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“True, but people who don’t agree with his politics will harp on anything they can to make things difficult for him. It’s just the nature of our system.”
“Do you think he’s in real danger of being harmed by something much more serious than a tomato?”
“We’re doing everything we can to keep you and your family safe. That goal occupies the majority of our waking hours.”
“And we appreciate you all so much. But tell me the truth, Vernon. Are there a lot of threats against him?”
His brief hesitation said it all. “I don’t want you to be frightened.”
“Too late,” she said with a small smile. “It’s a lot, this job of his.” Sam laughed. “If that’s not the understatement of the century. I see him giving it his all, you know? I see his empathy and compassion and heartbreak after things like what happened at Fort Liberty. And to know there’re people out there who’d rather see him dead than in office… That’s almost unbearable.”
“I know it is, and I don’t want you to live with that kind of fear. Despite what happened last night, you’re surrounded by the best security in the world. Never doubt our commitment to protecting you all.”
“I don’t doubt that. Not for one minute. It’s the lunatics who have me on edge. People who’d throw tomatoes at the first couple because they don’t agree with his politics or his trajectory or whatever they’re beefing about. Today, it’s tomatoes. Tomorrow, it’s bullets.”
“We’re having agency-wide discussions about what needs to happen to shore up the gaps that resulted in the tomatoes. I assure you we’re taking this very seriously.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you for the info.”
“I’m here any time you have questions or concerns.”
“That makes me feel much better. We’re so thankful for you and all your colleagues.”
“We know you are. The first family are family to us. It’s an honor to work with and for you.”
“Thank you, Vernon.”
“Any time, Sam.”
After he left, she sat on the sofa and stared out at the ocean, which was frothy with surf today. She thought about the enormous burden placed on the shoulders of the Secret Service agents charged with keeping the president and his family safe. It was a job she couldn’t do. She’d be stressed all the time about possibly missing something that cost someone else their life and plunged the country into turmoil.
What an awesome responsibility—and it took special people to bear the weight of that obligation.
Chapter Eighteen
At the house next door, Nick was making the worst kind of phone calls. The first two had broken him, listening to sobbing parents trying to make sense of the unimaginable.
“Are you ready for the next one?” Terry asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Terry punched in the numbers for the family of Specialist Jessica Olinger. “Mrs. Olinger? This is Terry O’Connor, chief of staff to President Cappuano. He wondered if he might express his condolences on the loss of Jessica.”
“I don’t want to talk to him or anyone from the government.”
The line went dead.
Nick exhaled a deep breath.
Terry dialed another number.
As Nick spoke to the family members of the dead and wounded, some were happier to hear from him than others. Four chose not to take his call.
“I’d like to not have to do that again,” he said when they were done, three hours after they started.
“Right there with you,” Terry said. “That was brutal.”
“When are we going to Fort Liberty?”
