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the phone. You’re sure this line is secure, right?’
    ‘I’m sure,’ Kelly replied. ‘Anyway, what difference does it make? Everyone knows he sleeps around. It’s not exactly news.’
    ‘That wouldn’t help me if it leaked out because of me. I wouldn’t tell anyone except you. It’s all so demeaning, Kelly. And you ought to see this one. She’s so fucking superior. She makes me want to throw up.’
    ‘What’s she like?’
    ‘Foreign. Expensive clothes. Good-looking, I have to give her that. The Boss has good taste in that department. But she acts as if she owns him.’
    ‘How does he keep her from the First Lady?’
    ‘Oh, that’s easy enough, with our cooperation. If the President wants to see someone, we know exactly how to arrange it discreetly. It’s been part of our job since Kennedy’s day, longer according to some. Senior agents take you to one side and explain it to you when you’re first assigned to the Detail.’
    ‘My God, what a use of the tax-payers’ money,’ Kelly said.
    ‘Tell me about it.’
    ‘Well, it’s your own fault. You had to choose the Secret Service. You could have come with me to Quantico.’
    ‘I’d already spent most of my life with you. We went all the way through school and college together.’
    ‘So, you couldn’t stand me any more? I thought we were to be life-long friends.’
    ‘We are,’ Linda insisted. ‘You know how much you’ve always meant to me, Kelly. You remember me back in the old days, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks with alcoholics for parents. If it hadn’t been for you and your parents, God only knows what…’
    Kelly sat up.
    ‘Don’t start on that, Linda,’ she said gently. ‘You got yourself out of that, you made a life for yourself, and you did a damn good job of it.’
    ‘I’m just saying you’ve been my friend. You stuck with me.’
    ‘And you stuck with me.’
    Linda sighed.
    ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Kelly. I’m just upset, that’s all. I’ll get over it.’
    ‘I don’t blame you for being upset.’
    ‘Maybe I should have gone with you to Quantico. I just didn’t see myself as an FBI agent at the time. But maybe I’m having second thoughts. Maybe it’s not too late. What do you think?’
    ‘I think you had a bad day.’
    ‘The job sucks sometimes.’
    ‘Every job sucks sometimes.’
    Linda laughed.
    ‘Yeah, you’re right, I know. Oh, the hell with it. We’re back in Washington tomorrow, and the First Lady is in residence. Perhaps he’ll give it a rest for a while. Let’s change the subject. How’s the love life?’
    ‘It’s fine when we have time,’ Kelly said. ‘It’s just that Frank and I have such different schedules. It’s getting harder and harder to spend enough time together.’
    ‘He’s still with Senator O’Brien, right?’
    ‘Yes. Frank’s Chief of Staff now. He’s thinking of running for office himself eventually. But the trouble is, he would have to start back in Minneapolis. I don’t relish the thought of a commuter relationship. How about you?’
    ‘No better.’
    ‘Have you heard from Bob?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You still miss him?’
    ‘Yes, the bastard.’
    Kelly sighed into the phone.
    ‘Some men don’t know when they’re well off,’ she said. In the silence, the phone beeped.
    ‘Damn,’ Kelly said. ‘That’s the call I’m expecting, Linda. Got to go. Call me tomorrow, OK?’
    ‘OK’
    ‘Love you.’
    ‘Love you,’ Linda said, hanging up.
    Kelly clicked in the incoming call.
    ‘Phil?’
    ‘Kelly?’
    ‘Yes. Hey, there. How’s it going out there in Oregon?’
    ‘The Portland field office has never looked so beautiful,’ Agent Phil Hammond replied.
    Kelly laughed.
    ‘Now, Phil, don’t be bitter. It’s just a temporary assignment.’
    ‘Easy for you to say.’
    ‘So what’s up?’
    ‘We’ve been keeping surveillance on Carlson and Rogers round the clock. They are the brains behind the Sons of the Flag, Kelly, no doubt about it. They’re both nasty pieces