Chapter 1

Standing on the side of the raised dais in this crowded banquet room while the attendees were being served a dinner, Joe Brady wondered how many more of these type of events he would attend before he retired. His eyes moved from side to side as he observed the diners and he thought that in his thirty years as a Secret Service agent he must have attended somewhere around two thousand of these types of functions.

The reason Joe was here tonight was that the man Joe had sworn to protect, the man Joe would take a bullet for, the President of the United States William (Will) Cunningham was one of a number of people that were sitting at the dais that was on a raised platform. He was schedule shortly to say a few words to a gathering of these affluent business leaders. Will or as the service referred to him, the Eagle, was in the third year of his presidency and had just announced he would be seeking re-election. The support and political contributions from these business leaders were needed to help Will in his re-election efforts.

A speaker had just given a glowing introduction to Will which caused a loud round of applause and a few chants of "Four more years, four more years."

Will was all smiles as stood by the podium and waited for the applause to die down.

Just as it quieted down a waiter who appeared to be from the Middle East and was in front of the dais let a tray he was carrying fall to the floor causing a large noise of dishes breaking which hushed the crowd. The waiter then ripped open his jacket which showed him to be wearing a suicide vest under the jacket and he shouted "Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar!"

Standing no more than ten feet from the President and looking at him he continued by saying, "Mr. President you have invaded my country and killed women and children and when I press this button you..."

Before he could say anything more a loud bang was heard, it was the sound of a gun being fired. The loud sound bounced off the walls in the room causing some people to scream. The attendees saw a large part of this waiter's head explode as the bullet left his head and his legs buckled as he fell to the ground. What he was holding in his right hand fell to the ground alongside him.

Jeff Powers the service agent who was at the other end of the dais and an expert in bombs ran to this downed waiter and immediately secured the triggering device and quickly checked to see if there were any wireless triggering devices. Not finding any other triggering devices he raised a clinched fist with his thumb up and gave it a few pumps indicating things were safe.

Joe had also gone to the man to confirm that he was no longer a threat and he could see that the 9mm hollow point bullet which he had fired into the waiter's head had done its intended job. The killing power of this type of bullet which Joe had hoped never to use is why Joe had them loaded in his handgun.

In his earpiece he could hear someone frantically saying, "Evacuate the Eagle, Evacuate the Eagle!"

Joe could see the agents coming for the President but the Eagle put his hands out, palms toward the agents telling them to stop. He also tried to calm the pandemonium which broke out by saying into the microphone, "Please calm down... , please people... , please calm down. Everything is going to be okay, the danger has been taken care of. Please calm down and keep your seats."

His words seem to have the desired affect and calmed down the panicky diners.

Continuing Will said, "Well it looks like there was someone here who wasn't going to vote for me" which evoked some cautious laughter from the crowd.

"That's the last funny remark I am going to make because this is not a funny situation. It's a tragic situation and something we need to face and realize that we are at war with terrorists, people who feel that taking lives and giving their life is for the greater good. I don't know about all of you but after this I could use a good stiff drink. The authorities have some work to do here so why don't we all moved to the room where we had our before dinner cocktails and we can have an after dinner drink. I think all of us could use one."

Someone shouted out, "Amen to that."

Will's coolness in his reaction to this incident brought a round of applause from the guests as they stood to go to the adjoining room.

Joe's immediate supervisor Brad Flinger came up to Joe and knowing Will's sense of humor said, "Thank god he didn't say something like "Clean up on aisle ten" or words to that effect. He would never hear the end of it if he said something like that. That was a hell of a shot you made Joe, what caused you to take it.

"I didn't think anyone was going to be able to talk to the man out of what he was going to do. If I missed with the shot and he was able to press the button that was the end of most of us here anyway. I didn't see where there were any other viable alternatives. The head shot was the only thing I could think of doing to stop him. It probably was a lucky shot with it being an instant kill shot but that was my intent.

Brad and Joe were joined by Matt Daniels the President's Chief of Staff and Diane Rafferty the Press Secretary. Diane said, "This is going to be all over the news if it isn't already, what should I say?"

Brad said, "Just tell it like it is, that there was an attempt on the Presidents life by a suicide bomber and the Secret Service was able to stop the attack. It is our sworn duty to protect the President and we were successful in doing that."

"And what about Joe?"

"Please ask the media not to identify Joe specifically by name and only that it was an agent who fired the shot that killed the bomber. Say that the President is asking them to do that. Don't threaten them to do that but just appeal to their patriotism. Tell them the reason is that if they identify Joe that could put his life in danger if our friend lying here has any comrades who will want to avenge his death."

