Free Apostle by Brad Thor Page B

Carolyn’s experience, though, where there was smoke, there was usually fire, and the idea of the president coming on to one of the agents sworn to protect him, though incredibly unprofessional, was not beyond the realm of possibility.
    “What about him?” replied Leonard.
    Campbell took another sip from her glass and stared past her mentor to the calendar on the woman’s refrigerator. “When you were on presidential detail, did you ever hear anything you weren’t supposed to hear?”
    Carolyn studied her young protégée. “All the time. But it’s your job to ignore it and forget it.”
    “What if I can’t?”
    “Then you need to find another job.”
    “C’mon, Carolyn,” stated Campbell as she turned her eyes to her. “You know some things aren’t that easy.”
    “Nothing about the Secret Service is easy,” replied Leonard, “especially protecting the president. If you want easy, become a politician. Other than that, either you can do your job as an agent or you can’t. There’s no gray.” Pausing, Carolyn then added, “Did the president say or do something to you that made you uncomfortable?”
    “No. Absolutely not.”
    “Did he say something to someone else about you or what he wanted to do to you?”
    “Carolyn, my God. No. Is that why you think I’m here? You think I’m upset because the president came on to me?”
    “He wouldn’t be the first.”
    “Well, nothing happened,” Campbell replied flatly.
    “So then, what are we talking about?”
    Campbell eyed the bottle of wine and before she could ask, Leonard topped off her glass.
    Elise held the stem near the base and slowly moved it in a circle. “What do you know about Nikki Hale?”
    “Alden’s campaign staffer? The one who died?”
    Campbell nodded and took another sip of wine.
    “Not much more than what I heard from the agents working Alden’s detail during the campaign. She was young, twenty-five or twenty-six I believe. She was also very pretty. If I remember correctly, she had something to do with the campaign website; director of new media or something like that.
    “A lot of people on the campaign didn’t like her. They thought she was a little too young and a little too inexperienced for such an important position. She rode the campaign bus and was on the plane everywhere Alden went. Everyone wanted to have that kind of access and I guess a lot of folks were jealous of her.”
    “Do you remember how she died?”
    Carolyn thought about it for a minute. “It was the end of last summer, just before the general elections, I think. Head-on collision in the Hamptons, right?”
    Campbell nodded. “Fourth of July weekend. Alden had been out there for a big fund-raiser.”
    “From what I heard, Nikki Hale was quite the partier, and that night was no exception. Her blood alcohol level was double the legal limit. She crossed into oncoming traffic and killed herself along with a family of four in the opposite lane.”
    “I think President Alden had something to do with it.”
    Carolyn looked at her. “You what?”
    “I overheard him talking with Stephanie Gallo.”
    “Elise, your job is not to listen in on the president’s private conversations. Besides, do you think the man would be so dumb as to admit to something like that in front of one of his Secret Service agents?”
    “I was in the woods on Gallo’s estate. I don’t think either of them knew I was even there. As far as I could tell, they thought they were completely alone.”
    “Wait a second. Why come to me with this?” asked Carolyn.
    “Because I don’t know what to do. I need advice.”
    Leonard set her wineglass down on the counter. “You want my advice? Forget the entire thing. You heard a snippet of a conversation and have taken it out of context. Your job is to protect the president, period. You start getting distracted, trying to make sense of what you’re hearing, and you’ll not only get the president killed, you’ll get yourself killed as