“Jeez, don’t say that to a Secret Service agent.That’s our greatest nightmare.”
Sam wouldn’t have expected to laugh just then, but it exploded out of her chest and had Vernon chuckling, too.
“Don’t make me laugh.”He attempted a stern expression.“That’s not one bit funny.”
“We specialize in gallows humor around here.”She gestured to the morgue.“Look at where we are.”
He smiled wearily.“Let’s get you home, and I’ll see what I can do about a visit to the hospital.”
“Thank you for everything, Vernon.”
“You’re welcome, Sam.”
He spoke into the microphone attached to his earpiece.“Are we clear?”After a pause, he said, “Let’s go.”
When he pushed opened the door to outside, Sam was stunned to see a swarm of agents waiting for them.
As he held the back door of the SUV for her, Sam said, “What the hell?”
“Common response to an incident in the field.”
After he closed the door, Sam sat back against the seat, processing the impact of being part of an “incident in the field.”A sense of weariness overtook her as it became clear she was in for yet another fight to continue doing the job she loved.
Chapter Fifteen
Surrounded by his closest advisers in his private office next to the Oval, Nick watched the live coverage of the rescue mission in Juneau that’d determine whether the people inside the building had survived the mudslide.
His emotions were all over the place after hearing that Sam had had yet another near miss on the job.He’d prefer to be watching this alone, especially if the news was bad.But Terry, Derek, Christina and Harry had asked to be with him, along with White House photographer Adrian Fenty, who’d record the moment for history.
Normally, Nick welcomed having his friends around, but he wasn’t himself at the moment.All he could think about was what it would feel like to hear that Sam had been killed in the line of duty.
And while he knew it was a masochistic exercise, it was one he indulged in after every close call.Imagining the worst helped him prepare for the reality, should it ever occur, or that’s what he told himself, anyway.He’d relaxed somewhat since she’d had the Secret Service detail, secure in their ability to protect the most important person in his life.But today’s events had exposed vulnerabilities that would keep him awake at night for reasons that had nothing to do with his insomnia.
Those vulnerabilities fueled his nightmares.
This was the downside of loving someone so much that your very life and well-being depended upon her coming home in one piece at the end of every day.
Agent McFarland had nearly given his life for her today, and Nick would be forever grateful to him and Vernon and the others who worked so hard to keep her safe.
But the close call was yet another reminder that no system was foolproof.
“Nick?”
Terry’s voice stirred him out of his dark thoughts.
“They’re about to breach the door to the gym.”
Nick sat up straighter and took a sip from his glass of the bourbon he’d poured for himself and the others.
Christina had declined, due to her pregnancy, but she’d joked about wanting to sniff the bottle to calm her nerves as they waited to find out if close to three hundred and fifty people had survived or perished.
“I try to imagine what this must be like for the parents,” Derek said.“But I can’t go there.”
“It’s got to be unbearable,” Christina said.
The mud was so thick that cell phone signals couldn’t permeate it to connect with phones inside.
An entire structure had been constructed around the main doors to the gym to protect rescuers as they burrowed their way through mud that was twenty feet deep in places.
