Presidential Marshal

 

Presidential Marshal

Chapter 9

 

Cassie woke up multiple times that night. When the new security detail reported she awoke. Then Cpl. Lambskin stuck her head into the room, checking on her. Each time, within seconds, she had fallen back to sleep.

The final wakeup was approximately 8:00 when the door to her room opened and Cpl. Lambskin rolled in a food cart. Cassie sat up, holding the covers to her chest. Cassie’s scan found a robe lying across her bed over her legs.

Sitting up, she pulled the robe over her upper torso and then stood where she could tie the belt on the robe. A quick trip to the bathroom and she was back sitting at the table where Cpl. Lambskin had set out the meal.

 

She was hungry and the food disappeared off the plates. Cassie felt like a new person after her second cup of coffee. It was good coffee, just not as good as they made at home. That stopped her for a second; she had referred to the estate as home without a second thought. It was! It was her home.

 

Finished with her breakfast, she stood up and took one last sip of the coffee. Then Cpl. Lambskin set to work on her. She used cotton swabs and ointments to remove any old makeup. Then she put a new face on Cassie.

An hour after getting out of bed, Cassie stepped out of her suite fully dressed in a Navy-blue uniform suit. Her chain was a triple braided gold thread. She pulled her Glock and inspected it. It was clean and ready for action. Her backup was the same.

 

She hung her credentials off her gun belt so that both the badge and the ID could be seen with a flick of her wrist to the bottom of her jacket.

 

Cassie activated her comm unit. “This is Shadow I am on the move.”

“Roger, this is Security Lead; we got the hall, where to Ma’am.”

“Shadow, I’m going to my father’s room.”

“Security 2, your father has been notified.”

“Tell him to save me some coffee.”

Entering her father’s suite, Cassie found him sitting at the table with his breakfast before him. He was fully dressed with his suit jacket hanging on a rack against the wall.

 

“Well Cassie, any plans for shaking up Washington today?”

“No, but they really almost blew it yesterday.”

“They don’t know you, not yet. I think the President is seeing beneath the surface. If so, our welcome will be different today.”

Cassie took a sip of the coffee before setting the cup down firmly and stood up.

Saying nothing, her father stood and put on his jacket. Then they walked out of the suite.

“Sergeant Schultz”

“Staff Sergeant Schultz, here Ma’am.”

“I have no idea how long we will be or if we will be staying another night, so standby.”

“Roger Ma’am, rear detail will stand by,”

They exited the Hotel through a side door where the Limo was waiting. The Security detail was basically unknown to Cassie.

 

One of the problems with having the same Security Detail the majority of the time was showing itself. These people had never worked with her; their only point of familiarity was reports and rumors.

 

She stopped “Security HQ, I need introductions I don’t recognize any of my detail.”

Cassie pivoted and stepped back inside the side entrance and then to the side.

She heard Security going all over the detail commander. “Why did you not see to introduction in a secured position? Shadow stepped out and saw no one she recognized! She is in a poor security position. You should know the protocol. Always be sure the primary knows you and knows the chain of command! Sergeant your relief is on the way. Stand by until relieved.”

 

“Cassie, what’s wrong?” Her father looked around the side entrance way carefully, and then focused down the hall.

She had scanned three of her people exiting the elevators and rushing toward her. They were fixing their uniforms as they came.

Cassie grinned as she noted SSgt Schultz, Cpl. Perkins and Cpl. Jerkin, all armed and moving rapidly in her direction.

 

Staff Sergeant Schultz came to attention, “Backup detail reporting Ma’am.”

“Who screwed the pooch Schultz?”

“Maybe all of us Ma’am; the new detail that relieved Sgt. Townsend reported and did their job. The morning relief detail did not do so. They followed the night relief detail and just found rooms for the night and put in a wake-up call.”

 

“This morning they knew they were to be the escort detail so they took that position. All detail commanders knew most of them and took it for granted that they had reported in.”

 

“I should have paid more attention.”

