“For chrissake, Alix, don’t do that!” He put the gun on his nightstand and stood up again. “I could have shot you. Don’t walk in here in the middle of the night and scare the shit out of me like that.” He was seriously upset. Old habits died hard.
“I didn’t know you sleep with a gun,” she said, looking nervous. He had scared her too. The gun pointed at her head had frightened her, and the look on his face. She knew that he had hair-trigger instincts and the training to go with them. He could easily have shot her and he wouldn’t have missed.
“You’re here so I can protect you, remember?” he told her.
“Just don’t shoot me, if you don’t mind. I thought of something,” she said, staring at him intensely, and remembering why she had come running to his room at that hour.
“It couldn’t wait till morning?” He was still upset that he had pointed a gun at her and might have shot her by mistake. He couldn’t bear thinking of what that could have been like. He was an expert marksman, trained to shoot to kill.
“I don’t think so. This can’t wait,” she said fervently. “Bill Foster is the key here. He knew what Clark was doing. He was going to announce his separation from him as a possible future running mate. That’s a hell of a message to deliver, and sooner or later the reasons why would have come out. Bill Foster was the greatest threat to Tony’s future. He could have destroyed him with what he knew, and Tony was fully aware of it. Foster’s wife said they argued about it. He was an honest guy, there’s no way he could have stayed allied with a man like Clark once he knew what he was doing. And what if the reasons for it got out? Where would Tony be then? Finished. Forever. The whole country loved and trusted Foster. I don’t think even Tony Clark could have discredited him, even if he tried, and he knew that too. He needed the alliance with Foster and his blessing, and he was about to lose it. He had to get rid of him, Ben. He had to, there was no way to keep it quiet forever otherwise. Bill Foster could have destroyed Clark’s whole political future. Clark couldn’t let that happen.” Her eyes were blazing as she said it.
Ben was staring at her, and he looked as unnerved as he had when he turned on the light and realized he was pointing a gun at her. “What are you saying to me?”
“I think Tony Clark had Foster killed to shut him up forever. He had to silence Bill Foster. And there was only one way to do that, kill him. I think Tony did it. Not himself, but I think he paid for the hit that killed Bill Foster.”
“They never proved it was a hit,” Ben reminded her. “I think you watch too much TV, or have too many friends in the FBI or something,” he said, groaned, and sat down on his bed again. She had woken him out of a sound sleep and scared the shit out of him, and now this, her crazy theory. He looked at Alix with dismay. “Senators don’t go around having each other killed, Alix. Clark is a bad guy, there’s no denying that, but he’s a crook and he’s after money, big money, and I think he’s willing to lie, cheat, and steal for it, take bribes, and even marry it, but I don’t think he’d have his best friend assassinated so he could shut him up. That’s a little too out there for me.”
“It makes perfect sense,” she said, looking annoyed at him. “And why wouldn’t he have him killed? As long as Foster was alive there was always the risk that it would come out. He had to get rid of Foster. There was no other way. He was killed by an unknown gunman, allegedly a Syrian with an illegal passport and no traceable trail. They killed him before they could interrogate him. The Saudis Clark was dealing with could have arranged it for him, or hooked him up with someone to do it. Clark moves in a dangerous world. And the shooter’s real identity was never clear. I don’t think it was terrorism. I think it was a hit, bought and paid for by Tony Clark.” Ben stared at her after she said it, hoping it wasn’t true. But Alix was convinced, and the puzzle pieces all fit, alarmingly so.
“You really think he’d have Foster killed?” Ben didn’t want it to be true. It was too ugly to believe.
“He’s a sociopath, or haven’t you figured that out yet?” There was an edge to her tone, and Ben could see that she believed it. It was too far-fetched for him. He didn’t trust Tony Clark and was willing to believe him capable of all kinds of crooked deals, but murdering his closest ally and best friend seemed beyond the pale even for Tony Clark.
“I don’t buy it,” Ben said cautiously. “Maybe someone did put a hit on him. But it wasn’t Clark. That’s just too evil, Alix, even for him.”
