paced a bit, “we’re lying to people?”

“Nobody’s stopping anybody from reporting this Alicia,” Bill told her. “I guess nobody really cares right now.”

Alicia’s eyes lit up, “why hasn’t Billings tried to use this against you?” The guy was running against her Dad, Alicia could not conceive of that man not throwing this up in the national spotlight. He had already tried every other dirty trick in the book! “He has to know all about this Dad.”

“Oh he knows,” Bill told her, “he’s on the Senate Armed Services Committee, after all. I think that’s exactly why he’s kept his mouth shut too.” When Alicia looked confused, Bill told her his theory, “if he wins then this shit is going to be his. He’s not going to stir everything up so he can go down in flames. He’s young, if he looses now, well, he’s got another chance to use it in four more years. If I loose, by then, I’ll be too retired to worry about this crap.

“Ok,” Alicia put her hands up like she was trying to stop all of this, “that makes sense but, nothing else does. I don’t understand all of this. I mean Carol Somerset? I know that woman! She’s been very helpful!”

“Course she has,” Bill replied, “we figured they wanted me in the White House, a while back. It’s another reason we haven’t pushed her little crew. Doesn’t mean I haven’t had the CIA running down her money trail though. The day is going to come when we’re going to have to take the gloves off with those people.”

“Jesus!” Alicia stomped her foot and paced quickly in a circle as she thought about what her father had just said, “Dad! They’re the Brits! You know, the Beatles, Duran Duran, James Bond? They’re like our closest friends for gods sake!”

“It remains to be seen sweetie,” Bill told her. Alicia still had that shocked face so Bill clarified, “what I mean is we’re not so sure that’s who they are.”

Alicia nearly exploded, “who else could they be?”

“Don’t know,” Bill told her, “and that’s half the problem. It’s pretty clear they have some deep pockets with the British Government but, I’m not really sure that’s who they are. Just from the little bit we’ve run down so far, they’ve got money tied up in any number of international companies. They were definitely the crew who was doing all that gun running a few years back, all on behalf of the Fey’s.”

Alicia was nearly fuming when she said, “they lied to us!”

“I’m in politics honey,” Bill told her, “I’m used to it. Doesn’t bother me nearly as much as what their angle is. What do they want and, for that matter, what do the elves really want?”

“I thought that was obvious,” Alicia replied, “they want our weapons, they want our soldiers.” She stomped her foot, “god almighty, when are they going to start trying to smuggle uranium in!”

Bill was not as shook up as his daughter. He wondered if that was only because he had known all this for some time. Still, Bill took Alicia’s reaction as if it were a prophecy of things to come. She was relatively in the know. What was everybody else going to say when they found all this crap out. Of course, Bill knew the answer to that too. It would depend on how and when it all came out. More importantly, it would also greatly depend on what order it came out in. The news did not often get reported in the sequence that it actually happened.

Alicia would get over it, For right now though, she was still pissed off. She was also grasping at straws, “what do we do Dad?”

“For right now?” Bill looked over his glasses at his daughter, “we get elected is what we do. I don’t think I have to remind you but, I’m going to anyway. The best thing that can happen to this country, right now, is that we don’t rock the boat next January when the steering wheel gets handed over. If we want to keep up the current policies and, I think that’s for the best, then I have to beat Billings and that ugly ass cowboy hat of his. That is how important your job is right now.”

Alicia became nervous again as she put it to her father, “Dad, I…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence and it took Bill’s urging for her to spit it all out, “Dad I don’t know if I feel comfortable with this. You’re telling me that what I’m doing is sending us right into a war that could cost thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of lives. I…”

“That’s the important part honey,” Bill told her resolutely. “If we have any chance in hell of avoiding that, it’s going to be because we’ve figured out something smart to do. That’s why, if we win, our first order of business is going to be to shut these British ass holes down. It’s pretty damn clear they’re caught up in all this bullshit. If nothing else they have the answers that we need to know right now.”

Alicia crossed her arms and bit her bottom lip. She then crossed her legs and meekly said, “Dad? What if they’re just like god knows how many other international companies? You know, we do have a few of those ourselves.”

His daughter had said more than she realized. That was mainly because Bill had neglected to tell her about Lasky and his string of corporations that he controlled out of Tideman Inc. Technically, Bill could tell her. That information did fall under his domain but, Bill decided against it and, he did so, some time ago. The simple fact was, Bill did not want to make his daughter a target and, knowing about Lasky, would probably do just that.