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3: Flintridge

Along a parabola Man's fate like a rocket flies,
Mainly in darkness, now and then on a rainbow.

—ANDREI VOZNESEVISKY, "Parabolic Ballad"

COUNTDOWN:H MINUS SIX WEEKS

The moving belt came to life. Luggage spewed out of the bowels of Dulles International Airport.

Jenny reached for her suitcase, but before she could get it, a fat lady in a yellow-flowered dress shouldered her aside to grab her own. "Excuse me," the fat woman said.

Why should I? Jenny thought. I'm supposed to defend a tub of lard like you? Why? She tried to move past the woman, but that wasn't going to be possible.

It had been a long flight. Jenny's hair was in strings, and she felt sticky. She drew in a breath to speak, but thought better of it. No point, she told herself. She was resigned to letting her bag go around the carousel when she recognized Ed Gillespie. He reached past the fat woman and caught the suitcase before it could escape. It was big and heavy, but he lifted it effortlessly.

"Good morning," he said. "Any other luggage?"

"No, sir," Jenny said. He was wearing a dark blue blazer and gray flannel trousers, and didn't look military at all. She giggled. "I don't often get a general for a porter. And an astronaut at that."

Gillespie didn't say anything, but the look on the fat woman's face when she said 'astronaut' was worth a lot. "I hadn't expected you," Jenny said.

"I got in from California about an hour ago. Called Rhonda and found out which flight you were on. Seemed reasonable to wait for you."

Jenny opened her big purse and fished out the clear plastic strap for the suitcase. Gillespie snapped it on and led the way out of the baggage area, up the ramp to the taxi stands. The suitcase followed like a dog on a leash, which was the way Jenny always thought of it, As far as Jenny was concerned, wheels on luggage had done more for women's liberation than most organizations.

She didn't mind letting a strong alpha male take care of her suitcase. She did have some misgivings about letting General Edmund Gillespie haul her luggage. Still, there was no point in telling her brother-in-law that she could take care of her own suitcase when they were both in civvies. If they'd been in uniform she'd have pulled her own no matter what he said.

They reached street level. Gillespie waved to a waiting taxi. His luggage was already in its trunk. The taxi was new, or nearly so. The driver was Middle Eastern, probably Pakistani, and hardly spoke English. They got into the backseat, and she sank back into the cushions. Then she took a deep breath and let it out.

"Tired?" Gillespie asked.

"Sure. Yesterday afternoon I was in Hawaii." She looked at her watch. Seven-thirty A.M. "A Navy jet took me to El Toro. They stuffed me in a helicopter and got me to Los Angeles just in time to catch the red-eye."

"Get any sleep?"

"Not really."

"Try now," Gillespie said.

"I'm too keyed up. What's the schedule?"

"Early appointments," Gillespie said. "At the White House." He saw her look of dismay and grinned. "You'll have time to change."

"I'd better. I'm a wreck."

The taxi pulled out of the airport lot and onto the freeway, putting the soaring structure of the terminal building in their view.

"My favorite airport," Jenny said.

Gillespie nodded. "It's not too bad. I didn't used to like it, but it grows on you. Except it's so damned far out."

"I like the building."

"So do I, but it ruined the architect's reputation," Ed Gillespie said.

Jenny frowned.

"His name was Eero Saarinen, and he didn't build a glass box," Gillespie said. "So they kicked him out of the architects' lodge as a heretic."

The taxi accelerated. A fine mist hung in the air outside, and the freeway was slick. Jenny glanced over the driver's shoulder at the speedometer. The needle hovered around seventy-five. "I'm glad there's not much traffic," she said. "I didn't know you were interested in architecture."

"Umm. Tom Wolfe wrote a book about it."

"Oh." He didn't need to explain further. After The Right Stuff, Wolfe had become required reading for the astronauts.

"How's it feel to create a sensation, Jenny?"

"I'm too tired to feel anything at all. Was it a sensation?"

Gillespie laughed. "That's right, you've been on airplanes." He reached down into his briefcase and took out a Washington Post.

The headline screamed at her, "ALIEN SPACESHIP DISCOVERED." Most of the front page was devoted to the story. They didn't have many facts, but there was a lot of speculation, including a background article by Roger Brooks. Jenny frowned at that, remembering the last time she'd seen Roger. She glanced at Ed. He couldn't know about Roger and Linda.

My sister's a damn fool, she thought.

