Being Watched by the Secret Service

I have been in D.C. all week for software training with a friend and colleague, Dan. Our reward for enduring the long days, was an evening to do whatever we felt like doing. We are both married and both of us have four kids. There are not many times in our lives where we have this luxury of time.

Last night, we decided to walk to the Capitol and hang out for awhile, then catch dinner. On the way back, we passed a small shopping mall, “The Shoppes,” right on Pennsylvania Ave. A guy in a suit, standing in front of the shoppes caught my eye. He had a Matrix-looking earpiece with a coiled wire extending down his neck. “Secret Service” I thought to myself.

“Look over at that guy in the suit.” I said to Dan. “I think he is….” Before I finished my sentence, we both saw several guys in suits acting suspiciously. Dan saw one of them talking into his wrist. It was just like the movies.

They were checking out the place. One of the suited guys was looking into the window of each parked car along the street in front of the shoppes. Another guy started waving off cabbies that were sitting there in front of the entrance. They were clearing a space for an arrival.

Dan and I immediately became intrigued and decided to stay and watch. We stood in the same place, talking nonchalantly, but watching every move. It quickly became a well choreographed show, four or five guys in suits spreading out in a square formation. One of the agents headed across the street to check out the skateboarders in the square where we stood. He started looking on the ground along a wall that separated the street from the plaza. These guys were scouring the place.

By this time, we were almost convinced that any guy, suit or plain clothes was potentially a secret agent. We were also convinced that some big politician was on their way.

A cabbie pulled up and one of the suits started yelling and waving at him at him, “Get out, move on…” Things were getting tense now.

I know Dan fairly well, but I learned something new about him. He shares the same desire to live life on the edge from time to time. This was now one of those moments. We were going to be part of the show.

We continued to stand right where we were, knowing that we were being watched. One of the agents was now standing directly across the street from us, watching us. this was cool! We were ready to play it out.

The action picked up quickly as two black “political-looking” cars pulled up in front of the shoppes. Each suited agent was at his station, with two of them now walking towards the car. A foreign woman came out of the front car with cell phone in hand and stood on the sidewalk talking and talking.

We didn’t recognize her and quickly realized she wasn’t the one. The guy across the street was becoming noticeably uncomfortable by our presence. He was staring at us, our own assigned agent now.

We were going to make him sweat a little and have fun. We had every right to stand where we were and we really didn’t look very suspicious with our shorts and tee-shirts. At the time, I didn’t realize that Dan was wearing dress socks with his sneakers.

Suddenly, another woman came out of the same car and it was clear she was the “one.” “Its Hillary Clinton” I thought immediately. The woman had her back to us, but she was about Hillary’s height and had the same hair style.

“I think it is Hillary.” I blurted out. Dan thought it was a possibility as well. Now that Hillary was out of the car and we weren’t moving, our secret service friend started walking across the street towards us. We were too much of a risk for him now

“Hey, how’s it going?” Dan asked. The agent stared at Dan, but didn’t say a thing.

He walked around us slowly. Hillary went into the Shoppe and the scene changed immediately. He said hi to Dan and Dan smiled at him and said hi back. My eyes met his, and I said hi.

The formal greeting was over and a stream of seemingly innocuous, but very targeted questions began.

“So where are you from.” the agent asked.

“We are here at a software conference.” Dan answered. We weren’t at a conference, we were at training, so I was hoping Dan would keep his story consistent.

“What company?”

Dan told him.

“Where are you staying?”

“The Marriott” Dan said.

“Down in Foggy Bottom.” I clarified.

Dan started to walk off, but the questions kept coming.

“Where are you from?”

Dan told him. It was his second attempt to find out where we lived.

“So, who was that?” Dan asked. Our secret friend answered quickly, “VIP from the Hill.”

We were surprised he told us that much. Dan said, “I guess you can’t tell us who it is. ”

“No.” The agent should have been convinced we were just two tourists by now.

After creating a mental profile of us and with Hillary a safe distance from us now, he said “Have a nice evening.” as he started to walk away.

“You too.”

I guess Dan’s socks passed the test after-all.