Ultimate Heroes Collection

by Various Authors

  DANNY CAUGHT UP with Congressman Brown in front of the lawyers’ offices where he and some of his family had been discussing the will.

  The man was tall and portly, easy to recognize from the pictures he’d seen of him. He’d thoroughly researched his files. Fifty-six, a conservative with few close friends, but considerable respect from his peers.

  Why was he going up against Kaye every chance he got?

  “Congressman Brown?”

  Brown glanced at him, but didn’t stop walking. He sent one of his security guards over to speak with Danny. He was traveling with two.

  “Can I help you?” The security man was big, with a discouraging look on his face.

  Danny flashed his all-purpose government ID. “I’m investigating Congresswoman Miller’s disappearance. It’s imperative that I talk to the congressman immediately.”

  The bodyguard nodded and walked back, passed on the message.

  Brown hesitated for a few seconds, watching him. Then he made up his mind, said something to his family and returned with the two men.

  “Daniel DuCharme,” Danny said as he extended his hand. “I appreciate that you’re willing to talk to me.”

  “What’s this about Kaye Miller disappearing?”

  “The congresswoman was kidnapped,” Danny said, watching the man closely.

  “I’m sorry to hear,” Brown said without emotion and glanced toward his car. “I’m pressed for time at the moment.”

  “This won’t take long. Perhaps we could talk somewhere private?”

  Brown looked back to the car that was waiting for him, his family still inside. “Tell the driver to take them to the hotel, then come back for me,” he said to one of his security guards, then turned to Danny. “Come,” he said and headed up the stairs of the lawyer’s office. “Steve will let us use an empty conference room, I’m sure.”

  He was right. The senior partner of the firm was more than accommodating.

  “I get the feeling you’re not crazy about Congresswoman Miller.” Danny cut right to the point as soon as they were alone.

  Brown had asked his security to wait outside.

  “We disagree on a number of things.”

  “You disagree with her more than anyone else.” He pushed. “Even if you supported an issue in the past, as soon as she gets behind it, you seem to turn.”

  “I investigate things. Sometimes what I learn makes me change my mind about the things I supported. It has nothing to do with the congresswoman. I certainly didn’t orchestrate her kidnapping.”

  “For the record—” Danny leaned forward. “Where were you last Friday night between midnight and two in the morning?”

  The man thought for a while. “At home in bed.”

  “Your wife was present?”

  He shook his head. “She brought our daughter up here for the weekend to visit my mother. I was supposed to come with them, but something came up.”

  From the tone of his voice it seemed he regretted that decision now. Had he been too late in coming? It wasn’t any of his business. Danny pushed aside the feeling of sympathy for the man. He would sympathize with him after he cleared him.

  “Was that the night Kaye’s house got broken into? I saw it on TV. It was, wasn’t it? Are you implying I’m a suspect?” His gaze turned cold.

  Danny shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the investigation at this stage.”

  “Am I a suspect?”

  “There are a couple of red flags,” Danny said without answering the question directly.

  “Should I have my lawyer present?”

  A lawyer would slow things too much. “This is just an interview. You are not the subject of an official investigation.”

  Brown seemed to relax. “I don’t know anything about Congresswoman Miller’s troubles.”

  “But you’re not broken up over her disappearance? As a colleague, I would have expected more concern.”

  “She is not one of my favorite people.”

  “Why?”

  “For personal reasons.”

  They were wasting time. Danny stood. “Kaye Miller was kidnapped, and I’m going to investigate every possible angle until I find her. You can either tell me what happened between the two of you and set my mind at ease that it doesn’t have to do with her kidnapping, or I will find out on my own and your personal reasons are going to become very public.”

  Anger flooded the man’s face as he came to his feet. For a few seconds he tried to stare down Danny, then he gave up and walked to the window. “My reasons have nothing to do with this.”

  “I want to hear them all the same.”

  Brown was looking outside, his gaze fixed on something on the street. When he spoke, Danny could barely hear him. “Ian Miller had an affair with my wife.”

  For a moment, Danny couldn’t respond. He hadn’t expected that.

  “When?”

  “Years ago. I think it was just before he married Kaye.”

  “You can’t possibly blame her for it?”

  “I don’t. But she’s a reminder.”

  “Have you ever talked to her about this?”

  “No. But she knows all about it, I’m sure.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m an old-fashioned man. I’d rather not be confronted with my wife’s infidelity day after day. Every time Kaye Miller looks at me during a speech, I wonder if that’s what she’s thinking, if she pities me. She had obviously forgiven Ian. I could never forgive Suze.”

  “So you vote against the congresswoman?”

  “Not consciously, no.” He shook his head. “I’ve never really noticed, but if you say you checked the records—” He took a deep breath. “I suppose I’m not inclined to agree with her.”

  “But she had nothing to do with it.” Kaye had said Ian and she had been dating for years before they got married. That meant she’d been just as cheated on. “How can you be angry with her?”

  “She’s the tragic, young, beautiful widow. Do you know the kind of votes that gets? Soon she’ll become Speaker of the House. I’m nothing but a cuckolded old bastard.”

