Wildfire Run (15 page)

While this story is fiction, Camp David is a real place. Presidents and their families have used it since the 1940s as a way to vacation away from the pressures of living in the White House. Even on vacations, though, a President's safety and that of the First Family are still major concerns. Like Luke Brockett in this book, children of U.S. presidents have their own teams of Secret Service agents who accompany them almost everywhere. The children often spend more time with the agents than with their parents.

The agents are trained to guard their charges under any conditions, no matter how strange. When Amy Carter, the daughter of President Jimmy Carter, was living in the White House, she attended an animal show where an elephant named Susie charged toward her, so a Secret Service agent picked her up and carried her over a fence to safety, breaking his hand in the process. Agents also sat in the back of Amy's fourth-grade class every day and went with her to the playground for recess. Older presidential children must have agents go with them to college, where new friends and potential dates are often screened to determine if there is a safety risk.
Protecting the President
, by Dennis V. N. McCarthy, and
Standing Next to History
, by Joseph Petro, both former Secret Service agents, were major sources for this story.

The layout of the real Camp David and the security systems there today are not public knowledge. All those aspects in this story are fiction. Almost all of the historical detail, however, is factual. The swimming pool was indeed built over the old bomb shelter, and the expense to reinforce the roof of the shelter was reported to cost as much as the pool itself. The one fictional addition is the boarded-up bomb shelter steps. I am indebted to W. Dale Nelson, the author of
The President Is at Camp David
, for his very detailed history of the facility.

Major thanks go to my agent, Caryn Wiseman, and my editor, Barbara Lalicki, for taking a chance on an unknown and unpublished writer.

My family played many parts in bringing this story to life and so deserve many thanks. I couldn't have done any of this without my husband, Dean, and his unflagging support of my writing over the years, and his willingness to try to come up with an answer to every question, no matter how strange. This is a good place to apologize to him as well, for all the research I do on the internet about subjects that probably put me on a few watch lists. Thanks go to my children, Garret and Hope, who not only suggested ideas, but were willing guinea pigs and helpers in my quest for accuracy; to my brother, Kim Garretson, who helped add some excitement to the story; to my sister, Terri Bruch, who managed to catch some glaring errors; and to my niece's husband, Ryan Gillmore, and my brother-in-law, Chris Bruch, who patiently answered my questions.

I also want to thank Dr. Julie O'Connell and Shelli Caskey for their help with my animal questions. And finally, thanks to Michael Neff, who made me realize I needed to push my imagination as far as it could go.

Jacket art © 2010 by Gene Mollica

Jacket design by Erin Fitzsimmons