"Exactly what do you want to read about, Doctor?"

Gabe reached over to again check Stoddard's pulses. Then he tested the man's eye movements and the response of his pupils to light.

"The Twenty-fifth Amendment," Gabe said.

CHAPTER 10

Midnight came and went. By 2:00 A.M., when Gabe decided it was safe to leave, the president had been sleeping soundly for an hour and a half. At Lattimore's request, Gabe watched from a distance as the military aide carrying The Football was dismissed. Then Gabe gathered his things, including two books on presidential illness, succession, and the Twenty-fifth Amendment.

He was about to notify Treat Griswold he was leaving when Carol Stoddard knocked softly on the open door. She had removed her makeup and changed into pajamas and a robe but still looked no less elegant than she had in her evening dress. Her doe's eyes were slightly reddened, leading Gabe to suspect she had been crying.

"Ready to leave?" she asked, taking a step into the room.

"I think it's safe. No matter what, I'm just a mile or so away."

"He'll be all right, I think—at least for now. Do you know what you're going to do about all this?"

"I need a little time—maybe just until later this morning."

"Gabe, the job is taking a heavy toll on him—on us. Heavier than either of us imagined, I think. Drew's been working seven-day weeks, often as many as sixteen, even twenty hours a day. We hardly ever go to sleep at the same time and . . . and our personal life has dwindled until . . . well . . . until there just isn't much of it left."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Gabe, I'm begging you, if you think for the sake of his health Drew should drop out of the campaign and let Tom Cooper take over, please tell him. He thinks he can be all things to all people. But someone has to help him see that nobody can—not even him."

Tears began to well in Carol's eyes. Gabe hesitated, then crossed to her and held her quietly until her composure returned.

"Whatever I decide will be what's best for my patient," he said finally.

"I understand. Maybe you can convince him to just cut down—take a nonworking vacation, spend more time with me and the boys, spend some time each day doing nothing, accept the fact that everyone has limits."

"I'll try, Carol. Really I will."

"Thank you. Thank you so much for what you're doing. I'll send Treat Griswold over to walk you out."