now.
The White House looked particularly impressive in the crisp morning sunlight. Alex knew the agents on duty today at the northeast gate entrance and he talked to them as Knox and Stone went through the metal detector and security process.
After that Alex led them up the driveway and into the White House. They passed the guards stationed at that entrance. As they walked toward the West Lobby, the security badges issued to the three men bounced against their chests. They arrived at the small West Lobby and were cleared. Stone and Alex sat while Knox nervously paced.
In a calming voice Alex said, 'Down that hall is the Roosevelt Room. It's got a painting of FDR over the fireplace mentel and one of Teddy Roosevelt on the south wall. Straight ahead of that is the reception room, and to the immediate right of that is the Oval Office. The president doesn't actually work there. He's got another office nearby where he can get some real work done.'
'Interesting,' said Knox as he continued to pace the room, shooting glances here and there. All three men were dressed in suits. Alex and Knox had chipped in to buy Stone some appropriate clothes and he looked distinguished, if uncomfortable in his jacket and tie.
'You sure he's going to see us?' Knox asked Alex.
'We're on the schedule. So unless war is declared or a hurricane hits somewhere, we're going to see the man.'
Knox let out a deep breath and slumped in a chair. 'Jesus, Joseph, Mary.'
As soon as he said the last name, a woman appeared and said, 'The president will see you now, gentlemen.'
In the Oval Office, President Brennan rose from behind the Resolute Desk and shook hands with all three, lingering over Alex, who'd taken a bullet while trying to prevent the president from being kidnapped in Brennan's hometown.
'Great to see you, Alex. You all recovered, I trust?'
'Yes, sir, thank you, sir.'
'I can never express how grateful I am for what you did for me back then.'
'Well, Mr. President, that's partly why we're here.'
Brennan looked confused. 'The schedule said you wanted me to meet some friends of yours?' He looked at Knox and Stone. 'These gentlemen, I'm assuming?'
'It's a bit more complicated than that, sir, if you could spare us a few minutes.'
The president motioned them to sit down in chairs set in front of the fireplace.
Alex started speaking and didn't stop for over twenty minutes. Nor did Brennan, known for being an inveterate questioner, ever interrupt him. He just sat in his chair absorbing what Alex was telling him about the events in Pennsylvania and up to what had happened at Murder Mountain and then on to the confrontation at the Visitor Center underneath the U.S. Capitol where Milton Farb had been killed and Harry Finn's son rescued. Knox took up the tale from there, and though clearly nervous in the presence of the commander in chief, his voice was strong and his details meticulous as he took Brennan through his part of the story, including Stone being denied the Medal of Honor, their time in prison and ending with Macklin Hayes' arrest.
Brennan sat back. 'My God, this is incredible. Truly incredible. I can't believe this about Carter Gray. He was one of my most trusted advisors.' He glanced over at Stone. 'And you are John Carr?'
Stone nodded. 'I am.'
'With this entity called the Triple Six?'
'Yes, sir.'
'It's amazing to me that we engaged in that sort of thing.'
'It wasn't amazing to me. I was just following orders. It was only later that my conscience got the better of me.'
'But to kill your family. To come after you like that. I'm sorry, Alex, it just doesn't sound like the people I knew.'
Stone held up the box. 'Do you mind, Mr. President? I have something here that might convince you.'
Brennan hesitated but then nodded.
Stone opened the box and took out the small recorder. He hit the play button and a voice came on loud and clear. It was Carter Gray. At Murder Mountain.
'I thought you had to give that recording back to Gray,' said Alex as he hit the stop button. 'And Finn said they had a device there that could tell if it had been duplicated, and it hadn't.'
'Before I gave the phone with the recording on it to Gray I just held this recorder up to it and copied it. Sometimes people forget all about the low-tech ways.'
He hit the play button and as they listened they came to the part that Stone had particularly wanted the president to hear. When it was over, Brennan stared at them, his face flushed.
'He was going to kill me. Carter Gray was going to kill me so he could start an all-out war with the Muslims!'
'Yes, sir,' said Stone. 'He was.'
'And you were the one who saved me,' he said to Stone. 'That was your voice on there convincing him not to do it. After the woman was killed. Who was she?'
'She was my daughter, Beth.'
Alex quickly explained to the president how Roger Simpson and his wife had come to adopt Stone's daughter.
Brennan sat back in his chair, his mind obviously whirling. 'They killed your wife and took your daughter. The man who had your wife murdered and tried to have you killed took your daughter and raised her as his own? And Gray, what he did to you. What he almost did to me. It's… it's beyond horrible, John. I'm rarely at a loss for words but I don't know what to say.'
'There's something else I need to tell you, sir.'
Knox and Alex both took deep breaths and then held them, their bodies tense as boards.
'What's that?'
'Carter Gray and Roger Simpson were both murdered, Mr. President.'
'Yes, I know that-' He broke off and locked gazes with Stone.
'I see,' he said. 'I see.' He sat back and looked over at the fireplace.
Nearly a minute went by and no one broke the silence.
Finally, Stone said, 'Thank you for your time, sir. I plan to turn myself in to the authorities. But I wanted you to hear the story from me first. After thirty years of lies I thought it was finally time for the truth.'
As Stone and the other two rose to leave, Brennan looked up at him.
'Listen to me, Carr. You've put me in a difficult position. Probably the most agonizingly difficult spot I've ever been in, and that's saying something for a two-term president. And yet with all that, I don't think it approaches the pain that you've suffered at the hands of a country that should have known better.' He paused and stood. 'I tell you what I'm going to do, since I wouldn't even be alive now and this country would be in the middle of a disastrous war but for your efforts, I'm going to take this under advisement. I don't want you mentioning this to anyone, much less turning yourself in. Do you understand me?'
Stone looked at Alex and then Knox and then back at the president. 'Are you sure, sir?'
'No, I'm not sure,' he snapped. 'But that's the way it's going to be. I don't condone vigilantism. Never have and never will. But I also have a heart and a soul, and a sense of honor and decency despite what some of my political opponents claim. So until you hear from me you are to do
'Yes, sir,' said an obviously surprised Stone.
As they turned to leave Brennan added, 'Oh, and it'll be a long term of taking it under advisement. So long in fact and with all the other issues I'm confronted with as president, it is highly likely that I may completely forget all about it. Good-bye, Carr. And good luck.'
As they closed the door behind them, both Knox and Alex exhaled in relief.
'Holy shit, do I need a drink,' said Knox. 'Come on, I'm buying.'
