Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 43: Meeting Preparations
Marsha Poe was surprised that she didn’t feel tired as she was escorted into the conference room. She had taken a red-eye flight to Washington, on which she had only caught a few hours of sleep. She was nervous at having to brief President Mario DeSantis and his trusted people on what they had planned for the coming week.
As she took her seat at the foot of the table, she was surprised to see both Al Simpson, the Secretary of Defense, and Bob Alter, the Attorney General, and her one step below the President’s boss, both smile and give her a friendly nod. When she looked at the President at the head of the table, he also gave her a friendly nod before looking at someone behind her.
“Stan, will you take the seat beside Agent Poe? You are now part of the meeting, not security.” He returned his attention to Marsha. “Stan Jamison is the head of my Secret Service detail. He will be the primary person that you will be working with for security of the meeting. He has the misplaced notion that I will be the most important person at the meeting. I have spoken with him about that a number of times, but he keeps returning to that belief. I don’t believe that I’m even in the top five.”
Marsha replied without thinking. It was one of the items she had planned to mention at the meeting. “Sir, we believe that you aren’t in the top five targets, but you are one of the four most important people that will be attending. Our thoughts are that the Secret Service should concentrate on ensuring yours and other government officials’ safety. Our plans are to ensure the safety of the Ancients.”
“What about Ashley and Sarah?” Al Simpson asked.
“They have declared themselves part of the security. I’m not sure if they would have gotten away with it if Mark Sawyer had been at the meeting, but even Jinghua agreed after a lively discussion. No one was happy with the idea but the two of them. Working together, they are a lot more than either one is alone. I think you know something about that.”
The President saw that he was not the only one who smiled at the memory of phone conferences with the girls. He looked around the table to gauge how everyone was taking the news. It wasn’t the whole Cabinet; he was still unsure who he could fully trust among the ones not there. It wasn’t for any particular reason. He just suspected that Omara had people that they didn’t know about. “Why don’t we hear what you have to tell us, then we can build upon that?”
“Next item. Lenya Tokmakov, the head of the Russian government, asked her grandmother Jinghua if we could supply some bodyguards. Sergio Shiskin, Lenya’s nephew, and his ‘Russian’ bodyguards are meeting his aunt Lenya when she arrives from Russia. Lenya is providing their Russian identification, and the Sawyer’s special computer group has taken care of the computer records. This is a list of their names.” Marsha passed copies of the list to the President, Secretary of State Christine Santry, Secretary of Defense Al Simpson, and Stan Jamison, who was seated beside her. “This allows us to put eight more of those who have undergone the change into the meeting.”
Al looked at the list and recognized some of the names. “SEAL Team 5. They haven’t had any time to practice this.”
“They started by escorting Sergio to New York. Eidetic memory is very useful for maintaining a disguise as well as remembering what you planned to present at a meeting.” Marsha was smiling.
Sergio Shiskin, who was guarded by Stepan Zolotov, was waiting for his aunt. The rest of his security people were either outside the passenger security area or with the vehicles. They were at JFK International Airport in New York, waiting for the Aeroflot flight to disembark.
Sergio glanced over at CPO Steve Zolotov. No, he had to remember to call him Stepan. He was still surprised how easily he and the other SEALs had assumed the role of Russian security men. From his experience owing to his father’s, his uncle’s, and now his aunt’s positions, he was familiar with those types of people. He had made a few suggestions, but they had all been minor.
“Sir, they are starting to deplane.” Stepan’s Russian had a St. Petersburg accent.
Sergio looked and saw his Aunt Lenya entering the passenger area, followed by four very large men who looked very uncomfortable in suits. He recognized Yegor Filenkiv, the mobster to whom his uncle Dmitry had introduced him. They looked like the men that they were not like the men that the SEALs were portraying. He saw his aunt heading straight towards him and remembered that she was now the head of the Russian government, so he held out his hand for her to shake.
Lenya laughed. “That is no way to greet your aunt.” She kissed him on both cheeks and then wrapped him in a fierce embrace.
Sergio was glad that he had received the Young Again change. His aunt Lenya was stronger than she had ever before let him know. “Aunt Lenya, this is Stepan Zolotov. The rest of my guards didn’t come through security. There were problems with them carrying their weapons.”
“I will have a talk with the TSA. They have diplomatic rights to carry weapons to guard us. I know the paperwork got mixed up, but I brought replacements.” Lenya handed Stepan a zipped bag. “Make sure that these papers are correct. If any are not, I will have them replaced when we are at the UN embassy. I need to get a secretary for these details. No, Sergio. You will have that job. It will be a good way to teach you things that you need to learn.” She turned to Filenkiv and motioned him over. “Yegor. This is Stepan Zolotov. He will be in charge of the combined protection for Sergio and me. Sergio will be working with me, so there shouldn’t be any problems. I would like you personally to guard Sergio when I send him on errands. I believe you have met his old girlfriend, Sarah, and her friend, Ashley. He may need to visit them for me. I assume that won’t be a problem.”
“No, Madame President. I would look forward to seeing them again.”
