'Can you leave me alone for a moment please', Joe asked the next morning, his voice low. He was afraid he was going to cry. He knew who had betrayed him. Betrayed Jill. He was shocked but saddened too. It stung mightily.
'Sir, I don't think that's a good idea' David said, his voice calm, low, he sensed a change in the President, in his posture, he looked like he'd been kicked. 'You can stay in the corridor directly outside the doorway, I won't move from this room. I just need a minute. Please', he said looking towards his lead agent.
David demurred, he wasn't sure what was going on but Dr. Biden had taken him aside early this morning before the President was ready to leave the villa and warned him not to let her husband out of his sight. When they got to the command center the President was quiet, not his genial self at all. Sure this whole thing with the agent was going on and his mind was busy but he was almost brusque, his whole demeanor had changed when he crossed the threshold into the command center. He'd sequestered himself away after just a brief update and then had requested to see the personnel logs. Now the President wanted him to step away. The President and Dr. Bidem both looked like they were hiding something, but trying hard not to.
David thought again about the request and nodded his ascent, 'as you wish sir, I'll just be outside', he said, turning to walk away. As he opened the door he turned to Joe, 'sir ... if there's anything you need, you or Dr. Biden, you know you can just ask me right? Anything at all', he said. The President's eyes caught his and David was shocked to see a film of tears there. What the hell was going on? He wondered.
'Thank you'. Joe said, obviously fighting his emotions, 'you've no idea how much I appreciate that. Appreciate your loyalty', Joe replied. 'Always sir', David said, pressing the handle on the door and stepping outside. He stood squarely in front of the door into the room. Noone was getting past him, no matter what.
Inside Joe looked again at the schedule and dropped heavily into a nearby chair. He leaned forward and held his hands in his head. He couldn't believe the name he saw there. Pete was one of his longest serving agents, he'd been on his VP detail. He'd watched the grandkids grow up. Saw Joe and Jill up close in their personal trials, their agonies as well as their happy times. He'd been one of the first picks that Joe had personally sanctioned after the election.
There had been questions about loyalty, about who had been poisoned by the previous administration but it had never entered Joe's mind that Pete would betray him. He shook his head, annoyed now at his naivety. He had put Jill in jeopardy by his own blind loyalty to an agent who obviously didn't feel that same towards him, towards his President. How the fuck had this happened, he asked himself.
He thought back to the photos, to the agent with explosives around his neck in some hell hole in Russia. To who knows how many secret agents around the world, now vulnerable because of Pete's actions.
He squeezed the paper in his hand, crumpling it within his fist. His emotion now turning from sadness to anger, his fury now building. He stepped towards the door and opened it with such force that he startled David. 'Can you get Pete for me?', he asked. He laid a hand on David's arm. 'When he comes I want you in here with me because I may need you to hold me back from fucking killing him', Joe snarled. David stared at him in shock. He had never heard the President speak like that. But he didn't question anything, instead he answered smartly, 'yes, sir, whatever you need'.
His reply made Joe calm a little. He swallowed. Called down the corridor to Samuel, 'call my wife, tell her ... he stopped, not wanting to give the game away. 'Tell her I'll be back to her soon and that I love her', he said. That was enough, Jill would know that he was making progress, of sorts.
In the end Pete confessed everything in a torrent of words, seemingly glad to be found out, relieved that he no longer had to hide his double life. 'Sir I want to explain, to help fix this', he said. 'Fix this' Joe cut him off, fuming, 'you could have gotten my wife harmed, killed even', Joe said, 'you're a traitor to your country, to your commander-in-chief and you disgust me' he said spitting out the words. He saw Pete frown a little but he ignored him. 'You make me sick, the danger you've put our agents in. One of them is sitting with a timer around his neck, a bomb on his lap and I don't even have a fucking clue how many more are compromised around the world', Joe spat. 'I can't even pull them home or into safe houses because I have no idea what's safe and what's not right now. Any order I give I could be sending someone to their death, or worse, because you know there's a fate worse than death for an active agent caught in enemy territory don't you?' Joe asked, putting his face so close to Pete's that the other man had to step back. 'I don't even know who I can trust in this building, on my own team, my wife's team, my grandkids now that I think of it', Joe said, pausing as the magnitude of the statement he had just uttered began to dawn on him.
