The Willard Read Online Free PDF Page A

you for an hour!” yelled the voice on the other end of the line.
    “Who is this?”
    “Are you hungover or still asleep? You have to be the only person in Washington, if not the whole country sleeping!” the voice continued to yell.
    “Look pal, I think you’ve got the wrong room,” Kelly responded.
    “Front desk says this is Tom Kelly’s room so I’m going out on a limb that you’re Tom Kelly, right? You weren’t invited here for a vacation. I wanted you here last night when your plane got in but the boss said you needed your beauty sleep. Well, you’d better be good and beautiful because you’ve gotta get over here right now and I don’t know when you’ll sleep again. Hell, I don’t know when any of us will sleep again. Most of us have been manning the phones since the announcement last night. Just throw on something nearly respectable and get over here.”
    “Where is ‘here’?’”
    “They kicked us out of the Oval for the president to take a call. Meet me in the Cabinet room. The guards are expecting you. You’ve got twenty minutes and if you’re not here you can explain to the attorney general why a possible nuclear war isn’t important enough for you to get out of bed!” Kelly heard the phone slam down.
    “What the hell?”
    As he was asking this question out loud he heard a sound at his door and saw that a newspaper had been slipped under it. He picked up the morning’s “Washington Post” and saw a picture of President Kennedy.
    “Kennedy Orders Blockade of Cuba As Reds Build Nuclear Bases There; U.S. Will Sink Defiant Arms Ships” read the bold headline.
    Why had someone slipped a fifty-year-old newspaper under his door?
    Just then the phone on the table rang again. For the first time, Kelly noticed it was a rotary phone. He hadn’t seen one of those in ages. He picked it up.
    “Mr. Kelly, this is Edward Chase from the concierge desk. I understand you have an important meeting today.”
    “Yes, I have a meeting at noon with some important men and something strange seems to be happening. I just—”
    Chase cut him off before he could continue. “Mr. Kelly, your meeting is quite important, yes sir. But it’s not at noon. The attorney general’s office has been calling for you since 4 a.m. Since the president’s address to the nation last night, the panic level has risen and you are needed right away. I have a car waiting to take you to the West Wing entrance. Please hurry down sir. I’m told the president is waiting to see you.”
    Without another word Tom Kelly dressed in the black suit that was only slightly wrinkled in his suitcase. The tie that was with it wasn’t his style but Lily had chosen it and it was stillin the bag from the store. He hadn’t even looked at it before but now he thought it looked vaguely retro.
    I don’t know what these guys are up to. Maybe it’s another one of their friendly wagers. I knew they had contacts high up in the government but if they’ve gotten me in to the White House this morning I’ll be really impressed. A VIP tour, maybe? Something to do with their Vietnam days, since they’re going all out with this Kennedy thing?
    Whatever it was, Tom Kelly was sure it was a practical joke and he was willing to go along if it moved the project down the road. Yes, he was sure it was a practical joke, right up until he stepped outside to meet the hotel’s car that would take him to the White House. The Willard only used the newest and best of course.
    The car was a 1962 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.

C HAPTER 4
    CALVIN WALKER
    “I double-pinkie promise I’ll bring you a Redskins jersey, pal.”
    “Not just any number, Dad. It has to be number ten and it has to have his name on the back,” instructed eight-year-old Will Walker.
    “Number ten, ‘Griffin III’ on the back. Check,” assured his exhausted father. Calvin Walker never missed a night telling his kids goodnight, but he couldn’t help eyeing the pile of work on the desk and