There were interviews with famous scientists, and pictures of a Nobel cosmologist smiling approval. There were also pictures of Rick Owen and Mary Alice Mouton. Owen's smile was broader than the cosmologist's.

"Looks like Dr. Owen has made himself famous," Jenny said.

"You're pretty famous too," Edmund said. "Your Hawaiian boyfriend took most of the credit, but he did mention your name. Every reporter in the country would like to interview you."

"Oh, God."

"Yeah. That's one reason I waited for you. It's a wonder the stews didn't recognize you."

"Maybe they did," Jenny said. "I thought one of them was extra attentive. She didn't say anything, though."

The taxi wove through the sparse traffic. The freeway to Dulles had few on-ramps. Originally it wasn't supposed to have any, so it would bear no traffic except airport traffic, but the politicians had managed to add a couple, probably near where they owned property. Wherever there were ramps a cluster of houses and a small industrial park had sprung up.

"What do you think they'll be like?" Jenny asked.

Gillespie shook his head. "I don't read much science fiction anymore. I used to when I was a kid." He stared out the window for a moment, then laughed. "One thing's sure, it ought to give a boost to the space program! Congress is already talking about buying more shuttles, expanding the Moon Base—to listen to those bastards, you'd think they'd been big space boosters all along."

"What about Hollingsworth?" Jenny asked.

"He doesn't seem to be giving interviews."

"Maybe he does have some shame." She leaned back in the seat. Senator Barton Hollingsworth, Democrat of South Dakota, had long been an enemy of the space program, and for that matter of every investment in high technology and almost anything else except dairy subsidies. Like his predecessor William Proxmire, the one thing Hollingsworth really hated was SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, which he claimed was a 'golden fleece' of the taxpayers. Proxmire had once spent two days trimming one hundred and twelve thousand dollars for SETI research from the NASA budget, at a time when the welfare department was spending a million dollars a minute.

Toward Washington the traffic began to thicken. They came off the Dulles access freeway into a solid wall of red taillights. The driver muttered curses in Pakistani and began to weave through traffic, ignoring angry horns. They drove past a turnoff. A long time before, the sign at that turnoff had said "Bureau of Public Roads Research," but now it admitted that the CIA building was invisible in the trees at the end of that road. Jenny paid it no attention. She'd been there before.

The aliens are coming, and I'm famous, Jenny thought. "Who are we seeing at the White House?"

Gillespie shrugged. "Probably the President."

"Oh, dear. I don't know anything," Jenny said. "Nothing I didn't tell you on the telephone yesterday."

He shrugged again. "We'll just have to play it as it lies."

"Yes, but—Ed, I don't even have any guesses!"

"Neither do I, but we're the experts," Gillespie said. "After all, we knew about it first. . ."

They crossed the Potomac and drove along the old Chesapeake and Ohio canal. The morning drizzle had stopped, and the sun was trying to break through overhead. A dozen or more joggers were out despite the chilly morning. Jenny closed her eyes.

 

Gillespie and the driver were in a heated argument. The driver didn't understand anything Ed was saying. He was also getting nervous, while Gillespie got angrier.

"What's the matter?" Jenny asked.

"Damn fool won't follow directions."

"Let me. Where are we?"

"Damned if I know—that's the problem. We crossed a bridge a minute ago. One I never saw before. Had buffaloes on it."

"Buffaloes? Oh. We're near the Cathedral," Jenny said. She looked around. They were in a typical Washington residential neighborhood, older houses, each with a screened porch. "Which way is north?"

Gillespie pointed.

"Okay." She leaned forward. In New York, they had Plexiglas partitions to seal the driver away from his passengers, but there weren't any here. "Go ahead, then left."

The Pakistani driver looked relieved. They drove for a couple of blocks, and Jenny nodded satisfaction. "It's not far now. We're on the wrong side of Connecticut Avenue, that's all."

Gillespie was still angry. "Why the hell can't they get drivers who speak English?" he demanded. "All the people out of work in this country. Or say they're out of work. And none of the damn airport taxi drivers at our nation's capital can speak English. The goddam politicians wouldn't know that, though, would they? They have drivers to pick them up at the airport."

Now that she'd dozed off, she wanted to sleep again, but she stayed awake to direct the driver. Finding Flintridge Manor on its hill in Rock Creek Park could be plenty tricky even if you'd been there before. "They won't let Washington cabs pick people up at Dulles," she said.

