Prologue ...

--- June, the White House ----

     The First Lady, Madelyn Hargrove, raised up on one elbow and reached across her husband of twenty-four years, turning the alarm off just before it would start its soft chiming. The middle-aged president had been fitfully tossing and turning in his sleep, awaking his light-sleeping wife. Noting the time on the alarm clock, she gently put her arm on his shoulder and pressed her soft lips to his perspiring brow.

"Hmm," he murmured, propping open one blurry eye, "I was having a bad dream. Was I disturbing you again?"

"You’re going to spoil that girl rotten if you haven’t already." he sat up in bed and began rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked at his still-gorgeous wife with her auburn shoulder-length hair, thinking even in the early morning, she could pose for a fashion magazine. "Ever since she’s been home from school, you’ve scheduled her every moment. I don’t think that girl has had any time to herself . She's an adult now with a mind of her own. We need to start treating her that way."

The strong voice of the president indicated both pride and protectiveness of his only offspring. Maryann had just graduated from the exclusive all-girl’s eastern school they had chosen to send her just before his election. Political critics said it was sure to cost them points in the polls, but where he chose to educate his daughter hadn’t mattered in the least to the voting public.

He easily won the election, a surprise considering his newness to politics. The former electronics firm CEO, a novice to politics when he ran for governor of California, had the fresh charm of a new face and no political baggage from failed campaigns. The national party eagerly nominated him for President to overcome the embarrassment of the previous scandal-ridden administration.

Madelyn seemed to ignore his comments as she said; "I’m taking Maryann by train to Richmond today. Some of the senator’s wives and I will be having a luncheon there and then Maryann and I are going shopping. She needs a special gown for her first real coming out party."

"I would really prefer you flew," he said firmly. "The more I look at that rail transportation bill, the more I realize how out-of-repair the whole rail system is. I don’t feel safe with you taking the train."

"Darling, I think you worry too much," reaching over and mussing his still-full head of jet-black hair. "This has been planned for weeks and Richmond is not cross-country, so we should be fine. After all, we do have our Secret Service escort to protect and look out for us."

The First Husband knew from past experience he was outmatched in the argument, so he dropped it, not telling her his disturbing dream included trains, thinking maybe he had been concentrating too much on the railroad improvement bill. Late yesterday, he had been busily reviewing the report of the National Railroad Transportation Safety Board regarding the Oklahoma City accident.

A rail tanker car had jumped the track on an overpass on a major traffic artery into the city, exploding in a murderous fireball, enveloping several unwary travelers. He knew the disaster could have been much worse had it happened an hour later during rush hour traffic. The transportation board had no conclusive answers as to the cause of the accident, but was leaning towards a deterioration of the track as a contributing factor.

Down the hall of the executive mansion, the object of their conversation, Maryann Violet Hargrove, awoke to her mother’s gentle tapping at the door.

"Time to get up, sweetheart. We have a busy day ahead of us. I do hope you had a restful sleep after last night’s gala."

Maryann stretched and gave a wide yawn as she watched her mother walk to the window and open the curtain letting the morning light in. She watched the bright morning rays sparkle on the shinning floor.

“Today is our trip to Richmond to pick out a spectacular ball gown for you. Aren’t you excited?”

Maryann tried to match her mother’s enthusiasm as she slipped out of bed and into her slippers and pink robe. She stepped to the vanity and started combing her flaxen hair. The mirrored reflection was a younger version of her mother. “I guess, but I’m having difficulty getting into this whole debutante thing.” She shook her head as the blond trusses fell behind her shoulder, causing an alluring sight in the mirror with her mother’s reflection in the background.

Noting the coquettish look being reflected by the mirror, Madelyn was reminded of her earlier conversation, but being her mother for twenty-one years; the First Mom wasn’t quite ready to yield that motherly influence. “I understand. You’re just having an adjustment from school. You’ll get into the spirit of it once we start on our trip today.”

Madelyn completed adjusting the window sash, and faced her daughter brightly saying, “Senator Gloria Steedham is bringing her daughter along too. You saw her at the dinner last night.”

Maryann recalled Joyce had a handsome escort with her and seemed to be caught up in her own world last evening. “Mother, she hardly said two sentences to me all evening. She was too involved with her escort.“

“Yes, I noticed that too, Madelyn said seriously. “They seemed to be getting more intimate than they should unless he is more than just an assigned escort for the occasion. I think I’ll talk to Gloria to make sure she’s aware of it.”