“No, I put you in a staff position with no command function. You get things done because of who and what you are without the authority needed to Command. Did you, at any time see, hear or feel that anything was wrong? If yes, then you could have come straight to me for orders. If not, then there was no error on your part. We need to get those protocols worked out and make them second nature. That Detail commander should have recognized that something was wrong and brought it up.”

“Where is Sgt Townsend?’

“He was up for two hours after being relieved to show the relief commander the perimeters, floors, and the location of all primaries. He has had only a couple of hours sleep. Acting in my staff function I advised the backup details to let him sleep for another two hours.”

“Do you know this detail’s personnel?”

“Yes Ma’am, I verified that when they all came in last night. Ma’am, you need to meet with all Security detail commanders as soon as possible.”

“Put it on the list with the other thousands of things I need to do.”

“Okay, Security, the Shadow is moving.”

“Security HQ, Roger that Shadow.”

“Coachman 2, the Shadow approaches.”

When they were out of the Hotel, Cpl Jerkin grabbed the door of the Limo and swung it open. Grace was on her other side and was glaring at the other Security personnel to back off. Schultz went in first and then Cassie was right behind her. Grace shoved her to the middle of the seat and took the Passenger side. Cpl Jerkins opened the shotgun side in front and took that.

Cassie watched the rest of the detail scramble trying to find seats for all of them. As they pulled out, the lonely Sergeant stood by himself in the driveway.

Cassie switched her channel to Captain Gifford.

“Captain Gifford?”

“Captain Gifford, on the network, how can I help you Ma’am?”

“Captain we had a screw up here in town. I came down to take my ride to the White House and did not recognize a single one of the Security detail waiting to escort me.”

“Didn’t the commander report in last night when he arrived?”

“No, he did not report to me or any of the other detail commanders, so I stepped out to enter the Limo and there were nothing but strangers.”

“You mean there was a complete breakdown of Security Protocol!”

“Yes Captain, Security HQ should have a report soon. The Commander was relieved immediately; I picked up an escort from my personnel. The other detail scrambled to find rides. All but the commander made it to other vehicles and is proceeding to the White House.”

“Oh my God! Cassie, I have no excuse for such sloppy performance, especially after the attack the other night.”

“Captain, fix it. Start right now.”

“Shadow out”

“Captain Gifford, roger out.”

“Security HQ, Roger all out.”

This time the reception at the gate entrance was a little different. They were directed to the front Portico where the doors were opened and held for them to exit the Limo. A secret service agent jumped into the Limo and gave directions to the driver where to park the Limo.

After entering the front door to the White House, Security approached for the wand treatment. Cassie waved them to halt. She removed her credentials with its badge and placed it in a plastic container on the desk. Then she undid her belt with both holsters containing her guns and her comm unit and laid them in the container. She next removed her gold chain that held her jacket closed and included it with the others in the container. Once more she spread her arms and lowered her head for the wand.

 

The hot spot on her chest, the combs in her hair and her ear buds were all sensed and cleared by the Secret Service Agent.

They removed her guns from their holsters and stored them in a locked box behind the desk. All the rest of her things were returned to her. They took a few minutes to put back on.

 

Schultz and Perkins both had to do the same though Schultz just smiled and opened her brief case showing a laptop and a portable scanner and a few papers and then held her arms out to her sides. They turned and Cassie spotted the Marine Captain from the previous night headed her way.

“Ms. Howard.” He said with a bow.

“Captain Howell, a pleasure to see you again.”

A person stepped up to them. “I am Gerald Lindsey, White House Protocol Officer.”

“If you have no objection Captain Howell will be your escort while here today.”

“I would appreciate that Mr. Lindsey.”

They turned and proceeded down the hall toward the back of the White House. Then they turned into another hallway.

“Who are you Ms. Howard?” the Captain asked.

“Who am I? Why I am Cassandra Howly Howard, the daughter of George and Sarah Howly Howard.”

“No, you are something more than the surface identity. I have not seen this place rumble like this since the President of the Russian Federation visited last year.”

