Chapter 6
created: 2023-06-04T10:39 updated: 2023-06-04T10:
Chapter 6
Sarah rolled over as her phone started ringing. Blinking a few times to read the clock she picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. The caller was Elsie Richardson, the Assistant for the Director of the Office of Infectious Diseases, Doctor Robert Gaffin.
"This is Sarah." She said into the phone, as she turned on the light and grabbed the pen that sat next to the lamp on the table. The room was bathed in red light.
"Sarah, Sorry to wake you," Elsie said. "Dr. O'Hare has asked for a video conference, He wants to be ready to go by four-thirty."
Sarah rubbed her eyes and avoided the end of the pen hitting her forehead. "Ok, I'll wake Cassie up and we will be in shortly. Get in touch with IT and have them start getting what you need ready. That request comes from the Office of the Director."
"Thank you," Elsie said. "If they have any questions, May I direct them to you?"
"Yes," Sarah said, flipping the covers back and standing up. "See you in about thirty, Elsie." Sarah hung up the phone and walked out to the door that belonged to Cassie's room and knocked and opened the door. "Cassie," Sarah said at normal volume. She knew from experience that the knock on the door would have roused Cassie.
"Yeah?" Cassie said, still groggy.
"Doctor O'Hare called Elsie, he wants a video conference at four-thirty." Sarah said.
"Ok," Came Cassie's mumbled reply. "What time is it now?"
"Quarter after three." Sarah replied. "It'll probably take us fifteen minutes to get there at this hour. I'm going to get changed and head in, I want to make sure that everything is ready to go for the vidcall." Sarah watched as Cassie sat up in the bed and turned on the light that was on her table.
"Ok, place a call to food services and make sure that there is something to eat. I would prefer your bacon and eggs, but I'll take what I can get." Cassie stood, and stretched. "Go, I'll call you when I get in."
Sarah nodded and went back to her room, opening her closet and pulling out a purple plaid skirt, before turning the TV on to see what the weather was going to be like. Pulling a black long sleeved shirt out, she tossed it on the bed. She opened her dresser and tossed a pair of panties and bra on the bed followed by a pair of tights She slipped on a pair of jeans and a pink shirt, tossed the outfit that she had pulled out in a duffel bag and gave her hair a quick brush before tossing the brush in the bag as well. She grabbed her laptop, and the bag and headed toward the front door. "Cass, I'm heading out. See you in the office"
"Ok," Cassie's voice sounded like it was coming from the bathroom that was attached to the master bedroom. "I'll be right behind you, I'm about ten minutes away from leaving, still working on my face..."
"Ok," Sarah said, starting down the steps. "See you in a little bit."
By the time that Sarah had gotten into the office, all of the administrative assistants were there, wanting to know what was going on. So far it sounded like Cassie, Dr. Gaffin, Elsie and Sarah were the only ones that knew what was going on...
"Guys," Sarah said loud enough to attract everyone's attention. She was the only one that was not dressed for a day at the office. This was not the first time that she had started a day wearing something other than what she had worn into the office. "The head of the Spokane office has asked for a video conference, and wants all department heads there. I need all of you to make sure that you have what you need for this meeting. We don't know whats going on yet, so everyone make sure you can take notes. Has anyone not heard from the head of their department?"
"I have not," came the voice of Addison Walton. "I've not been able to get him on the phone and he's not been answering my text messages."
"Ok," Sarah said, writing on a notepad in front of her. "Anyone else?" There was silence from the group of assistants. "Alright, go get everything you need ready to go, we have forty-five minutes." After all of the assistants had gone back to their desks, Sarah picked up the phone and called IT.
"Tech Services, This is David," Came a voice from the other end of the phone. David was someone that Sarah was glad that she didn't have to work with on a daily basis. He creeped her out for some reason and she didn't want to be alone with him because she didn't trust him.
"David," Sarah said, rubbing her eyes and putting her glasses back on her face. She didn't bother with her contacts because she wanted to get in to the office. "Is everything set up in the conference room on five for Dr. O'Hare's call?"
"We didn't get anything on a call. What time is it occurring?" David asked.
"At zero four-thirty." Sarah replied. She was going to have to babysit IT yet again. This would be the fourth time in the last month that her and David had gone toe to toe on getting something set up for the Director.
"Ok, I'll see what I can do." David said and hung up the phone. Sarah depressed the hangup switch and released it and dialed another number.
"Food Services, This is Wanda," came the voice of Wanda Ulridge. She was a supervisor in Food Services. "What can I do for you, Sarah?"
