The Invitation(47)
“Oh, he’ll pull the trigger. He’s done it many times. He used to be a sniper in the Marines.”
“How are you gunna get him in close enough?” Senator Fields asks.
“Oh I'll get em in close. He’ll have a security clearance. I'll get him in and everthing he's gunna need. We’ll make sure of that.”
“It’s for the good of the country, Paul.”
The two men continue talking as they pull away into the streets of Washington.
Later today, at his home in North Carolina, Todd Keniston will get a phone call recruiting him for the most important assignment of his life.
Chapter Fifteen
The scene at Olympic Stadium in Miami this morning is very different from what it was last night. The Olympic Games that by now should be fully underway, like most other general human activity, have been unexpectedly postponed, as the ongoing drama that has completely upstaged everything else plays itself out. For those who directly watched what happened last night, the aftermath of those remarkable events is decidedly anticlimactic. The early morning light has a sobering effect on all, as the intense excitement of the night before has given way to subdued anticipation of what is to come next. A pending sense that what happens tonight will be every bit as dramatic as last night is widespread. Everyone seems to be waiting for the night sky. Many who were present last night having left, and thinking to return in the morning, find they are prohibited from doing so. Though television cameras have been allowed to stay, the area around the spacecraft has been cordoned off to the general public.
Worldwide attention remains focused on the strange craft that millions saw descending from the sky so dramatically the night before. Considering its functional capabilities, it seems smaller than it should be. Measuring no more that eighty feet wide, it has a perfectly circular shape, with its tallest point around twenty feet high. The lines, and contour of its silhouette are soft and rounded. No part of the craft is touching the Earth. Looking under it, a full foot of space separates it from the ground. It’s completely silent. No seams or edges in its surface can be seen that might indicate an entrance point. Its ability to change its own shape, color, and form is uncanny. As incredible as seeing this object is, the question foremost in everyone’s mind is the still unexplained presence of the President of the United States, who remains seated near the strange craft.
People have noticed a peculiar change in the physical demeanor of President Myers. Besides his steadfast refusal to leave, he’s been strangely reticent to talk to anyone but his wife Carol, who is now soundly sleeping in the comfortably furnished tent courteously provided by the U.S. Army, and his new found sitting companion Allen Forbes, the lead Secret Service agent who refused to leave the President’s side.
Adamant in his determination to stay, the President has made clear that his intention to remain is unshakable, and so the general situation remains something of a stalemate between security personnel who want to remove the President from any possible danger, and the President himself who will not allow that to happen, and who apparently has the power to enforce his will. All are consigned to wait for the next act to begin in this strange ongoing drama. Whatever happens, Allen Forbes, the lead Secret Service agent who sat all night with the President, will remember that experience for the rest of his life. When he mentioned in passing that he majored in nineteenth century American history when he was in college, and was an avid amateur historian, a conversation of considerable depth began. Starting with a masterful elucidation of pre-Civil War history, followed by a highly detailed chronology of the conflict, the President’s intimately detailed knowledge was comprehensive. When Allen quizzed him repeatedly about various events that occurred during the war, he quickly discovered that although his own mastery of the subject was considerable, he had encountered a mind whose detailed knowledge of the topic was voluminous. Listening to the description of Lincoln’s first inaugural address, and the subsequent time line of the war’s history was a personally compelling intellectual experience. The detailed accuracy of every battle, and its effect on the course of the war, had both the authenticity of a first person account, and the scholarly erudition of professional academic objectivity. When the first rays of the morning sun began streaking over the horizon, the conversation was still continuing. Acknowledging what for him has been a potent tutorial, Allen asks the President, “Sir, how do know these things?
“By having a curious mind, like you Allen, History is very important. It provides a background, and context for everything that’s happening around us.”