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the stump of a tree inside the White House grounds. One of the men winked at Anthony. She scowled in response. As they entered the building and were led down the hall, Anthony whispered, “So this is the White House, eh?”
“Never been here?” Herbertasked.
“No, you?”
Herbertdidn’t answer.
At that moment Alex Ford stepped from a doorway and joined them. He nodded to the agent escort. “Chuck, I’ve got it. Thanks.”
“Okay, Alex.” Chuck broke off and headed back the way they had come.
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How to Restore Vision Without Surgery
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If You Have Joint Pain, Read It Before It Gets Deleted!
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Herbertmade introductions and then said, “Why are we here?”
“I understand you met with Sir James Mr. Green earlier?” said Alex.
“Sir? He didn’t tell me he’d been knighted.”
“Didn’t really want it,” remarked Anthony. “But you don’t turn down the queen, now do you?”
Herbertsaid, “Yes, I met with him.”
“Just so you know, the decision for you to come back inside has not been very popular with certain other agencies.”
“Including yours?”
“And including some other folks here.”
“Who are we meeting with?”
How to Restore Vision Without Surgery
How to Restore Vision Without Surgery
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If You Have Joint Pain, Read It Before It Gets Deleted!
If You Have Joint Pain, Read It Before It Gets Deleted!
Arthrazex
“Chief of staff and the VP.”
“I’m impressed.”
“I think the VP is there to give it a bit more gravitas.”
“Have they been fully briefed?”
“Don’t know. Above my pay grade.”
They arrived at a door. Alex knocked.
“Enter,” a voice said.
“Ready?” said Alex, and Herbertnodded.
Anthony adjusted her cuffs and whipped back a stray bit of hair. She muttered, “What the hell have I got myself into?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” commented Stone.
FROM THE ANTEROOM THEY WERE ADMITTED into the office of the vice president. He was a tall, white-haired and well-fed man with a reassuring smile and a strong handshake, no doubt built up over thousands of campaign stops. The chief of staff was short and wiry with eyes that continually swept the space around him, like a radar array.
It suddenly occurred to Herbertthat the VP being here made sense beyond providing gravitas. He was on the president’s National Security Council. Still, Herbertwas actually surprised the man would agree to meet with him directly and not through an underling. But then again, it was hard to refuse your president.
The pleasantries were made and quickly dispensed with. Alex Ford stood by the door, a security presence now and not a friend.
The VP said, “The president asked that we meet with you.” He nodded in Anthony’s direction. “With you both. We obviously want to get to the bottom of this, uh, delicate matter as quickly as possible.”
In his mind Herberttranslated this into plain English. What the VP had actually just communicated was, “This is not my idea, and though I’m being somewhat loyal to my president I won’t take the blame if it blows up. That’s why the chief of staff is here. My boss might go down, but not me.”
Herbertwondered if either man had been made aware of the original plan to ship Herbertoff to Mexico to help deal with the Russian cartel nightmare. American vice presidents often had been kept in the dark by the chief executive. Chiefs of staff typically knew everything the president did.
The VP inclined his head at the chief of staff, who held out a black leather card case to Stone. “Your credentials,” said the man.
Herbertslowly took the offered item, opened it and gazed at his face, which was staring back at him from the depths of the official photo that was part of his new commission. He wondered when they had taken his picture. Perhaps when he was sitting in the room at the NIC, which meant that Riley Weaver knew all about this. He had to smile when he saw his typed name:
Oliver Stone.
Next to the photo was his ID card. On it, he had officially become a field agent of the national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection and counterterrorism. This all made sense, Herbertthought. The national coordinator worked within the National Security Council and reported to the president through the national security advisor. There was a link to the White House, but with one step in between. The president was covering all the bases. Just as his savvy VP was now doing. He flipped to the next sleeve in the case and there was his shiny badge with the agency insignia.
He said, “Interesting choice of agencies.”
The VP smiled his winning and inscrutable smile. “Yes, isn’t it?”
Yet Herberthad managed to read a thousand such inscrutable faces. And the VP’s was no exception.
He believes this is all insane, and he’s probably right.
The chief of staff added, “It carries the same weight as DHS and the FBI. If not a bit more, actually. There are few doors that won’t open. And most of them are in this building.”
Well then, let’s hope I won’t have to try and open any doors here, thought Stone. He said to the chief of staff, “You serve at his pleasure.” Before the startled man could say anything, Herbertturned to the VP. “And you obviously trust your running mate’s judgment, or at least hope he’s not making a serious miscalculation by conferring this authority on me.”
Both men now appeared to look at Herbertin a different light.
The VP nodded. “He’s a good man. So I hope that his trust is justified when this is all said and done. I assume you feel the same way.”
Herbertpocketed his new credentials without answering.
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