  Danny’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He reached for it and checked the caller, then picked up immediately.

  “Cole’s been making phone calls. I think we’ve got something,” the Colonel said.

  “Are we done here?” Congressman Brown stood by the door.

  “Yes. Thank you for your cooperation,” Danny said and, as soon as the door closed behind the man, he got back to the Colonel. “Who was Cole calling?”

  “The New Brotherhood.”

  “Damn.” The hate group had been getting increasingly militant, warranting the attention of anti-domestic terrorism forces, but had not committed any acts of violence that law enforcement knew of. Looked like they had just crossed the line.

  “Are you sure?” The group was conservative to the extreme, but it wasn’t as if Kaye was a flaming liberal. There had to be several dozen people in Congress with voting records far more in opposition with the reclamationists than hers.

  “Congressman Cole made a couple of calls after you left him. Sounds like he’s been involved in this from the beginning.”

  “Did you trace the calls?”

  “The tech team is working on it. The receiving cell is encoded pretty well.”

  “Have you questioned Cole?”

  “He’s been in surgery. They’ll call me as soon as he’s out.”

  “Where do I go for pickup?”

  “To the NYPD chopper pad. I wish I could meet you at the hospital.” The man’s voice sounded strained. “There’s an emergency meeting at the DHS.

  I’m not sure when I’ll be getting out. I was pulling some men to help you. Can’t get it done, Danny. You’re it.”

  Whatever was going down had to be serious. Emergency meetings between the head of the SDDU and the Homeland Security Secretary happened only in response to large-scale, immediate terror threats. They were few and far between and usually required i
mmediate relocation of resources. The SDDU had been lucky so far and had managed appropriate response in every case, heading off disaster without the American public ever finding out about it.

  “Good luck, Colonel.”

  “Thank you, we’re going to need it. And the same to you, Danny. Kaye means a lot to me. I’m trusting you with her life.”

  “I’m not going to let you down.”

  He made a run for it, and twenty minutes later, he was strapped in and flying south, just passing Philadelphia. He used the time to scroll through the security video from the small hidden camera he’d installed to cover the front of Kaye’s house. There were four videos altogether, one covering each side. He had seen the recordings several times—they had been downloaded to his cell phone—but he kept thinking there had to be something he’d missed. Something that could lead him to Kaye. They had a face at least. That was a start.

  The flower boy came up the path. Baggy pants, funky sneakers, walking the tough-dude walk most boys tried on at one point on their journey of growing into men. For the most, the bouquet covered his face.

  One of the Secret Service agents was right behind him.

  The bouquet lowered for a split second before the boy walked into the house. Two minutes and thirty-one seconds passed before the Secret Service agent rushed out shouting something. Then another minute and fifty seconds before the boy left. Not much to see there but the back of him, his baggy jeans and black T-shirt as he walked out of range of the camera that was aimed at the front stoop.

  Danny swore as he scrolled back the recording frame by frame. He stopped at the point where the boy lowered the vase just as the door opened.

  Who the hell are you?

  The boy, seventeen or so, looked familiar, but he couldn’t place him to save his life. That nose and that chin. He knew those features.

  He should have been there. Damn that nosy reporter in the back. Was it possible that the man was there specifically to distract him? He’d checked out okay, but … He was about to be checked out again.

  Danny closed the video file and placed a call to Sylvia.

  Chapter Six

  “I don’t have to talk to you.” Congressman Cole’s face was as colorless as the pillow under his head.

  “We already know you’re involved.” Danny stood on the right side of the bed. “Your phone calls were recorded.”

  A faint flush crept to the man’s cheeks. “You had no right. That’s illegal.”

  “So is attempted murder and kidnapping. If anything happens to her, you’ll be an accessory to murder.”

  Cole closed his eyes and remained silent.

  “We have the tapes. You are past the point where you could still save your career. The best you can do now is save Congresswoman Miller.”

  “I never meant for anything to happen to her,” he said with resignation.

  Okay. They were finally getting somewhere.

  “Why don’t you tell me where she is?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How long have you been a member of the New Brotherhood?”

  “They used to be called the reclamationists,” he said in a weak voice. “I had no idea what they were about. I got recruited in college. I thought it was one of those secret societies like Skulls, at Yale University.” He paused to gather strength. “I thought I’d be making contacts that would help me in the political arena I was preparing for. I figured out the truth a month or so later and never went back.”

  “Then why are you still in contact with them now?”

  “They were blackmailing me.”

  “With what?”

  “The membership record. My signature is in the book.”

  That made sense. Over the last decade, the New Brotherhood had turned into an all-purpose hate group that was becoming increasingly militant. If Cole’s association with them came out, he would have been forced to resign. Which still didn’t excuse his actions.

  “You sold Kaye out.”

  “I was trying to save her life.” He paused to catch his breath. “They told me to do what I could so she wasn’t elected Speaker.”

  “And you did. Nice friend.”