“Well, wait until I talk to Joyce today. Maybe she will tell me about him. After all, we did go to school together.”

“I never realized rural Virginia was so pretty”. Maryann was viewing the countryside through the large window in the parlor car the railroad provided its VIP guests. The excursion train was winding up a steep grade providing an expansive view of the rural landscape. She noted the lush green valley below as the train passed on the edge of the mountain.

“You were raised in California, weren’t you? I’ve only been to California once and that was when I was very young.” Joyce was trying to make polite conversation, but Maryann could obviously tell her mind was elsewhere.

“Who was the handsome guy you were with last night? Are you two involved?”

Joyce’s face radiated, “Oh, Maryann, we are involved and last night Stan proposed to me and I accepted, but don’t say anything yet because we haven’t announced it. Not even to my parents.”

“Oh, I'm so happy for you!” Maryann gave her a sisterly hug and held her at arms length. “ Let me know when I can tell my folks.” Just then there was an unexpected and sudden jolt!

Eeerrr...crash! … screech ...

Instantly the rail car jerked with a loud crunching and horrible screeching sound of metal upon metal. The rail car was twisting off the tracks and Maryann and Joyce started screaming. They and their baggage were being tossed around unmercifully.

They were flung from the ceiling to the floor and back again as the parlor car was turning over and over roughly knocking against trees and bumping against boulders as it careened down the rocky mountainside.

Maryann was knocked unconscious as she fell in a solid lump from the ceiling to the floor.

The First Lady tried to grab a handhold, but her fingers quickly slipped as the rail car took a horrendous soul-wrenching jolt. ....

“Mr. President! Mr. President! Wally Tasker, head of the Secret Service, came rushing into the Oval Office with a cell phone held close to his left ear, an odd match for the standard Secret Service earpiece in his right ear.

President Hargrove was sitting in the Oval Office with his personal confidant, Mark Petersen, White House chief of staff, and Senator Henry Carmichael. The three were working on how to present the Railroad Bill to improve its chances for passage.

They quickly looked up at the anxious and usually very composed Wally as he took a second to catch his breath.

“Mr. President, we’ve just been informed the train your wife and daughter are on has jumped its track halfway to Richmond and several rail cars are hanging over a precipice. We’ve dispatched rescue helicopters, but they may not get there before some of the railcars fall over the cliff. A news helicopter is there now.”

Wally rushed to tune the TV on a trolley near the credenza, to the station broadcasting the disaster as the president anxiously stood up.

With the whir of chopper blades in the background, the TV camera zoomed in on the wreckage, showing several rail cars twisted and mangled scattered along the rocky countryside with more than one of them in precarious positions.

President Hargrove watched in horror as one of the rail cars suddenly teetered and went over the side of the steep cliff.

The television camera followed it down, as it shattered at the bottom in a cloud of smoke, leaving no doubt the occupants were either dead or critically wounded.

There were still other rail cars vulnerable to the same fate and the camera lens zoomed in where injured individuals could be seen through the windows, wildly waving and screaming.

President Hargrove silently prayed for the victims of the wreck and that his wife and daughter had not been in the destroyed rail car at the bottom of the treacherous cliff.

The TV camera went into a long shot of the disaster scene.

It was a gruesome sight. Some rail cars were broken and split wide open. Black smoke billowed from a few of them.

Suddenly a person appeared in a flat area off to the side of the scene of wreckage and carnage; an area the president was sure had been vacant an instant before.

The president noted the man was dressed in white coveralls with a white baseball cap pulled low over his brow preventing a clear view of his face. The individual was holding and pointing what seemed to be a mini-cam at one of the rail cars with his left hand and a small hand-held device in his right hand.

Suddenly the camera was not there! It had just completely disappeared. Then, just as incomprehensible, the camera was there again and then the person and camera disappeared!

An instant later, the rail car, which had been the most vulnerable of being the next victim of the deep and dangerous ravine, was now safely where the man-in-white had been.

They astonishingly watched as the white-clad person came out of the rail car carrying one of its injured passengers.

The camera zoomed in and President Hargrove almost cried in relief when he recognized Maryann, whom the rescuer was gently carrying. She looked limp and unconscious with severe lacerations on her forehead.

