“Ladies and gentlemen,” the public address announcer boomed, “please welcome to the 111th playing of the Army-Navy game the president of the United States!” The cheers grew louder with every step he took. The only ones not cheering or clapping, Stevie noticed, were the Secret Service agents, whose heads appeared to be on swivels, and the photographers and TV cameramen backpedaling in front of President Obama as he smiled and waved and made his way to midfield.
“Okay,” Pete Dowling said when the final notes of “Hail to the Chief” died away, “you guys be ready to move on my signal. Remember to stay close to me and, Stevie, no smart comments while they’re doing the toss of the coin, okay?”
“Me?” Stevie said.
Dowling turned to another agent and pointed at Kelleher and Mearns. “They’re fine right here during the toss,” he said. “They stay here until the president leaves the field and Bob and I come back to get them.”
The agent nodded. The noise hadn’t abated even a little bit. “Hang on one minute,” Dowling said to Stevie and Susan Carol. “Let the captains get out there first.”
The captains had started walking to greet one another while their teammates, all wanting to get as close as they could, followed a few yards behind. Mike Daniels was waiting for them, and the president arrived a moment later. It was now extremely crowded around the giant Army-Navy logo at midfield.
Daniels introduced himself and the other six officials who would call the game. Agents were everywhere. Two CBS camera crews were moving around trying to get close-ups of everyone. Dowling pointed Stevie and Susan Carol to a spot a few feet from the Army captains. The president saw them and waved as if he had just spotted one of his kids at a school concert. They waved back.
“Don’t move, don’t say anything,” Dowling said over the din. “Just watch and listen.”
Stevie knew that as a reporter he should just be observing, but he was also an American and this was amazingly cool. He didn’t even try to keep the grin off his face.
Daniels had now opened his microphone so everyone in the stadium could hear him.
“Mr. President, I’m Mike Daniels, the game referee. It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”
“It’s great to be here,” the president answered, standing close enough to the mike that he could be heard clearly.
“Mr. President, this is a special coin made for today’s game,” Daniels said, reaching into his pocket and removing an extremely large coin. “As you can see, the front of the coin has an image of the White House, the back of the coin shows the Capitol building. I’m going to give you the coin to toss.”
“Thank you,” President Obama said, taking the coin.
Daniels waved the four captains closer. The two Army captains stood with their backs to the Army sideline, their teammates bunched up behind them. The Navy captains faced them, and the president stood directly in between them.
Daniels said, “Gentlemen, I know you’ve all met the president. Navy is the visiting team this year. Mr. Dobbs, Mr. Middleton, which of you will call the toss?”
“I will,” Dobbs said.
Stevie could see all the various cameramen, assembled opposite President Obama, jostling for position, clicking their cameras madly. He looked at Susan Carol for a split second and saw she had a smile as wide as his.
“Mr. President, will you hold the coin out so that Mr. Dobbs can see it?” Daniels asked.
President Obama held it in his palm and Daniels continued. “Mr. Dobbs, the White House is heads.” He looked at Obama, who turned the coin over in his hand. “And the Capitol building is tails,” Daniels said. “Everyone understand?”
Everyone nodded. Daniels asked the captains to take a step back to give the president some room, and he took a step back himself to make sure the TV cameras had a clear shot of the president flipping the coin.
“Mr. President, whenever you are ready, you can flip the coin. Just toss it in the air and let it land on the ground.”
The president smiled. “Good luck to all of you,” he said, and flipped the coin high in the air.
Dobbs called, “Heads!” as the coin was spiraling in the air.
When the coin landed, Daniels looked down and said, “It’s tails. Army wins the toss. Mr. Klein? What does your team want to do?”
“We’ll defer,” Derek Klein said, meaning Army would kick off to start the game so it could receive at the start of the second half.
Everyone moved around so Daniels could signal which direction Army would kick in. There was more handshaking all around. Everyone had been instructed to stay in place until the president left the field.
He was greeted by Lieutenant General Hagenbeck, the superintendent of West Point, and other Army officials and escorted to the Army side of the field, where he would watch the first half of the game. As ever, they were surrounded by camera crews and agents, but the president chatted happily with Hagenbeck, seeming completely at ease.
As soon as the president hit the sidelines, everyone on the field began scrambling again.
“Come on,” Dowling said. “Let’s get the field cleared so these guys can play a football game.”
Oh yeah, Stevie thought, the game.
The plan was for Stevie and Susan Carol to watch the game from the sidelines: Stevie on the Army side, Susan Carol on the Navy side.
As the field was being cleared, Daniels paused as he passed them.
“You two better watch yourselves. If you get in the way at all, I can have you thrown out of here in about five seconds,” he said.
“No, you can’t,” Pete Dowling said, magically appearing behind them. “I’m sure you have somewhere you need to be right now.”
Daniels glared for an instant, then turned and jogged away.
“Thanks, Mr. Dowling,” Susan Carol said.
“Can you two stay out of trouble for the next few hours, please?” Dowling said. “I don’t want to have to protect you too.”
“They’re the ones who started it,” Stevie said.
“I know,” Dowling said. “Although actually, Susan Carol, your story started it. Not that it was wrong.”
They heard another roar and saw that the president was giving a last wave before ducking into the tunnel. Dowling put his hand up to his ear again and said, “Roger that,” into his wrist.
He nodded at Stevie and Susan Carol. “All clear. You guys get set up on the sidelines and please duck behind someone if one of the officials comes close to you.”
“We will,” Susan Carol said. “But what happened with the Arnott family?”
Dowling shrugged. “Nothing. They’re in the stadium now, and we’ve got eyes on them. But there’s nothing suspicious we can see. Seems that all their big talk was just that.”
“But you had to take it seriously, right?” Stevie said.
Dowling nodded. “No doubt. Every threat is serious until proven otherwise. The FBI will continue to monitor their group. I appreciate your not writing anything that would compromise the agents’ position.”
“So you don’t have any concerns about the rest of the game?” Susan Carol asked.
“Well, the president will change sides at halftime, and the job isn’t done until we deliver him safely back to the White House. But no, I don’t have any special concerns anymore.”
“I do,” said Stevie. “The refs still suck.”