  “They said either I stopped her, or they would. She wasn’t going to make Speaker either way.” He was getting agitated now. “If I couldn’t keep her from the position, they would take her out permanently.”

  “Notifying the police didn’t occur to you?” Danny bit out the words.

  “At first, I didn’t think they really would harm her. I was doing everything I could. It’s not just my own career. Liz, my wife, is in the mayoral elections this year.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “She’s supported me in my career for the last twenty years. Anything that comes out about me will kill her career, too.”

  “But your efforts on the Hill didn’t work. You knew about Kaye’s accident in the tunnel. You knew the Brotherhood was getting serious. Why didn’t you come forward then?”

  “I bumped her in the tunnel.” Cole lifted his head. “I did it to try to save her. I made sure she got extra security.”

  And it made sense suddenly. The amateurish attack in the tunnel that was so different from the semiprofessional attempts later.

  “You could have killed her.”

  “I wasn’t trying to hurt her, just scare her. I wanted to make sure she would get security around the clock.”

  “What do you know about the men who took her?”

  “Nothing. I was always contacted by phone.”

  “Do you know where she’s being held?” The Brotherhood had compounds in several states.

  “I don’t know. The only man I ever talked to never told me anything. I only know his first name, and even that is probably fake. He had me call him Benito.”

  Benito.

  Danny stood as the gears clicked in his brain. Then he took off running for the chopper that waited for him on the hospital roof. He didn’t waste time calling the Colonel until they were in the air.

  He wasn’t back from his emergency meeting yet.

  “Benjamin Mezger,” Danny dictated the name to Sylvia. “The boy on the security video must be his younger brother.”

  Some years ago, Danny had been slated to go undercover into a rapidly growing militia group, but he’d been pulled in at the last minute and sent on an international mission. He’d recognized the boy’s features because he’d spent considerable time studying the mug shots of the group’s leaders.

  He’d been supposed to infiltrate a subgroup in Arkansas, one that Ben Mezger had founded before moving on to Virginia. Some of Mezger’s buddies had called him Benito after Mussolini, the Italian dictator.

  He gave what he knew to Sylvia, and she ran the information through all the law-enforcement databases. She had a location for him within ten minutes.

  “He might be out by Doher in the hills. There’s a record of the cops being called by a couple of hikers who were harassed in the area a few months ago. They said they saw some kind of a camp, but the cops couldn’t find it.”

  “How good a location do we have?”

  “Not very. Want me to send a chopper to check out the area?”

  “I don’t want them to know we’re coming. If Kaye is there, I don’t want them to move her. Just have them drop me in as close as possible to where we know the camp is, and I’ll find it on foot.”

  A compoundful of men were bound to leave plenty of tracks in the woods. He was trained for these kinds of missions.

  KAYE WALKED and stumbled for only a few hundred yards before she realized she wasn’t going to make it. There was nothing around her but forest, no lights beckoning from the distance. Her best chance of finding a phone was back at the compound. Her two options were going back there or bleeding to death in the woods.

  She turned around and prayed she would have the strength to make it that far.

  The eerie sounds of the night scared her senseless. Her love of outdoors didn’t expand beyond her well-tended garden. She wasn’t the
outdoorsy type.

  She kept on walking, stumbling through the undergrowth. The way back to the compound seemed longer. Probably because she was losing strength rapidly. At the end, she almost missed it, walking blindly through the woods. The barking of a dog and some shouting pointed her in the right direction.

  The compound wasn’t as quiet now as when she’d arrived. People were running around with flashlights, instructions were being yelled.

  “She can’t be far.”

  “You take the east ridge.”

  “She’ll go toward the road.”

  Too bad nobody mentioned which way the road was.

  Kaye kept to the shadows of the woods and surveyed the buildings, then picked the largest and crept over to it. Not all buildings had lights, but this one did. The hum of a generator betrayed the source.

  She came up inch by inch and peeked through the window. The small room contained a metal bed, a chair and a desk, an old military footlocker.

  Two men ran by her in the dark, just a few feet away. If everyone was looking outside, the safest place to be was inside. She wedged her fingers under the window frame and wiggled it up.

  God, it hurt to be climbing.

  Desperation pushed her forward. Pull up. One leg over, then the other. When she was in, she closed the window behind her and wiped away the bloodstains she’d left.

  The table held a jumble of papers, sheets of blueprints, schedules, newspapers, garbage, a dog-eared porn magazine. No phone. She searched the footlocker next and found nothing but a few sets of worn army fatigues.

  She moved to the door, opened it an inch and peeked out. A short, dark hallway—empty. She stepped from the room, keeping her ears on the noises filtering in from outside—mostly swearing and nasty jokes.

  This room looked the same as the first, except for the heap of clothes by the foot of the bed. She went through the pockets. Some change, a wad of toilet paper. Bingo. Her fingers closed around a small cell phone.

  But she didn’t have the chance to dial. There were footsteps out in the hallway and they were coming straight toward her. She had just enough time to dive under the bed before they came in.

  Four boots, two men.

  “I could kill the idiot,” one of them said.