“Good. Stepan, we will make a short visit to our UN embassy, then we will drive to Washington. I have slept plenty on the flight here.”
“Yes, ma’am. Yegor, have your men flank and follow us. I will lead the way to the vehicles that we secured. My people will cover us on the way there.” Stepan addressed Lenya. “If you will follow me, we will see how soon you will be able to relax with your family.”
“Yes, it is something that I am looking forward to.” She was able to hide the fact that she was a little concerned about meeting her great-grandmother and her great-aunt.
Jim Pierce turned from the window where he, Sally, and Jimmy had been standing admiring the view of the White House with the Washington Monument in the background to answer the knock at the door. When he opened the door, he found Sarah and Jenny with two food carts. He waved them in.
“Jason checked the carts for bombs before he let them on the elevator. We took over when we met him so that he can get the one for Lyani’s room.” Sarah didn’t mention Jaia, who with her husband, Tony, were staying with Lyani.
“Thanks.” Jim paused. “Sarah, you should have this suite.”
“Dad, were you thinking you and Mom should take the junior suite that Jenny and I share, which would leave me, Jenny, and Jimmy here, or were you going to give them the junior suite?”
Jim was not sure which way to answer, then realized that there was a third choice. “Well, you and Jenny could stay with us here, and Jimmy...”
“What we have is the best solution. Jenny and I have a lot to discuss.” She smiled over at her brother, who had just started to give Jenny a hug. Jimmy looked first at Sarah, then Jenny. “Our view might not be as good, but it is better than the one we had in Hawaii.” She had never mentioned the worry about the sniper at that hotel.
“Where’s Bert?” Her mother asked.
“He and John are joining the others touring the museums and art galleries. Why didn’t you join them?”
“We’ve been here before with you and your brother. It’s a beautiful day, so we talked your brother into him and Jenny joining us, if she agrees. We plan to walk over so we can see more of the city. We will look for a local restaurant to have dinner at when we walk back.”
“You don’t want to have dinner here?” Sarah was surprised.
“Have you seen the pictures of the food they serve? It looks a little too fancy for us, plus a street restaurant will give us more of a feel of the city.” Jim was shaking his head.
“I agree with Dad. I think that we will have plenty of chance to eat here. It is supposed to rain in a couple of days, so I want to show Jenny the city. I was only twelve when we were here before.”
Jenny lifted up the cover on one of the meals and started laughing. “I see what you mean by fancy. I’ve only seen something like this on a food show.”
Doctor Marjolaine Tuilier, accompanied by Cindy Wong, Mei-Xing Wong, and Brian Jones, was admitted into the room where French President Gerard Descoteaux was meeting privately with British Prime Minister Henry Russell and his wife Nancy.
“President Descoteaux, I didn’t mean to bother you while you were in a meeting.”
“Actually, our visit was timed to have the Russells here as witnesses. We just have to wait for one more before we begin. I’m Cindy Wong, my cousin Mei-Xing Wong, and Brian Wilson. I was Sarah and Ash’s martial arts instructor before the North Korean attack. They have had us doing many things since then.” Cindy turned when there was a knock at the door. “Please come in.”
René Moreaux was surprised by the female voice in English but entered anyway. He knew of Doctor Tuilier, but the black man and the two oriental women, well, one was only a young girl, surprised him. He turned to the President. “Sir, you sent me a message that you wanted to talk to me.” The surprised look on Gerard’s face told him something was wrong.
“Dani was very excited that she, her brother, and mother would be attending the Loremasters concert and getting to meet Ashley and Sarah.” Mei-Xing’s words caused René to turn and stare at her in horror.
“He will have us killed. He has done it before.” Tears came to René’s eyes.
“Why don’t you tell us what you know and what you suspect? When your family gets here, we will ensure that they are protected.” Cindy was surprised that she felt sorry for this man.
A while later, after they had heard the important parts of what Moreaux knew of the planned assassination attempt, President Descoteaux and the Russells were again alone for their meeting, but the talk was more on what they had just learned.
“It is amazing how they set that up. They timed Moreaux’s entrance perfectly.”
“They knew he was at the door before he knocked.” Nancy had been thinking more about the three people that they had met and how they had reacted to what happened. “They all three turned towards the door before he knocked. The young girl had taken some green crystal discs out of her pocket and had hold of one as if she was ready to throw it.”
“Throwing discs used in some martial arts.” Henry remembered the briefing he had gotten. “She assisted Cindy in subduing the second assassin at the martial arts competition in California. We all saw the video of what happened to the other assassin. They kept their part from becoming public. Our people only found out about it when they talked to some of the participants at the tournament. Not any of those connected to them but others who were there. Mei-Xing’s older sister and Cindy’s brother took down another assassin the day before. That attack wasn’t related to this man, Omara, but to some family dispute of another contestant.”
“I didn’t know that the American FBI employed young people?” Gerard thought he was beginning to understand what had happened.