“Take the Protocol Officer. He knows the precedence and address of every title, position or ruler in the world. You shook him up. He almost stuttered when he addressed you.”

“Oh, in case you were not told,” he looked at both her and her father who had been a silent witness, “The First Lady will be present when you enter the Oval Office.”

 

“That is very unusual. She is normally presented in one of the family rooms. Normally, she never goes to the Oval Office. She’d rather you call her by her first name, Mabel.”

 

He escorted them to the entrance to the Oval Office with idle chatter about the White House. The Secret Service agent there checked only their identity at the door and then opened the door for them to enter.

 

Cassie motioned to the hallway which had chairs down it length. “Schultz, Grace wait here for me.”

 

“Yes Ma’am.” Schultz answered. Grace frowned but followed Schultz to the chairs.

 

 

 

 

The President and his wife stood up to greet them as they entered.

 

The Captain escorted Cassie to her chair. This time she was given precedence over her father who was seated to her side.

Her scan detected him trying to hide his smile. Her Dad had been right. The procedures today were changed.

 

“Mr. President, I am pleased to meet you today.”

“And I, you Special Deputy Marshal Howard.”

“As I recently told an FBI agent, my rank is more an honorary position then a regular one. It is mainly a way to allow me to carry a concealed weapon.”

At that moment, a door opened and a man pushed a serving cart into the room.

“Ms. Howard, before I get left out again, I am Mabel.” The First Lady said. She reached over to take Cassie’s hand. When she released it she gave it a very slight squeeze.

 

“And before further discussion, thank you for my husband’s life.”

Cassie had nothing to say. This was really the first time that she even thought of the real implication of what she had done. She found that she was slightly embarrassed, something that had rarely happened to her.

 

You just don’t tell the President, or his wife, that saving him was nothing. It was something! The ramifications of his death in the White House would have thrown the whole world into chaos.

“You are welcome, Mabel. I was advised that you wish to be called by your first name?”

 

“Oh yes, I fear I will have forgotten it by the time we leave Washington. Everybody just loves calling me First Lady!”

All the time they were talking she had been acting as the hostess, pouring coffee for her husband and Cassie’s father.

“Coffee or Tea?”, she asked.

“I love coffee. Thank you.”

Cassie lifted the coffee cup and took a sip. She noticed that ‘Mabel’ had poured herself a cup. It was not as good as her coffee made in a Moka pot.

 

They sat there for a few minutes, more like any visiting friends. Then the President looked at his wife as he moved a file on his desk.

 

“Well, Ms. Howard it has been my pleasure meeting you. If possible, we should meet again for just a social visit. Leave me your card before you go. I must now run, I have a meeting with the National Parent Teacher Association committee.” With that, she stood and shook hands with Cassie and her Dad and left the room.

 

“She hates to be in the room with me when I discuss anything to do with my position as President. But she does actually have that meeting she needs to attend.”

 

“Now, Ms. Howard, I know a lot more about you today than I did when you left early this morning. NSA, FBI, even the CIA had files stacked up on my desk this morning.”

“Do you really know what you have in Idaho?”

“NSA moved a geological survey satellite into position before the sun rose this morning. They might have previously missed what you found, but having a location to start from they have been able to do a rather intense survey now. Our estimate is that you are sitting on top of the largest accessible gold source in the world. There are larger ones but they are harder and more costly to access.”

“You are going to end up one of the richest females on earth. With good money management you will become one of the richest individuals on earth.”

“Your personal enemies were a little harder to identify, but the CIA is very good at that. Even though they are not supposed to work within the USA, something like this brings all our intelligence agencies into play.”

 

“The consensus of the National Intelligence Committee is that your enemies are inside your extended family. As they do not represent a danger to the Government or people of the United States of America, we can take no further action in this matter.”

He looked at her with a cold dead look. Then a smile lit up his face for a minute.

“The Committee also said that you have already done more damage to them then they have even thought possible.”

 

“Having studied all of this and, interpolating what you are doing down there on your estate, it was the consensus of the Committee that a little help is all you will need. Mainly, this help is to prevent incidental interference from agencies not in the know.”

