THE FLIGHT BEGAN SILENTLY. No communication was made other than what the pilot kept on the radio. Everyone there wondered what kind of security they would find upon arriving at the White House, even under the outlines of the plan directed by Floyd Kenagan.
Would people be okay?
What would they face?
The silence was broken by Kenan, who had been extremely curious about the young man since the beginning of the journey they were facing.
"How's the wound, Tommy?" he asked cautiously.
Tommy looked at him with some reluctance to answer, something that caused him great astonishment, but Greg, being at his side, encouraged him to answer, as everything was fine.
Throughout his political career, Kenan Vaine had always received curious, submissive, self-interested, false and also genuine admiration looks, but never such severe contempt, especially from an apparently ordinary American citizen.
How could anyone deal with the President with such indifference?
This caused him great interest.
— It's not much different from before. — Tommy replied, looking back out the window, enjoying his first experience in a helicopter.
— I see you as a strong man.
— People see many things in me.
—But am I right or not? — Kenan insisted.
— I don't know if it matters.
— Mr. President, this is a waste of time. — said Floyd Kenagan in his usual taunt with the young man, when he returned from the cockpit, after talking to the pilot. — We need to settle more urgent matters.
— I would like to get to know you better, — said the President.
Tommy looked again and replied:
— What difference would it make? We are on the verge of our farewell, we will soon get there and you will go about your problems, I will return to my normal life.
— Greg, I believe you've seen this scene before, haven't you, my friend?
Greg looked at Tommy and smiled:
— Yes, Mr. President, Mr. Leone reminds me of some of the best friends I have had in my long career, people who started out wrong are more successful than you might think.
— Like this?
— Have you heard the parable of the two sons? — asked the President.
— I don't think so...
— A man had two sons and asked them to go to the fields, the one who said he would go didn't go and the one who said he wouldn't go went... which of them ended up being rewarded by his father?
— The one who said he wasn't going and went.
— And you're here right now, Tommy, and that's what matters.
Tommy looked at the president and smiled back.
— Greg speaks for me, Tommy, you are here, and others who should be here are not, understand?
KENAN WANTED to have custody of the young man for longer. He was looking for a way to convince him to stay, but with the boy's defensiveness, trying to win him over was no longer an option. He decided to be a little more frank, but still dramatic:
— If we are not very successful in the next few hours, or days , — the last word made the young man raise his eyebrows suspiciously — perhaps none of us will be able to return to our normal lives. — he observed in a worried tone.
After a sigh, Tommy fell silent again. Floyd Kenagan interrupted the conversation:
— Sir, we have little time to resolve many matters.
With a disapproving look, Kenan glared at Floyd Kenagan, making him shut up. He played his last card:
— You truly love that woman, don't you? I could tell from the beginning. It seems like she's the only thing that matters to you...
Tom frowned, stared aimlessly out the helicopter window, but to Kenan's satisfaction, he ended up answering:
— I have nothing else to care about.
— You've made that quite clear in the last twenty-four hours, Mr. Leone. Tell me, is there no one else?
— I don't have many friends, if you haven't noticed...
— You can't imagine how well I understand what you mean... People don't realize, but there are many ways to be lonely. When I reached the position I occupy today, having friends became a utopia. You lose the ones you gained, and the ones you do get, well, they're just friends of the President...
— If you say so... — the young man was filled with a strong indifference.
—But these are prices we pay throughout life. — Kenan was still thinking about how to convince him to stay. — Prices that are only worth paying when we look ahead and seek to build the future.
Tommy stretched out his legs, crossing his foot over his foot, and settled into his seat, looking out the window again and said:
— Many people live trying to build a future, others try to rebuild the past...
The boy's brief remark struck the President as an important opening.
—Which one are you? — he asked obsequiously.
— Me? — Tommy spoke with a certain contempt for himself. — I'm the type who gave up on both.
— Even though I'm with her?
— Since she found me, I decided to build her future.
Kenan finally managed to make sense of the stranger in front of him. He didn't despise him on his own initiative, but his harsh indifference was more to himself. He didn't seem attached to his own life, not in the sense of accepting the loss of it, but because he had nothing to hold on to. The young woman he had left behind in New York was definitely the only real connection he had developed with life.
— I see... — Kenan said, attentive to the expression Tommy had in his eyes. — Think about her future...
"Let's stop this chatter and settle this once and for all!" the young man interrupted. "I've already realized that I'm not just here to get you to safety. Am I right? You don't need to bother trying to convince me to help you; there would be no other choice anyway. After all, you are the President."
Kenan smiled.