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

“This seems like too much effort to put into an innocuous threat,” he said in a drawling voice. Nathan Carr nodded.

“The deliberate nature these techniques require strikes a chord with me too. Someone less serious wouldn’t be doing all this to cover his tracks.”

Salidas tilted his chin up as he interlaced his fingers and set them on his stomach.

“Any inference of a connection to the news of the president’s divorce?” he asked. Carr tilted his head to the side. Jane thought he had an interesting way of speaking and certainly knew what he was talking about. It made her glad he was carrying the conversation on behalf of the investigative agents.

“If you’re asking if this guy was so enraged by the president getting a divorce that he vowed to kill him, I don’t think there’s any evidence of that. But the timing strikes me as both opportunistic and misguided. Yes, it coincided with a notable moment for the president, but the comment was immediately buried by more people chiming in on the First Lady leaving him. If it hadn’t been seen by someone who recorded it before the comment was reported and deleted by Facebook, there’s a risk we wouldn’t even know it happened.”

Jane pursed her lips. In her mind she was three steps ahead to the implications of where the onus would be to defend against a threat no one would find the source of, but she did have a thought about how the story had migrated off of Facebook to begin with. She shuffled to another one of her papers, the one with the news story.

“This journalist for the Post, Olly Ip, he gets a lot of his material from trawling through comments on social media. Might be worth checking in with him to see if he spotted this one himself or if someone tipped him off about it. There’s a fair chance Neilson, or whatever his real name may be, saw that his comment was sinking without trace, didn’t want to further expose himself on Facebook by making another one, and reported his own comment to the Post to make sure that it got some air,” she said.

She spotted Nathan Carr making a subtle yet gratifying grin in her direction.

“I’ll do that,” he said. A grumble came from the chief to her right, and she knew what would follow.

“Until the investigation pulls out of the station with something solid that allows us to go after this guy, our emphasis has to be on protecting the president. Are we doing anything there to address this?” Vale asked Jane.

Since quickly moving up from managing the protective details of less notable individuals to taking care of the president, Jane had gotten used to her boss’s piercing stares and learned that his slight condescension was impersonal, but it fed into her sense that these were all challenges she would have to overcome, chances to prove herself one more time that she would relish. The only way to survive in this job was to thrive.

“I’m glad you asked,” she said, leaning forward. “We’ll be increasing the protective perimeter around the president, taking extra precautions with screenings, and adding additional team members to the remote surveillance unit. But I think it’s worth pointing out that with no campaign-style public events going on these days and the rise of Zoom meetings and other virtual interactions, there’s never been a time when a president has been less exposed to the public. If someone’s trying to get to him, I think they’ve got their work cut out for them. And as for our team at his side and our ability to confront a threat, I have to say I’m confident about our readiness.”

Vale’s taut face stretched in a way that had taken her a long time to learn was a smile.

“Good. Very good. That’s what I like to hear.”

Deputy Director Salidas scratched his forehead.

“It’ll have to do for now, but I want more and fast. Find out who this is so we can get this off our plates. I’m looking at you, Carr. This is what we brought you up from Atlanta for.”

“Yes, sir,” was the quick reply from the man across the table.

The meeting over and the day with it, Jane tried to quash lingering doubts she’d buried deep inside. She ended up being the last one to leave the conference room, and once it was out of sight she was finally able to spare a thought for what she’d need to do to prepare for the next day.

Her finger pressed the elevator button when she noticed someone to her left stepping into the adjacent hallway. It was Nathan Carr, casually drifting her way. She squinted momentarily, sure he wasn’t there by accident and beginning to gather that she wouldn’t be riding the elevator down alone after all.

The way he looked at her was telling, at once attentive and disinterested.

“Let’s head back to my place to get more acquainted.”

If Jane hadn’t been so good at picking up on cues, she might’ve been surprised. But as it was, having someone not beat around the bush was refreshing, and she was sure it had worked for him on numerous occasions.

“A little forward, don’t you think? But I can’t.”

He sidled up next to her with his hands in his pockets, the two of them staring at the silver elevator doors as the car ascended to their floor. She glanced over at his large frame, short hair and trimmed beard, and extra six inches in height he had on her.

“That’s the only way to be. Well, that and persistent. I’ll give you a ride back. You won’t regret it,” he said.

Leaving aside whether she would or not, something else struck her.

“How do you know I don’t have a boyfriend? You might get your teeth kicked in throwing around propositions like that,” she said.

Eyebrows raised, he looked over at her with an affable grin.

“I can’t imagine things