Page 43 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

“What’s the secret?”

“To what?” Shelby asked.

“To knowing how to do all this stuff.”

“You know how to do stuff that I’ll never know anything about. You have your gifts, and I have mine. You don’t need to worry about knowing how to do any of this, because you have me, and I’ve got you covered.”

“You’ll never know how thankful I am to have you, Tinker Bell. Especially on days like today. You’re going to come to the White House with us, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. I can’t let you make a hot mess of it.”

Sam cracked up laughing. “I don’t want you to overdo it today. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“Sounds like a plan. I took the liberty of consulting with Lilia about how best to deal with the curious parents, and she suggested we draft something to hand each of them as they arrive. I wanted to run it by you to make sure you approve.”

Sam took the sheet of paper that Shelby handed her.

Thank you so much for attending Alden and Aubrey’s birthday party! We hope you and your children have a wonderful time. We ask that you please keep the focus on our birthday boy and girl and refrain from asking President or Mrs. Cappuano to pose for photos or provide autographs. We sincerely appreciate the friendship and support provided to Alden and Aubrey during this difficult time in their lives, and we thank you for joining us today.

Sincerely,

Nick and Sam Cappuano

“That’s perfect,” Sam said. “Do we need to run it by Nick’s people?”

“Lilia was going to take care of that and call me if there’re any concerns.”

“Thank you so much for thinking of that. I’ll admit I was feeling freaked out about sixty strangers coming to my house on this of all weekends.”

“I figured you would be, so I also texted your friends, including Freddie and Elin, Gonzo and Christina, Harry and Lilia, Jeannie and Michael, the O’Connors, Celia, your mom, your sisters and Nick’s dad, to put them on notice that we need them to help run interference with the other guests.”

“That’s very good thinking too.”

“Is Nick going to make the party?”

“Probably not. The Iranians have messed up his plans for the weekend.”

“I saw that on the news this morning. What could they possibly be hoping to achieve?”

“I don’t know, but I hope they can resolve it soon.”

The news from Iran was grim. According to Nick’s advisers, the Iranians hadn’t responded to a request for information about the well-being of the secretary and his detail. The secretary’s plane was still surrounded by Iranian forces, with more than two dozen Americans on board.

“According to the Air Force, they have six days’ worth of food and water,” Terry reported during the day’s first meeting in the Situation Room, “but the bathroom situation will become a concern sooner rather than later if they can’t get it pumped.”

Nick took calls of concern and offers of support from U.S. allies, all of whom were equally anxious to see the situation resolved peacefully.

Over the next few hours, Nick received briefings from intelligence and military officials that made him increasingly more nervous about what the Iranians’ end game might be.

“Are they hoping we’ll send in U.S. forces?” he asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“We believe so, sir,” Army General Michael Wilson said.

Nick expelled a long deep breath. “I’d like to see my options by the end of the day. We can’t let this go on indefinitely.”

“If I may, sir,” Jennings, the Defense secretary said, “I prefer to see us discussing sanctions before we talk about sending in troops.”

“Everything is on the table,” Nick said, “up to and including sending in special forces if it comes to that.” He’d instructed the Treasury and Commerce secretaries to work on a list of economic sanctions designed to cause the utmost pain to the Iranian economy. However, those sanctions would mostly hurt regular people in Iran who’d had nothing to do with detaining the United States’ top diplomat. There were no good solutions to a problem like this, which of course the Iranians had known when they took the bold action of detaining the secretary in the first place.