First Family (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 4)

“But we came up here to make sure everybody’s okay. That girl and Mr. Sam, right?”

Sean and Michelle exchanged another glance.

“Right. But look, Gabriel, that’s up to him. If he starts something, then we have to respond, okay?”

“I’ll talk to him. It’ll be okay. He won’t hurt anybody. I know Mr. Sam.”

Michelle eyed Sean. Neither of them looked nearly as confident as Gabriel about how this would turn out.

CHAPTER 81

THE TWO CHOPPERS landed softly.

The president looked out the window and his face flushed. “What the hell is going on here? Who are they?” He was pointing to the HRT squad.

Before anyone could answer, Chuck Waters tapped on the glass. One agent opened the chopper door and put down the staircase.

“Who are they?” the president demanded again.

Waters said, “HRT, sir. They came ahead to secure the area.”

“That was not authorized by me.”

“No sir, it was okayed by the director of the FBI.”

Cox didn’t look happy about this, but the FBI director was the one man who did not serve at his pleasure but rather was appointed to a fixed term and remained there regardless of whether there was a change in the White House.

As they watched, the two bomb-sniffing dogs from the other chopper were led by their handlers toward the building. Even though the robot had already made a sweep of the area, when the president’s safety was at issue, redundancy was standard procedure. The dogs patrolled the perimeter and then went inside. A few minutes later they came out, with one of the handlers signaling the all-clear.

Back at the chopper Waters continued, “He was advised of the situation by the Secret Service director and concluded that this was the best course of action if you insisted on coming here, sir.”

“How very thoughtful. Let’s hope that my niece isn’t dead because of his little conclusion.”

“So that is why we’re here?” asked Larry Foster. “Because the kidnappers made some demand?”

Everyone looked over at Jane Cox.

Waters said, “We know the letter that I took from you, Mrs. Cox, was not the real thing. Did the actual letter tell you to come here?”

“No, it gave a phone number to call. I did. On that call I was told to come here with the president, if I wanted to get my niece back alive.”

“Did the caller tell you what you had to do once you got here?”

“Go inside a house and see a woman in a bed,” she said.

“Well, the HRT found a lady in a bed in that building. She’s hooked up to life support systems. Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” Jane said firmly. “I’m just here to get my niece back.”

Waters said skeptically, “You don’t know her? You’re sure?”

“How am I supposed to know? I haven’t even seen who she is!” snapped Jane.

Foster looked confused. “All right, but what exactly are you supposed to do in there? From what the HRT said, the woman is unconscious.”

Jane and the president looked at each other. She said, “All I can tell you is that I was told that the president and I were to go inside the house and see the woman. That was it.”

The president said, “And we were to go in alone. At least that’s what Jane was told,” he added hastily.