Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (42 page)

            Jeff turned back to Chrissie. “I’m starving. Can
you get us to Durgin-Park from here?”

            “Sure.”

            “Okay, let’s get an early supper before we head
back.”

            A few minutes later, Marcie approached Jeff and
handed him the bill. Jeff stared at it for a moment. “Uh, you sure that comma’s
in the right place?”

            “Yes, Mr. Grey. They have, uh, good taste.”

            “Ya think? Thirty-seven thousand dollars?” Jeff
whistled. “Okay.” Jeff pulled out his wallet and handed Marcie his American
Express card. “Yeesh.”

            At four-thirty Friday afternoon, Abby brought
the Citation to a stop in front of the Dulles Aviation terminal at Manassas.
Jeff yelled from the cockpit. “Alright, thirty minutes till the car arrives.
Move it!”

            They all grabbed garment bags and rushed to the
bathrooms to change. Jeff emerged wearing his tux and wasn’t surprised to find
himself and the terminal attendant alone in the lobby. “They haven’t come out
yet?”

            “No, sir.”

            “Figures. Hey, can we leave this stuff with you?
Our car’s gonna be here any minute.”

            “Yes, sir. No problem.”

            Jeff walked to the lady’s restroom door and
pushed it open a few inches. “Any time ladies!”

At five minutes before six, the limousine pulled to
a stop at the White House East Gate and Jeff rolled down the window.

A uniformed Secret Service Agent
approached the car. “Good evening, sir, welcome to the White House. I’ll need
to see a photo ID from each of you.”

Earlier in the week
Chrissie had spoken with the White House Assistant Social Secretary and
received a detailed description of the security procedures and visitor
protocol, so all of them were prepared with driver’s licenses at the ready.
After carefully checking each face with each ID and each ID against the guest
list the agent motioned to open the gate. “Thank you, sir, have a pleasant
evening,” and he waved the driver on.

Jeff noticed Gabe’s hands
shaking as she fumbled to return her license to her purse. “You okay?”

“I’m scared to death.”

“Why?”

The car made a slow left-hand turn
and pulled beneath the covered colonnade at the front of the East Wing. Gabe
stared out the window. “That’s why.”

“What? The White House.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Gabe, just take a deep breath
and calm down. We’re just going for dinner. You’ll be fine.”

Gabe pursed her lips and swallowed
hard.

“And stop panting, you’ll
hyperventilate.”

“I can’t. Oh god, why’d I wear this
dress?”

“Gabe! Stop it.”

Abby shook her head and rolled her
eyes while Susan looked on with concern.

The car stopped in front of the
East Wing entry and the driver quickly got out, walked around the car and
opened the doors for them. They gathered on the walk before the East Wing doors
and glanced back and forth at one another. Jeff finally shrugged. “Well, we’re
here. Might as well go in.” Halfway to the doors Jeff stopped and glanced over
his shoulder. Gabe hadn’t moved. She simply stood there looking rather like a
deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. “Oh lord. Hold up.” He
quickly turned around and walked back to Gabe, stuck his face in hers and spoke
softly. “Gabe, now is not the time.”

She was on the border of tears. “My
legs won’t move. I’m terrified,” she whimpered.

“Gabriel, I need you to be in one
piece tonight. Do you understand me?”

Her lower lip quivered as she
slowly nodded.

“Now come on.”

Gabe tried to take a step. “I
can’t.”

Jeff turned again to her,
exasperated. He stared straight into her eyes. “Gabe! You’re either part of
this team or you’re on your way back to that cubbyhole I found you in at
Caltech. Which is it gonna be? Last chance.”

Gabe’s whole body shook briefly,
then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A moment later her shoulders
relaxed, she opened her eyes and barely whispered, “I want to be a part.”

Jeff nodded. “Okay.” He stepped
around beside her and took her hand. “Let me see a smile.”

Gabe managed to squeeze out the
barest of tiny grins.

“Alright, that’ll do. You know,
you’re a lot prettier when you smile.”

She leaned her on head on his
shoulder and sniffed, “Thank you.”

“Okay. Can we get on with this? I
don’t know about you but I’m hungry and I understand this place has pretty good
food.”

Gabe laughed softly and nodded.