“And what if he did?” She was trying to get him to see the possibilities and not project his own values onto Clark.
“If he did, the guy is a monster, but I don’t think Clark is capable of something like that, to kill the man, destroy his children’s lives, and rob them of their father, all so Foster wouldn’t talk? No way.”
“It makes sense to me,” she said quietly, “but maybe I’m crazy. I want to talk to Pelham about it tomorrow and see what he thinks.”
“Maybe you’re not crazy,” Ben said thoughtfully, rolling it around in his mind again, “but honestly, Alix, I hope you are. That whole family is going to be destroyed all over again if you’re right. How do you even recover from that…his kids…his wife…God, it’ll be awful if it’s true.” They stared at each other for a long moment, and Alix nodded.
“Yes, it would be. Maybe I’m wrong.” But she didn’t think so. “I’m sorry I scared you when I ran in,” she said.
“Why don’t you try and get some sleep, and not run in here and risk getting shot again, and try not to think up scenarios of senators paying for hits on each other. Could you dream of something happy?” he asked her, looking at her like a naughty child. “We can talk about it again in the morning. Maybe you’ll convince me.”
She went back to her room then, and lay on the bed again, but her theory kept swirling around in her head, and by morning she was more certain than ever. Ben still didn’t believe Clark had had Bill Foster killed. It was too crazy and unlikely and sounded like a bad movie to him.
She didn’t mention it again on the way to the office, but when she got to her desk, she called John Pelham at the CIA office and asked him to come and see her. She wasn’t going to tell him something like that on the phone, and she didn’t mention it to Felix. She already knew Ben thought she was crazy. He had scolded her again for nearly scaring him to death the night before when she knew he was armed, and she told him she didn’t know he slept with a gun in his boxers.
“Something wrong?” Pelham asked her, concerned. “Another threat?”
“No, it’s more complicated than that.”
“Did Clark call you?” They were hours away from arresting him, or days at the most, and the senior officer had his hands full. He didn’t want to waste time if he didn’t have to, but she sounded as though it was important.
“No, he didn’t.”
“Is this serious?” Pelham asked her in a somber voice. He’d had an early morning meeting with the head of the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence, who had flown to New York to see him, about the incredible mess it was going to make when the Vice President was indicted. They weren’t looking forward to it, and the meeting had been intense.
“It is serious if I’m right,” she said calmly. He didn’t like the sound of it, and all of her theories had panned out so far. He trusted her instincts and sources.
“I’ll be there in half an hour,” he promised. And twenty-five minutes later he walked into her office. She invited him to sit down, and told him her theory. She was dead serious as she explained it to him, and he didn’t say a word as he listened. She couldn’t tell if he thought she was crazy or not. The expression on his face was blank. It had taken him years to perfect that.
“I think Bill Foster’s death was a hit, not just a random act of violence or terrorism, as previously thought. I think Clark set it up. I would swear to it. He had to shut Foster up. He was a walking time bomb in Clark’s career, which is all Tony Clark cares about. It would have been all over for him if Foster ever talked.
Clark had to kill him, or have it done. He couldn’t shoot him himself. And he had everything to gain from Foster’s death.” Pelham didn’t make a single comment, and when she was through he stood up with an inscrutable expression. “What do you think?” She couldn’t tell if he believed her.
“I’ll get back to you on that,” was all he said, and strode out of her office as she stared after him, and Ben walked in a moment later.
“So what did he think?” Ben asked her.
“Probably that I’m nuts. He didn’t say much. In fact, he didn’t say anything. He just listened to me mouth off, stood up, and walked out.” She still looked stunned by Pelham’s reaction.
“Just like that?” Ben questioned her with a serious expression.
“Just like that. No reaction at all.”
“Then he believes you.” Ben was impressed.
“How do you know?”
“Because that means he’s going to check it out, which he isn’t going to tell you. If he thought you were nuts, he would have said so and blown you off. My CO in the SEALs was like that. When we were right on the money, he never said a word. He just moved into action.”