Joe and Brad after a little more discussion of the need to investigate as to how this man managed to get in wearing a suicide vest went into the room where the group had moved to. Joe tried to be like a fly on the wall and not attract any attention. He was successful in doing that for a time. Joe was put into the spotlight when the President after having a short conversation with Brad walked up to Joe and shaking his hand simply said, "Thanks."

That gesture by the President identified Joe as the agent who fired the shot which resulted in a large number of people coming up to Joe and also expressing their gratitude for what he had done. They realized Joe's quick action had probably saved their lives.

Brad observed what was going on with the people thanking Joe and broke in to tell Joe to take off and go home. He said they had sufficient staff there to provide adequate protection.

Later that evening at home Joe had a lot to think about. This was the first time in thirty years that he had to fire his gun in performance of his sworn duty. Taking another's life even justified as this one was did not give Joe a good feeling. Joe knew because he had shot this man that he was going to be required to meet with a shrink for counseling. Until the shrink was satisfied that Joe was unaffected by the shooting and only then could Joe return to active duty.

Joe also knew that he shortly would be submitting his papers to take an early retirement. The arthritis he had developed in his knees, hips and arms was starting to limit what he could do physically in handling his duties. This was a young person's job and reluctantly Joe admitted to himself that he was no longer a young person. There was always the option of requesting a desk job but doing that type of work while a necessary function, was not something Joe wanted to do. Joe could probably find some employment in civilian life if he wanted to keep working as ex-secret service agents were in high demand by security firms.

Joe had never married but he did come close one time. The travelling and the long days did not make for having a happy marriage. He did have a few affairs but that's just what they were, affairs. What to do after retiring was a decision Joe by himself would have to make.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought what he needed was a long vacation from work. He seldom took any vacation days while he was with the service. He had seen a lot of the big cities in this country mainly because of his duties but he hadn't seen much of this country except for those big cities. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Tetons and all the other National Parks people had said were worth seeing; Joe hadn't seen any of them. He had also not seen much of small town living either. Well, that was something he was going to correct.

About three months later on the day of his fifty fifth birthday, that was the effective date for Joe to take his early retirement. He was sitting at a desk that day in the mid-afternoon when Annie Collins who was the Director's secretary came up to him. She said the Director was busy right now with some important phone calls about the First Lady's trip to Europe. Annie said she would tell Joe when the Director was free so she could do the exit interview with Joe.

It was close to three when Annie signaled Joe that he could now see Director Carol Harris.

Joe didn't know Carol that well since she had only been in her position for nine months. What he did know in that short time was that she seemed to be competent and was a no-nonsense type of leader. She had replaced the previous Director who resigned under pressure because of the scandal involving agents and prostitutes in France. Joe remembered the first time he met Carol was at a general meeting that was held where she was introduced to all the agents.

He remembered her words when she addressed the group. After saying the usual bit of being happy to be here she went right for the jugular when she said in referring to the recent scandal, "If any of you cannot learn to keep it in your pants with the pants zippered then this is not the place for you. Either conduct yourself properly at all times and above reproach or don't let the door hit you in the ass when you leave as you aren't going to be working here any longer."

Her comments Joe thought were right on point and gave Joe instant respect for her.

In her office Joe handed her his handgun, his badge and his identification. She thanked him for his years of service and said his leaving was going to be a loss for the department. She told him to enjoy his retirement and that if she could ever do anything for him to let her know.

Joe thanked her for those nice words and also for honoring his wishes about him not wanting to have a retirement party or making a big-to-do about him retiring.

Carol said, "Well that's what you wanted but I think it was a mistake as you are well liked here. If you have a minute I would like to show you some new communication equipment we just got in. Come with me, it's in the conference room.

Joe walked with her to the room and when he opened the door he heard a large number of voices holler out, "Surprise!"

In the room were a large number of people to include the President, the First Lady, all the agents, the administrative assistants and some people that Joe didn't know. Most of them were laughing at Joe's reaction and the surprised expression on his face.

The President took the lead when he said, "I know you didn't want to make a big thing about retiring but the First Lady here overruled you. She said your outstanding service is something we all needed to acknowledge and honor. Now I know you put your papers in to retire but unfortunately that is something that is not going to happen. You should know that today, I signed an executive order placing you permanently on fulltime lifetime service in an unassigned position with the Secret Service. You will be free to do the travelling you want to do but you will have all the rights privileges and salary of being an active agent. Annie, can you please come here?"