Her Secret Service (Jane Roe 1) by Jason Letts (sites to read books for free TXT) 📗

and buckled herself in. Evans had already done the same. The door to the cockpit opened again, and Dedan came back through with a deathly serious look on his face. He took the seat next to Jane and strapped the belt over his waist.

“There’s been some damage to the lower portion of the plane, but the hull is unaffected. Plane’s systems are running normally. We won’t be able to tell the extent or the nature of the combustion until we reach the ground. All passengers are accounted for and under supervision,” he said.

Dedan had hit all the right points, but it didn’t quell the feeling of discomfort deep in Jane’s center. This wasn’t how this trip was supposed to go. Something was wrong and they still didn’t know what it was.

“Is there any chance that something just caught fire in a freak accident?” Alex asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his desk. For Jane it was strange being here in this place she didn’t expect to be with the man she shouldn’t have any reason to talk to.

“For our purposes, no.”

The implication was that this was a deliberate attack until proven otherwise, but the possibilities were too numerous to figure out and beyond her capability for doing so. Regardless of what actually caused the disruption, the repercussions were already radiating out far beyond the plane. The journalists would be telling everyone that a blast had occurred while the president was in flight, and it would be hitting the airwaves even before the plane landed.

And that was only the beginning of where this would lead.

Despite the commotion, the descent couldn’t have been smoother, and the president appeared relieved when they touched down on the runway. Once they’d come to a stop, emergency vehicles and law enforcement vans swarmed the plane, causing flashing lights to flicker through all of the windows in the presidential office.

Evans gave Jane a nod with a hand on the radio in his ear.

“Mr. President, we’re ready for you to depart,” she said.

They descended to the lower floor, where they met the Columbus Secret Service field office director, a man with a dour look and large jowls in a typical black suit.

“Sir, we’ve got transportation ready to take you the rest of the way to Dayton. There won’t be any adverse effects on your itinerary,” he said.

President Morrin kept moving swiftly for the open doorway and the stairs that would take him down to the tarmac.

“Good. I don’t think I can get off this plane fast enough.”

Jane could understand the sentiment. As far as any of them knew a larger explosion could be waiting to happen. They filed out of the plane and down to where cars were waiting for the president and his detail. Before she ducked into a black sedan parked behind the armored car that would carry the president, Jane glanced back at the plane, where the staff and journalists were starting to depart from the door closer to the rear.

They’d all be scrambling for rental cars, but she didn’t spare much thought over it, her mind on what had happened in the bottom of the plane. No damage was evident from the exterior, and perhaps the wreckage was entirely contained within their minds and hearts. This was something they’d never forget and that they’d need to get to the bottom of, or else maybe next time they wouldn’t be able to escape with the president’s life and her reputation intact.

She joined Dedan in the back of the vehicle, with another agent on the president’s detail named Royer in front with a driver from the Columbus office. Her eyes remained fixed on the vehicle in front of her carrying the president, who had to be in a strange frame of mind after what he’d just been through. Alex Morrin. Jane knew she was in charge of planning his Secret Service detail, but somehow she’d taken on the responsibility of protecting his life.

Dedan, shifting uncomfortably in his seat with his hands clasped between his knees, looked completely out of sorts.

“Are you alright?” Jane asked him, and he glanced over like he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone.

“Oh, I don’t like flying to begin with. But listen, this is probably a terrible time to bring this up, but I don’t think I should be bothering to accompany the president on his rides, assuming he still wants to take them after this. It’s just pointless,” he said.

Jane glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. That ride seemed like a distant memory, but the thought crept back like an old friend about what might’ve happened if she’d had more time to talk to Alex alone without him lurking behind them. If Dedan was distraught, Jane found herself wondering if she should do more to pursue what she wanted. Where was the line between her unimpeachable professionalism and an ulterior motive?

Swallowing, she forced the words out before she could think of how the president should really have two riders.

“It’ll be fine to position you around the loop with the others. If I’m not able to keep up we’ll look at getting a professional rider to stay with him,” she said.

A tinge of guilt hit her heart at planning for lax protection for the president’s rides shortly after what seemed like an attempt on his life, but in her mind she was moving quickly in the direction of believing that she had to take a more active role in keeping him safe anyway. Dedan looked like he barely heard her.

“Sure,” he said, and having a big guy murmuring distantly like that again drew her attention.

“When we get out we’re going to have you take the rest of the day off, if not more. Someone from Columbus or Dayton can step in. Hold on. I’m getting a call,” she said.

As they cruised along I-70 W to Dayton, Jane pulled out her phone and saw that Nathan Carr was calling her. A new flood of emotions hit her as she tapped