Her Secret Service (Jane Roe 1), Jason Letts [story reading .txt] 📗

to their doors. Suddenly the portrait of Benjamin Franklin and the bust of Abraham Lincoln were looking back at her. The Resolute Desk was in front of curtains of gold and windows providing a glimpse of the partly cloudy day.

And there were people in the room too, some of them looking at the new entrants quite expectedly. Jane noticed the Secret Service agent in the room and the one just outside the door leading to the exterior colonnade, exactly where they were meant to be. The two couches had a single occupant, codename Dandelion, Vice President Harrison Jeffreys, an older man of tall stature with wavy gray hair.

“The vice president is here too,” Jane whispered.

“Oh yeah, he hangs out here all the time. Makes him feel like he’s doing something. Isn’t that right, Jeffreys?” Singh said to the now standing vice president.

“My assistance is at the pleasure of the president,” he said in a gravelly voice.

“Sir,” Singh said, approaching the desk and the man seated behind it as she pulled Jane along with her. “This is Jane Roe. She’s in charge of your Secret Service detail.”

The chief of staff’s description of her role wasn’t exactly right, but Jane was hardly able to process that because of the person who was now standing in front of her behind his desk. The youngest President of the United States to ever take office at a mere thirty-eight years old, Alex Morrin, codename Cold Turkey because in one of his early speeches he talked about America quitting its addictions, was effortlessly handsome with an athletic build, deep blue eyes, and a chiseled jaw.

It struck Jane that she hadn’t remembered to breath in some time and should probably do so again soon, but he was extending his hand to shake hers with a charming grin.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. What can I help you with? You’re doing a great job, by the way,” he said.

The comment may have meant nothing to him, and perhaps he had no knowledgeable basis for making it, but having the President of the United States tell her she was doing a good job felt like her entire existence had suddenly been validated in a way she hadn’t known that she needed. After two years working for the previous president without ever meeting her or speaking to her, she never expected to be thanked for doing her job by the person she was charged with protecting, since she was never close by. All the thanks she had ever needed was the calmness and stability that success afforded them.

Jane got ahold of herself enough to be able to return his look and shake his hand. She’d seen countless pictures of him, heard his speeches on TV, occasionally her work allowed her to watch him from afar, but being up close and directly engaging with him gave her a taste of the real magnetism he had.

“My apologies for taking up your time, Mr. President. I just needed to ask for some additional information about the biking you had planned to make sure we’re properly prepared,” she said.

A cringe came across his face as he looked away, causing a painful tweak in Jane’s heart at the assumption she’d said something wrong, but the president quickly turned his attention back to the vice president with a look of bitter discontent.

“There’s no way we can let this mess disrupt the agenda I ran on! One hundred days, that’s all you get before it’s all about the midterms. And these days you’re only likely to be able to get one bill through Congress, and that’s it. One shot at a legacy, something history will remember you for. She’s really put me in a barrel on this one,” he said.

The vice president leaned against the edge of the couch. At nearly twice the president’s age, Jeffreys could’ve been his father and had a sympathetic air to match.

“Always with your head in the clouds trying to game out what people hundreds of years in the future will think of you. It’s time to come back to the present to figure out what we can do with the cards we’re dealt. Every president has a crisis. If yours is that your wife has decided to leave, it could be worse,” he said.

President Morrin shook his head, scowling in a way that was uncomfortable for Jane to watch. She supposed she couldn’t blame him for being unable to focus on her question, but conversations between Secret Service members and their protectees were best measured in seconds and she’d already been with him for far too long.

“Tell that to the millions of women whose support I just lost. Probably a statistically significant number of men too. My approval ratings are going to sink like a stone, and then no one will give me the time of day around Capitol Hill. How am I supposed to get one of my bills through when everyone assumes I’m on track to lose reelection?”

“We’ve got problems that need to be addressed. The House and Senate are going to be inclined to act if given the right chance,” Jeffreys said. “Besides, we don’t know how the divorce is going to play out and where it’ll leave us three and a half years from now. It’s not like it’s going to be contentious. Surely Bethany would be open to making the right statements to help smooth this over.”

President Alex Morrin scoffed and began glancing around, again connecting eyes with Jane in what seemed like a search for any kind of support he could find. She smiled meekly, wishing she could blend in with the wall. He was only a couple of years older than her, and even at his age the most disconcerting thing it seemed he should be wrestling with was whether or not his team would make the playoffs or if he could replace the fan belt in his car himself.

“It’s already been far more contentious than I ever would’ve imagined. She’s blindsided me with