"Morning Wanda," Sarah said actually smiling as she said it. She liked Wanda and knew that she was a hard worker that went above and beyond what was asked of her. "We are going to need coffee brought up to the conference room on the fifth floor."
"Oh, I have that covered already. We are bringing bagels, coffee, fruit, and other assorted goodies up and getting it set up for you," Wanda said, already on top of the game and her department. "Can I get you anything specific?"
"Well, I know that Cassie said that she would have preferred my bacon and eggs, something about home cooked versus mass produced, but I think that is going to have to wait until after this video conference." Sarah said. The food that was served by food services was on the top of the scale as far as quality went. You would be hard pressed to get a meal like what you could get from food services at one of the restaurants around the campus.
"Tell ya what," Wanda said. "You call me when you guys get back to your desks and I will send some up, how's that sound?"
Sarah looked up as the elevator dinged and David got off of it. "That sounds good Wanda, Thank you." She hung the phone up and looked at David. He wasn't terribly tall, standing maybe five foot seven, with a thin build and freckles; he looked like your all American country boy. He still gave Sarah the willies though.
"The conference room is ready," David said, smiling. He had slightly crooked teeth that braces would have fixed pretty quickly had the family had the money to obtain them. "We will be standing by if you need anything else."
"Thank you," Sarah said with a smile as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal Cassie, looking like she usually did when she showed up at the office. Sarah watched as David turned to go to the elevator, and Cassie walked toward Sarah.
"Morning, Director." David said as he passed.
"Morning," Cassie said, not turning her head to look at David after he had passed. She raised her eyebrows at Sarah. "Where are we?"
"David just came up to inform me that the room is ready, we've heard from everyone but Doctor Jones, and Wanda said that food services has gotten the room ready and she will send up a real breakfast when we get back to our desks." Sarah said, as her phone started to ring. Glancing down, she saw that the caller was Addison. "This is Sarah," she said after putting the handset to her ear.
"Sarah, Dr. Jones just arrived," Addison said. "We will be in the conference room on five in about five minutes."
"Thank you, Addison." Sarah said, and hung the phone up. "Dr. Jones is here."
"Ok," Cassie nodded. "I'm going to run down to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee, Do you want one?"
"Please?" Sarah replied, grabbing a stack of paper and her laptop. "I'm going to go start orchestrating the conference room on five."
"Ok," Cassie said, pushing the button for the elevator. "I'll meet you there."
Sarah walked into the conference room and saw that everything was already turned on and ready for the video call to begin. All it would take would be the phone call to set everything in motion. Sarah took her normal place when this conference room was used. It was a small table that sat in the corner of the room and stood about waist high. Dumping the stuff she was carrying on the table, she opened her laptop and logged back into it. While her back was turned, David walked into the room.
"Does everything look alright, Your Highness?" he asked, causing Sarah to jump and spin to face him.
"Yes, it does, now why don't you go back downstairs before you end up with another claim of sexual harassment in your file?" Sarah asked, leveling her eyes at David. She knew from experience that her eyes would be a dark, almost stormy grey right now. If David had been a dog, his tail would have shot between his legs before he retreated. No more than thirty seconds after he had gone, Cassie walked in the door with cups of coffee for Sarah and her.
"What happened to David?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"He asked me if everything looked alright, adding 'Your Highness' to the end of it and he skittered away when I told him to go back to work downstairs or he was risking another claim of sexual harassment. He creeps me out..." Sarah said, taking a sip of her coffee and sitting the cup next to her laptop. "Everything is ready to go here, and I have notes on my desk to put a call into Senator Gordon's office when his people get there."
"I've overheard Addison saying the same thing about David..." Cassie said. "Well, on the plus side of the birth rate issue, that is something that you won't have to worry about... You'll be protected unless someone is carrying bolt cutters..."
Sarah smiled as Dr. Jones and Addison walked into the room. "Very true statement..."
The lights in the room automatically dimmed slightly as the video call connected.
"Good morning." Dr. William O'Hare said, his voice sounding tired and almost ready to fall asleep. "I'm sorry to wake you all up this early in the morning, but we have a preliminary on the outbreak in Spangle. The local lab in the office here is indicating that it is bubonic plague. Samples are enroute to the main lab in Atlanta."
"How many people, William?" Cassie asked, knowing that the question was on the minds of everyone in the room.
"We suspect anywhere between fifty and one hundred." Dr. O'Hare replied, consulting a sheet of paper in front of him. "That includes two students that attend Liberty High School. We've sent letters home, and are watching the population of the high school."
