PRESIDENT HAYES STOOD in front of the White House, bathed in the early morning sunlight. Reporters shouted questions from beyond the fence line, and he ignored them. The important thing was that the nation see he was alive and well.
He would make a formal speech in the evening and explain the tragic events of the last four days.
Special Agent Jack Warch stood at his side along with a half dozen other Secret Service agents, all of them wearing sunglasses. President Hayes held his hand over his eyes and gazed up at the proud, old building, amazed she was still standing. FBI agents were sifting through the carnage collecting evidence.
Virtually all of the windows were blown out, and there were holes punched in the stone exterior where the bombs had exploded. Fortunately the fire had not burned uncontrolled.
Between the heavy downpour and the firefighters, the blaze had been kept in check and was prevented from engulfing the structure. Priceless national treasures had been damaged beyond repair and lost forever, but the important thing was that the hostages were alive.
Jack Warch reached out and tapped the president on the arm. President Hayes looked down at his watch and nodded.
The troop then moved out across the lawn for the northwest gate.
The president looked to Warch and said, "I bet your wife and kids were happy to see you this morning."
Warch smiled.
"Yep. Lots of hugs and kisses." Hayes grinned and slapped Warch on the back as they crossed Pennsylvania Avenue. Several large limousines were parked in the street. One of them, Hayes recognized, belonged to the vice president. The entourage walked up the steps of Blair House, where a U.S. marine opened the door for the president and saluted. Hayes returned the salute and entered the foyer of his new home. Several reporters from the White House press pool were inside with their notepads ready.
The president paused to take a look around and pronounced, "If it was good enough for Harry Truman, it's good enough for me." The reporters laughed and wrote down the quote.
The president's chief of staff appeared from the parlor and said,
"Everybody's here, Mr. President."
Hayes tugged on his white shirtsleeves and entered the room with Warch and Jones. All of the attendees stood, some more enthusiastically than others. The president had called the meeting several hours earlier and had put together the list carefully.
Stansfield, Kennedy, Flood, and Campbell were all seated on one of the room's two large couches. Sitting across from them was Vice President Baxter and Dallas King. Despite the extra room on the couch, Anna Rielly and Milt Adams had chosen to stand.
The president walked to the front of the room and looked at the only two people he didn't know.
"I'm looking forward to meeting both of you, but we have some business to take care of first." Hayes looked around the room for a second and then to Director. Stansfield. "We're missing someone."
"He'll be along shortly, Mr. President."
Hayes nodded and brought his hands together in a tight grip.
"All right, let's get down to business. First things first."
Hayes's gaze fell on Dallas King.
"We are going to set the record straight, and we're going to make things right. Dallas, I've been told you made quite an ass out of yourself over the last several days." Hayes paused.
"Anything you would like to say in your defense?"
King shifted uncomfortably on the couch and was rapidly trying to think of a defense when the parlor doors opened and in stepped Mitch Rapp.
Rapp walked across the room to where Rielly and Adams were standing.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. President."
"That's quite all right, Mr. Kruse. We were just getting ready to hear Dallas King explain his behavior over the last several days."
King was sweating bullets.
The president extended his hand and Valerie Jones deposited a copy of The Washington Post in it. Hayes held it up for everyone to see. The headlines read, "President Hayes Orders Failed Raid." Hayes handed the copy back to Jones and said, "The Post rushed to press with this story last night and wound up with a lot of egg on their face this morning. I won't even get into the specifics of the article, other than to say that almost all of it is false." Hayes watched King for a moment.
"Dallas, do you have any idea how the Post came up with a headline like this?"
At first King only shrugged and then muttered some unintelligible words.
Inside, he was relieved. For a moment he had thought Hayes had found out about his late-night tour of the White House.
"Let me see if I can refresh your memory." Hayes extended his hand, and this time Stansfield placed several documents in it.
"I have phone records here showing that someone called the Post last night from the vice president's house. I have other records showing that over the last several days someone has been calling a reporter at the Post from your mobile phone and your home phone." Hayes held the phone records up for all to see. King squirmed on the couch and looked to his boss for support. He got none. Afraid to look the president in the eye, he answered with great discomfort.
"Ah… I made them."
"I thought so." Hayes handed the phone records back to Stansfield and turned to Jones. She handed him a folder and a pen. Hayes crossed over to King and dropped the pen and folder in his lap.
"We took the liberty of typing your resignation for you. Sign both copies, and keep one for yourself."
Hayes watched King sign the two sheets and took one of them back.
"You may leave now."
It was silent as the vice presidents chief of staff got up to leave.
King was more relieved than any of the others in the room could know. He could handle a quiet resignation. The truth, however, would ruin him.
Hayes turned his attention next to Vice President Baxter.
"How do you like foreign travel, Sherman?" Baxter looked up at Hayes and said nothing.
Hayes went on.
"I hope you like it a lot because for the next three years I'm going to send you to every third-world country I can think of." The president turned and walked to the front of the room. It was obvious to all that he was trying to keep his temper in check.
"You have set our foreign policy and national security back a decade. I would fire you if I could, but the harsh truth is that I can't. So I'm stuck with you for the rest of the term, and then, Sherman, as everyone in this room is my witness, you will choose not to run." Hayes's cheeks were flushed. For good measure, he added, "Don't press me on this, or I swear to God, I'll have Director Stansfield start leaking your CIA file to the media. Now get out of here, and keep your mouth shut." Hayes pointed to the door.
When the door was closed. Director Stansfield looked around and said,
"Mr. President, I don't have a file on the vice president." Hayes winked and said, "I know that, but he doesn't."
