John Woods sat in the Oval Office with his feet up on the desk. It was late – or rather it was very early – but either way, he couldn’t sleep.
‘Hey John, what’s going on?’
Teddy Adleman walked in, wearing a striped red open neck shirt and blue pants. They were slightly creased and looking like he’d picked them up and pulled them on from where he’d thrown them the night before, but as usual his afro was military neat.
‘Sorry to call you. Did I wake you?’
‘John, it’s in the middle of the night, of course you woke me.’
Woods knocked back the coffee he’d sent one of the Secret Service men out for. ‘I need you to do a check on Donald Parker.’
Teddy looked puzzled. ‘We already did. Came back clean.’
‘I know but I need you to do another. Off record.’
Teddy slumped down on the sofa and realized he’d sat on the seat with the faulty spring. He made a mental note to personally follow up on maintenance and moved along to the next seat. ‘Off record? I don’t get it.’
‘Just do it, Teddy. And I don’t want anyone else seeing it apart from you and me. Got that?’
‘Sure. Anything in particular you want me it to focus on? Because, like I say, the FBI check was clean.’
‘I know. What I want is to find out is if there was ever a connection between Simon Ballard and Parker. If and how often they went to the same meeting. Hell, even if they ever frequented the same coffee house. I want to know.’
Teddy whistled. ‘Simon Ballard as in…’
‘Yeah, Teddy, him.’