“I can give you a few minutes alone,” said Cole.
“We’re going to need longer than that,” said Michelle while Sean looked at her nervously.
Cole raised both eyebrows and then gazed for a long moment at the ceiling. He rose with an extremely disappointed look on his face. “I expected better, I really did. I assumed that a direct appeal from your commander in chief would carry the day. I could have pushed you off to a lower-level flunky, but I flew you up here to go eyeball-to-eyeball. To tell you that your country needs you.” He paused. “And you tell me you have to talk about it.” He shook his head disgustedly. “Well, I guess they don’t make them the way they used to.”
“We’re between a rock and a hard place, Mr. President,” Sean said by way of explanation. “It’s not as cut-and-dried as it may seem.”
“Billy here will show you out. Thanks for humoring me. I’ll await your… answer.”
With this curt dismissal, Sean and Michelle turned to the door.
As Billy walked them down the hall Michelle said, “How is your family doing, Billy?”
“Fine.”
“I remember your wife had a rough pregnancy.”
“She’s fine.”
“Okay.”
Michelle waited but the question never came.
Finally she said, “Just so you know, I’m fine too.”
They got back on the chopper. As soon as the door closed it lifted off.
Sean and Michelle settled into their seats and strapped on their belts.
“Well, now I know what it’s like being cold-cocked by the president,” she said.
Sean shrugged. “What did you expect? A medal for meritorious service? His ass is in the fire. He’s looking for any way to put the flames out. That’s why he let us leapfrog the normal chain of command.”
“And it’s our fault all this shit happened?”
“We made the choice, so I’d say we’re partly accountable.”
“We were helping a kid find his dad, Sean. I never expected this to become an international incident.”
He sighed. “I know. Neither did I. But now we’ve got the most powerful man in the world pissed off at us. That’s cause for worry in my book. A big worry.”
CHAPTER
45
WHEN THEY RETURNED TO FBI HEADQUARTERS, Sean asked Agent Littlefield to take them to see Tyler. The expression on Littlefield’s face was not encouraging.
Sean said angrily, “Look, you have no right to keep us from seeing him. He’s probably scared out of his mind right now.”
“I wouldn’t know if he was or not,” said Littlefield evasively.
Michelle said, “And why would that be? Can’t you just ask him?”
Littlefield said nothing. He simply aimed his gaze at a spot on the ceiling and seemed to be pretending Sean and Michelle weren’t even there.
Sean looked at her. “I think he’s sending us a telepathic message.”
“Okay, let’s see if we can grab the signal.” She put a finger to her forehead and closed her eyes. “Wait for it, wait for it, okay, it’s coming.” She leaned down and got right in Littlefield’s face, her hands on her hips.