Chapter 12

Constance pushed me down the hall to a meeting room that didn't exist when I was president. It was another one of the improvements made after I was assassinated. As she carefully pushed me through the open double doors, her boss, a man whose name I can never remember, interrupted the meeting to acknowledge me.

"Folks, this is Angela Dryden. You all know precisely who she is and why we will all be especially careful and aware, with her as part of our team. Welcome Angela. We are very glad to have you working downstairs with us."

He asked me if I wished to say anything, and I declined gratefully. As the meeting went on, I realized it must be a regular Monday morning staff briefing, so I listened closely and tried not to be in the way. The mobility thing was a challenge, but the therapists were encouraged that I would not need the chair for much longer. The truth was that my legs weren't responding to therapy very quickly, and the doctors were beginning to wonder if there was nerve damage they'd missed due to my other injuries.

For the time being, I was going to be using a wheel chair because walking took a lot out of me. Even walking to the shower made me feel weak and shaky. Polly was on top of my progress, or lack thereof. She had begun to talk about taking me to Sweden to see Doctor Abrams, because the weakness could have been the result of the gunshot wounds, combined with the assault, which put it back into his hands. I was all for seeing Doctor Abrams.

When the meeting broke up, a young, happy looking, woman walked straight to us and introduced herself. "Hi, Angela, I'm Sharon Smith. I just heard that we are going to be working together for a little while, so if you don't mind, I'll push your chair back to my cubical and we can get started." Sharon was about twenty-five, thin, cute, and lively. Her blonde hair was below her shoulders, and she had a pristine complexion. Her clothes were clean, carefully pressed, but not overly expensive. This one did not try to dress to catch a big shot politician. She dressed for work.

Constance touched my arm and said, "I'll be just down the hall from you, Angela. If you need me to take you back upstairs for personal reasons, just touch the button on your necklace. It will alert me to come to you, and I am under orders to let nothing come between your needs and me." She smiled at Sharon and went to work.

Sharon took me to a never before visited corner of the Executive Office Building where we began to sort all kinds of internal communications.

Hawk was brilliant! He put me where I could scan everybody's work without raising any suspicion. The work was tedious, but I paid particular attention to the contents of reports, memorandums, and large letters, so I could look for things that didn't belong.

We worked for well over two hours when I felt the need to use the ladies room and pinched the alert button.

That's When All Hell Broke Loose!

I heard shouts, running feet, doors opening and slamming, and voices raised in alarm. I got scared because I was stuck in that chair and couldn't run if someone was coming for me. Renata wasn't more than ten steps away, and she was hovering with her gun drawn, and I could see more Secret Service Agents converging on us with their guns out.

Pretty soon I saw Shane Victorello hustling down the hallway towards us and wondered what was going on. Constance arrived about the time he did, and Rodney refused to allow anyone but Constance and Shane to enter our area. He was brutally firm about it, too.

Constance was a little out of breath when she stopped before me. Rodney looked around like he was sure that someone was about to get shot, and Shane put both arms out to calm things down, which helped considerably.

Constance spoke first. "Angela, is everything Ok, sweetheart?"

Absolutely EVERYBODY stopped to hear my answer.

"Sure. I did just what you said. I need to go ... upstairs ... and you said to squeeze this button, and it would let you know that I needed you. Did I do something wrong?"

Absolutely everybody relaxed. Shane ordered everyone back to work and came to me laughing. "We all need to know your protocols, Constance. If Angela is using her personal alarm to summon you for a bathroom break, we need another system to let us know if she in distress. You can't use the Secret Service alarms as your private call buttons.

"Angela, I am sorry we all overreacted. Everyone is trying to get used to the tightened up security, and when you used the alarm to call Constance, we were all alerted that you were in trouble and came running thinking more terrorists were in the building. Please forgive us for being so overcautious. We will come up with a better way for you to ask for help with your personal needs.

"In the meantime, please forgive us for all this uproar."

"There's nothing to forgive!" Hawk spoke firmly. "Shane your reaction was exactly the one I expect from now on. Nobody is to relax the security standards where my family is concerned. This worked perfectly, and I want it to stay at his level of intensity."

He was done giving orders and turned to me. "Did I hear you want to hitch a ride upstairs, little one?" He was smiling, everyone else forgotten for the moment.

"Yes, please..." The embarrassment was plain on my face. I felt like an idiot having the entire White House disturbed because I needed to tinkle.

"Well, then let's go upstairs. I need to talk to your mother anyway." He grabbed my chair, and the entire Executive Office Building staff, along with most of the Secret Service, scrambled to get out of his way. When we came to the elevator, it was standing open waiting for us, and when we stepped inside, the door closed instantly, taking us up to the residence.

I felt Hawk's hand on my shoulder, and he whispered, "How was the first half of your first day of work, little one?"

"It was longer than I thought it would be, because there is an enormous amount of paper going back and forth between offices. Did you know that procurement is holding up the new chairs because the woman who ordered them broke up with the man who has to deliver them? It seems ridiculous, but it's true."

We chatted as he pushed me back towards my suite. When Renata opened the doors, Constance was waiting to help me to the bathroom. "How did you beat us up here?" I asked, surprised to see her.

"Angela. I knew where you were going, and the agents downstairs called ahead to get Renata to make sure your suite was safe. By the time you got here, I had time to run up the stairs, and Renata joined Rodney in searching your suite. And here you are. So it worked perfectly."

She helped me out of my dress, because it was that time of the month, then waited outside the door while I took care of myself, then helped me back into my dress, fresh as a daisy, for the work ahead. Instead of heading for the elevator, Constance and Renata took me into the family suite. Polly and hawk were waiting at a small table, set for three, and we had lunch together like a real family.

The afternoon went better as far as how I contacted Constance was concerned. When Hawk pushed my chair down to the Executive Office Building to see for himself where I would be working, Shane was waiting with a different necklace. "Here you go, Angela. This necklace has two buttons. You only push them both if you are in trouble, feeling sick, or scared. Otherwise, push the blue one, and Constance will come immediately."