Above All, Honor

Chapter Four

Mac Philips looked up as his new boss, Megan Pete, walked into the command center. She commanded so much attention. It was like everyone's eyes became stuck on her like magnets. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the tall, curvaceous woman slightly in inquiry.

Agent Pete seemed pensive, but displayed none of the thinly veiled discomfort Agent Ryan had always tried to hide whenever he had an encounter with the President's daughter. However, Mac didn't expect her to reveal anything about her conversation with Miss Hamilton. He couldn't remember the last time he had met anyone quite so impenetrable. He had a feeling this was going to be a "need-to-know" basis level operation.

Agent Phillips found that he liked his boss's unspoken respect for Normani's position and her basic assumption that they were there to protect her, not to have an easy time. He was getting tired of the undercurrent of dissatisfaction and criticism that had been the daily fare around there for the last few months. So, if Megan could turn that around, he was all for her.

"Anything unexpected?" he asked as she joined him.

"Not so far. The public functions are as outlined. For the gallery opening tomorrow, I'll be inside with two others. Have two people with the car outside. That means the afternoon and evening shifts will split the extra duty."

He made a note. "Right."

"We can use some of the White House detail for the dinner on New Year's Eve. Have one team stay here to meet her plane when she returns for the parade. All of that is standard, and in the future, you can draw up the duty rosters. Just be sure I get a hard copy of who will be where."

"Done," Mac responded. He waited, wondering how Megan was going to deal with the real problem.

"Miss Hamilton will not confirm any personal plans, which puts us in a reactive mode. I do not want her to get away from us, especially not now. I have a feeling she'll be testing our new command. She is going to move, you can be sure of that. Keep a car accessible in case she grabs a cab, and have someone ready for foot pursuit, preferably a woman. If she goes to a gay bar, it might be easier if we have a woman on the inside."

"We've had lousy luck so far," Mac remarked. "Half the time we lose her in transit." The agent stood, stretching his cramped shoulders.

"That is no longer acceptable," Megan responded sternly. "I'm going home. Page me the minute she steps out her door."

"Until what time?" Mac asked as he prepared to make a note.

"Any time," Megan said with finality. "If she isn't in her apartment, I want to know about it."

"Yes, ma'am," Mac responded crisply. He watched her glance once around the room, assuring herself that all was in order before she left. He had a feeling Dawn was in for a surprise, and he was looking forward to seeing it.

...

Megan stripped as she walked through her new apartment towards the shower. She was eager to wash off the effects of her flight and the first day of her new assignment from her body and mind. The cool spray refreshed her, but did little to dispel the disquiet left from her first meeting with Normani Hamilton.

It wasn't just Normani's confrontational manner that had affected her. Megan was angry at herself for the physical response, however unwelcome, that the First Daughter had provoked in her. Megan had been aware of an insistent pulse of stimulation between her legs long after she'd left the apartment. It may have been unbidden, but she felt betrayed by her own body.

With an irritated shake of her head, the agent pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt. She could hardly be expected to control her involuntary nervous system, but here in New York, there was no discreet way to relieve it. Megan would have no choice but to simply run off the lingering remnants of her arousal.