The president grabbed a glass of water and took a sip. Turning back to the group, he said, "I can't thank all of you enough for the job you did. It was truly unbelievable. I'm going to start with you, Mr. Adams Hayes walked over and shook his hand.
"I am indebted to you for what you did. The risks you took, when you clearly didn't have to get involved, speak volumes about your character."
Adams was uncomfortable with all of the praise. "I was just doing my duty, Mr. President."
Hayes grabbed his shoulder and squeezed.
"We need more people like you. Milt. If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know and I will take care of it."
"There is one thing that I can think of, sir."
"What's that?"
"This retirement thing isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I was thinking that since your house is in dire need of repair, I could come back and help supervise the rebuilding."
"Absolutely. That's a great idea. Milt. I will have it taken care of immediately. Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Well then' Valerie will walk you to the door and get all of the information. I can't thank you enough."
Adams finished shaking the president's hand and turned to Rielly. Milt reached out and kissed her on the cheek.
"Watch out for this guy here." Adams let go and shook Rapp's hand.
"Well, Mr. Secret Agent Man, I suppose this is the last I'll see of you."
"You never know." Rapp pulled Adams over and gave him a hug.
"I'll make it a point to stop by and see you."
"Yeah, you do that. Just don't come asking me to join you for any more crazy missions. I'm too old for this stuff."
Adams started for the door and turned back. "You two make a cute couple.
Maybe you should stop by some night, and I'll make you dinner."
"We'll have to do that." Rapp turned to Rielly and laughed.
After Adams left, the president focused his attention on Rielly.
"Young lady, your first day at the White House turned out to be a doozy."
"Yes, you could say that."
"Are you going to stay on, or has this experience soured you?"
"Stay on?"
"At the White House."
"Of course."
"Good." Hayes smiled. "I asked you here this morning for two reasons The first was to thank you for all of your help. I've been told you played a crucial role in helping Mr. Kruse here pull this thing off."
"A very small one." Rielly blushed.
"Well, thank you. Your sacrifice is very much appreciated."
Hayes looked over at Rapp for a second and then back to Rielly.
"Can you guess what the second reason is?"
Rielly folded her arms across her chest.
"You wanted to talk to me about how much of my story I plan on telling."
She intentionally chose the word "my."
"Precisely." Hayes backed up a bit.
"How many reporters do you think have witnessed an exchange between the president and the vice president like the one you just witnessed here this morning?"
"Probably none."
"That's right." Hayes gestured to the four people sitting on the couch.
"These four fine individuals think I should pressure you into signing a bunch of documents that will bind you legally from publishing anything we think a threat to certain security interests. But I have assured them that there is a better way to handle this."
Hayes paused to give Rielly a moment to reflect on the first option.
Walking back to the front of the room, he continued.
"The other way, the better way, is for you and I to make a deal." Hayes raised his eyebrows.
"In exchange for your voluntary cooperation in regard to keeping certain aspects of the most recent events secret, I will give you a head start on certain events of importance."
Rielly could barely believe she was even in this meeting let alone receiving such an offer from the president. She told herself to play it cool and asked, "What types of things will you want to censor from my story?"
Hayes looked to the four on the couch. Kennedy spoke first.
"If you leave out Mr. Kruse and any direct involvement by the CIA, we're fine."
"Am I all right if I say you were involved in intelligence gathering and planning?"
"As long as you stay vague, we won't have a problem."
Rielly raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Define 'vague."
"Hayes stepped forward and waved his hands in the air.
"Hold on. I have a better idea. Ms. Rielly, how would you like to get the scoop on a huge part of this story?" Hayes looked her in the eye.
"At noon FBI Director Roach is going to hold a press conference, and the cat will be out of the bag. I can give you that story right now, and you can head out to NBC and break it to the world. You will scoop everybody."
Rielly was interested. Very interested. This could turn out to be a nice arrangement. She nodded and said, "I'll play ball."
"Good. Here's the deal. The FBI has searched the White House, and they can't find one of the terrorists. We have reports that last night after the explosion someone from the FBI carried a wounded woman out of the Treasury tunnel. That woman turned out to be my secretary. She was found in a ditch in rural Maryland at six this morning, barely conscious. She was last seen withaziz right before the explosions took place outside of my bunker." The president paused, giving Rielly a second to pull it together.
"Oh, and one other thing. There were no FBI agents in the building when the bombs went off."
Rielly's eyes got big.
"So you're saying Aziz escaped."
"It looks that way."
Rielly looked to Rapp, who reluctantly nodded. After shaking her head, she said, "Wow."
Hayes walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm serious about our arrangement." The president turned her toward the door and started walking with her.
"You've earned this, Anna. Thank you for everything you've done."
Rielly didn't know what to say. She didn't feel as if she had done all that much.
"Thank you, sir."
"No—thank you." Smiling, Hayes squeezed both of her shoulders.
"I almost forgot. I have one other thing for you.
Director Tracy of the Secret Service is expecting a call from you. It appears he has some information on Dallas King that you might find interesting. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to discuss certain things involving Mr. Aziz. Stop by next week, and we'll talk more." Hayes turned Rielly toward the door and opened it for her.
Rapp sat watching the exchange, and as Rielly left the room, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He wanted to talk to her. With a frown Rapp looked back across the room.
President Hayes came walking back toward the fireplace saying, "I don't care who we have to bribe, who we have to threaten—I want Aziz's head on a silver platter. I want him taken out, and I want us to seriously explore our options for dealing with Saddam Hussein."
Hayes turned to Rapp.
"I can't thank you enough; this country can't thank you enough." The president shook his head.
"It's a shame they'll never know the contributions and sacrifices you've made."