investigation be initiated into their continued presence.
The Joint Chiefs, however, did not accept that such societies existed, and therefore rejected the recommendations of the investigatory committee on this point.
Over the next six month, there would be a number of unconfirmed reports from tourists in the Lake Powell area concerning the sighting of a family of Kodiak bears around the northeastern portion of the lake.
Officers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the reports, but no bears were ever found.
A couple of weeks later, a quiet ceremony was held in a dark underground meeting room
beneath the White House. Inside the room were nine people.
The President of the United States.
Captain Shane Schofield — with his arm in a sling.
Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Gant — with crutches on account of her broken ankle.
Gunnery Sergeant Gena 'Mother' Newman — with her small bald-headed trucker husband, Ralph.
Sergeant Buck Riley Junior — with sling.
United States Secret Service Agent Juliet Janson — with sling.
David Fairfax, of the Defense Intelligence Agency — wearing his good sneakers.
And a small boy named Kevin.
The President bestowed upon Schofield and his team of Marines the Congressional Medal of Honor (Classified), for acts of valor in the field of battle despite the endangerment of their own lives.
It was, however, an award they could tell no one about.
But then again, they all agreed it was probably better that way.
While the others stayed to eat in the white house dining room — during which dinner the President had a particularly lively conversation with Mother and Ralph about the Teamsters — Schofield and Gant took their leave, and went out, alone, on their second date.
When they got to the venue, they found that they had the place to themselves.
A single candle-lit table stood in the center of the wide wood-paneled room.
And so they took their places and dined.
Alone.
In the President's private dining room, on the upper floor of the White House, overlooking the Washington Monument.
'Give them whatever they want,' the President had instructed his personal chef. 'Just put it on my tab.'
By flickering candlelight, they talked and talked till late in the evening.
As dessert arrived, Schofield reached into his pocket.
'You know,' he said, 'I meant to give you this on your birthday, but the day kind of got away from me.'
He pulled a crumpled piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was small, about the size of a Christmas card.
'What is it?' Gant asked.
'It was your birthday present,' Schofield said sadly. 'It was in my trouser pocket all day — I had to take it with me every time I changed uniforms — so I'm afraid it got a little, well, beat up.'
He handed it to Gant.
She looked at it, and she smiled.
It was a photograph.
A photograph of a group of people standing on a beautiful Hawaiian beach. Everyone was wearing board shorts and loud Hawaiian shirts.
And standing next to each other at the very edge of the group, smiling for the camera, were Gant and Schofield. Gant's smile was a little uncomfortable, and Schofield's kind of sad, behind his reflective silver sunglasses.
Gant remembered the day as if it were yesterday.
It had been that barbecue held on a beach near Pearl Harbor, celebrating her promotion to Schofield's Recon Unit.
'It was the first time we met,' Schofield said.
'Yes,' Gant said. 'Yes, it was.'
'I've never forgotten it,' he said.
Gant beamed. 'You know, this is the nicest birthday present I've received this year.'
Then she lifted herself up out of her seat, leaned over the table and kissed him on the lips.
After their dinner, they arrived downstairs, where they were met by a presidential limousine. It was flanked however, from in front and behind, by four Marine Corps Humvees, six police cruisers and four motorcycle outriders.
Gant raised her eyebrows at the elaborate motorcade.
'Oh, yeah,' Schofield said sheepishly, 'there was something else I had to tell you about.'
'Yes?' Gant said.
Schofield opened the limousine's rear door wide — to reveal the small sleeping figure of Kevin lying in the backseat.
'He needed a place to stay, at least until they find him a new home,' Schofield shrugged. 'So I said I'd take him as long as they needed. The government, however, insisted on providing a little extra security.'
Gant just shook her head and smiled.
'Come on,' she said. 'Let's go home.'
