The President's Henchman Read Online Free PDF Page A

fly.”
    “Thank you, ma’am.”
    “Are you still receiving psychological counseling?”
    Welborn blinked, but didn’t look away. “Only at such times as I feel the need, ma’am … Not so often anymore.” He looked as if that was all he had to say, but then he added, “Mostly, these days, I find comfort in talking with my mother.”
    “She’s a good woman, your mother?”
    “The best, ma’am.” Welborn then lightened the moment with a grin. “Why, I believe she even voted for you.”
    The president smiled, too. “Please give her my thanks and tell her I’ll do my best to live up to her trust.”
    “I will, ma’am.”
    “Lieutenant, in reading your record, I see that you’ve completed your Criminal Investigator Training Program and your OSI agency-specific coursework. You’re now a federally credentialed special agent. But you are in your first-year probationary period. Do I have all that right?”
    “Yes, ma’am, you do.”
    Galia stood up. Welborn started to get to his feet, too, unsure if he was suddenly being dismissed. The chief of staff waved him back into his seat.
    “Please excuse me, Madam President, but there’s another matter that requires my attention. If that’s all right with you.”
    The president nodded; sure that Galia had scripted her departure, even though she hadn’t shared that knowledge with her boss. Before leaving, Galia handed the president a sheet of paper.
    “Perhaps this will add to your conversation with the lieutenant,” she said, and departed.
    Patti took in the contents of the page at a glance. She slipped it into Yates’s personnel folder and turned her attention back to him.
    “You have an office at Andrews, Lieutenant?” Andrews Air Force Base, in nearby suburban Maryland, was the headquarters of the Office of Special Investigations.
    “A desk, ma’am.”
    “The Colonel Linberg matter is your first investigation?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Have you done any work on it yet?”
    “No, ma’am. The file landed on my desk only an hour before I was ordered to report here. I was reading it and contemplating my first interview with the colonel when I got your call.”
    She looked at the young man in front of her for a long moment, thinking this was what being president was all about. The power to change people’s lives profoundly. Though not necessarily for the better.
    “Lieutenant, you’ll soon have an office. Here at the White House.”
    Welborn’s eyes went wide.
    “And I’ll be the one who decides how your probationary period works out,” the president added. “Get everything you need from your desk at Andrews. Your new digs will be waiting for you when you get back.”
     
    The president stopped into a briefing in the pressroom, unannounced. The newsies all had the manners to get to their feet without being told, and Patti sat them back down again.
    “I just stopped by to make sure you’re not abusing my press secretary too badly.”
    “Just badly enough, ma’am,” a voice in the back called out, drawing a laugh.
    “Fair enough. Let Aggie know if you have any suggestions how we might all work better together. Feel free to offer constructive self-criticism, too.”
    The president was about to leave when David Gregory snagged her with a question, “Madam President, have you seen that some media outlets have started to refer to you by your initials, PDG?”
    “Yes, I’ve noticed that, David.”
    A mischievous smile lit the reporter’s face. “But have you heard that some people say that your initials stand for Pretty Damn Good?”
    Keeping a perfectly straight face, she answered, “That’s close to what I’ve heard, but I believe you left out the comma. It should be: Pretty, damn good.”
    The president dazzled the reporters with her best smile and left with a wave. Knowing the sound bite would be all over the news that night.
     
    McGill was already home when the president returned to the residence for the night. He hadn’t seen his