"I'm listening, sir." Nathaniel said respectfully.
"Why do you want to recruit a team around you? If anything, the situation clearly shows that you were competent on your own to deal with anything that came your way. Even Tobias agrees on that part."
"Because it's safer that way and the people I want to deal with are too powerful for me alone. I wasn't alone by the way, Amal Rockea and Scott McCornaig were with me, their help proved to be invaluable in this situation. I could not have achieved everything I did without them present with me."
"About them, I did some research, how did you manage to become their de facto leader? You are half of their age and they still follow your order without even thinking about it. I know it's not because of the money, their profile clearly shows that much." Tobias asked.
"This is not my place to tell, this is a question better suited for them to answer."
"You know, I can't believe we let a man with Scott skills get away, I was thinking about enrolling him again." The President mused out loud.
"You did not let him get away. He was dishonorably discharged without a chance to be heard by any defense committee and then lied to to crush his spirit. Don't even try to take him back Mister President or I would sue you for it and believe me, I know everything about that particular operation and how bad it ended. It could turn into a nightmare for your administration real fast."
"Who do you think you are, threatening the President?" Tobias shouted angrily.
"Easy Tobias, I was just testing him and he passed. Just to let you know, the person who did that in the State Department got fired. I understand putting the sake of the country before a single soldier but there is something that should not be done in terms of human decency."
"Glad to hear it, sir. Why were you testing me?"
"You know what I like about you beside your skills Nathaniel?"
"No, sir." Nathaniel answers.
"The way you talk to me. Matter of factly, you respect me and the office but you take no crap from me and you will never do something if it goes against your belief. And to top it off, you are brutally honest sometimes, it's refreshing compared to what I get here in DC."
"I don't think brutally honest is what I would call what Nathaniel is doing." Linda interject.
"Nathaniel, how would you go about it if you were to murders the three of us and then escape?" The President asked.
"Sir, I don't think this is wise... " Tobias starts to say before Nathaniel starts talking.
"Obviously Tobias is the biggest threat here so I would kill him first using the letter opener from your desk and trusting it in his throat. After that I would use the moment of you two freezing under the brutality of the attack to jump on you after taking the knife that Tobias is hiding on his left ankle. Knowing there are six commandos ready to engage when the panic button under your desk is activated, I would kill you both using the knife before you remember to press it and as silently as possible. Once done, I will take Tobias' gun and enter the side room where they are positioned and ambush them when they are the least expecting it. It will be bloody and noisy and that's why I would start a fire to engage a diversion before taking the gears of one of the SWAT teams and blend in with them using the chaos created by the fire to exit the house. I believe this plan is more likely to succeed, around seventy nine percent." Nathaniel answered thoughtfully.
Looking back to the President, he could see that they were all staring at him with wide eyes.
"I stand corrected." Linda said once she could talk again.
"And from where you would get the letter opener?" Tobias asked.
"You mean this letter opener?" Nathaniel asks, making it appear in his hand. "I took it on the desk a while back, I was playing with it until you ask"
Seeing the paper knife in Nathaniel's hands, Tobias paled visibly. He knew how deadly Nathaniel was and thus had kept a close eye on him through the talk in case of attack. Despite that, he never saw him take it from the President's desk and play with it like he said. Thinking back on what Nathaniel had said, he realised that he could have carried out his plan. The two of them were sitting quite close and were in reach of a knife attack that could end his life before he could do anything about it. He didn't know either how the hell he knew that he had a knife on his life ankle as it was really well hidden and barely noticeable even when he was walking.
"How did you do that?" The President asked, not even afraid. He was starting to trust that young man and he knew that if he wanted to hurt him, he could do nothing about it, even protected by Secret Service agents.
"Well, it was when I did my movie 'Now you see me', I learned to make a couple of hand tricks and I became quite good at it. It's almost like second nature to me now." He said, making the paper opener appear and disappear from one hand to the other, making even Tobias look on admiratively. "Sorry sir, your paper opener." Nathaniel said, putting the paper knife back on the desk.
"Thank you. I believe we are done for today as you have answered all of my questions. So far on the diplomatic side, there was no blow back to us. We receive no recrimination from the Italian government and the investigators in Saudi Arabia are leaning against another terrorist organization for the bombing of Khalid Rahal home and warehouse. You did well given the circumstance."
"Thank you, sir. I will start recruiting my team in a few weeks."
"It was planned for march I believe, why the rush?" The President asked, frowning.
"Because even if I did cover my tracks well given the little time I had, there are still some trails to follow. Nothing that could point on me without doubt but enough to point on the direction of my family. It was inevitable and I decided to use that as a cautionary tale." Nathaniel explained.
"You use that to make a statement of what happens to people trying to hurt your family. Effectively preventing people to believe it was sanctioned by this government. Brilliant." William compliment.
"Thank you, sir but this is a double edged weapon. It will make everyone second guess it hurting us but it will also make a lot of people angry, people who have the means to strike back. I need my team up and running when they will come to protect the people close to us."
"I see. I will help you however I can if it's come to that." The President supports.
"We have agents posted in New York, if the need arises someday, they will be here for you to use." Tobias nodded as well.
"Thank you, it is appreciated.��
"Nathaniel, what do you think about eating with us and sleeping here tonight? We will arrange your transport back to New York for tomorrow morning." Linda offers with a smile.
"I believe I would like that very much Ma'am." Nathaniel nodded with a smile.