Tom Clancy - The Bear and the Dragon

But even that didn’t apply here. Though Madge North was a gifted physician, she was testing for a predetermined condition. Maybe someday it could be fixed-genetic therapy offered that hope, ten years or so down the line-but not today. Madge could merely determine what already was. Madge had great hands, and a good eye, but the rest of it was in God’s hands, and God had already decided one way or the other. It was just a matter of finding out what His decision had been.

“This is when a smoke comes in handy,” the inspector observed, with a grimacing smirk.

“You smoke?”

He shook his head. “Gave it up a long time ago.”

“You should tell Jack.”

The FBI agent looked up. “I didn’t know he smokes.”

“He bums them off his secretary every so often, the wimp,” Cathy told the FBI agent, with almost a laugh. “I’m not supposed to know.”

“That’s very tolerant for a doc.”

“His life’s hard enough, and it’s only a couple a day, and he doesn’t do it around the kids, or Andrea’d have to shoot me for ripping his face off.”

“You know,” O’Day said, looking down again and speaking from the cowboy boots he liked to wear under his blue FBI suit, “if it comes back that it’s a Down’s kid, what the hell do we do then?”

“That’s not an easy choice.”

“Hell, under the law I don’t get a choice. I don’t even have a say in it, do I?”

“No, you don’t.” Cathy didn’t venture that this was an inequity. The law was firm on the point. The woman-in this case, the wife-alone could choose to continue the pregnancy or terminate it. Cathy knew her husband’s views on abortion. Her own views were not quite identical, but she did regard that choice as distasteful. “Pat, why are you borrowing trouble?”

“It’s not under my control.”

Like most men, Cathy saw, Pat O’Day was a control freak. She could understand that, because so was she. It came from using instruments to change the world to suit her wishes. But this was an extreme case. This tough guy was deeply frightened. He really ought not to be, but it was a question of the unknown for him. She knew the odds, and they were actually pretty good, but he was not a doctor, and all men, even the tough ones, she saw, feared the unknown. Well, it wasn’t the first time she’d baby-sat an adult who needed his hand held-and this one had saved Katie’s life.

“Want to walk over to the day-care center?”

“Sure.” O’Day stood.

It wasn’t much of a walk, and her intention was to remind O’Day what this was all about-getting a new life into the world.

“SURGEON’S on the way to the playpen,” Roy Altman told his detail. Kyle Daniel Ryan-SPRITE-was sitting up now, and playing very simply with very rudimentary toys under the watchful eyes of the lionesses, as Altman thought of them, four young female Secret Service agents who fawned over SPRITE like big sisters. But these sisters all carried guns, and they all remembered what had nearly happened to SANDBOX. A nuclear-weapons-storage site was hardly as well-guarded as this particular day-care center.

Outside the playroom was Trenton “Chip” Kelley, the only male agent on the detail, a former Marine captain who would have frightened the average NFL lineman with a mere look.

“Hey, Chip.”

“Hi, Roy. What’s happening?”

“Just strolling over to see the little guy.”

“Who’s the muscle?” Kelley saw that O’Day was carrying heat, but decided he looked like a cop. But his left thumb was still on the button of his “crash alarm,” and his right hand was within a third of a second of his service automatic.

“Bureau. He’s cool,” Altman assured his subordinate.

“’ Kay.” Kelley opened the door.

“Who’d he play for?” O’Day asked Altman, once inside.

“The Bears drafted him, but he scared Ditka too much.” Altman laughed. “Ex-Marine.”

“I believe it.” Then O’Day walked up behind Dr. Ryan. She’d already scooped Kyle up, and his arms were around her neck. The little boy was babbling, still months away from talking, but he knew how to smile when he saw his mommy.

“Want to hold him?” Cathy asked.

O’Day cradled the infant somewhat like a football. The youngest Ryan examined his face dubiously, especially the Zapata mustache, but Mommy’s face was also in sight, and so he didn’t scream.

“Hey, buddy,” O’Day said gently. Some things came automatically. When holding a baby, you don’t stand still. You move a little bit, rhythmically, which the little ones seemed to like.

“It’ll ruin Andrea’s career,” Cathy said.

“Make for a lot better hours for her, and be nice to see her every night, but, yeah, Cathy, be kinda hard for her to run alongside the car with her belly sticking out two feet.” The image was good enough for a laugh. “I suppose they’ll put her on restricted duty.”

“Maybe. Makes for a great disguise, though, doesn’t it?”

O’Day nodded. This wasn’t so bad, holding a kid. He remembered the old Irish adage: True strength lies in gentleness. But what the hell, taking care of kids was also a man’s duty. There was a lot more to being a man than just having a dick.

Cathy saw the display and had to smile. Pat O’Day had saved Katie’s life, and done it like something out of a John Woo movie, except that Pat was a real tough guy, not the movie kind. His scenes weren’t scripted; he’d had to do it for real, making it up as he’d gone along. He was a lot like her husband, a servant of the law, a man who’d sworn an oath to Do the Right Thing every time, and like her husband, clearly a man who took his oaths seriously. One of those oaths concerned Pat’s relationship with Andrea, and they all came down to the same thing: preserve, protect, defend. And now, this tiger with a tie was holding a baby and smiling and swaying back and forth, because that’s what you did with a baby in your arms.

“How’s your daughter?” Cathy asked.

“She and your Katie are good friends. And she’s got a thing going with one of the boys at Giant Steps.”

“Oh?”

“Jason Hunt. I think it’s serious. He gave Megan one of his Hot Wheels cars.” O’Day laughed. That’s when his cell phone went off. “Right side coat pocket,” he told the First Lady.

Cathy fished in his pocket and pulled it out. She flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Who’s this?” a familiar voice asked.

“Andrea? It’s Cathy. Pat’s right here.” Cathy took Kyle and handed off the phone, watching the FBI agent’s face.

“Yeah, honey?” Pat said. Then he listened, and his eyes closed for two or three seconds, and that told the tale. His tense face relaxed. A long breath came out slowly, and the shoulders no longer looked like a man anticipating a heavy blow. “Yeah, baby, I came over to see Dr. Ryan, and we’re in the nursery. Oh, okay.” Pat looked over and handed over the phone. Cathy cradled it between her shoulder and ear.

“So, what did Madge say?” Cathy asked, already knowing most of it.

“Normal-and it’s going to be a boy.”

“So, Madge was right, the odds were in your favor.” And they still were. Andrea was very fit. She wouldn’t have any problems, Cathy was sure.

“Seven months from next Tuesday,” Andrea said, her voice already bubbling.

“Well, listen to what Madge says. I do,” Cathy assured her. She knew all the stuff Dr. North believed in. Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Do your exercises. Take the classes on prepared delivery along with your husband. Come see me in five weeks for your next checkup. Read What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Cathy handed the phone back. Inspector O’Day had taken a few steps and turned away. When he turned back to take the phone, his eyes were unusually moist.