These days, she worked in a CIA annex, far removed from the seat of power. For over five months now, she hadn’t had a glimpse of David, not even a word. It ate at her. That’s why she’d agreed so readily to Harold’s conditions—anything to get a look at David.
Why does Harold want to see me now? Why is he going to let me talk to David? What’s happened?
The limousine slowed as it approached the White House entrance. Instead of Marines, Militia guards stood at the main gate. A Militiaman in his red dress uniform checked the driver’s papers and waved them on.
Soon enough, Anna found herself escorted down familiar halls. When she’d been with David—
No, she refused to think about old times. She was finally going to see him. She should concentrate on that.
Big Militia guards walked before her and others brought up the rear. Did they fear what she might see or do while at the White House? That seemed ridiculous.
The guards brought her to a door, and her heart rate sped up as the knob turned. Director Max Harold stepped through.
“Anna,” he said. “It was so good of you to come. Please, follow me.”
They moved several doors down from the Oval Office. She hadn’t believed he would take her there. Too many meetings had happened in that room, with David running the show and Anna taking notes.
Max wore a stylish brown suit, she observed. He’d gained weight and he walked with greater assurance than before. As they entered a room, he indicated a green sofa with red cushions. Each had a green M stenciled on it.
“Thank you,” she said, sitting, tucking the edges of her skirt under her legs. She wore nylons because David liked them. After all this time, she wanted to be appealing to him. Despite the hard months of loneliness, of not knowing if he lived or died, she’d kept herself fit and trim. She wore the precise amount of makeup that David liked.
“Where is he?” she asked.
Harold sat in a chair, putting his elbows on the rests. The Militia guards closed the doors, and the director and she were alone.
I wonder if snipers are watching us through hidden cameras. Probably. Harold would record everything. It’s his way. I have to be careful what I say.
Harold crossed his legs. “I afraid we’re going to have to go over a few ground rules first.”
“He’s all right, isn’t he?”
Harold smiled. “That depends on your definitions. It always has.”
“Yes…?”
“Anna,” he said, as if they had been longtime friends. “This is a delicate situation. I’ve debated for some time the right way to go about this. I want to make this as easy as I can on you. But… certain realities must be noted and followed.”
“Okay,” she said.
His smile broadened. “Some might say… that I’ve acted with haste in taking over.”
“I don’t say that.”
“You don’t do so openly, and that’s one of the reasons I decided to bring you in on this.” The smile disappeared, showing it had only been mechanical. “I realize you don’t approve of me, you never have. I suppose I’ve never approved of you, either. Your presence softened the President at the times he needed to be hard. That weakened him—and it allowed me to do what had to be done.”
“David was your friend.”
“Please, Anna, let’s not be melodramatic. This is the pinnacle of power, once the most important position in the world. Now the United States vies with many other nations for dominance. At the moment, China has the first seat. We must tear them off it and sit back at our rightful place at the table of nations.”
“What does any of that have to do with me seeing David?”
“Everything,” Harold said. “Shall I be frank?”
The question frightened her. She wanted him to be nice and polite. Frankness: how it ever helped her?
“Yes, please, be honest with me,” she said.
Harold glanced at his perched foot, waggling it. He put his fingertips together and gave her another smile. “David collapsed because his heart gave out. The sight of the Chinese holocaust—”
“I was there,” she heard herself say. “I remember what happened.”
Harold chuckled before becoming serious. “I run the White House now. McGraw is busy chasing a dream with strategic and logistical thoughts. I wish him luck, but he is no longer in the driver’s seat vying for power. Chairman Alan is too didactic and dry to rule. He knows how to organize, but he cannot impassion people. Perhaps I’m too direct, too… well, smart for people to love me. They loved David Sims, though. He has the common touch. He was able to inspire a nation. Naturally, his PR people had something to do with that.”
Anna sat back in her chair as the air expelled from her lungs.
“Are you well?” Harold asked.
“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “You want to use me.”
His gaze bored into her. “Yes, honesty is the best policy. You’re quite right. I want to use you. We’re the big boys and girls, and we can face unpleasant truths.”
“What have you done to him?”
“I’ve keep him drugged, Anna, heavily sedated. Some of my people have suggested I kill him, but—” Harold shook his head. “This isn’t China and I’m not Hong. David Sims was a great man once, a great patriot.”
“You’ve drugged him?”
“He’s grown thin and become irritable, at least when he’s awake.” Harold pressed his lips together. “That’s bad timing, bad timing for America. We need him to make a public announcement.”
“Why?” she asked. “You haven’t needed him before this.”
“It’s different. We’re… we’re about to invade Manchuria in joint alliance with Russia.”
“How many people do we have over there?”
“That’s classified information.”
“But—”
“I want him to stir the nation, Anna. I want the old David Sims. Remember the speech he gave the night he turned the ABM lasers on the world’s communications satellites?”
David Sims had sat erect onscreen, his manner firm, his eyes alight, with the signature American flag pinned to his navy blue suit.
“Yes,” Anna said, “I remember.”
“That was fantastic. He stirred the people and made them proud again,” Harold said, tapping his heart. “I want him to do that again.”
She frowned. Why bother with something like that? Then it began to dawn on her. David would give Harold’s action legitimacy. Maybe there was a turf war going on she didn’t know about. Maybe McGraw needed David to rouse the Americans over there. Harold could hold this over the general’s head. Yes, Harold wanted this because it would help him in some manner. The question became, should she help him get what he wanted? Ah. Another question arose. What would Harold give or pay for her help?
“I can do as you ask,” she said. “But I’m going to want something in return.”
“Really? Seeing your lover again isn’t enough?”
“We all have our motives for the things we do,” Anna said.
Harold sat up, and he became more interested. “That’s true enough.”
“I love David, but…”
“But what?” he asked, sharply.
“Director Harold, I have my secrets and you have yours. I’m not prying into yours.”
He grunted, and he watched her more closely, maybe with more respect. “What’s your price?”
Yes, she’d guessed correctly. People see what they want to. Harold lusted for power, and he would find it normal if others did as well.
“I want access,” she said.
“I don’t have room on my staff for another—”
“Not access to you, Director, but to David.”
“Oh. I see. No…”