Chapter 11
"I don't know Ron. You know, as well as I do, if this is true, how it will affect the President. I guess the first question is, does the press have it?"
The general replied, "No, Sir. Her flight information is classified, and only those with a need to know clearance has the information."
"Okay, that's good." Leo paused, thinking of the next thing to do. "Let me bring in Josh, my deputy Chief of Staff and CJ, the Press Secretary. They are great advisors and can keep their heads on their shoulders in the middle of crisis. And they can keep their mouths shut. When they get in, we'll talk. I know the President has to be told, but I want more information. Ron, General Barker, if you would stay readily available and provide me with the latest information as it is received, I would really appreciate it. And Ron, let your agents in the Residence know what's going on and tell them if the President, for any reason, moves out of the bedroom, to give me an immediate warning. I need to intercept him before he sees the activity down here. He absolutely cannot be surprised. And if you can have the television disconnected remotely, all the better."
"Yes, Sir."
"Ron…"
"Yes, Sir?"
"I will tell him. I just want more information."
"I understand."
Leo was able to call in CJ and Josh without too much suspicion. All he told them was an emergency had occurred and he needed them in the White House as soon as possible. He would explain once they got there.
"I'm here, Leo. And Josh was pulling in right behind me."
At just that moment, Josh appeared. "What's going on?"
"Thanks for coming. Both of you, come to my office and I'll explain."
Once they got settled on the sofa, Leo gave them the same summary he had just received. They both were as shocked as he had been. Their only question had been about the President. How is he going to take it? But then they knew how. They knew how much the First Couple loved each other. How much they complete each other. How much each made the other whole.
For the next hour or so there was no new information. All of them were getting very anxious. No information meant no bad news. But it also meant no good news. And every hour without good news, meant that Leo could not give the President any hope about the status of the First Lady or any of the others on board that plane. About ten, General Barker and Ron knocked on Leo's door. "Leo, we have some news."
"Come in. Let me get my staff."
Leo buzzed CJ and Josh and told them to get there right away. As soon as the two senior staffers entered, Leo turned to the two men and said, "OK, tell me what you have."
Leo tried to read each man's face but he couldn't. So, he just waited for whatever information was to come.
General Barker was the first to speak. "The jets from Diego Garcia are over the last known position and it is daylight there. There are no signs of wreckage. No debris or oil slick. They are continuing to search, but there is no ping from a flight data recorder either. So right now, we are taking that as a good sign. And we have another good sign that there hasn't been a crash."
"Well, what is it?"
Leo stared at Josh for interrupting the general, but quickly nodded for the general to continue.
"Leo, we have word from a freighter in the southern Indian Ocean that they picked up a garbled distress call some time ago from an aircraft identifying itself as 'AF' something. The ship was heading west and they thought it was unusual to pick up an aircraft transmission, but they reported it to their headquarters. Somehow, it got transferred to the International Maritime Organization at the UN where someone recognized it was a call sign from a United States Air Force plane. It was immediately passed onto us at Andrews. The transmission was filtered and determined to be from AF80002. Andrews then called me here at the White House."
Leo looked at Ron. "Ron, was there any additional information in that distress call? Could the position be estimated?"
"No, to both questions, Leo."
Leo looked around the room. He saw the worried expressions on all the faces and knew he had no other choice. He had to tell the President that his wife was on board a troubled aircraft.