by Taylor Lee
“The conversation you had with my wife is off limits. Your boss signed an ironclad confidentiality agreement with us when we acquired your services. Everything you discuss with me and by extension with my wife is private. You are forbidden to reveal any information about our personal business.”
Once again Nicki kicked herself for not finding Caleb or waiting for Rafe and Grayson before she agreed to meet privately with their client. Stephen’s expression, and more importantly, Cherise’s tangible anger said it all. She didn’t have a choice. They would not let her go until they had wrung a promise out of her that she wouldn’t use the information she’d gathered against them.
Tossing caution to the sidelines, she shrugged and aimed for the money shot.
“I agree. But I don’t intend to release the information I’ve gathered.” She paused for emphasis. “You will, Congressman; when you step aside and end your campaign for the presidency.
Freeman’s face flushed an angry red verging on purple. The fury in Cherise’s eyes could have sparked a forest fire. Freeman’s voice shook with indignant rage.
“What the fuck are you thinking? Yes, goddammit, I’ve had a few extramarital ‘encounters.’ I told you before, the public will accept philandering. They don’t give a flying fuck what I do in my personal life as long as I keep feeding their gravy train. Plus the outcry will be so intense when the evidence of Michaels’ bribes is made public that nothing else will be important.”
Nicki took a deep breath, forcing herself to speak calmly. Coming as close as she could to nonchalance, she nodded in agreement.
“That’s likely true—if it were merely call girls and government interns we are discussing. I agree. The public has been there, done that. It’s old news.”
Wishing that she could conjure up a little spit to get rid of the dust in her mouth that was about to choke her, Nicki pressed her advantage.
“I thought it strange, that you don’t have any one of color on your staff. For a limousine liberal like yourself, your core team is uncharacteristically white—and male.”
Freeman’s frown deepened. Out of the corner of her eye, Nicki saw that Cherise also looked puzzled. Not waiting for either of them to question what the hell was the significance, she persisted.
“But you do like black women, don’t you, Congressman?”
Gratified to see a crack in Freeman’s façade, Nicki continued.
“Enough to father their children.”
Freeman jerked back, his face paling dramatically. Nicki didn’t have to look at Cherise. Her startled gasp echoed through the room. Nicki went for the jugular.
“Yes, Congressman Freeman, you are a baby daddy. Not once, but three times. You have what might be called a passel of little ones whose mothers—bolstered by positive paternity tests—have been blackmailing you for some time.”
Turning to Cherise, Nicki didn’t hide her scorn.
“Just one more monthly payment, right Cherise? Well, make that three more payments. I’m impressed. That must be some ledger you keep, given your cleanup role in this ugly mess.”
Nicki was surprised at Cherise’s expression. If she didn’t know what a calculating witch she was, Nicki would almost think that the bombshell was news to Cherise.
Stephen’s next words were more shocking. He was staring white-faced at this wife. His hands were shaking.
“Cherise, don’t… don’t listen to her… she… can’t prove it. I’m telling you, she has no proof. Everyone will think it’s Michaels’ dirty work. Trying to take the spotlight off his crimes. I’m telling you. We… Phil and I’ve got it handled.”
Somehow Nicki managed to absorb the shocking possibility that Cherise really did not know about the illegitimate children or the blackmail. She glanced from the stone cold woman to her husband who had gone from white to gray. Needing to keep control of this wildly vacillating conversation, she jerked out her cell phone.
The melodic voice of one of the ‘baby mamas’ floated through the air.
“Yes, ma’am, this is the record of the monthly payments Mr. Reeves deposits in my account. My cousin is an accountant. He traced the account to Steve’s office. Frankie said it was the best evidence we have in addition to the paternity reports.”
Nicki’s voice was heard over the recording. “Maggie, do you ever talk to the Congressman, does he have any contact with the children?”
Maggie answered, “Oh no, ma’am. He don’t ever acknowledge us in any way. I decided as long as he keeps sending the money, I’ll be quiet. Besides, I don’t want my children to know what a scumbag their daddy is.”
