Chapter 1
"Thank you all for coming. This has been a great week. To have all of my family together in one spot has meant a great deal to your mother and me. These past few years have been hard for each of you and I know you have made sacrifices. The biggest one I had to make was not to be able to participate in my children and grandchildren's lives. I leave the White House in a year and I will be spending a lot more time in my favorite roles—that of father and grandfather. And I'm looking forward to being active in your lives again."
Abbey's eyes sparkled with tears as she listened to her husband put into such eloquent words her own feelings. Speaking had always been one of Jed's strengths. She was just bursting with pride that everybody had managed to arrange their schedule so the entire family could experience such a good time. Jed had not had a true vacation in two years and she was determined to get him away from the stress of the office. It hadn't been easy to arrange the Presidential schedule, and have that match the schedules of six other people. But somehow, they had managed to pull this off. And they had had a great week, especially with the grandchildren.
Annie and Gus had a great time swimming in the ocean with their grandfather. Gus had giggled as he covered his grandfather with sand. Bucket after bucket of sand had been poured on their grandfather. Neither of the children minded the work. Annie was old enough to realize just how special this time was. In the past seven years she had rarely seen her grandfather anyplace but the farm or the White House. Most times she would be watching some news clip of him giving a speech or traveling to some far off country.
Speaking of the press, CJ had done a good job of keeping them away from the family. She arranged some sort of a deal. The family would pose for pictures at the beginning of the vacation and at the end. In between, the press would keep out of sight. Abbey didn't want the grandchildren to experience first hand the goldfish bowl environment that the rest of the family has had to endure. And the press had kept the deal. Abbey didn't know how she had arranged it, but CJ certainly deserved a raise. She would have to talk with Jed about that.
"Abbey, do you want to say anything?" Jed's question brought her back to the present.
Shaking her head 'No', she knew that she would only get up there and cry.
As Jed was sitting down, a strange noise started in the private dining room. The room started shaking while the floor was beginning to roll. Quickly, all hell broke loose.
The windows began to shatter and glass flew everywhere. The Secret Service agent closest to the President and the First Lady tried to reach them, but was pushed to the floor as he was hit by falling debris.
Jed reached for Abbey and tried to pull her under the table with him. He hoped that the table would protect them. Each family member tried to reach out to find somebody else. As they all hit the floor, the ceiling collapsed and covered everybody with timber, concrete, and debris.
The shaking continued for another minute, then stopped. The eerie quiet was in sharp contrast to the noise that had just flowed through the room.
The quiet continued.