“Yes, you could say that.”
“Are you going to stay on, or has this experience soured you?”
“Stay on?”
“At the White House.”
“Of course.” “Good.” Hayes smiled. “I asked you here this morning for two reasons The first was to thank you for all of your help. I’ve been told you played a crucial role in helping Mr. Kruse here pull this thing off.”
“A very small one.” Rielly blushed.
“Well, thank you. Your sacrifice is very much appreciated.”
Hayes looked over at Rapp for a second and then back to Rielly.
“Can you guess what the second reason is?”
Rielly folded her arms across her chest.
“You wanted to talk to me about how much of my story I plan on telling.”
She intentionally chose the word “my.”
“Precisely.” Hayes backed up a bit.
“How many reporters do you think have witnessed an exchange between the president and the vice president like the one you just witnessed here this morning?”
“Probably none.”
“That’s right.” Hayes gestured to the four people sitting on the couch.
“These four fine individuals think I should pressure you into signing a bunch of documents that will bind you legally from publishing anything we think a threat to certain security interests. But I have assured them that there is a better way to handle this.”
Hayes paused to give Rielly a moment to reflect on the first option.
Walking back to the front of the room, he continued.
“The other way, the better way, is for you and I to make a deal.” Hayes raised his eyebrows.
“In exchange for your voluntary cooperation in regard to keeping certain aspects of the most recent events secret, I will give you a head start on certain events of importance.”
Rielly could barely believe she was even in this meeting let alone receiving such an offer from the president. She told herself to play it cool and asked, “What types of things will you want to censor from my story?”
Hayes looked to the four on the couch. Kennedy spoke first.
“If you leave out Mr. Kruse and any direct involvement by the CIA, we’re fine.”
“Am I all right if I say you were involved in intelligence gathering and planning?”
“As long as you stay vague, we won’t have a problem.”
Rielly raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Define ‘vague.”
“Hayes stepped forward and waved his hands in the air.
“Hold on. I have a better idea. Ms. Rielly, how would you like to get the scoop on a huge part of this story?” Hayes looked her in the eye.
“At noon FBI Director Roach is going to hold a press conference, and the cat will be out of the bag. I can give you that story right now, and you can head out to NBC and break it to the world. You will scoop everybody.”
Rielly was interested. Very interested. This could turn out to be a nice arrangement. She nodded and said, “I’ll play ball.”
“Good. Here’s the deal. The FBI has searched the White House, and they can’t find one of the terrorists. We have reports that last night after the explosion someone from the FBI carried a wounded woman out of the Treasury tunnel. That woman turned out to be my secretary. She was found in a ditch in rural Maryland at six this morning, barely conscious. She was last seen withaziz right before the explosions took place outside of my bunker.” The president paused, giving Rielly a second to pull it together.
“Oh, and one other thing. There were no FBI agents in the building when the bombs went off.”
Rielly’s eyes got big.
“So you’re saying Aziz escaped.”
“It looks that way.”
Rielly looked to Rapp, who reluctantly nodded. After shaking her head, she said, “Wow.”
Hayes walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m serious about our arrangement.” The president turned her toward the door and started walking with her.
“You’ve earned this, Anna. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Rielly didn’t know what to say. She didn’t feel as if she had done all that much.
“Thank you, sir.”
“No-thank you.” Smiling, Hayes squeezed both of her shoulders.
“I almost forgot. I have one other thing for you.
Director Tracy of the Secret Service is expecting a call from you. It appears he has some information on Dallas King that you might find interesting. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to discuss certain things involving Mr. Aziz. Stop by next week, and we’ll talk more.” Hayes turned Rielly toward the door and opened it for her.
Rapp sat watching the exchange, and as Rielly left the room, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He wanted to talk to her. With a frown Rapp looked back across the room.
President Hayes came walking back toward the fireplace saying, “I don’t care who we have to bribe, who we have to threaten-I want Aziz’s head on a silver platter. I want him taken out, and I want us to seriously explore our options for dealing with Saddam Hussein.”
Hayes turned to Rapp.
“I can’t thank you enough; this country can’t thank you enough.” The president shook his head.
“It’s a shame they’ll never know the contributions and sacrifices you’ve made.”
Rapp grinned.
“That’s all right, sir. I didn’t exactly get into this line of work for accolades and recognition.”
“I know you didn’t, but I just wish there was a better way to repay you and properly show our gratitude.”
“Just let me be the one to punch Aziz’s ticket, and that’ll be payment enough.”
“I plan on it. Which brings me to my next point.” Hayes looked away from Rapp for a second and focused on the others.
“I want every intelligence asset we can spare focusing on tracking down Aziz. Call in every marker we have. As I said a second ago, we are not going to play by the rules on this one.
I want him caught.” Hayes turned back to Rapp.
“I want you to go home, and I want you to get some rest.” The president began to walk Rapp toward the door.
“If we find him, I want you fresh.”
“Yes, sir.” Rapp shook the presidents hand and left the room. He walked out onto the front stoop of Blair House.
Bringing his hand up over his eyes, he shielded them from the light and searched the crowd. Nothing. He turned to his right and left but came up empty again.
“Can I help you find something, Mr. Kruse?”
Rapp looked down. Directly in front of him, leaning against the president’s limo, was the beautiful Anna Rielly Rapp walked down the steps and said, “I thought you’d be hustling off to your station to break the story.”
Rielly pushed herself away from the limo. With a grin she said, “I have some time.” Reaching her hand out, she added, “Besides, I wanted to say good-bye.” She grabbed Rapp’s hand and squeezed it tight. Pointing down the street, she said, “Why don’t you walk me down to the corner so I can catch a cab.”
“Sure.” The two of them started walking toward Seventeenth Street hand in hand.
Rielly leaned away from him and asked, “So, are you ever going to tell me your real name?”
“Maybe.” Rapp took a couple more steps and smiled.
“Someday after you earn my trust.”
They walked in silence for a while, and then Rielly asked, “So about this life story of yours, when am I going to get a chance to hear it?”