"Have you identified the origin of the strain you are dealing with, William?" Doctor Smithfield asked. He had taken a half a page of notes since the call had began.
"Not yet, Jim." William responded, glancing at some paper in front of him and then back at the camera that was mounted on his laptop. "We don't really have the equipment up here to isolate it that far. It's one of the requests on the set that is on it's way to you. I would imagine that it will be there by 8 am your time."
"Ok," Jim said, leaning back in the chair. "We'll attempt to isolate it and figure out which lab it came from. What's the status on the victims? I'm sure that you have had them isolated?"
Sarah walked up to her desk and sat, not bothering to look at her computer or phone. She simply hung her head in her hands and tried to process the information that had come through during the vidcall. Cassie walked up and placed her hands on Sarah shoulders.
"What's on your mind?" Cassie asked.
"Why is all this happening at once?" Sarah replied. "First we get word that the number of boys will soon start to outnumber the girls at a rate of twenty to one, Then we have this bubonic plague issue in Washington. What's next?"
"What's next?" Cassie repeated, cracking a smile. "What's next is we solve the outbreak in Washington, and go on to save the rest of the planet. That's whats next. What's on my agenda today?"
Sarah looked up at Cassie and wiped a stray tear away. One bad thing about being the Personal Assistant to the Director was that you had to deal with more emotional things than most other people had to deal with in their lives. Sarah pulled up the Director's private and public schedules. "Only thing you have on the agenda is a budget meeting with Frank Peterson at three." Sarah said, glancing over her shoulder and up at Cassie before turning her attention to the papers strewn about her desk. "I need to call Wanda for breakfast, and then around nine, need to call Senator Gordon's office to try to schedule a meeting and then if we can, schedule AirOps to get us there."
"That's my girl." Cassie said. "Let me know when Wanda is going to bring the food up, and you should get dressed for work, not a casual day at the mall..." Sarah smiled as Cassie turned and went into her office. Cassie picked up her phone and dialed a number
The elevator dinged and Wanda got off, pushing a cart. Sarah glanced up and smiled. "Here's the food you asked me to bring up. I always get kinda nervous when you all have a meeting of the department heads."
"There is an outbreak in a little town called Spangle. It's south of Spokane." Sarah said, sliding her keyboard into the tray mounted under her desk. "There are samples on their way here now." Wanda nodded, This was common practice, something that the agency had been doing for a while. The phone on Sarah's desk rang. "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Robertson's office, How may I help you?" Wanda pointed at the covered plates and then at an open spot on Sarah's desk. Sarah nodded and grabbed a pen that was laying where the food was going to be placed. "Ok, Thanks, Cheryl, I'll let her know.” Sarah hung the phone up and looked at Wanda. "You might want to swing by Infectious, they're gonna be busy for a while."
Sarah's phone had been ringing off the hook. Every single piece of information on the data that had been discovered from Spangle was funneling through her. There were bits of paper, three half finished cups of coffee, half a sandwich, and somewhere under all that, a keyboard and mouse for the computer all on the desk, and that was to say nothing of the four piles of paper on the floor because she needed the desk space. The phone rang again and Sarah answered it. "Doctor Robertson's office, This is Sarah, how may I help you?" Sarah paused, and listened to the caller and then said "Alright, thanks Michelle, I'll let her know." Sarah hung the phone up and stood, walking over to the door to Cassie's office. She knocked on the door and waited.
"Come in." Cassie's voice floated through the door. Sarah opened the door and entered the office. Cassie was standing up behind the desk and gave Sarah an odd look. She had been working non stop since they had arrived at the office and still hadn't changed into the clothes that she had brought for work. "What's up?"
"I just got off the phone with Senator Gordon's office. He will see us tomorrow at nine. Do you want me to call over to Airops and have a plane ready? They will have a car meet us at the airport." Sarah said, still not having moved from the doorway.
"Yeah." Cassie replied. "I would like a Gulfstream, and not one of those turbo props... Also, run me about twenty copies of Quentin's research, and twenty copies of the finalized proposal. Work on figuring out what to wear tomorrow, cause you're going with me." Sarah nodded. "Also, tell them I would like the Iridium on this flight..."
"Yes, Ma'am." Sarah replied. "I'll let you know what time we need to be at the airport."
"Thank you, Sarah." Cassie said.
Cassie pulled out of the garage as Sarah punched a number in her phone. She put the phone to her ear.