He turned to one of the Agents standing by a side door and nodded. The Agent opened the door and called a name.

The Attorney General stepped into the office. He looked at Cassie then stepped over to the President and laid a thick parcel on his desk.

 

“I am still not sure of this, Mr. President, but as far as I can determine it’s legal and has precedents.”

The President opened the parcel which he dumped out in front of him. He picked up a letter off the top and handed it to Cassie.

It was a letter on White House stationary. That much she could scan but the rest was to ‘light’ for her.

“Excuse me Mr. President, I need my assistant for a moment, may I have her come in?”

 

He looked up for a moment and then nodded to one of his Secret Service agents. The man turned and opened the door to the hall behind her.

“Schultz, I need you for a moment.” Cassie spoke into her Comm unit while pressing the button on it.

 

They waited a minute or two and the Secret Service Agent escorted Sergeant Schultz into the Oval Office.

“The reader Schultz.”

Schultz hurried to Cassie and set the briefcase in her lap.

Cassie opened the briefcase and booted the laptop up. Soon she was running the portable scanner over the letter from the president. With a flick of her fingers she had set the Comm channel to a wireless one from the laptop.

 

The letter the President had handed her stated: “I am proud to thank you for your time as a Special Deputy United State Marshal. With this letter, I am terminating your services in that position effective immediately.”

 

Cassie felt a deep sense of disappointment. She had not realized until then her great feeling of pride in carrying that badge on her belt. She clenched her cheek muscles to prevent tears from running. She reached to her belt and pulled her credential case loose and laid it on the President’s Desk.

Her father sat up at that as he had been unable to read the letter she now held. No matter! The expression of thanks in that letter, signed by the President, did not make up for her loss.

Cassie stood for awhile in the long shadow of all those previous men and women who had stood up to protect the people of the United States.

The President then handed her another page. This one also was on White House stationary.

 

Cassie sat there in a daze for a minute before she started scanning the letter.

Right below the heading was typed:

“Presidential Executive Order: 201x:00194

By my order this date of Oct. 13, 201x

Cassandra Howly Howard is appointed Special Deputy United State Marshal, TOE.

This appointment is for her lifetime and can only be rescinded by order of the President of the United States at the time it is rescinded.

 

The said Special Deputy United State Marshal shall be compensated with ($1) one dollar a year for the duration of this appointment.

She shall have the same authority as any full United State Marshal assigned to a Judicial District. As such, she may deputize any persons she needs in the performance of her duties.  Her Jurisdiction is any place the authority of the United States of America is found, or should be found.

All agencies, military commands and embassies are to give her full cooperation at all times. Failure to do so will be considered the same as malfeasance in performance.”

 

It was signed “President of the United States of America”.

 

Cassie froze upon reading it.

Looking up at the President, her mouth dropped open as she was at loss for words.

“We found where something similar was done back in the 50-60’s era. Your lack of monetary needs made it simple. No civil servant requirements.”

 

“And then there is this, a rush job, but the manufacturer was very pleased to respond to a request from the President.”

He handed her a new Credential case. She opened it and there, in the recessed badge holder, was a new gold marshal star. It was identical to a full marshal’s but with the words “Special Deputy US Marshal” on the top of the circle, but the bottom stated “Presidential”.

 

The Attorney General handed her a clipboard with a form to fill out and new credentials to sign. Unlike her previous credentials that had the Attorney General followed by the US Marshal in Texas, this set had the President at the top followed by the Attorney General.

The Attorney General showed her where she would need to sign it and Cassie signed it under her photo. The photo showed her as she looked right that minute. It must have been taken as she entered the White House. She then took the Identification Card and ran it thorough her scanner; on the back was a copy of the executive order.

 

The Attorney General then asked her for the ID card and said they would have it laminated and back to her before she left the White House. The Attorney General took his leave

 

 

 

“Marshal Howard, this is the best I can do for you. It’s more than the Attorney General thought I should do. You report to no one, but as a simple courtesy, if you are in another Marshal’s district, you should let them know.”

