Abbey was still thinking about Annie's question, her call for help. She wanted to be supportive but that might go against what Liz and Doug wanted.
"Ma'am, may I speak with you privately?"
Abbey looked up from her quilt work to see the face of one of her agents.
"Sure. Annie, I'll be right back."
"Okay." Annie was concentrating on cutting the prices for her block.
The agent motioned her into the corner.
"Ma'am, there's a problem at the lake. The boat tipped over and both the President and your grandson have been thrown into the lake."
"Are they okay?" Abbey's heart skipped a beat, waiting for his answer.
"I don't know, ma'am. It just happened. I thought you'd want to go down there."
"Yes. Of course." She walked over to Annie as her heart started to race. "Annie, honey, there's a problem. I'll be right back."
But Annie could read the worry on her grandmother's face. "Nana, what is it? Is it Gus? Or Grandpa?"
"Yes, honey." Annie was too old for Abbey to lie to her. "Both of them. Their boat tipped over and we need to get down there right away."
"Let's go." Annie was out the door before Abbey could even blink. But she followed right after her granddaughter.
They both covered the distance to the pond quickly. As the lake came into view, Abbey anxiously looked to see who was on the shoreline. There was nobody.
She looked into the water and saw Gus trying to swim to shore. His life jacket was slowing his attempts to swim.
Another agent jumped in the water and within seconds had grabbed Gus. He was bringing the boy to the shoreline where Abbey and Annie stood.
"Jed? Where's my husband?" Abbey was shouting, but the agents were too busy to respond.
As Gus was deposited on front of Abbey, she knelt down beside the shivering boy. She quickly got the life jacket off and began to rub his back in an attempt to warm him. The agent who had rescued him returned to the water to help the first agent in his search for the President.
Repeated dives brought no results.
Abbey's attention was partially on her grandson and partially on the search for Jed. Where was he? Her panic quickly grew.