Kinsella (Kinsella Universe Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

tails.  John smiled to himself as he got off the elevator and made his way down the long, high-ceilinged hall that led to his office.
    The liaison secretary was sitting at her desk looking like she’d pulled an all-nighter.  “Captain Gilly, the President wants to see you as soon as you come in.  Please go right up to The Office.”
    There was never any doubt in the White House which office was being referred to when “The Office” was mentioned.  John nodded, dropped his briefcase on his chair, hit the power button on his PC and walked rapidly back towards the elevator.
    A few minutes later he was showing his ID to one of the patient Marine guards, before reporting to the President’s private secretary.
    “You’re to go right in, Captain,” she told him.
    John nodded, absently wondering who was in the meeting, and what was so important this early on a Monday morning.
    He entered the Oval Office and stopped.  The President was standing at the window, staring outside; the room was otherwise empty.
    The President turned and saw John and waved a hand for him to approach the President’s desk.  “I’d tell you to sit, but you won’t.  I’d tell you to be at ease, but I don’t think you remember how to do that anymore.”
    “Sir, you’re the President; I am a Navy captain.  A captain is a big deal any place other than Washington.  When I commanded the JFK I was the emperor of all I surveyed.  Here... I’m pretty small potatoes.”
    John hastily wandered through his mental list of action points he’d had to do lately.  He couldn’t think of one that hadn’t been done on time or satisfactorily.
    The President didn’t nod; instead, he walked behind his desk and sat down.  “I was talking to the Chief of Naval Operations the other day about something else; I mentioned that I would like your tour extended.”
    John bit his lip, wondering what the CNO had said about that.  Evidently this private meeting wasn’t an ass-chewing, so maybe it was something good.
    The President met John’s eyes.  “He told me that this is a typical assignment for an officer who’s performed very well.  The officer comes here as the Naval Liaison to the President, and after a year he is sent to a cush embassy someplace as the Naval Attaché.  Since I’m properly grateful, I send your name to the Senate for confirmation, and sometime in your last couple of months of duty you get a star and a much nicer pension when they boot you out the door a little later.
    “Except the CNO said that you’d told him privately that if you could get out of here early, you’d accept a job as a training chief at boot camp.”
    John shrugged, “That’s correct, sir.”
    “I thought we had a good working relationship, Captain.”
    “This isn’t my cup of tea, sir.  I’ve no complaints about working with you, but this isn’t what I want to do in my final days in the Navy.”
    “Just a few problems with some of the fatheads, eh?”
    John knew better than to answer.
    “John, you have no idea just how valuable a person is who can look me in the eye and disagree with me to my face.  Someone not in the least interested in telling me what he thinks I want to hear.  Someone who is willing to argue a point; someone who makes me think.  Someone who makes others think.
    “And, on top of that, throw in someone who, when the decision goes against them, puts his shoulder to the wheel to get the job done with as much enthusiasm as if he’d won the day.  You are one of very few in this building; there’s not that damn many more like you in this city.”
    “Sir, that’s my job.  Giving advice when called upon and then doing what I can to see that what was decided happens.”
    “Well, good news and bad news.  I understand you are a good sailor — but you have other talents as well.  You will not be seeing an embassy any time soon.  Frankly, I would be surprised if that ever happens.  Not if I have anything to say about it.  The