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CHAPTER 85

ALEX FORD STOICALLY SURVEYED the surroundings even as he felt the buzzing in his pocket He ignored it No calls or eer to vibrate when around the president And the texting function had been taken away froether He should have just turned his phone off He eyed the guests coot there they had to pass through a series of checkpoints and boaze swiveled to the bo to the event After the explosion in Lafayette Park, the dogs were everywhere and constituted their best line of defense because they were mobile

His phone buzzed again He ignored it again If his boss saw him on the phone when he was supposed to have eyes on possible threats it would not be a pleasant day for him In fact it would probably be his last day on protection detail

He eyed the president as he took his seat in the front row The Mexican president sat down on his left There were two chairs in between the

leaders Alex watched as Carmen Escalante was escorted down the aisle, her new braces ainst the soft earth Alice Gross, dressed all in black with a veil covering her face, walked behind Escalante Gross’s four children were sitting in the row immediately behind the US president

The two presidents rose as Escalante and Gross came down the row Each man spoke a feords of condolence to the women and then everyone took their seats

Alex said a sain He could tell by the tone that this time an email had been posted to his account He looked around, spotting each member of the protection detail They were just like hiid, hands in front, staring, sweeping, trying to ferret out even the possibility of a threat before it could turn into so else, like a bullet or a bomb

His phone buzzed again He cursed again, a bit e it, if he took his tied his hand in his pants pocket, slid the phone slowly upward until just the screen appeared He thumbed his email icon

“Great,” he muttered when he sa ones, delivered less than a es were from

Oliver Stone

He glanced up, to ain, pushed a couple of buttons He edged the phone out a little es popped up They were each the sa one of them the blood had drained froers hit two keys, o and k He hit the send key and let the phone fall back in his pocket

He took a long breath as his gaze slid back to the president, the man he orn to protect He had taken an oath, just like all Secret Service agents, that he would sacrifice his life for this man A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead and slid down his face

If his friend rong? If he acted and it turned out to be a mistake? His career was probably over Not because Alex had tried to protect the president But because he had acted on the intelligence provided by a now disgraced field agent

Yet sometimes, Alex concluded, you just had to trust your friends And he did trust Oliver Stone, like he did no one else

He spoke into his radio, relaying word for hat he had just learned, leaving out only the source Then he added the warning that Stone had provided in his text “It’s probable that it will be a reoes off We need a distraction or some cover to do this Othere have no chance to pull this off”

His supervisor’s voice cah his ear bud “Ford, are you damn sure about this?”

Alex’s gut clenched as he replied, “Even if I were half sure, we can’t take a risk, sir, can we?”

He heard thewhat Alex had just done, naht do to his career if it turned out to be wrong

“God help us all, Ford”

“Yes sir”

One minute later the plan was sent across the secure line to every agent Alex checked his watch Sixty seconds He did his best to look calm and professional Whoever was behind this could easily see where all the agents were Any hint of soo off

Since this had all been at Alex’s initiation he had been given the honor of perfor the ultimate task He steeled himself A routine protection detail had just turned into soents had to prepare for and hoped with all their hearts they would never have to face

Alex counted down the seconds, his gazeback to the president At the thirty-second mark in the one-minute countdown he started toareas, as though he were sients walked down the other aisle The plan had been put together on the fly, of course, and they all had to hope it was good enough Alex eyed the large crypt ie set up for the cere to keep the adrenaline fro his motor skills

Twenty-second mark

Alex picked up his pace He was nearing the rohere the president was sitting, but his eyes weren’t on the man They were on someone else