God of War:
Part 10


Lynn Jepsen


I'm going to kill him. I never would have thought Josh was petty enough
to skip negotiations with the British because I left him a comment about
tea. He's more frightened of me than is healthy. Fortunately, we ironed
out a few understandings in the event of military action. Rachel is
sitting on her desk, talking, or more accurately, flirting with Ramon.
Don't you two do enough of that at home? They both scramble to their feet
them, Ramon beating a hasty retreat; Rachel doesn't miss a beat. "How did
the meeting go?" Great, no thanks to your boss. "Huh?" He never showed
up. Now, did something come up, or is he just a jerk?

Her eyebrows knot up then. "What do you mean? He left for the meeting a
little after twelve." I glance at my watch then, even though I know what
it says. It's already four o'clock. Even if he went to the Hill, he
wouldn't have spent four hours up there, not with this situation on our
hands. Call around, see if you can find him. Rachel chews on her upper
lip as she reaches for the phone. Rae, don't look glum. I'm sure he got
sidetracked somewhere, you know Josh.

And then, because I do know Josh, I walk next door, and grab Jeff. He
nods, understanding my concern, and calls another agent to babysit Sam.
Then he heads downstairs to see what he can find out.

*

"Ma'am, have you seen Josh?" No, I haven't, and it bothers me. It really
bothers me. I can't very well tell Diana this though, because we're just
getting read to leave for a tree-planting ceremony and speech where
everyone inside will think we're too conservative and hate us, and
everyone out side will think we're too liberal and hate us. Not an ideal
atmosphere. "I thought he was coming with us." I did too, but we'll
ignore that part. Instead I tell her that I wouldn't know who's coming,
because I'm not in charge of this, and for the record, I'm completely
against it.

She accepts the answer, which means either my poker face is better than I
remember, or she's distracted by the speech. I'm betting on a combination
of the two. "Aunt Lisa?" Diana glances at the door, and I force a smile
as I tell her I'll meet her in the limo to discuss the response to the
speech, and wave Rae inside. "I can't find him. I think I've called half
the members of Congress, and every Cabinet agency. No Josh." Well, did
you try the car? "No car either. The limo could have fallen off the face
of the earth." Any good news?

She squirms then, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and wiggling
her nose. "I called the phone company. There was a call from his cell
phone about ten minutes after he left." There's a catch here. There's a
reason Rae is squirming. What is it? "The call was for an ambulance, but
by the time they got to the address he gave, all that was there was some
broken glass."

Defeated, I rest my head in my hands. Rachel moves around the desk and
asks what she can do. I send her to tell Sam that I'm going to stay here
and work on a thing. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all this,
I'm just not sure what it is. "Aunt Lisa? What if he...." Her voice
trails off, but I can read the worry in her eyes. She's been on a one
woman mission to keep the Chief of Staff hospital-free, and that was
quite an undertaking during the reelection campaign. I'm a little worried
that the ambulance was called for Josh, too, but I'm supposed to be the
adult here.

When she leaves to talk to Margaret and pass along the message that I'm
staying, I close my eyes. There's this... concern I have about tonight,
completely independent of Josh - although that's growing in my mind. Elle
and Joe are supposed to be there for the tree-planting, and I'll tell
you, when Sam and Toby decide something, they're damn hard to dissuade.
That was why I agreed to go. I thought I could keep an extra set of eyes
on the crowd. Now, now I'm going to be worried about Josh too.

"Mommy! It's time to go!" Speak of the devil... Elle bounces into the
room, dragging CJ by the arm. Joe's dragging her by the other arm, and I
have to sympathize with our poor Political Director. Pulling Elle into my
lap, I kiss her forehead. I'm not going to go sweetie, but you can stay
here with me. Her face looks like I just tried to feed her boiled
spinach, and she loudly insists that Daddy and Uncle Toby said she and
Joe could come. I bite my lip before letting her go. I'm going to have to
trust Sam here, and believe me, I don't want to.

God of War: Part 11

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