Which was strange, if you thought about it, since it was a federal airport, operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and reachable only by a federally constructed throughway. Why shouldn't cabs licensed in Washington be able to pick up passengers at Dulles? But they couldn't, and nothing was going to be done about it, just as nothing would be done about a hundred thousand other bureaucratic nightmares, and why worry about it? The government had more immediate problems coming at them out of the sky.

Then again, maybe the aliens would solve it all. Those advanced creatures could be carrying a million-year-old quantified science of government and a powerful missionary urge, and the government's problems would be over forever.

 

Flintridge nestled in colonial splendor atop a large hill. There weren't a dozen places like it in Washington. From its big columned porch you couldn't see another house. Most of the woods surrounding Flintridge were part of Rock Creek National Park, which was perfect because no one could build there, while the Westons didn't have to pay taxes on the park property.

Jenny directed the taxi up the gravel drive. Phoebe, the Haitian maid, came to the door, saw them, and dashed back inside. A few moments later her uncle came out.

Colonel Henry Weston had inherited most of the money; Jenny's mother's share had been useful, but hardly what anyone would call wealth. There were advantages to having a rich uncle, especially if you had to stay in Washington. Flintridge was much nicer than a hotel.

Jenny's room was on the third floor, up the back stairs; Flintridge had a grand stairway to the second floor, but there weren't enough bedrooms there. The top floor had once been a series of garrets. They'd been redesigned to be comfortable, turned into small suites with attached bathrooms, but the only stairway was the narrow twisting enclosed back stairs designed to keep servants from interfering with family.

Servants, not slaves. Flintridge wasn't that old. Eighteen seventies. Jenny set her suitcases down and collapsed on the bed. Thank heaven Aunt Rhonda wasn't up yet! She'd have gushed, admired Jenny's nonexistent tan, asked about young men; now that Allan Weston was safely married and established in a New York bank, Jenny was the only possible target for Rhonda Weston's tireless matchmaking.

Aunt Rhonda was lovable but very tiring, especially at eight in the morning when you had an appointment at the White house at eleven!

She glanced out the window toward the large arbor and gazebo, and almost blushed. It had been a long time ago, in that gazebo after a school dance . . . She shook her head, and lay down, sinking into the thick eiderdown comforters and pillows. The bed was far too soft and luxurious.

She could easily have grown up in this house. There'd been several times when Colonel Weston, U.S. Air Force Reserve and owner of Weston International Construction, had relocated semi-permanently, leaving Flintridge vacant. Each time he'd offered the place to Jenny's father.

Linda and Jenny always hoped to move into Flintridge, but Joel MacKenzie Crichton had too much of the dour Scot in him; living in Flintridge would be living conspicuously above his station, even though Colonel Weston would have paid the taxes and most of the upkeep. It was a great place to visit, and they could keep an eye on it for the Westons, but they wouldn't live there, much to the girls' disappointment.

"What would it look like for a GS-14 to live in that house?" Jenny's father demanded. "I'd be investigated every month!" And after he left government service and became first moderately, then quite wealthy, Joel Crichton wouldn't consider Flintridge.

He hadn't much cared for the parties Rhonda Weston had thrown for his daughters, either. "All nonsense, this coming-out stuff," he'd said, but he had enough sense not to try to stop them. First Linda, then Jeanette, had been presented to the eligible young men of Washington in grand balls held at Flintridge. A former President of the United States had come to Linda's party. Jenny had to settle for two senators and the Secretary of State.

The morning after Jeanette's ball, their comfortable house seemed shabby. It must have seemed that way to their father, too, because he quit his government job a couple of months later to become the Washington representative of a California aerospace company. There'd even been some talk of an investigation, but it never came to anything. The Crichtons had far too many friends in Washington.

No one who knew them was at all surprised when Jenny went into Army Intelligence.

* * *

Ed Gillespie turned the Buick Riviera into the iron-gated drive at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A uniformed policeman looked at Gillespie's identity cards, then at a list on his clipboard, and waved them through. When they reached the garishly ornate building once known as Old State, then the Executive Office, and now called the "Old EOP," a driver materialized. "I'll park it for you, sir."

A Marine opened the car door for Jenny, then stepped back and saluted. "General, Captain, if you'll follow me, please . . ."

He led them across to the White House itself. From somewhere in the distance they heard the chatter of grade school children on a tour. The Marine led them through another corridor.

In all her years in Washington, Jenny had never been to the White House. Her parents and Colonel Weston had been to White House parties and even a state dinner; it seemed ridiculous for the Crichton girls to take a public guided tour. One day they'd be invited.

And this is the day, Jenny thought.