“Alright, come on.” Jeff nodded to
the others to go ahead.

Just inside the door a young
brunette in a nicely tailored dark blue suit greeted them. “Mr. Grey?”

Jeff nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Hi, welcome to the White House.
I’m Samantha Bell, the Assistant Social Secretary. I thought I better meet you
down here as you’re the only ones in attendance this evening entering through
the East Wing.”

“Thank you. Uh, why’s that?”

“Well everyone else either works
here or has ID that allows them to enter through the West Wing, which is a bit
more convenient.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I’m afraid you’ll need to again
show your picture ID at the desk and go through the metal detector. It’s standard
procedure. And ladies, your purses will need to be inspected.”

As they came through the metal
detector, Jeff pulled Susan aside and whispered, “Can you keep an eye on Gabe
tonight?”

Susan nodded. “She has being acting
a little, uh, queer this week. I brought something with me to calm her down if
needed.”

“Good thinking, but let’s hold the
tranquilizer gun as a last resort. We don’t want her dancing on the McKinley
table wearing the Eisenhower lampshade on her head.”

Susan grinned. “That would be interesting.”

“That’s one word for it.”

Finished with the security checks,
Samantha motioned toward the other end of the East Wing lobby, “Right this
way.”

As they walked down the East
Colonnade, Jeff made introductions around.

“I’m pleased to meet you all. Yes,
Chrissie and I have spoken on the phone. Have any of you been to the White
House before?”

Everyone shook their heads. “No.”

“Ah, alright. Well, we just came
through the Garden Room on this side of the lobby and this is the East
Colonnade, which connects the East Wing with the Residence. The East Wing
houses a number of offices, most notable of which is the First Lady’s office on
the second floor. And beyond this wall to your right is the theater.”

Jeff had taken Gabe’s hand again.
“How you doing?” he whispered.

She nodded and whispered back.
“Better, thanks. This place is huge.”

“Yeah, sure is. Should have worn my
jogging shoes.”

“This is the Visitors Foyer,”
Samantha continued, “and through here is the ground floor Center Hall of
the Residence.”

“Samantha,” Jeff asked, “how big is
the White House, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“No, not at all. The Residence
itself is 170 feet wide, 85 feet deep and consists of four stories, not
including the basement and sub-basement, and has roughly 55,000 square feet of floor
space. Including the East and West Wings, it totals 67,000 square feet, with
132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 412 doors.”

“Good lord,” Abby said. “You must
get plenty of exercise just walking around here.”

Samantha laughed. “Yes. We try not
to spend a lot of time running back and forth between the East and West Wings.
It’s a long way. This is the Grand Staircase, we’ll be going up one floor.
You’ll be on the first floor this evening. Everyone is gathering in the Red
Room. The President is likely to be a few minutes late, he had to take a call.
Part of the job.”

Jeff smiled and nodded. “I can
imagine.”

“During large state affairs, the
President will usually greet special guests in the Yellow Oval Room on the
second floor then, when all is in readiness, come down the Grand Staircase and
go directly into the East Room, here. Through here is the Entrance Hall
and the North Portico beyond. This is the Cross Hall that, as I said, has the
East Room on that end and the State Dining Room on the other. And along here we
have the Green Room, the Blue Room and the Red Room. Tonight, because the group
is small, you’ll be dining in the Family Dining Room which adjoins the State
Dining Room, just across the hall from the Red Room.”

Jeff shook his head. “Do they issue
you GPS so you can find your way around here?”

Samantha laughed. “No, actually on these two floors,
the ground floor and this floor, which is also known as the State Floor,
because the rooms are so large, it’s pretty hard to get lost. Upstairs in the
actual family residence on the second and particularly the third floors it’s
somewhat more of a maze. And here we are. Oh, before we go in, I should
mention, there are no bathrooms on this floor, they’re downstairs; an usher
will show you the way. Ladies, don’t be bashful to ask.”

“Samantha,” Gabe said in
almost a whisper, “um, I probably should have asked sooner but, uh, is
this dress alright?”

Samantha smiled, “It’s gorgeous.
And, yes, it’s fine. I wish I had the figure for something like that,” she
looked up and shook her head, “and your height.” She turned to the rest.
“Indeed, all of your gowns are stunning. I’m jealous.”

