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But she was confused by some aspects of Mercy’s reports These rotters … they were obviously victi very like it, but she’d i the air, not taking a drug What on earth had happened in Seattle?

For that matter, if a catastrophe had occurred, how did people still live there? And furtherave her one clue, as did the reference to an "underground" But if there was

So she did And by the tia, she had drawn some terrible conclusions about the poisoned city of Seattle, the walking plague, and Katharine Haymes’s diabolical weapon

Nine

"Leave ent alked in his shadow "Stay right here, and don’t move until I return I can look after myself for ten minutes in the washroom, for God’s sake No one’s here today, anyway"

Secret Service indeed Couldn’t keep secrets Didn’t perforested and sent theency Better to have a receipt

Besides, Grant had bigger guns and better reflexes, never mind more experience and a faster eye In his entirely unbiased opinion, he could’ve outshot any of the young bucks they assigned to hihtest He abandoned these silent, suited ot They felt too much like crows on a laundry line Vultures in a tree

The agent knitted his brows and twisted his lips in a disapproving grimace, but he followed orders and held his position

And with one or two fierce, insistent glances backwards to make sure the man stayed put … Grant was free to roam unobserved

Des Just like everyone else these days, or so Grant thought as he walked the gleaht na This plan was ludicrous and he knew it--so ludicrous that he wanted to be sober for it, and had a headache for his pains And he’d kept it fro about it

He was the president He could wander the building on a Sunday if he liked

He was clearing his head, if anyone asked Heading for the washroo a little stroll

Or he could even tell the truth, to a point: I’ht be here

On the contrary, he very much hoped that the Secretary of State was out, and planned to stay that way for the afternoon He hoped it so much that he assumed it, partly because he’dat Fowler’s estate on the other side of town to sign and clear up some paperwork Scheduled for this very tinatures and all their attendant useful seals could be filed first thing MondayThat’s what Foanted, wasn’t it? Immediate approval and full cooperation? Well then, he could do a little work on a Sunday, and perhaps the Lord would forgive hiive him for this particular trespass But there were so s in the heavenly queue for which he was even less likely to be forgiven that he didn’t worry about it toowent as expected, he’d have at least three hours before Fowler could possibly return His office should be deserted, locked up for the Lord’s Day, with no potential spies or villains there to report to the Secretary that the president had been up to no good

And inside that office, he expected to find … what, precisely?

Evidence? Infor left in the dark by those he’d appointed to assist hireat seat of poith no power to speak of except as granted to him by subordinates

Well by God, he would not be left in the dark anyh, if he had a drink, he was reasonably certain he could do so about that headache

No Clearheaded was the only way to proceed, even if that clear head came with a cost He couldn’t seize control of his life and his adry soberhands The people had elected him They’d hired him, and they depended on him, and he’d turned over the henhouse to the foxes because he hadn’t knohat else to do

Here was a chance to redee He could trust no one--at least, no one he felt co

The buck stopped here, at Fowler’s office, where he would break the law and save the nation … or randiose delusion of an old drunk But he liked the sound of it, so he rallied around it as he quietly stalked the hallways

Yes, he could admit it to himself: His third presidential term had been weak He’d overheard whispers about how he shouldn’t have taken the post again--that he ought to have left office in favor of going on a speaking tour, or writing his memoirs, or some other entertainment to which he’d be equally ill-suited, in his opinion

But no, he’d stuck with the job Not for Fowler Not for Congress Not for the courts, nor the lawyers, nor the slick, strange men who made their overnment contracts

Not for them But for everyone else