“Now what?” She was puzzled.
“We go back to work, and he does his job. You gave him a whole new can of worms to deal with.” Ben went back to his own office then, and Alix went back to her computer to answer emails. She hated being in the office, it was so boring, and all she could think about now was Tony Clark.
Alix didn’t know it, but a team of ten men were sitting in Pelham’s office at that moment. They had their work cut out for them, and each of them had been given part of the assignment. They scurried off like mice afterward, and Pelham sat staring out the window of his office. The case against Tony Clark was getting more complicated by the hour.
—
And at her house, Olympia had just asked Jennifer to look into several law schools, among them NYU and Columbia. She wanted to check out a master’s class for a year.
“You’re going back to school?” Her assistant looked at her in surprise. She’d been dealing with the alarm company all morning. The men who had broken into the house over the weekend had destroyed the system they had, which was a fairly sophisticated one. The burglars knew what they were doing.
“I’m thinking about it.” Olympia smiled at her. Jennifer considered it a major step forward, and hoped she was finally healing. Jennifer thought going back to school was a great idea. She had some printouts from the Internet for her by that afternoon, until the catalogs she’d requested arrived.
Olympia was looking at the printouts when Officer Pelham called her. “I’m sorry to ask, but I’d like you to have the Vice President over to see you again, just one last time. We need some more information from him.” Her eyes filled with tears as he said it.
“I’d rather not,” she said honestly. She didn’t want to see Tony again. She knew too much about him now, and trying to draw information out of him was so stressful. She still hadn’t recovered from the last time, and felt sick every time she thought about it.
“I’ll do everything possible to avoid it, if I can,” he promised, and as soon as he hung up, Tony called her, almost as though he sensed they’d been talking about him. He said he was in town unexpectedly, and couldn’t stay for dinner with her, but he wanted to come by for a cup of tea to at least see her. She didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t want him to be suspicious if she refused to see him. She agreed to let him come, and dialed the emergency number she had for Pelham immediately. He wanted to know now anytime she heard from Tony or planned to see him.
“What do I do now?” She sounded panicked when she asked.
“Let him come. The timing is good for us. I’ll have an agent at your house in ten minutes. I want you wired.” She didn’t argue with him, and the same female agent she met before was there ten minutes later and taped the wire to her again. The van with the listening devices was due on her block in five minutes. And the agent left before Tony arrived. He was late, had gotten caught in traffic, and he looked happy to see her.
Jennifer brought in tea for them, and Tony asked Olympia if there was any news from the police on the break-in, and she said there wasn’t. He was sympathetic and concerned, as always.
“I hope I get my mother’s painting back,” she said sadly. “I loved it.” He gazed at her and nodded, and she noticed that he seemed stressed. When she asked him about it, he said it had been a busy week, and he had Senate hearings to attend the next day and for the rest of the week after that. He was curious about why she had gone to Chicago. Listening to him, Olympia was surprised by how little she felt as she looked at him. She was numb. He had suddenly become a stranger to her. She didn’t even feel guilty for wearing the wire this time, but their conversation was innocuous. She realized that he must have gone through Bill’s papers that they’d taken and discovered there was nothing incriminating in them, and he didn’t ask her about them again. He seemed to have other things on his mind of greater importance, and he was the Vice President after all.
“How was your visit with Josh?” he inquired as he got up to leave, and she smiled at the memory of it.
“It was wonderful. It was nice to see him in his element. He’s a real farm boy now.” Her face relaxed as she said it and Tony smiled, and looked like the man she remembered but no longer knew.
“I’m impressed that you went to see him. That must have been hard for you,” he said, sounding protective. “I worry about you doing things like that. You’re safer here at home.”
“Why would it be safer here?” She looked at him wide-eyed, particularly with her house getting broken into. But she didn’t mention it and continued before he answered. “And I had dinner with Bill’s father in Chicago the night before I went to see Josh.” Tony looked annoyed. He knew Charles didn’t like him. He made no bones about it and never had.