The occupants of the Oval Office along with the rest of the TV audience witnessed the mysterious rescuer gently place Maryann down on the ground, look around and disappear again.

Seconds later an ambulance appeared with the same person holding onto the front of it. The mysterious individual spoke to the ambulance driver and pointed to Maryann and other victims who were just then struggling out of the rescued rail car.

The president was further relieved when he recognized Madelyn, hair all askew and torn dress, as she rushed to Maryann’s side with one of the Secret Service agents, one arm dangling uselessly at his side, hurrying after her.

While the president was focused on his injured daughter, the unknown rescuer kept disappearing and reappearing with ambulances for the other injured whom he also assisted where needed.

As Madelyn held Maryann’s head in her lap, she felt her daughter’s hand, thankfully noting a faint pulse, and then noticed a shadow over her shoulder and saw Joyce Steedham with blood streaming from an open wound on the side of her head, come limping up to her.

“I t-tthink mother is dead,” Joyce said, sobbing as she sank to her knees.

“Maybe she’s just unconscious.” Madelyn hopefully said as she shredded a piece of her now-tattered dress and placed it as a dressing on Joyce’s open wound. “Gary, will you please go see if you can help Senator Steedham?”

“Yes, I’ll see what I can do.” Noting his number one concern was free of any imminent danger, and holding his left arm to his side, he accompanied Joyce, holding the make-shift bandage to the side of her head, to her mother.

As the First lady watched the two disappear into the overturned parlor car, she took stock of the situation while gently rocking her unconscious daughter in her lap.

We were miraculously rescued from falling over the cliff by this mysterious person who suddenly appeared inside the rail car with a mini-cam and strange looking hand-held device. Our parlor car was suddenly placed on solid ground and the man-in-white just as strangely disappeared after carrying Maryann to safety.

Just as suddenly he was there again, but this time with an ambulance. He smiled at me with a very caring look as he spoke to the ambulance attendants pointing to us and immediately disappeared again.

In the Oval Office, Mark Petersen watched the action unfolding on the television screen in amazement. Mark was as new to Washington as the chief executive.

He had a successful marketing firm when his former college roommate tapped him to lead his election campaign and then assist him in the executive mansion.

Mark was confused. How is that mysterious man able to appear and disappear in such a manner? This defies physical laws as we know them. Who is he and what does all this mean?

The television cameraman mirrored Mark’s thoughts to his audience.

“Folks what we are witnessing is not any kind of special affects. What you and I just saw was real and amazing. I don’t know how, but that rescuer has some very special abilities to do what he just did. We will try to keep him on camera.”

Just as the cameraman spoke, the mystery man went to the now loaded ambulances and the one with Maryann and the First Lady and her Secret Service escort instantly disappeared!

President Hargrove concerned quickly looked at Wally Tasker for an explanation.

The Secret Service head was intently listening to the cell phone which now seemed as attached to his left ear as the earpiece on the right one.

“Mr. President, the First Lady’s personal agent reports their ambulance just instantly appeared at the Fredricksburgh General Hospital emergency entrance and the man-in-white just waved at them and disappeared again."

On the TV screen they now witnessed the rescuer reappear and other ambulances disappear.

"Central Control is dispatching a Medivac unit from Bethesda Naval Hospital to Fredricksburgh and your wife and daughter will be brought back to Bethesda unless you want to go to Fredricksburgh?”

“No. I will meet them at Bethesda. Mark, find out everything you can about that man and what he did. Get the Joint Chiefs together and the National Science Committee.

What we have just witnessed is something incredible and we need to get on top of it as quickly as possible.”

Dallas, Texas...

“It can’t be!” the Dallas News editor said aloud, watching the miraculous action take place on the TV monitor. He astonishingly recognized the man-in-white when, for a brief instant, he had inadvertently looked up. The editor also woefully realized he may have made an unknowing terrible and costly mistake. …

Just a short distance away in a nearby building, a dynamic redheaded TV reporter was wracking her brains, knowing she knew the person in white, but not immediately recalling who he was. …

That evening in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a young scientist witnessed the news of the unprecedented day’s events with his wife and family, not realizing due to his recent help on a special project, his life was about to change dramatically. …

At the same time a NASA scientist in Florida was viewing the same scenes with his wife and wondering if a recent request he had answered had anything to do with what he was seeing on the TV screen? …

In Dalton, Georgia, a mother and father witnessed the same events and proudly recognized their son! ...