They came to another corridor. A young man in a gray suit waited there. "Eleven o'clock," the Marine said.

"Right. Hi, I'm Jack Clybourne. I'm supposed to check your identification."

He smiled as he said it, but he seemed very serious. He looked very young and clean-cut, and very athletic. He inspected General Gillespie, then Jenny.

They took out identification cards. Clybourne glanced at them, but Jenny thought he looked at them superficially. He was much more interested in the visitors than in their papers.

Doesn't miss a detail. Joe Gland, thinks he's irresistible. . .

Finally he seemed satisfied and led them along a corridor to the Oval Office.

The interior looked very much the way it did on television, with the President seated behind the big desk. They were both in uniform, so they saluted as they approached the desk.

David Coffey seemed embarrassed. He acknowledged their salutes with a wave. "Glad to see you." He sounded as if he meant it. "Captain Jeanette Crichton," he said carefully. His brows lifted slightly in thought, and Jenny was sure that he'd remember her name from now on. "And General Gillespie. Good to see you again."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Edmund said.

Ed's as nervous as I am, Jenny thought. I didn't think he would be. She glanced around the office. Behind the President, on a credenza, was a red telephone. The phone, Jenny thought. At SAC headquarters the general in command had two telephones, one red to communicate with his forces, and one gold. This would be the other end of the gold phone. . .

"Captain, this is Hap Aylesworth," the President said. He indicated a seated man. Aylesworth's face seemed flushed, and his necktie was loosened. He stood to shake hands with her.

"Please be seated," the President said. "Now, Captain, tell me everything you know about this."

She took the offered chair, sitting on its edge, both feet on the floor, feet together, her skirt pulled down over her knees, as she'd been taught in officer's training classes. "I don't know much, Mr. President," she said. "I was at the Mauna Loa Observatory—"

"How did you happen to be there?" Aylesworth asked.

"I was invited to Hawaii to address an engineering conference. I took a couple of extra days leave. While I was swimming I met Richard Owen, who turned out to be an astronomer, and he invited me up to see the observatory."

"Owen," Aylesworth said pensively.

"Come on, Hap, we have confirmation from every place we logically could get confirmation," the President said. He smiled thinly. "Mr. Aylesworth can't quite get over the notion that this is a put-up job. Could it have been?"

Jenny frowned in thought. "Yes, sir, but I don't believe it. What would be the motivation?"

"There must be forty science-fiction novels with that plot," Aylesworth said. "Scientists get together. Convince the stupid political and military people that the aliens are coming. Unite Earth, end wars . . ."

"The Air Force Observatory reports the same thing," Ed Gillespie said. "Now that they know what to look for."

The President nodded. "As do a number of other sources. Hap, if it's a plot, there are an awful lot of plotters involved. You'd think one would have spilled the beans by now."

"Yes, sir," Aylesworth said. "And I suppose we're sure this isn't something the Russians cooked up to get us off guard."

Both Jenny and General Gillespie shook their heads. "Not a chance," Gillespie said.

"No, I suppose not," Aylesworth said. "My apologies, Captain, I'm having trouble getting used to the notion of little green men from outer space."

"Or big black ones," Ed Gillespie said.

The President eyed Gillespie in curiosity. "What makes you say that? Surely you don't have any knowledge?"

"No, sir. But they're as likely to be big and black as they are to be little and green. If we had any idea of where they came from, we might be able to figure something out—"

"Saturn," Jenny said. "Dr. Mouton had a computer program." Alice Mouton had wanted to lecture, and Jenny had listened carefully. "We don't know how fast they came, and Saturn must have moved since they left, but if you give them almost any decent velocity, they started in a patch of sky that had Saturn in it."

"Saturn," Aylesworth said. "Saturnians?"

"I doubt it," Ed Gillespie said. "Saturn just doesn't get enough sunlight energy for a complex organism to evolve there. Much less a civilization."

"Sure about that?" the President asked.

"No, sir."

"Neither is the National Academy of Sciences," the President said. "At least those I could get hold of. But the consensus is that the ship must have gone to Saturn from somewhere else. Now all we have to do is find the somewhere else."

"Maybe we can ask them," Jenny said.

"Oddly enough, we thought of that," Aylesworth said.

"With what result?" Gillespie asked.

"None." Aylesworth shrugged. "So far they haven't answered. Anyway. Mr. President, I'm satisfied. It's real."

"Good," the President said. "In that case, if you'd ask Mr. Dawson and Admiral Carrell to come in—"

 

Gillespie and Jenny stood. Wes Dawson came in first. "Hello, Ed, Jenny," he said.