“How is he?”
“Still going strong. He’s terrific.” Tony nodded and didn’t comment, and she followed him to the front hall. He turned to look at her then, hesitated for a minute, and startled her with what he said next.
“You should have married me, Olympia,” he said in a serious tone. “It’s what Bill would have wanted, for both of us. He wouldn’t want you alone in this house, at the mercy of people who break in, who want to hurt you or take advantage of you. I could have protected you from all that. He was always at risk for what happened to him. He was never afraid to stick his neck out too far, for what he believed in. Men like Bill are an invitation to terrorism and attacks of all kinds. He would rather stand and fall, and die for his beliefs, than back down and be flexible. I would never have done that to you.” It was a vicious thing for him to say about his best friend. Olympia knew it wasn’t true, and she hated Tony for it.
“What are you saying to me? That he knew he was going to die? Had someone warned him?” She stared Tony directly in the eyes as she asked him, and he met her gaze squarely.
“I’m saying that men like Bill care more about their principles than they do about the people who love them.”
“I don’t think so,” she said in a voice that sounded unusually harsh in answer to what he said. “He loved me, and I loved him.” She was shocked by what Tony was saying.
“So did I,” Tony said sadly. “But our love didn’t save him. His destiny caught up with him in the end. Take care of yourself, Olympia, I’ll see you next week.” He brushed the top of her head with his lips, looked at her for a last time, and then left, and she was shaking when she closed the door behind him. She didn’t like anything he had said to her, and it didn’t make sense. Tony sounded bitter and angry at Bill, and even at her, as though they had let him down, and she didn’t know what he meant. She almost felt as though he had just said goodbye to her.
One of the agents came in to take the wire from her twenty minutes later, and she was having breakfast the next morning when Officer Pelham called her and apologized for the intrusion, but asked if he
could come by. He had heard the recording of Clark’s visit to her the day before and understood it better than she did.
There were two agents with him when he came to see her this time, and he looked serious when he walked in. Jennifer escorted them into the sitting room, and she had the sense that something bad was about to happen, but she left the room discreetly when the three men sat down, since Olympia didn’t ask her to stay.
“Mrs. Foster,” he began quietly, hating what he was about to say to her. “I have something very difficult to tell you. A new element has come up in the government’s case against the Vice President.”
“Did he do something else? Will it affect my husband?” She was frightened as she asked. There seemed to be no limit to Tony’s perfidy and his betrayal of him.
“It already has. The damage is done,” he said cryptically, and then he jumped in. She had a right to know before it became public. And there was no time to prepare her. “We have reason to believe that the Vice President was instrumental in your husband’s assassination. Your husband’s murder appeared to be a random act of terrorism, striking at all that is good and principled about this country.
“But we’ve just begun to explore another theory, that the Vice President had the most to gain from your husband’s death, to silence him. His whole political future was at stake from your husband learning that he was taking bribes and making illegal oil deals.
“We’ve looked closely into the Vice President’s offshore accounts. There is no conclusive evidence, but he paid five thousand dollars to a man in Dubai two days before your husband’s death. We’ve been unable to trace the recipient of the money, and I doubt the person’s identity is real, but the amount is standard for a hit of that kind, and the date is too coincidental. We now believe that Tony Clark paid for the hit that killed your husband. Motive and opportunity are there, and circumstantial evidence.” Olympia stared at him in horror as he said it. Her mouth opened and closed and she didn’t make a sound. She couldn’t. She wanted to scream but nothing came out, and as she stared at Pelham, the room spun around her, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted. What she had heard from Officer Pelham was the last straw. It had been hard enough surviving Bill’s murder, but knowing or believing that Tony had probably paid for it to happen was more than Olympia could bear. He had paid five thousand dollars to end the life of the man she loved so much, her children’s father, a hero in his country. It was unthinkable, and as the room swirled around her, all Olympia wanted was for Tony to die too.
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