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

going to go. Signing a new lease when her position was going to change didn’t make sense. Considering there was only one more day left before she had to beat feet, the likelihood of squatting in a hotel room and tossing her boxes in storage was rising rapidly.

She knew a couple of guys who might be interested in helping her move, but it’d been so long since she’d talked to them that they also might not remember her name. The Secret Service had taken over her life to a degree that other than her small family everything outside of that had withered.

The unsettled agitation she felt compelled her to save the ice cream and cartoons for a little later, opting instead to spend some time on a floor mat performing some exercises. Finding a hotel with a gym or a better neighborhood where she could run on warm evenings hit the top of her wants list.

Jane was upside down with her head and arms on the mat and her feet straight up in the air when a loud knock at the door startled her.

She was unused to visitors and had no idea who it could be. Maybe she was due for another break-in and the boxes would make the theft expeditious.

After flopping over on the map, Jane pushed herself up and get to the door. Through the peephole, it was difficult to see exactly who it was, but she had an idea from the black glasses and suit. When she opened the door, it was Dedan standing there with his hands clasped in front of him like he was standing alert at his station.

“Oh, hey, what’s going on?” she said. She’d been so preoccupied with her own situation and had divested herself of so much of her duties that she couldn’t even remember what Dedan's schedule looked like for the evening shift. Perhaps he’d decided to stop by on his own after work. She hadn’t been aware that he knew where she lived.

“Ms. Roe, please come with me,” he said as if they hadn’t seen each other a thousand times.

“You know you can call me Jane,” she said, but being expected to go out when she only had on some workout clothes bothered her more. Her first thought was that she was getting arrested for something, but being dragged back to headquarters to meet with the deputy director or some others seemed just as bad.

“Jane,” he said, some urgency in her voice. Whatever it was, she would have to find out.

“Yeah, let me just find something else to change into,” she said, trying to remember which of her boxes she’d stuffed her clothes.

“It’ll be alright. We should go now. Come on,” he said.

That he’d needed to tell her it would be alright made her more sure than ever that it wasn’t alright. Still, she knew better than most where resisting a member of the Uniformed Division led. At least she was able to grab her handbag with her phone before closing the door on her way out.

She followed Dedan along the hallway and down the stairs to the ground floor. New questions constantly appeared in her mind, but she couldn’t bring herself to say any of them to the man’s back.

Her building’s front doors gave way to the dark street, where lights reflected against the sleek roof of one of the Secret Service’s limos. Jane stopped, still trying to puzzle it out. Odds were they wouldn’t be carting her away to a holding center in this thing, but there weren’t too many people who could just drive them around taking people for rides here and there either.

Dedan stood by the vehicle and pulled open one of the rear doors. Laughing to herself, Jane thought she was being treated like a protectee for a moment.

“Thank you,” she said to Dedan as she got in.

The limo’s cab was otherwise unoccupied. As she sunk into the plush seating, she recalled that the last time she’d been in something like this was the time when she’d kissed Alex. It seemed like a distant memory, one that remained with her as the vehicle started to move.

She asked where they were going but got no response. Fortunately she knew the layout of D.C. well enough that she was able to quickly put together their destination. Somehow in this town all roads led to the White House, but she couldn’t sort out why she was going there. And why now?

Taking a deep breath, she started to put it together. The men in her detail had gotten wind that Vale had thrown the OIG report into the dustbin, and they were carting her down to their office at W-16 for a surprise celebration. It was good she’d waited on the ice cream, since they’d expect her to eat cake. Peering at the back of Dedan’s head through the tinted glass, she smirked. These were good guys to work with. She’d miss them.

Her theory only grew firmer as the limo eschewed the main gate for the special West Wing entrance, a narrow drive ending in a tight loop. Dedan opened her door once they’d come to a stop, and she was whisked into the building without so much as a sniff from any of the other agents at their stations.

But instead of dropping down the stairs, they led her past the press secretary’s room and around the cabinet room. The next thing she knew she was being nudged out into the Rose Garden. Dedan was no longer following her. They must’ve pulled some special favors if they were going to spring their surprise party on her here.

Scant light filtered through from inside the White House, just enough to allow her to see the blooming roses, true to season. Once her eyes adjusted, she spotted a shadowy figure lurking in the rear of the enchanting space. There would be no party, no celebration, no cake. This was something else.

Her heart skipped a beat. All of this was so that she