Henry laughed. “They don’t. Those three and a lot of other young people are working for the Sawyers. No, include Sarah Pierce also. She appears to share responsibilities with the two Sawyers. She was the one that interviewed our man when he tried to get a job at their new facility in California. She straight out told him that they were not hiring anyone working for us. Then she took him on a tour of the facility and made sure that he had information for a meeting we had scheduled, which was to discuss them and what they were doing. You should have your people contact the NSA about a meeting that is planned for this week at Fort Meade.”
“Yes, Ashley Sawyer told me to have people there when I talked to her. She mentioned that it was going to cover improvements in computer security among other things. It caused quite a stir when our people found out about it. How is she connected with it?”
“She’s running the meeting. From what I understand, her people are supplying the information for upgrading computer security. You saw how they were able to make Moreaux think that you had sent for him.”
“It’s like the play that was broadcast.” Nancy remarked.
“Yes, but they have money, a lot of very good people working for them, and the American government working closely with them. It looks like they want us to work with them also.” Henry summarized.
“Yes, leaving Moreaux for my security to handle shows they were serious about us working with them and not for them.”
“I don’t think a couple of young girls have any interest in controlling governments, but I wouldn’t want to be anyone working against them. The Sawyers were almost wiped out in the bombing of the plane in Hawaii.” Nancy was hoping to meet with them earlier than planned.
“Well, we better head back to the embassy. I have to send that message to Stephen Hawking suggesting that he may want to talk to the people working for the Sawyers. He may have to update his theory of everything.” Henry Russell rose, followed by the other two.
“Yes, I need to see about getting some people here that will understand that information.” Gerard snorted. “How do you ask who might understand the physics for anti-gravity or a faster-than-light drive without mentioning either of them to people so that they know what you need?”
“I’ll ask Hawking, who he would suggest for you to ask. I don’t think that the list for the whole world would be too long.”
Ashley and Sarah were met at the door by the President as they entered the Oval Office. “I’m glad to finally meet both of you.” He shook hands with Ashley, then Sarah.
Ashley saw four unexpected people in the office. “Yes, we have been looking forward to meeting you also. I see your whole family is here.”
“I know that it is a bit irregular, but Anita would not have a peaceful afternoon if I didn’t allow them to be here to greet you also.” He stepped to the side to allow Anita and the children to greet the two girls.
“I have so many reasons to thank both of you. I think the biggest is the positive role models you are to our kids. You show that you can be smart and still be cool.” Anita’s smile showed that she really meant what she said.
“Mom! Cool?” Carmen DeSantis, who was only a year younger than Ashley and Sarah, was shaking her head as she shook Sarah’s hand.
“Do you have your knives on you?” Juan DeSantis, two years younger than his sister, asked.
“You think the Secret Service would let us have them near your dad?” Ashley asked as she shook his hand.
“Yes, they respect you a lot.” Rosita, the youngest at eleven, answered. “I talked with Michele about you. She said that she and the other agents had read reports about you.”
“I think that respect and trust are two different things.” Ashley smiled at the youngest DeSantis. “Your family is safer if the Secret Service doesn’t have to worry about what someone not acquainted with how they do things knows not to get in their way. You are taught what to do in an emergency, and I bet it’s not to help with the bad guys. If you don’t do exactly what you’re expected to do, then someone could get hurt, and it’s most likely to be them since they are there to protect you.”
Ashley’s words seemed to have an effect on the three young DeSantis. Sarah observed how the Secret Service agents were taking Ash’s advice. It appeared to be positive, with one even having to fight from smiling.
“Can you bring the knives to Thanksgiving dinner so they can be in the picture we are going to take?” Juan asked. “We wanted to get the picture today, but Dad said we needed to wait.”
“I think by then that you might want to have pictures of someone else.” Sarah looked at Mario. “Sir, if you have a photographer available, we would love to have a photo of us with your family.”
Mario understood who those someones were. “Let’s see if a photographer is available.” He turned to go to his desk and contact his secretary.
“I’ll go check on that.” Secretary of Defense Al Simpson was standing in the back since he had met Ashley and Sarah before. “Do you want a news photographer if you don’t have some available?”
“No, that may give away that we are having a meeting.”
“They saw us come in.” Ashley saw an advantage to have the press take the photograph. “We can announce that we will be sitting with your family at the Loremasters’ concert. Let’s keep it to the announcement, a photograph, and a couple of questions.”
Mario and Al were smiling at Ashley once again taking over.
Lenya Tokmakov had been surprised when told that she had guests waiting for her, so she cut short her meeting, introducing her to the embassy staff. She pointed at the Cultural Attaché, who was also the GRU station chief. “Iskra, you will come with me. Sergio and Stepan also. Ambassador Vetrov, I will meet with you later to explain what is going on.” She nodded to Iskra to show them the way.
Iskra had heard how Lenya had eliminated those she considered her enemies. She was scared, being unsure what was going on. She hadn’t shared her concern with anyone, even Mikhail Vetrov. When she got to the door, she opened it and let Lenya enter first. When she followed her in, she was surprised to see a young woman dressed like an American college coed that looked to be Lenya’s younger sister. Lenya rushed and embraced the young woman.
“Grandmother!” Lenya’s words were in Russian.
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