“That order gives you instant access to any US Embassy or Military Base in the world.”

“Please use it with discretion. I would hate to have to explain it to a Committee of Congress since it almost bypasses the ‘advice and consent’ clause of the Constitution.”

 

They spent an hour or so talking over the world news and economic situation. The President finally dismissed them as he had another meeting for the afternoon.

Captain Howell had been waiting and escorted her to the front. There he handed her the ID card in its credentials case and as Cassie got herself re-armed, he took one of her cards when she laid one down for the First Lady.

 

As they drove away her Dad asked her, “Cassie, do you like the Captain?”

“Yes Dad, I do. There is just something about him I like without reason. I know he is too old for me, or I’m too young for him, but I really would like to know him better.”

“Well, maybe not now, but remember, the longer you wait the closer you get to his age. Time can cure a lot of problems.”

They arrived back at the hotel and prepared to return to the estate. In her room Cassie thought for a moment.

“Sergeant Schultz.”

“Sergeant Schultz, here.” She replied back.

“Schultz, find that detail commander from this morning and report back here to me.”

“Roger, Sergeant Schultz out.”

Cassie prepared herself for this meeting. She took her credentials and inserted the tab on the case into a slot on her left Lapel. Flopped open, her Marshal Badge stood out prominently.

_______________________

 

An hour later, Cassie heard the knock on her suite door. A quick scan showed her Staff Sergeant Schultz and the unknown Sergeant from that morning’s Security detail.

“Enter.” Cassie was sitting at a desk working on her laptop. As the door opened, she turned her attention from the report she was writing. With the wireless interface she could hear each word as she typed it into the laptop. She was doing a full evaluation of the air assault by the Presidential Protection. She was sure both Clint and Captain Gifford were going to be very interested in what she had sensed.

 

As Schultz and the other Sergeant entered and came to attention she rotated to face them.

Their attention was attracted to her badge and then became deeply focused. It was a unique badge, maybe the first in a line of them.

“Relax and pull up a chair, both of you.”

Looking at Schultz, she nodded at the other Sergeant. Schultz knew what that meant and responded immediately.

“Ma’am this is Sergeant Taylor, Charles Taylor. He is fairly new to our operation. In fact this detail was his first command.”

 

“Sergeant Taylor, do you know what happened this morning? And why what happened this morning was wrong?”

“Ma’am it has been explained to me in great detail. My problem evolved out of my belief that I was part of a detachment reporting in and that the detachment commander was responsible for making sure that the whole detachment was reporting in.”

 

“I have never previously worked in Personal Protection or a Bodyguard Detail. I had not been fully oriented to that kind of protocol.”

Cassie’s head turn quickly toward Sergeant Schultz and raised an eyebrow with an implied question.”

“Who assigned you as detail commander?” Schultz asked.

“2^nd Lt. Curtis Avon, OOD night shift relief.”

“Who is that Schultz?”

“Ma’am, he is one of our new officers. He has been used as the relief OOD for different shifts.”

 

“Well, I want you to write up a training procedure to bring every officer up to standards, then the sergeants that would or will be detail commanders. This was a real SNAFU not only in training and protocol awareness, but also operationally.”

 

“Sergeant, I will be assigning you as Sergeant Schultz’s assistant for a week or so. If you can keep up with her, you will be fully up to standards in a week.”

“Schultz, make that so.”

“Yes, Ma’am it will be done.”

“Carry on.”

Cassie turned back to her report. She was planning mentally for her trip to USMS headquarters in Roanoke. There she would make her courtesy call. There were, surprisingly, a lot of people that she needed to inform. The Chief of Roanoke County Police was another.

 

 

The next morning, Cassie’s Tahoe made its first stop of the day at the Federal Building in Roanoke, VA.  Her back up security was with her along with one airborne unit and one early bird forward point. When her vehicle pulled up she spotted the early bird sitting in a position that it could note two sides of the area. 

