[b]Mount Rushmore, South Dakota[/b]

The beige '32 Packard sped down the winding dirt highway, contrails of dust flying in the air in the car's wake. To the left of the car, the looming mountain appeared in the early afternoon sun. So far half of George Washington's and Thomas Jefferson's face had been carved into the rocky mountain face. The Packard pulled off onto a small side road and slowly moved down the bumpy road. After thirty minutes on the road, the car came to an opening at the foot of the mountain. Two guards at attention beside a steel door leading into the mountain. They wore the olive drab fatigues and broad brim hats of the American Doughboys from the Great War, rifles slung over their shoulders. An old man with thick white sideburns and a bald head stood in front of the guards, puffing a cigar.

The Packard stopped and Roosevelt stepped out of the back. He eyed the bald man and grinned.

"Mr. Q."

"Mr. Roosevelt," Johny Quincy Adams said, expelling smoke. "Sorry to cut your vacation short, I know what this time of year does to you."

"Think nothing of it. In fact, a little bit of action will be sure to pull me out of my doldrums."

The two guard saluted as he and Adams passed. Teddy returned the salute and entered through the steel door behind Adams. They continued through a dim hallway, going down a soft slope into the heart of the mountain. The hallway reeked of fresh paint. Moving dollies and packed crates filled nearly every nook and cranny of the corridors and rooms they passed.

"How much longer until everything is set up?" Teddy asked.

"Not too much longer now. William Henry Harrison still needs to be exercised from the Smithsonian basement, you know how hard it is for ghosts to let go sometimes. He marks the last of our personnel still in Washington."

"I still never figured out why we had to move from Washington, the best place to operate."

"We have your cousin to thank for that," Quincy said as he puffed a large smoke ring out. "Young Franklin is increasing the power of the federal government, it's getting harder and harder to operate in the shadow of a Washington that continues to get brighter and brighter. A bit industrious, that one."

"Well we Roosevelts do have reputations as go-getters."

"While we Adamses are known for our stubbornness."

Adams led Teddy into a large, open space room. The room was covered in world maps on three sides, a fourth wall blanketed in pictures and files. A large wooden conference table spanned the stretch of the room. Someone sat at the table, waiting for them.

"Mr. Jackson," Adams said coolly. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, but Mr. Roosevelt has just arrived. Make yourself comfortable, Teddy, and I'll start the briefing."

"Bully."