“Sure, that sounds reasonable. But keep in mind that my willingness to listen does not imply in any way, shape, or form that I will do a series on the information that you are about to give me,” Snapp said.
“Fair enough,” Lake said.
It was 1:00 a.m. and the President was still at his desk in the Oval Office. He had not been able to really focus on much of the material that had come across his desk ever since his meeting with General Devin. He was tipped back in his chair with his eyes closed when his wife, Megan, came in.
“Are you ever going to come to bed?” she asked.
“Sorry honey, I was just trying to get a handle on some unusual information that I came across,” he said, sitting up.
“Do you trust the source?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I have no reason not to but what they told me is so unbelievable that it is hard to comprehend. The implications are incredible.”
“Well, why don’t you do like you usually do when something seems either too good to be true, or too bad to be true? Take a firsthand look at the information. Can that be done in this case?” she asked.
“Yes it can, but it will be tricky. I would have to do it in such a way that no one knew about it. If the press got wind of it, they would create an unstable situation for the government,” the President told her.
“Goodness that sounds ominous. To shake the foundation of government takes something earth shattering. What happened, did someone find little green men from Mars running around on Earth?” she joked.
“That is closer to the truth that you may suspect,” he said, faking a laugh.
“I know this, the only way you will be satisfied is to see for yourself firsthand what this is all about. You are clever and tenacious and you will find some way to check this out, even if it means slipping away from your staff and the press. You will never be happy just taking a third party’s say so as proof. Instead of brooding, why don’t you put that big brain to work on figuring out how to see this mystery for yourself,” Megan said.
“Honey, you’re right. I am spending time on the wrong things. I need to sit down and figure out how to get away for a few hours to see what all of this is about,” he replied.
“Good, now will you come to bed? It’s lonely up there in that big old room with no one to protect me,” she said.
“You've got two big Marines right outside the door,” he said.
“So, you think I should invite them in?”
“Don’t be a scamp. I’ll be right there,” he promised.
“You have ten minutes. After that you had better knock, especially if you don’t see two Marines outside the door,” she teased.
“Get,” was all he said.
He decided that he would call General Devin and let him know of his intentions. It would have to be closely guarded and coordinated for this to be pulled off. He had the switchboard ring the general.
“General Devin. This had better be damned important,” he said picking up the phone.
“I consider it to be,” the President replied.
“It had better be, who is this?”
“The President.”
A silence followed.
“Sorry Mr. President. I thought it might be one of my staff wanting to know if they should zip their fly after they take a leak,” the general said.
“That’s more than I need to know general,” he said.
“Sorry. What can I do for you Mr. President?”
“I want to visit Area-51 or whatever you call it. I will need your help. This has to be accomplished in total secrecy. No one can get word of my visit,” he told the general.
“I totally agree, no one should know about this but do you think it is the proper time? Everyone watches what the President does during his first one hundred days in office. The timing might make this more difficult.”
“I understand your concern and I appreciate that but I need to see for myself just what it is that goes on out there. I have a responsibility to the people to know,” the President replied.
“Yes sir, I understand. What can I do to help?”
“Not a lot initially. That will be my problem. Once I get there I want as few as people to know about this as possible. No one that is not critical to my visit, if at all feasible. I don’t know enough about how your people operate to know if that can be done,” the President confessed.
“I will see to it that no one knows about your visit except the essential people. I will handle those details personally,” he assured the President.
“Excellent. I will get back to you with the date but I just wanted to give you a heads up,” he told the general.
“I appreciate that. Don’t worry Mr. President, I will take care of everything on this end.”
“Thank you general. I’ll be in touch,” the President said.
He hung up the phone and went up to meet his wife as promised.
The gloom hung like heavy woolen curtains permeating the entire room, overbearing and depressing. Even the sounds of the night seemed subdued. Eighteen men sat, each lost in thought.