 

Cassie exited the Tahoe. Grace was right in front of her. As they entered the building, Cassie wondered how the Marshal and his Chief Supervisory Deputy were going to react to what she was about to hit them with.

The building security stopped her as she passed through the front entrance. Cassie pulled up her credential case and opened it for them. The Deputy in charge at the front froze upon seeing her badge and then reading her credentials.

 

“These are my security staff members.  We are here to see the US Marshal and his Chief Supervisory Deputy.”

 

There was suddenly a Deputy that wanted nothing to do with the political fallout about to hit. Cassie and her detail continued down the hallway to the Marshal’s offices.

She walked past the receptionist and opened the door to the inner offices. It was obvious that the Chief Supervisory Deputy took the early morning to conference with the Marshal. As Cassie stepped in, both came to their feet.

 

Cassie stepped in and stopped after being sure her two people were fully in the office. Then she stepped forward as the two in the office started too stutter as they caught their breath to scream at her.

 

Cassie slowly held her credentials out with the full Presidential Executive Order visible. “I hope this will clear up all misunderstandings between the three of us. You are not, in any way responsible, for my actions. I am, basically a worldwide US Marshal with a roving district.”

“I find this very appropriate to have happen in Virginia, the State with Independent Cities, in and not in certain counties. I am a Marshal not assigned to any one Judicial District but have authority in all of them.”

They sat down and she informed them of the support that she might have to call upon them for and that she would try to keep this to the bare minimum.

Then she stood up, said her farewells, and she and hers departed.

 

The visit to the chief of police of Roanoke County Police went off much better than the visit to the USMS. The Chief got a laugh out of it as he pictured the confrontation.

 

As they left the Police Department, she called up Schultz. “Schultz, I am still planning on making the visit with Maj. Woods today. Have you found out more about it? We have lost almost a week on this. Please talk to Maj. Woods and see if there is anything that we can do to recover time lost.”

“Roger, that Ma’am. I will put in some effort to see if we can un-rock this boat.”

 

They drove to the campus and dropped her and two of her security. Then Cpl. Jerkin drove the vehicle to secure it. As Cassie and her two people entered the Physics class, the other students stood up and began to clap. Cassie froze and her scan went all over everybody, trying to find out why they were clapping.

 

Professor Howell walked into the room at that moment. “Class, please take your seat. Ms. Howard I was notified that you had a family emergency and would miss a few days. I hope it’s been taken care of now.”

 

“Your paper was filed before midnight the other day.  It was predictive, and the first paper filed on the factors that all three, NASA, UAH Astronomy and UCLA Jet propulsion laboratory had failed to make allowance for. We have received much credit for the work. Congratulations, Ms. Howard excellent work.”

“Ms. Howard, the Dean wishes you to join him to discuss opportunities with you.” With that, he dismissed her from the class. Cassie and her detail left the classroom and headed for the Dean of Physics’ offices.  She spent the reminder of the day with the Deans of the Math and Physics Departments.

 

The discussions of her academic position and her wealth led to major changes to how she would study and take her courses. First they were changing her degree to a BS/MS degree program. This would actually reduce her course work by about one year. All her major course work for a senior year would, in fact, be graduate level course work. On completion she would get double grades as undergraduate level and as graduate level work.

 

At the same time, she would begin to spend time in the Research Building working with some of their foremost researchers. This work, that normally paid a small stipend, would pay her only in credit work. They felt that they should be able to get her MS degree in about one semester of work.

 

Unknown to the Deans, she had been taking advance course work for the core curriculum during her High School classes so the year to a year and a half that was normally needed for the core curriculum was already finished for her. She had about one year of intense upper level course work left for her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

____________________________

 

 

My thanks to Grumpybear for his editing and proofing help. But the final results are mine and all criticism should be loaded onto my shoulders.

 

 Into The Shadows © Virgil Lee Fuqua III and ‘vlfouquet.wordpress’, 2008-2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Vlfouquet and Virgil Lee Fuqua III with appropriate and specific direction to the original contents.