Nicki clicked off the phone and faced the trembling Congressman.
“I have two other similar recordings, Stephen. All of the women describe their monthly payments and the paternity reports.”
The bright red blotches on Freeman’s ashen cheeks and the damp circles staining the underarms of his tuxedo jacket spoke louder than words. He grabbed the edge of the desk to support himself and swallowed. His throat constricted visibly at the effort. Freeman opened his mouth as if to speak but he stopped upon hearing his wife’s voice.
Nicki had almost forgotten Cherise, she was so entranced by the sight of the Congressman falling to pieces in front of her. At the sound of Cherise’s harsh voice, Nicki whirled to see the stone-faced woman glaring at her husband.
“You. God. Damned. Fucking. Son of a bitch.”
Cherise’s fury stopped Freeman’s incoherent denials mid-sentence. Her voice even scared Nicki.
“You sick degenerate asshole. You… you filthy animal. You couldn’t wear a condom? No? Why, Stephen? Why? Did it make you feel less invincible or are you truly no different than a bull in the field rutting into their whorish black holes?”
Freeman stepped back as if burned by the scathing rage of her ugly words.
“Do you think I stood by you all these years because I wanted to? I despise you, Stephen. You disgust me. Why do you think I allowed you to fuck all those sluts? Because I couldn’t bear the idea of you touching me! No, Stephen, you would have lost me and my family’s money if you didn’t win the presidency. I used you. From the beginning. And now you repulsive excuse for a man, you have ruined everything. “
Freeman held up hands, his voice was shaking with fear.
“No Cherise. No. Don’t. Don’t say that. We can stop her, get rid of the evidence.” He motioned to Nicki. “We can get rid of her, the women, the… the children. We can buy them off. The accountants…”
His face was the most ghastly gray Nicki had ever seen. His voice trailed off, and a cry of terror split the air.
“No, Cherise. God, NO!”
Nicki turned too late.
Cherise gripped her Sig between both hands; before Nicki could reach her, she pumped three shots into Freeman’s head.
Nicki leapt toward the crumpling man, stunned at the ghastly mash of blood and gray matter where his face had been. She whirled on Cherise and froze.
Cherise was the color of alabaster. It wasn’t just the demented woman pointing her gun at Nicki that stopped her. No; it was the demonic gleam in Cherise’s eyes that froze Nicki in place.
Nicki went into warrior mode praying to God someone heard the shots. She judged she had thirty seconds at most to convince the deranged woman to put down her gun.
“It’s okay, Cherise. It’s all done. He’s gone now. He can’t do any more damage.”
Cherise cackled, a terrifying sound.
“I planned to kill you. I told him we had too. He thought he could convince you to keep quiet. He is, was, so stupid.” She shook her head in disgust as if remembering her husband. She added, “A stupid pig of a man.”
Nicki took a tiny step forward, inching her hand to her thigh. Hearing footsteps and shouts from the hallway, Cherise flinched then raised the gun and jammed it under her chin. Nicki’s blade flew through the air, landing in Cherise’s chest at the same time the gun blast shattered the lower half of Cherise’s pale face. Nicki’s scr
eam was lost in the sound of the shattering door. She rushed to the woman’s side, helplessly trying to piece together the pieces of blood and flesh. Looking up she saw Rafe, his face white with horror.
~~~
Rafe heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots. Running for the door, he shouted over his shoulder.
“Nicki!”
Caleb, Grayson and Agent Cody were on his heels as they tore down the hallway to where the sound of gunshots had come from. The other agents who’d been protecting Senator Michaels met them in front of the door. Trying the door and finding it locked, Rafe and Caleb threw their weight against it just as the gun blasted again. The horrifying sound was amplified by Nicki’s scream.
Rafe was at her side in seconds. In all the times he had seen the bloody gore of devastated bodies, he had never seen a more frightening sight than Nicki, blood and sinew covering her body. It took him ten seconds and Grayson’s voice to confirm that she was alive. That the blood was from Mrs. Freeman. Or the Congressman’s.