"Kierstin," Sarah started, reaching over and turning the radio down. "It's Sarah. I need you to handle all calls for the director's office today." Sarah listened for a second and then spoke again. "No, we are on our way to Hartsfield and then up to DC. We have a meeting with Senator Gordon at nine." Sarah glanced out the window as Cassie sped toward the airport. "We will have the Iridium system on this flight, so I'll call you with the number to the plane after we are airborne. ETA to Dulles has us wheels down at 0749." Sarah chuckled. "Yeah an odd time. I'll check in periodically to get updates on the Spangle situation." Sarah listened for a few seconds. "Alright, thanks. I'll be in touch." Sarah hung the phone up and looked at Cassie. "Ok, Kierstin is taking care of things on the office side of this trip."
"Ok." Cassie said, knowing that she had little to worry about. "Are you up to this?"
"I don't have much of a choice." Sarah said. Truth be told, she didn't want to be the guinea pig for this experiment. "This is something bigger than you and I. I'm not too hot on being the guinea pig on this, but someone needs to do it."
Cassie pulled off the freeway and pulled up to a gate that would open onto the airfield. She reached over to pat Sarah's leg. "I know, sweetie. I would prefer that someone else do it, but I admire you for doing it." Cassie put the window down as she approached a guard shack. Cassie turned to the guard. "Morning, I'm Director Robertson. We have a flight to Dulles."
"Yes, Ma'am," The guard said. "I have you right here on the sheet. Your plane is in hanger fourteen, and you should be able to park in there. Do you know where it is?"
"Yep," Cassie replied, a smile forming on her face. "Thank you, Sir." They watched as the gate lifted and Cassie gave the Yukon a little bit of gas and drove onto the tarmac. Cassie pointed the SUV toward the hanger fourteen.
"We'll be airborne as soon as we get clearance from the tower," The co-pilot said. "As soon as we get up, I'll get the Iridium connected."
"Thanks." Cassie said. She rubbed the bridge of her nose for a few seconds and then stood and walked toward the flight deck. "Paul, do we not have a attendant on this flight?"
"No, Ma'am," Paul responded "Nikki called in late last night while we were getting ready for preflight and told us that she was on her way to the ER. Something about that stomach bug that's been going around."
"Gulf 983AT Cleared for take off, will contact Hartsfield departure on 135.7. Good Day Atlanta." The co-pilot said into his headset, as he lined the plane up on the runway. Cassie slipped into the jump seat that would normally be occupied by the attendant and buckled her self in.
"Cassie, I'd like you to meet Rich, he's our co-pilot on this flight. Rich, this is Dr. Cassandra Robertson, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her assistant Sarah is back there somewhere." Paul said. Rich reached back to shake Cassie's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am." Rich said, and then reached for a button on the yoke. "Gulf 983AT, copy, climb to flight level 350 and maintain heading 043. We will check in with Raleigh Center. Good day, Atlanta departure."
"I've got a pot of coffee on. I'll let you guys know when it's done." Sarah shouted from the back of the plane.
Sarah had been sitting at the table, staring at her laptop for the past 40 minutes, occasionally she would make a call to the ground and ask a question, get an answer and then change the notes on her laptop, other times she would mutter to her self.
"Whatcha working on?" Cassie asked, sitting across from Sarah at the table that was built into the plane.
"Trying to get a better idea of what ages we should really be trying to protect." Sarah replied, taking a sip of the coffee that was sitting next to her. "I know that we defiantly need to protect the twelve to thirty year olds, as they are of child bearing age, but I'm not sure that older than that should be compulsory. As the protected group ages, they will remain protected, but I don't think that starting off we should be as concerned about the thirty and up age bracket."
"Makes sense," Cassie said, in thought. "Could a lady in that age bracket choose to be protected?"
"Yes, but she would have the same restrictions on the keys that everyone else does." Sarah replied after a few seconds of thought. "Also, if the protected person is in the ---" Sarah stopped talking because the phone rang; she picked it up. "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robertson's office, How may I help you?" Sarah said into the handset.
"You guys might want to buckle up, we are about to turn into final for Dulles." Paul shouted back from the cockpit. Both Sarah and Cassie had kept their belts on most of the flight.
