Disclaimers and timelines and the like are found in Chapter 1.

He replaced the receiver and walked around the desk to lead George to the adjoining Oval Office. "I guess it's time to find out…"

George took a deep breath as he followed Arnie down the private adjoining hall connecting the two offices. "Jack, I need to talk to you," Arnie called out as he led George in.

President Jack Ryan looked up from the briefcase he was packing up, "What is it Arnie? I'm tired and I want to go see my family," he tiredly told him before noticing the Air Force general following his chief of staff.

"We have a meeting," Arnie succinctly told him.

Jack was startled as he looked down at his desk schedule and then up at his head of security, Andrea Price. She was as shocked as he was; she wanted to pull her own copy of his itinerary out but stopped herself because there was an unknown man in the room with her charge. Jack looked back at Arnie and the general, "What meeting?"

"One that isn't on the books, sir. Sorry, I had to keep this one quiet, even from you." He saw Andrea take a step closer, "You too, I'm sorry," he told her as he looked over at her. "Jack, this is General George Hammond, there's something we need to tell you."

George stepped forward to shake hands with the President, out of the corner of his eye he saw the Secret Service agent take an even bigger step closer, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. President."

Jack shook his hand as he looked at the faces of the three occupants in the room, "Uh… yeah… Arnie what's going on?"

"Jack, we need to talk in private," he told him as he indicated Agent Price with his eyes.

Jack squinted his eyes as he stared at Arnie. He was about to speak when Andrea interrupted him, "I don't leave this room Mr. President." Jack looked at her questioningly, Andrea explained, "With all due respect Mr. Van Damn, I don't know General Hammond. And I like the fact that neither the President nor I knew about this meeting even less. I'm here to protect you sir… No disrespect General."

Arnold was about to protest, but Hammond spoke up first, "None taken, ma'am. Let her stay Arnie. I have to warn you both, that what we are about to reveal to you is the most tightly guarded secret in the world, there are only three people here in Washington that know the whole story of what I am going to tell you Mr. President."

Jack was interested now, "What is it?"

Hammond spoke again, "No disrespect to you ma'am, but sir, do you trust her?"

"Agent Price is the head of my security detail, I trust her with my life," Jack smiled.

"General, I don't tell anyone about what I see."

"Not even the rest of the agents on his detail?"

"Generally, no…

"Well you're not going to tell them what we discuss here."

"General-" she was interrupted though by Arnie

"Andrea, this is serious stuff!"

She looked at them wide-eyed. She then looked at the President, who was silently analyzing General Hammond. "Andrea, it doesn't leave this room," he quietly ordered her.

Arnie spoke again, ready for the assault he would get from the Secret Service agent again, "I've also had all other monitoring equipment in this room turned off."

"You what?" Andrea yelled as she brought her hand mike up to her mouth to find out what was going on.

"Wait Andrea" Jack ordered her. He didn't know why, but he trusted the General in front of him; perhaps it was all his time he spent as an analyst.

"Sir!"

It was now Arnie's turn to speak up, "Andrea, turning off all recording devices has been standard procedure for the past ten years whenever discussing what we're about to reveal."

"What?" now it was Jack's turn to be startled. "What the hell have you been keeping from me Arnie?" he demanded of his chief of staff.

"Calm down Mr. President. Now, more than ever, I need you to be calm and listen." Arnie glared at his President. He knew he would win, he often did.

Jack stared at the pair in front of him for a long minute. He then turned to Andrea and nodded his head before coming around his desk and leading Arnie and George to the couches in the center of the room. "Okay, you have my complete attention," he told them as he sat down.

TBC

Again, please let me know what you think.