Gabe let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Thank you. I’ve been scared to death.”

“No, it’s really lovely. Oh, um, do
you know everyone that will be here tonight.”

Jeff shook his head. “Except for
Senator Landers, whom we do know, we don’t even know who’s here.”

“Oh dear. Okay, why don’t you wait
here and I’ll go in and get the senator and he can take you in and make the
introductions. Would that be alright?”

Jeff nodded. “Thank you. That would
be great. You’ve been a wonderful guide. Thank you very much.”

“My pleasure.”

Jeff and his
crew waited just outside the Red Room, shifting uneasily. He smiled and glanced
at each in turn. “Everybody just relax, it’s not like we’re the Christians
about to be introduced to the lions.”

Abby frowned.
“You sure?”

A moment later
Samantha reappeared with Senator Landers in tow.

“Ah, great,
you’re here,” the senator said extending his hand to Jeff.

“Good evening,
Senator.”

“Wow! You guys
clean up real good,” the senator said, grinning and glancing at the others.
“This is informally formal, so there’s no receiving line or anything like that.
I’ll just take you in, introduce you to them and them to you and call it good
enough. Okay?”

Jeff nodded.
“Fine.”

“Oh, the
President is down in the Oval, he should be here in just a few minutes.”

“Yes, Samantha
told us.”

“Okay. Then
let’s go.”

Senator Landers
led them in. “Uh, ladies and gentlemen, our guests have arrived. I’ll quickly make
introductions around and then we can all just mingle and get to know one
another. Starting on my far left, I’d like to present Lieutenant Commander
Abigail Nolan, Ms. Christine Mallory, Dr. Susan Lú, Dr. Gabriel Frederick, and
Captain Jeffrey Grey. And on this side of the room, okay, let’s see, well first
I should introduce our hostess for the evening, the First Lady, Mrs. Caldwell,”
then motioning as he went around the room, “Vice President and Mrs. Jensen,
Mrs. Surtees, the chief of staff’s better half, the president’s Science
Advisor, Admiral King and the lovely Mrs. King, the NASA Administrator, Dr.
Fairfax and, likewise, the lovely Mrs. Fairfax, the ever lovely Mrs. Landers,
and on the far left NASA Chief Astronaut, Colonel Sylvia Creighton, whose husband,
Hal, couldn’t quite make it this evening as he’s out of town, way out of town.
In fact he’s currently up on the ISS. Eh, they’re all lovely; beautiful people
all.”

The room
immediately broke into a cacophony of conversation. As the first lady and vice
president approached, Gabe took Jeff’s arm and held it in a death-grip.

“I am so
pleased to have you here this evening,” said the First Lady. “The President was
busy, as usual, but I saw you on the Tonight Show last week, you were
marvelous. Captain Grey, it’s a great pleasure, I’ve read so much about you.”

“Thank you,
ma’am. We are greatly honored to be here.”

“Dr. Frederick,
it’s a pleasure.”

“Thank you,
ma’am. The pleasure is mine.”

“I don’t
believe I have ever seen a gown quite like that in this house and I applaud you
for having the chutzpa to wear it. It is stunning.”

Gabe bit her
lip and grinned. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“I don’t know
why women who come here feel it necessary to dress like old frumps. This is the
White House for crying out loud, not Buckingham Palace. It’s lovely dear.”

“Thank you.”

The Vice
President had apparently waited long enough, stepped in and held out his hand
to Jeff. “Captain, it’s a real pleasure. I’m anxiously looking forward to
hearing all about this adventure of yours.”

“It’s our
pleasure, sir, and we’re just as anxious to tell you all about it.”

“This Chairman
of the Board of NASA hat that I wear is more of an honorary thing, but frankly
I really have a keen interest in space exploration and I think the expenditure
over the years has returned many times that in widespread dividends.”

“Sir, I
wholeheartedly agree.”

“Ah, here he
is.”

President
Caldwell walked hurriedly into the room followed by his chief of staff. “Good
evening ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the delay.” He walked straight to Jeff
and held out his hand. “Captain Grey, I am delighted you could make it down
here on such short notice. I know you’ve got a couple of launches coming up
soon and I’m sure you’re very busy. I appreciate it.”