"Really?" Sarah said, and then covered the mouth piece on the phone. "Dr. Gaffin's people just got an ID on the sequencing. Said the original sample came from BioTech Engineering in Cambridge Mass." Cassie's eyebrows went up and she motioned for the phone. "Hang on, Doctor, I'm going to give you to Cassie." While Cassie was on the one phone, the other rang and both of the laptops beeped to indicate that a message had been received. Sarah picked the phone up by the second ring. "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robertson's office, How may I help you?" Sarah listened for a few seconds and then turned to the laptop. "Shit. When did this happen?" There was a pause as Sarah listened. "Hang on, Kiersten, let me get this on speaker." Sarah had attracted Cassie's attention as she reached over and put the call on speaker. "Ok, Kiersten, give me the run down on that again."
"Ok, about ten minutes ago, we were alerted to two separate possible outbreaks in Boulder and Ogden." Kiersten said, sounding like she was out of breath. "The Ogden outbreak is profiling like an e-coli outbreak. So far the local hospitals have received ninety-six that are exhibiting the symptoms of an e-coli strain." There was a pause in Kiersten's speaking and Cassie and Sarah shared a look. "Cassie, we could handle this better if we had your brains here."
"We're gonna need to be quick with the Senator..." Cassie said, unbuckling her seatbelt. She walked up toward the front of the plane.
"Kiersten, do you have any details on the Boulder outbreak?" Sarah asked.
"Very little, just reports of general flu like symptoms, there is talk from the media that it could just be an outbreak of Influenza A, but we have no conformation on that..." Kiersten said. Speculation had no place in in the work that they pursued.
Cassie slipped into the jump seat and bucked the seat belt. They were on final approach to Dulles.
"Paul," Cassie said, he had glanced over as she sat down.
"Rich, take the controls." Paul said, keeping the craft lined for the runway.
"Roger, I have the controls." Rich replied, indicating that he did in fact have control of the plane.
Paul turned in his seat to look at Cassie. "What's up?"
"I need you to prepare us for a speedy return to Atlanta." Cassie said. "We just received word of an outbreak in Boulder, and another one in Ogden. Work out what ever you need to in terms of clearing airspace for us and getting us priority clearance to land at Hartsfield. I'll work with our people to clear a route from Hartsfield to DeKalb for Sarah and I."
"Ok. I'll start working on that as soon as the two of you deplane," Paul said. "Call me as soon a you guys are on your way back here so we can have the engines warmed up and ready to go."
"Will do." Cassie said. There was a slight bump as the plane touched down.
"Gulf 983AT copies, turn left to parking at Echo 3 and switch to ground control at 121.725 Good Day tower control." Rich said into the headset. Cassie got up and headed toward the back of the plane. Sarah had already packed the laptops up and was ready to deplane.
"Kiersten is going to call back in about five minutes. I didn't want to turn on the cells while we were landing." Sarah said, causing Cassie to nod. "Also, I just got word that the order for the measuring kit has been processed and is in the process of being shipped."
"Ok, that's one step that is taken care of..." Cassie said, watching as Paul walked back and worked the controls to open the door. "Hopefully the car is here."
"Director, Let me know when you guys are on your way. I've already talked to the tower and as soon as you guys are on board, we will have clearance to take off." Paul said as the door folded down. There was a black sedan sitting outside wipers running as it was starting to sprinkle. "We're gonna try to find someone to act as an attendant on the return trip. I'm about to start calling Memphis and Atlanta ATC and working with them."
"Thank you." Cassie said. "If you need anything give me a call."
"Yes, Ma'am." Paul said, and then stood at attention, and saluted.
Cassie and Sarah were both on the phone as the sedan pulled up outside the Capitol.
"Jim, we're getting ready to go in and see Senator Gordon. Keep me updated on the situations." Cassie said, opening the door as the sedan stopped.
"Elsie, we're pulling up to the Capitol. Text or email will be the best way to keep in touch." Sarah said opening her door. "I'll call you when we are back in the air on our way back to the office." Sarah hung up her phone and dropped it in her purse. The pair of them walked up the steps and into the rotunda. Senator Gordon's assistant, Cheryl Wilson was waiting on them. She lifted a barrier and let the two of them bypass the security check point.
"News is breaking on the issue in Ogden," Cheryl said walking toward a corridor on the left side of the capitol. "We're going to try to make this as quick as possible for you guys so you can get back to Atlanta and do what you do best." Cheryl stopped about thirty feet down the corridor and opened a door on the right. It was a small conference room, about twenty feet by twenty feet square. On one wall there were six televisions that were displaying the news feeds from all the major networks as well as a feed from CNBC.
