canvas the neighborhoods along the route.” She was the one who had come to Villiard with the offer of the FEMA ops center. She was a dynamic woman with flaming red hair. “Might not turn up a thing, but it can’t hurt.”
“If something actually develops they could be placing themselves in the middle of it,” Villiard said.
Toni shrugged. “They’re used to dealing with earthquakes, you know. Buildings falling on their heads.” “Do it,” Villiard said, making his decision. “But make sure that they carry proper IDs. I don’t want to turn this into a three-ring circus, my people arresting yours.”
“I’ll have them on the street within the hour,” she said.
Villiard gave her a smile. She was on the ball. She’d had her people organized and standing by even before she’d been given the green light. Maybe she belonged in Washington. He’d have to see.
The phones on the various consoles were starting to ring now, and the noise level was rising as people began gearing up for the first crucial thirty-six hours. The Olympics would be here for ten days. Just because something didn’t happen tomorrow didn’t mean that they were home safe. But by this time tomorrow night, Villiard thought, the biggest period of danger would be past, the machinery for dealing with the threat would be firmly in place and running and he would be able to breathe his first sigh of relief in two months.
Thirty-six hours. Please God, he told himself, just get us through the first hurdle and I promise a double novena, all eighteen days of it.
“Just this way, Mr. President,” Marty Grant, one of his Secret Service agents, said, holding the door. “The skybox has been cleared for you.”
The team owner’s private elevator took them directly up to the glass enclosure used by the media during sporting events. The cameras and equipment were in place, but the technicians were gone, replaced by four additional Secret Service agents. They’d gone through a lot of hassle to pull this off.
“This is great,” the President said. “Tell Dick Evers thanks for me. I didn’t want to cause a fuss, but I wanted to see my daughter.”
“She’s on the track, Mr. President,” one of the agents said, handing him a pair of binoculars. “Out by the right field foul line.”
The President adjusted the focus and found Deborah right away, her long blond hair streaming behind her unmistakable. A young woman in blue sweats was running with her. At first he thought she was the chief of Deborah’s Secret Service detail, but then he spotted Chenna riding shotgun in a golf cart with Terri Lundgren.
“Who’s the girl running with Deb?”
One of the agents also watching through binoculars said something into his lapel mike. “Elizabeth McGarvey, sir.”
Watching them running together it was clear that Deborah was the superior athlete, though not by much. But it was also clear in his mind the great difference that existed between the two young women. Elizabeth had her entire future ahead of her; varied, interesting, maybe with a husband and children, maybe alone. There would be challenges in her life, problems to overcome, situations to be faced and dealt with. Deborah’s life on the other hand was already determined for the most part. She would be protected, loved and cared for around the clock. She would never marry or have children. The dangers she would face were only because of who and what her father was. And the major challenges she would have to overcome were her mental limitations. Every morning when he got up, President Haynes prayed to God that Deborah would never fully understand her handicap. It was a rotten, selfish attitude, he knew that. But he wanted to protect his only child from all harm, not only to her physical self, but to her self-esteem.
He lowered his binoculars, and he couldn’t help but think about Sarah bin Laden. Her death was something that he would regret for the remainder of his life. He could clearly understand bin Laden’s rage, and he didn’t even want to think about what he would do in the same circumstances. God help the sorry bastard who ever harmed a hair on his daughter’s head.
“Too bad the First Lady isn’t up here to see this,” Tony Lang said, watching through binoculars. “Deb’s a heck of a runner.” The First Lady was meeting with three separate women’s groups this afternoon and wouldn’t be coming up from Los Angeles until later this evening.
“That she is,” the President said. “Marty, would you tell Chenna to bring her up here, and ask Ms. McGarvey if she would join us.” “Yes, sir,” the chief agent on his detail said. He spoke into his lapel mike, listened, then spoke softly again. “Be just a couple of minutes, Mr. President.”
“Thanks.” The President raised his binoculars and watched as Chenna caught up with them. The two daughters climbed into the back of the golf cart for the trip across the field. It was a madhouse down there; handicapped athletes from all around the world were doing their best, the same as everybody else. Deborah was having the time of her life, and he would not have taken this away from her or from the others, for all the bin Ladens in the world.
They disappeared down one of the tunnels below, and a minute later the elevator came up. When the door opened Deborah spotted her father, bounded across to him and threw herself into his arms.
“Daddy,” she cried. She was very strong, and her entire body hummed with an electric joy. He was never more proud of her than he’d ever been in his life. “Did you see me down there?” she bubbled. “Did you see me running?”
“I sure did, sweetheart. You looked wonderful.”
“Not awfully good?” she asked, crinkling her nose. “That too,” the President said. Deborah laughed, and he wondered what he had said that was so amusing to her.
“I’m afraid that it’s a little joke between us, Mr. President,” Elizabeth said.
“An oxymoron,” Deborah explained.
“I see,” the President said. “You’re Elizabeth McGarvey?”
“Yes, sir,” Elizabeth said, and she shook hands with the President. It was clear that she was respectful, but she wasn’t the least bit nervous. She was a lot like her father, the President decided; a heads-up person. McGarvey was stamped all over her. When she matured she was going to be one hell of a woman.
“Thanks for coming out here and helping out.” “Yes, sir.”
The President picked up a discordant note. “You don’t think that this is such a hot idea?”
“No, sir. The games should be canceled immediately, or at least postponed until we bag the bad guy.” Deborah watched the interplay as did everyone else.
The President suppressed a slight smile, though he was a little irritated. “You are your father’s daughter.”
Elizabeth’s shoulders squared up a little. “Yes, sir,” she said with a barely concealed pleasure.
“Do you understand why I can’t do that?”
Elizabeth started to say something, but then she smiled. “Yes, sir, I believe that I can.” She glanced at the President’s daughter. “My father’ll be here tonight.”
“Yes. What about tomorrow?”
“For me, Mr. President?” she asked. “I’ve already got permission from the ISO to run in the half-marathon, if you have no objections.”
The President was deeply touched. “I can’t ask you to do that, under the circumstances.”
Elizabeth grinned and looked at Deborah again. “I know what you mean, Mr. President. I’m probably going to run my legs off trying to keep up with her.”
“Start all over again,” McGarvey said in the computer center. Rencke was still at his console and he looked like death warmed over, but his eyes were alive. McGarvey had to wonder if Otto was on something, a stimulant of some sort, but now was not the time to ask. “We’ll start from the assumption that the bomb is already in San Francisco. Probably Candlestick Park. The Secret Service and Bureau are doing everything they can to find it, so we’ll leave that end to them. But if we can get a clue as to how it got here, maybe it’d give us an idea where to look for it.” “Liz is there,” Rencke said. “Right in the middle of it.” “I couldn’t stop her,” McGarvey said. He felt as miserable as Rencke looked. “Maybe she’ll see something that everyone else is missing.”
“Van Buren is with her. He’ll move heaven and earth to make sure that nothing happens to her. Pretty good motivation, don’t you think?”
McGarvey laid a hand on his old friend’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Otto—”
Rencke smiled a little. “Don’t be, Mac. I’m the uncle, remember? Not the love interest.” His smile broadened.