"Ah. You both know Congressman Dawson, then," the President said.

"Yes, sir," Ed Gillespie said.

"Of course you would," David Coffey said. "You told Mr. Dawson about the alien ship. Have you met Admiral Carrell?"

"Yes, sir," Ed said. "But I think Jenny hasn't."

Admiral Carrell was approaching retirement age, and he looked it, with silver hair and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He shook hands with her, masculine fashion. His hand was firm, and so was his voice. His manner made it clear that he knew precisely who Jenny was. He waited until the President invited them to sit, then again until Jenny was seated, before he took his own seat. "Nice work, Captain." he said. "Not every officer would have realized the significance of what you saw."

Interesting, she thought. Does he take this much trouble with everyone he meets? "Thank you, Admiral."

Congressman Dawson had taken the chair closest to the President. "How will Congress treat this, Wes?" the President asked.

"I don't know them all, Mr. President," Dawson said.

"Will I get support for a declaration of emergency?"

"I don't know, sir," Dawson said. "There will certainly be opposition."

"Damn fools," Admiral Carrell said.

"What makes you think the aliens won't be friendly?" Wes Dawson demanded.

"The aliens may be friendly, but a Russian mobilization without reaction from us would be a disaster. It might even tempt them to something they normally wouldn't think of," Carrell spoke evenly.

"Really?" Dawson said. His tone made it less a question than a statement.

"Will they mobilize?" the President asked.

"We'll let Captain Crichton answer," the Admiral said. "Perhaps Mr. Dawson will be more likely to believe someone he knows. Captain?"

I've just been set up, Jenny thought. So that's how it's done. But I've no choice. "Yes, sir, they will." She hesitated. "And if we don't react, there could be trouble."

"Why is that?" the President prompted.

"Sir, it's part of their doctrine. If they could liberate the world from capitalism without risk to the homeland, and didn't do it, they'd be traitors to their own doctrine."

Admiral Carrell said, "They're jamming all our broadcasts, and they haven't told their people anything about an alien coming."

"It's too big to keep secret," Dawson said. "Isn't it?"

Once again. Admiral Carrell turned to Jenny. This time he merely nodded to her.

Is this a test? she wondered. Whatever it is . . . "Sir, the East Germans and Poles are bound to find out. Unless the Soviets want to completely disrupt their economy, they can't cut off all communication from the Eastern European satellites, so the news is bound to get to Russia. To the cities, anyway."

The Admiral nodded behind half-closed eyes.

"Meanwhile, whatever the Russians are doing, there's an alien ship coming," the President said. "It may be that in a few weeks all our little squabbles will look very silly."

"Yes, sir," Wes Dawson said. "Very silly."

"There are other possibilities." Admiral Carrell spoke in low tones, but everyone listened. Even the President.

"Such as?" Dawson demanded.

"I want to assemble a staff of experts at Colorado Springs. One task will be to look at as many possibilities as we can."

"Very reasonable," the President said. "Why Colorado Springs?"

"The hole," Admiral Carrell said.

NORAD, Jenny thought. The North American Air Defense Command base, buried deep under the granite of Cheyenne Mountain. It was supposed to be the safest place in the United States, although there were some arguments about just how hardened it really was . . .

"Will you be going out there?" the President asked.

"Not permanently."

"But you'll be busy. Meanwhile, I need someone to keep me informed." The President looked thoughtful. "We have two problems. Aliens, and the Soviets. Captain, you're a Soviet expert, and you discovered the alien ship."

"I didn't discover it, sir—"

"Near enough," the President said. "You recognized its importance. And you already have all the clearances you need, or you wouldn't be in military intelligence." He touched a button on the desk. The Chief of Staff came in immediately.

"Jim," the President said, "I'm commander in chief. Does that mean I can promote people?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Promote this young lady to major, and have her assigned to the staff. She'll work with you and the Admiral to keep me briefed on what the aliens and the Soviets are doing." He chuckled. "Major Crichton and General Gillespie are military. I can give them orders without going through civil service hearings. At least I assume I can?"

"Sure," Frantz said.

Major Crichton. Just like that!

"Good," the President was saying. "General Gillespie, Congressman Dawson wants to go meet the aliens in space."

Ed Gillespie nodded. "Yes, sir."

"You approve?"

"Yes, sir."

Jenny smiled thinly. Ed would approve more if it was going to be him meeting the aliens. For that matter, I'd like to go.