"Doctor, it's nice to see you again." Senator William Gordon said, standing and shaking Cassie's hand. "Sarah, you seem taller than the last time we met." Cassie, Sarah, Senator Gordon and Cheryl all chuckled. It had been an ongoing joke between them since the first time that Sarah and Senator Gordon had met.
"I don't think so, Senator." Sarah said, eschewing her laptop bag into a chair.
"I would love to just have some small talk, but I can tell there is a situation brewing in Ogden, so lets cut to the chase." Senator Gordon said. Sarah nodded and pulled out copies of Quentin's' paper as well as the proposal. She sat both on the table.
"Late last week the head of the Vital Stats department came to me with some troubling news," Cassie started. "The number of boys born is about to start overtaking the girls at a rate of ten to one. That's projected to increase to sixty to one by 2075. That means for ever girl born, sixty boys will have also been born. We are looking at the possible extinction of our species. The numbers are even worse on a global scale." Cassie sat in one of the chairs and looked at Senator Gordon and Cheryl. "Using the collective brainpower of the top echelon of the CDC, we've come up with a proposal. It's a little unorthodox, but between the plan, and a lottery and some research to help curb this problem, I am confident that we can overcome this just like we overcame polio, small pox, and malaria." Cassie turned to Sarah, who had sat when she had sat. "Sarah, tell them about the proposal."
"After we had our meetings, and this was the only viable option that had come out of those meetings, I preceded to write up the proposal you have before you. Essentially, every female from the age of twelve upward will be placed in a device that will protect them. The cost for this is going to have to be burdened by the Federal Government." Sarah paused and looked at Cassie, and then back to Senator Gordon and Cheryl. "The proposal calls for every female aged twelve and up to be placed in a chastity belt." There were glances around the table. "The only way we can do this is to bring the manufacturing in domestically and build them here. I've already ordered a kit that will assist me with measuring myself for one. I plan to order one in the same configuration that we will use for this extreme protective measure and wear it so I can give a first hand account of what challenges this plan faces in practicality." Senator Gordon reached forward and picked up a copy of the proposal. After he had skimmed it, he looked at Sarah and Cassie.
"Sarah, your work is second to none," He said softly. "If you weren't working for the Director of the CDC, I'd invite you to come work for me." He smiled at the youngest girl in the room. "I admire you for your willingness to be the guinea pig for this. Let me pass this to the committee and see what they want to do. You already have a yea vote from me on proceeding with the plan. It's unorthodox, yes, but it would work. Is there any reason to keep this under the table so to speak?"
"I believe that yes, we should keep this under the table for now," Cassie said. "I think that if word of this gets out, we're going to have a larger problem with rape."
"Ok." Senator Gordon said. "I do want to circulate this to POTUS and VPOTUS. I'm going to need their clout in order to get this off the ground. I expect that we should have this in place by the new year." Cassie nodded. That was earlier that she was expecting. She was thinking around two years for implementation. "Doctor, I'll keep you informed as to what's going on and where and when. Sarah, I admire your courage. After you've been locked in for a while, would you be willing to testify before the committee, and perhaps The President himself as to the practicals of this?"
"That was actually the reason for ordering a device in the first place, Senator." Sarah said.
"Thank you." Senator Gordon said. "You guys should get heading back to Atlanta. There's only so much you can do to control a crisis from 800 miles away." He smiled. "The car is waiting out front for you with an escort back to Dulles." He stood and walked around the table to where Cassie and Sarah had also stood. He shook Cassie's hand and then gave her a hug. Turning to Sarah, he looked right into her blue eyes and thought for a second. "Sarah, your mother would be proud of you. As you know I have a daughter that is your age, can I have her get in touch with you? She's rather eccentric and I think that she might be willing to sign on as another test subject."
"Could she keep it a secret?" Sarah asked.
"Yes," Senator Gordon said. "She knows things that could shake up a few people around here but she keeps them to herself."
"Yes, give her the number for the Director's office. I'll talk to her and see if she wants to help us. Either way, she's going to end up in the same boat..." Sarah chuckled.
"Very true," Senator Gordon said, turning to Cheryl. "After you see them to the car, please get the committee together and then try to get me a meeting with the President. Today preferably. I would like The President, the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff there." Cheryl nodded.
"Sure thing, Senator." Cheryl said, watching as Sarah grabbed her bag and hefted it to her shoulder. She opened the door and led Cassie and Sarah out the way they come in. When they got out the car, there were four Metro Police cruisers and six motorcycles sitting around the sedan. As Cassie got in the car, she called Paul at Dulles.
"Paul, we're on our way with an escort," Cassie said, "Light'er up."