Nicki clung to the dead woman’s hand, tugging on it as though she could pull it back. Go back in time.
“I tried to stop her, Rafe. I tried… my knife… too late. I aimed for her hand… too late.
Rafe crouched in front of her. Nicki’s face was a ghastly shade of gray. Her eyes were wide with horror.
He saw her shock and gently unwound her fingers from Cherise’s limp hand. Easing her into his arms, he held her against his chest. A massive shudder shook her.
Rafe shouted, “Medic here. Now!”
One of the agents who was working over the Congressman dropped to his knees beside Rafe and Nicki.
“I’m a medic, Sir.”
The young agent reached for the pulse in Nicki’s neck and shoved the bloody mess off her chest.
“She’s in shock, Sir. She wasn’t hit. You know that, right?”
Rafe heard him through the roar in his ears.
Grayson and Caleb knelt beside them.
“You know she’s not hit, man. She’s in shock, Rafe. Best not to give her anything. We just need to keep her warm.” Caleb’s firm voice shook Rafe out of his own shock.
Rafe nodded, confirming that he understood.
“Help me get her out of here, Caleb. Tell Stew to get me blankets and water. Meet me in his office.”
Rafe picked her up in his arms and was at the door when Tom Cody stopped him.
“Rafe, I can’t let you go. Nicki is a witness. Christ, man, the only witness. Fuck, Rafe. Her knife is in the dead woman’s chest.”
~~~
Rafe pulled in a few hundred favors and convinced the agents and the homicide detectives who swarmed the scene to let him sequester Nicki in Stew’s office.
The fact that the lead detective had been one of Rafe’s Delta Force squad allowed him to keep her away from the police station. Stew rustled up a uniform from one of the waiters and guarded the door to the bathroom while Rafe got her out of her bloody clothes. Caleb held her while Rafe scrubbed at the human remains clinging to her skin. Between the two of them they washed her hair in the sink. Rafe watched the clumps of flesh swirling down the drain in horror. When he got Nicki dry and in clean clothes, he wrapped her in a blanket and sunk down in an oversized chair that Grayson commandeered from the Director’s office. He didn’t know who was clinging hardest to whom, him or Nicki.
After a cup of coffee laced with Irish whisky, Nicki managed to stop shaking. When he was convinced that she was rational, Rafe allowed Lt. Corrigan and his captain to question her.
Nicki went over the tragedy starting with the facts she uncovered about Representative Freeman. Rafe and Caleb and Grayson managed to keep from interrupting. None of them could hide their shock at the magnitude of the scandal. Rafe understood now why Nicki was so fierce about chasing down her leads. And why she was so excited about finding proof. He closed his eyes at the irony of the situation. Nicki was right. The Freemans could never have survived the scandal. He was astonished at her persistence and her stunning instincts. But overshadowing his pride and respect for what she’d accomplished was the realization that she could have been killed. All things considered, it was a miracle she wasn’t.
At that moment, Nicki lifted her head and met Rafe’s gaze.
“It’s my fault. It is, isn’t it? If I hadn’t kept looking, hadn’t run down the evidence… this… wouldn’t have happened. They wouldn’t be dead.”
Rafe put his finger against her lips.
“Stop, Nicki, now. Your work, your insights and your persistence were all extraordinary, breathtaking. You saved this country from a despicable man, a hideous scandal. The only people who are responsible for the deaths of Stephen and Cherise Freeman are the two of them. Period. End of discussion.”
He hesitated for a long moment. Exchanging a glance with Caleb and Grayson, Rafe cleared his throat and he sat Nicki up so that he could hold her gaze.
“However, my darling, you are responsible for nearly getting yourself killed. Caleb, Grayson and I were forty feet away. If you had reached out to any one of us before you went in that room, we would have been there with you.”
Nicki flushed and burrowed against his shoulder.
Rafe pulled her closer. “At the risk of repeating myself, you and I are much overdue for a lengthy discussion.”
