Protecting the Presidents Daughter

Chapter 2

Tanner sat quietly and watched as four men and a woman followed Braden into the small office she’d been reading in. To their credit, none of them seemed surprised or bothered by her presence. She knew each of them from the files in front of her. And so far, she was happy to keep them on, if they were willing to follow her lead. Braden took the chair at the head of the table. Tanner sat to her right. The others filed in opposite her. Again, she waited for Braden to speak first.

“Tanner Whitley, this is Mike Grant, Elliot Fitz, Joe Handley, CJ, and Meghan Watson.” She watched them all nod to Tanner and then turned to Mike. “Mike has been leading the team, but he has his hands full being my personal assistant. Nothing has warranted me having more security than what he provided with the rest of the team. Nothing until all of this.” She smiled at Mike. “He has done a fantastic job keeping me safe and sane. They know how to protect me and Emily, without getting in my face about it.” She sighed. “But what I need now, as you surely see, is a more professional approach.

“We are at your service. Use us as you see fit. And of course, if you think we need more men or women, then that’s fine too,” Mike said. “Elliot is a wiz at anything computers. Joe and CJ are ex-military, and Meg, well, she could shoot a fly across town with an arm tied behind her back.”

“Is that true?” Tanner asked. She knew, of course. Meghan Watson was one of the most well-known combat snipers. When she’d retired to take up the duty of protecting Braden, the story had spread like wildfire through the grapevine.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Tanner,” Tanner said and nodded. “First, let me say that you are all more than qualified for this job. And I would prefer that we stick with the six of us protecting Ms. Roberts. The smaller the circle, the better. Second, Emily.” Tanner swallowed hard. “Emily is as much a priority as Braden. They are one person as far as we are concerned.” She felt more than saw Braden Relax. “I am aware that you would have been told to make Braden your first and only priority. I am telling you to forget that.” She turned to look at Braden for the first time. “When will Emily be home?”

“She’s on the way,” Mike said. “She was picked up from school ten minutes ago.”

“Okay.” She narrowed her eyes. “When Dylan gets here, I’ll speak to her.” She didn’t like that Emily only had one guard with her.

We always only have one of us, with Emily,” Meghan said. Reading Tanner’s body language. “Dylan is on Emily’s duty today.”

“Yes, I noticed you take shifts with her.” Tanner nodded. “Okay. This is where I give you the option to walk away.” She held up a hand when she saw them all stiffen. “I walk in here, take over from Mike, and you don’t know me. Now you have to take orders from me.” She gestured to Braden. “She asked for me, you didn’t.”

“We’re all in. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge here. Our job is to keep her safe. Her and Emily.”

“Okay good.” Tanner looked around the room. “Now, tell me what you have. Tell me the things that are not in these reports.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Braden said and stood.

“Ms. Roberts. Just a second.” Tanner stood and followed Braden out of the office. She spoke quietly. “I want to see Emily before she hears from someone else or sees me here out of the blue.”

“She’s not…”

“Please at least afford me that courtesy.”

“Fine.” Braden snapped.

“Thank you.” Tanner turned back to the people waiting for her. She had a job to do. She had to remember why she was there. The only reason she was there. Protecting the President’s daughter and granddaughter.

A half-hour later her head was pounding, and she was pissed off. As always Braden had been headstrong, and instead of making her fall in line, her mother just gave in. Tanner knew how hard Braden’s father’s death had rocked them. She also knew that Braden had gotten into the habit of playing on her mother’s feelings to get her way. It seemed she was still doing so. A soft knock on the door made her look up and the only other agent on Braden and Emily stood in the doorway. “Come in.”

“Ma’am.”

Tanner, please.” She stood and locked eyes with the woman. She told the woman the same thing she’d told the others and offered her an out too. As expected, Dylan declined and assured Tanner she was all in.

“Can I just add, I get the analyst is sure that our unsub is a man, but my gut says it’s a woman,” Dylan said as she stood.

“Why?”

“It’s the tone of the letters. I don’t know how else to explain it.” Dylan shrugged.

“Okay, for now, we won’t discount anything. And it's up to the President's people to solve that riddle. But we'll keep it running in the background.” Tanner stood.

“Ms. Roberts said you wanted to see Emily. She’s in her room packing.” Dylan added before leaving.

Tanner took a deep breath and stacked her files. She knew that this would be the most difficult part of her day. Seeing Braden again was a walk in the park compared to seeing Emily. She gathered her strength, straightened her shoulders, and set out to find Emily.

“Mom says I have to let you work.” The quiet voice startled Tanner who sat at her desk and read the latest report she’d been sent. She hadn’t heard her come into the room.

“You’ll make a good spy kiddo.” Tanner laughed and held her arms open. “Come here.” Emily rushed to her and climbed into her lap. At seven she still enjoyed a good cuddle. Tanner was glad of that; Emily was growing up too fast. “Do you need me to come and read to you?”

“I’d rather you sang me a song,” Emily said hopefully.

Tanner laughed. “Sure kiddo, but we will have to be quiet, if your mom catches us, I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“Awesome, come on!” She leaped up, grabbed Tanner’s hand, and dragged Tanner behind her. They ran into Amanda on the way up the stairs. Tanner saw the anger in the green eyes.

“We need to talk,” Amanda said.

“Okay, I’m going to put Em to bed, then I’ll be right down.”

“Fine.” Amanda pushed past her after kissing Emily on the cheek and saying goodnight.

“I think you’re already in trouble,” Emily said.

“Yeah, looks like it kiddo.” She sighed. “Come on.”

When she made it downstairs after three songs, Amanda was gone, but the reason she had been upset was spread on the kitchen counter. Tanner grabbed her cell and tried to call Amanda, but there was no answer. She dialed another number. This was answered on the second ring. “She knows.”

“I know.” The line went dead.

She’d lost everything that night.