"Help him do it," the President said. "I want you to work with him. Go to Houston and personally see to his training. It's possible you'll go along, too, although that's up to the Russians." He grimaced slightly, then glanced at his watch. "They're expecting both of you over at NASA headquarters. I wanted to see you before I made up my mind. If you hurry you won't be too late"

"Yes, sir." Ed glanced at Jenny but didn't say anything.

The President stood, and everyone else stood with him. "The Soviet Ambassador has demanded an official explanation of why news of this importance was transmitted via private telephone call, rather than through official channels," he said. "One of your first tasks, Major, will be to think of ways to convince them that this isn't a trick."

"That may not be easy to do," Admiral Carrell said.

"I realize that," the President said. "Others will be working on the problem." He indicated dismissal. "Major, they'll find you a place to work, Lord knows where, and don't be shy about asking for equipment. Mr. Frantz will see that you get what you want. I'll expect daily reports, sent through Admiral Carrell. If he's not here you'll brief me yourself."

 

Aliens are coming, and I've been assigned to the National Security Council! Personal presidential briefings in the Oval Office! All because I went for a swim and let an astronomer pick me up in Hawaii. My friend Barb believes nothing is ever a coincidence. Synchronicity. Maybe there's something to it . . .

"Now all I have to do is figure out where to put you," the Chief of Staff was saying. "The President will want you in this building. I guess I'll have to exile someone else to Old EOP."

He was striding briskly down the hall. Jenny followed. They reached a desk at the end of the hall. The man who'd led her to the Oval Office was seated there.

"Jack," the Chief of Staff said, "meet another member of our family, Major Jeanette Crichton. The President has assigned her to his staff. NSC. She'll have regular personal access."

"Right." He studied her again.

"This is Jack Clybourne," Jim Frantz said. "Secret Service."

"I worry about keeping the chief healthy," Clybourne said.

"Get word to all the security people, Jack." Frantz turned to Jenny. "Major, I'd like you to check in this evening about four . . . I should have some room for you by then. Meanwhile—oh. You came with General Gillespie. You've lost your ride."

"No problem, sir."

"Right. Thanks." He started down the hall, stopped, and turned his head but not his body. "Welcome aboard," he said over his shoulder. He scurried off.

Jenny giggled, and Clybourne gave her an answering smile. "He's a worrier, that one."

"I gathered. What's next?"

"Fingerprints. Have to be sure you're you."

"Oh. Who does that?"

"I can if you like." Clybourne lifted a phone and spoke for a few moments. Presently another clean-cut young man entered and sat at the desk.

"Tom Bucks," Clybourne said. "Captain Jeanette Crichton . . . Next time you see her she'll be wearing oak leaves. The President just promoted her. She's the newest addition to NSC. Personal access."

"Hi," Bucks said. He studied her, and Jenny felt he was memorizing every pore on her face.

They both act that way. Of course. Not Joe Gland, just a Secret Service agent doing his job.

Clybourne led the way downstairs and through a small staff lounge. "I keep gear back here," he said. He took out a large black case and put fingerprinting apparatus on the counter of the coffee machine.

"You really have to do this? My prints are on file."

"Sure. What I have to be sure of is that the pretty girl I'm talking to now is the same Jeanette Crichton the Army commissioned."

"I suppose," she said.

He took her hand. "Just relax, and let me do the work."

She'd been through the routine before. Clybourne was good at it. Eventually he handed her a jar of waterless cleanser and some paper towels.

"How did you know the President had promoted me?" she asked.

"The appointment list said 'Captain,' and the Chief of Staff called you 'Major.' Jim Frantz doesn't make that kind of mistake."

And you don't miss much, either.

She cleaned the black goo from her hands while Clybourne poured two cups of coffee from the pot on the table. He handed her one. "Somebody said you live in Washington?"

"Grew up here," she said. "Which reminds me, can you call me a cab?"

"Sure. Where are you going?"

"Flintridge. It's out Connecticut, Rock Creek Park area—"

"I know where it is." He glanced at his watch. "If you can wait ten minutes, I can run out."

"I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble—"

"No trouble. I go off duty, and I'm going that way."

"All right, then. Thank you."

"You can wait for me at the main entrance," Clybourne said. He took a memo pad bearing the White House seal from his pocket and scribbled on it, then took a small triangular pin from another pocket. "Put that in your lapel, and keep this pass," he said. "I'll see you in ten minutes."

He smiled again, and she found herself answering.

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