~~~
Three days later, Rafe folded the Washington Post with a satisfied smile. For the first time since Cherise Freeman killed her husband and shot herself there was a new headline story above the fold. This story described in graphic detail how Senator Donald Michaels had taken a multimillion dollar bribe from a known terrorist. The picture accompanying the shocking story captured Michaels with his head down, his hands cuffed behind his back being led into the Washington city jail.
Rafe took out a Sharpie and scribbled a note across the top of the folded newspaper. He handed it to Caleb.
“Take this down to the station and make sure that they hand-deliver it to Michaels.”
Caleb read Rafe’s note and nodded.
“Damn straight, Boss.”
Rafe heard his friend laughing as he strode to the door.
Scribbled on top of the damning photograph of the Senator was this message:
“Payback’s a bitch. NOW we are settled. R.B.”
~~~
For the first couple of days following the disaster, Rafe kept Nicki a virtual prisoner at their retreat center. He cared for her like she was the most precious creature in the world. Masseuses, reflexologists, estheticians pampered and treated her to a three day healing spa adventure. Every food she loved and craved was there without her asking. In an extreme departure from their usual hardcore lovemaking, Rafe insisted she was too fragile for sex. He refused to do more than cuddle her and lay beside her ensuring that the only thing she do was rest and sleep. Surprisingly, Nicki agreed.
On the afternoon of the third day, Rafe joined her in the bedroom and tossed down a pile of maps and brochures all describing the delights of Thailand, specifically, Bangkok.
When she looked puzzled, Rafe pulled out a dossier for her to read. She shuddered when she saw the name of the client on the tab. This was a bad man, a very bad man.
“Ever been to Thailand, Darling?”
She frowned remembering. “Yes, but I was ten. It was one of my father’s business trips. All I wanted to see were elephants.”
Rafe chuckled. “We’re going after a hell of a lot more than elephants, Darling.”
Nicki sat up hoping he meant that he was allowing her to participate in another mission. “We?”
Rafe sighed. “Against my better judgment, I’m going to send you to Bangkok under cover.”
Nicki gave him an impish grin. “Oh, goodie! Does that mean I get to let out my ‘inner slut’?”
Rafe drawled, “You may dress like a slut, Darling, but that inner slut of yours is mine—mine alone.”
He swept the pile of papers to the floor and motioned her to stand. She looked surprised then stood be
fore him her hugging her robe closed.
A rakish smiled tugged at his lips.
“And now, Darling, we are going to begin our discussion of your lone ranger behavior.”
At her questioning frown, he smiled and ordered.
“Nicki? Take off your clothes. You won’t be needing them for the rest of the day—and night.”
~~~
Want more of Rafe, Nicki, Caleb, Grayson and the rest of the
HOT
International Security Agents?
Watch for
The BangkokAffair
A full length novel in
Taylor Lee’s
Sizzling International Romantic Suspense Series
Coming May 2013
Afterword
Thank you for reading The D.C. Incident. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.
If you loved Nicki, Rafe, Caleb, and the rest of the sexy ISA Team, watch for my full length novel “The Bangkok Affair to be released Spring 2013. AND if you haven’t read The Moscow Affair, the first book in the series, get it now!!
If you enjoyed The D. C. Incident, do me a huge favor. Go back to www.Amazon.com, and please leave an honest review. Authors live and die by their reviews. The few extra seconds it takes really helps us authors out. Thank you!
Other Works by Taylor Lee
The Moscow Affair
What is as hot and riveting as The D. C. Incident? Be sure to check out the first book in the series, Taylor Lee’s best-selling International Sizzling Romantic Suspense,
Praise for The Moscow Affair…
“A dangerously elegant man, a beautiful feisty young woman, take on the evils of the international sex trade while exploring a passionately erotic world of their own.”
~J. Johnson
“From the Russian Mafia to the Human Trafficking Arena, this book captures the reader with the power and immediacy of today’s riveting headlines. Throw in a dynamite love story and you have Sizzling Romantic Suspense at its best.”