"The Secret Service has failed once again…"
"The President's son has been kidnapped"
"Mexican Cartel as main suspect for Timothy Robbins abduction"
"USA government threatened by Mexican cartel".
—Torres! –Richard Webber, the Director of the Secret Service, called again, rolling his big brown eyes– Torres!
Her eyes left the monitor in front of her and looked at her Chief's.
—Are you just going to watch the news and goof around? Get up, we need you right now, agent Torres.
—There's nothing we can do right now but waiting, Richard! –Callie pointed out exasperatedly– With all due respect, Chief. They have won this time.
—I need you to get some sleep, eat something and take a shower. You need to be here tomorrow at 4:30.
The brunette rolled her eyes and put her mug of coffee away. She had not gotten any sleep since she saw Tim getting out of the White House to go to his girlfriend's, almost three days ago.
—Yes, sir.
She put on her USSS black jacket and opened the door.
—Goodbye, sir.
—And Torres? –Richard Webber said, quietly.
—Yes?
—Be sure to eat and shower before you sleep, you never know if I will have to wake you up in the middle of the night.
—Fine, Richard. Thank you.
She stepped out of the office and walked down the hallway of the big White House. She knew that the Secret Service Agents were the last thing that the Robbins family wanted to see, but she needed to talk to Barbara. The first lady.
Callie Torres was a brilliant and witty woman. She knew this Mexican Cartel was after the Republican President because of his idea to build a wall between Mexico and America. Of course, even though the wall meant that the Cartel would lose millions of dollars, that was not the whole problem. Daniel Robbins was against illegal immigrants. He wanted all of them out of his beloved country. And that, again, would jeopardize the Cartel's business even more than the wall.
Apparently, they had sent a threat before the elections, but the Secret Service had dismissed it because, well, there were lots of grumpy immigrants who didn't want Daniel to be their president. He would ruin their American Dream.
Torres was a daughter of immigrants herself. She didn't actually love the Republican Party, but anyways, her job just came first. She had to protect her President and all his people, although she didn't share his ideas. On the other hand, she had always gotten along with his wife, Barbara Robbins. She was a ray of sunshine. The Secret Service was supposed to watch over the presidential candidates six months before the elections, but, Daniel Robbins had been a controversial character since the first day. For the aforementioned reason, the Secret Service had been told to protect him and his family almost a year before that: Barbara, his wife, and the twins, Timothy and Arizona Robbins.
The Chief, Richard Webber had entrusted Callie with Barbara's life.
It was clear that, both women were not exactly friends, but Barbara had been nothing but generous and kind to her. For example, she always ordered another ice-cream for Callie when she ate one. She even told Callie that she was really worried about Tim's girlfriend, because he had been in love with her since he was 14 and now, six years later, when his dad was the President, she decided she liked him back.
Callie Torres took a deep breath and knocked on Barbara's office door.
—Oh, agent Torres! Thank God! –Barbara exclaimed as soon as she opened the door, pulling the brunette into an awkward hug.
Some seconds later, when the blonde woman had let go of her, she looked deep into her sad blue eyes.
—I'm so sorry, Mrs. Robbins –Callie said.
—Don't apologize, please. I know this is not your fault –Barbara gave her a sad smile–. I was going to call you anyways.
—Really, Mrs. Robbins?
—Oh, please, how old are you?
—Uh, I will be 30 next week, but I don't understand why this is imp…
—You're reliable and old enough to just call me Barbara.
The brunette looked at the first lady, surprised and smiled.
—Oh, OK! Barbara, then. So… Tell me, Barbara, why were you going to call me?
—I don't want you to object this, OK?
—OK.
— I want you, agent Callie Torres, to protect my daughter.
Callie stopped listening right there. Damn it, Barbara! That was exactly what she didn't want all along. She was okay with watching over the whole family, but when an agent was told to protect the President's kid, they got stuck. She wanted her career to progress. Taking care of a rebellious twenty-year-old girl would never make it happen.
She was stuck.
—Agent Torres? Did you hear me? – softly asked Barbara, placing her hands in Callie's shoulders.
Callie snapped back to reality and shook her head.
—I'm really sorry, Mrs. Robbins. I can't do that.
The brunette left the first lady standing in front of an open door and practically ran towards her car.
She wanted nothing more than this nightmare to be over.