“I learned it when you used me to kill my father. Do you know, I'd never had a friend, but I thought I had one in you. I . . . thought you felt that way too.”
“No, you were just a means to an end.”
“You son of a bitch.” Runne's voice was hoarse with pain. “And that's what the woman is to me. A means to an end. Your end, Morgan. Come and find us.” He hung up.
When will you be here?
The question had filled him with frustration and terror. There was no way he could be at Z-3 in less than another five hours. How the hell was Alex going to survive on the run from that bastard for that long? She wouldn't surrender easily, and that meant Runne would use force—and force could be deadly.
He had to keep calm and cool as he'd learned through years of playing this ugly game.
But this time it wasn't a game. It was Alex.
“Runne called me ten minutes ago to report in,” Danley said to Betworth when he answered the phone. “The bastard was almost cheerful. It makes me wonder.”
“He should be cheerful. He's doing what he likes best,” Betworth said. “But you know where he's going to take his shot?”
“From the top of the bluff.”
“And you'll be there to take him out immediately? I don't want any mistakes.”
“I'm doing it myself. He'll be dead ten seconds after he makes his shot. Is everything going well there?”
“As well as can be expected. I think Logan may be getting uncomfortably close, but once we go into high gear we can roll right over him.” He paused; time to spread some honey. “By the way, the tech van you stationed near Camp David is functioning well. Good job.”
“Thanks.” Danley hesitated. “I haven't heard from Leary today.”
“Is that a concern?”
“Not yet. Cordoba said he'd been bar-hopping every night since he arrived. I just want him in place to make sure Matanza doesn't go overboard.”
“You said Leary was reliable. Besides, Cordoba has everything to gain. I wouldn't worry that he'll cooperate.” Betworth glanced at the clock. “It's two-thirty in the morning, Danley. Just this one more day to get through and then we'll be going full steam ahead. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have a man of your ability in charge there. I'm coming down myself, but not until tomorrow. I won't be able to take off from here until right before I set everything in motion. Call me if you have any problems.” He hung up and leaned back in his chair. He could feel the excitement flowing through him like fine wine. It was exhilarating to feel this all-powerful. Other men would probably have felt nervous and frightened along with this high.
But, then, other men wouldn't have been able to pull off a coup like this.
5:05 A.M.
“Danley's nowhere to be found,” Logan said. “And, dammit, I can't get through to Camp David. I've been trying for hours. I keep getting told neither Keller nor the President will accept calls.”
“Have you tried to get through to Chelsea Andreas?”
“I've got a call in to Pittsburgh, but Andreas has made sure her security is as tight as his own. Not much hope there.”
“Weird,” Galen said. “I can see Andreas refusing calls, but not Keller. If he refused a call, it would mean ignoring information. The Secret Service checks out every piece of info that comes their way. After Kennedy's assassination they even beefed up their policy.”
Logan rubbed his temple. “I don't know. Maybe I'll have better luck later. It's only five in the morning.”
“The time wouldn't make any difference to Keller.” Galen moved toward the door. “I think I'll take a few men and go up there and see what I can find out.”
“Be careful. They shoot first and ask questions later these days.”
“Don't worry, I wouldn't dare not be careful. Elena would kill me.” He paused. “How long are you going to wait before you call the cops or the media?”
“Do you know what kind of panic that would start? People get hurt when they're stampeding. It'll be a last resort if we can't get through to Andreas. Morgan said nothing was going to happen before tomorrow. We may have time.” He grimaced. “If you can get me through to Andreas.”
“I think I may have a handle on it. I'll call and let you know.”
Cover your tracks.
Use everything she'd learned from Morgan.
She took the branch and carefully erased her tracks in the dirt before heading for the creek. If she waded in the creek for the next mile or so, she might be able to lose him for a while.
The icy water flooded her tennis shoes as she stepped into the stream.
She had been hot and panting only moments ago, but now the ice seemed to be trickling through every vein in her body.
Ignore it.
Keep going.
No Runne yet.
She had thought she heard a crashing behind her ten minutes ago near the bluff, but she must have been mistaken.
Unless he was toying with her.
That was defeatist mentality. She wouldn't give in to it.
She glanced at her watch. It was still too dark to see here beneath these overhanging branches. The last time she'd checked she'd been on the run for over four hours. She felt every minute of it in the aching muscles of her calves and thighs.
But he hadn't caught her.
How long before Morgan could get here?
Too long.
No, it wasn't too long. She'd make it.
Keep going.
The tech van was parked in the woods at least seven miles from Camp David.
Galen glanced down at his meter.
Pretty powerful to give off this strong a signal at that distance.
“Found it?” Kelly asked.
Galen nodded. “Go back to the car and get the guys.” He started moving toward the woods. “I'll see if we have any sentries to worry about.”
5:40 A.M.
The sky was beginning to turn the first pearl gray of dawn behind the bluff. Daylight that could be deadly for Alex, Morgan thought.
If she was still alive.
He jumped out of the car, grabbed his rifle and shells, and zigzagged into the brush. He was four miles south of the location Runne had given him, but that didn't mean he couldn't be waiting in ambush.
No shot.
He paused. Listening. Nothing unusual. He breathed deep. No smell of soap or sweat.
He started up the hill.
“Go ahead,” Galen said when Logan answered. “I think you'll get through now. It was a tech van that was filtering and monitoring the calls.”
“Was?”
Galen glanced at the charred and burning vehicle. “I had to make sure they didn't have time to alert anyone. That wouldn't have been smart. Try to make the call again.”
“Stop arguing, Keller. I have to see Andreas,” Logan said. “Now.”
“And I'm expected to believe you?” Keller asked. “I'm aware of who you are and your contributions to the President's election campaign, but that doesn't mean anything now. Your wife has direct ties to Alex Graham, who's wanted by the FBI for connections to Matanza. I'd be insane to trust you.”
“You don't have to trust me. Just do what you do best and protect Andreas—and send search parties to locate that suitcase bomb.”
“Which may not exist.”
“If it doesn't, you can tell everyone that you were conducting a test run.” Logan paused. “Or would you rather wait until it blows and then make excuses?”
“I'm not afraid of being a scapegoat, Logan.”
No, Logan had a hunch Keller was an honorable man trying to do his job. Which might make him more difficult to handle. “Look, I know we have more questions than answers right now. But we've got to find those answers fast.” He wasn't getting through to the stubborn bastard. He tried a new direction. “I was having trouble reaching you because a tech van was stationed seven miles from there, intercepting and filtering your calls. Why would that happen?”
“It couldn't happen. We'd k
now about it.”
“Not if it was done by someone who knew how to bypass your safeguards. Like Ben Danley. If you don't believe the van existed, send your men to see the remains. We thought it best to destroy it.”
“A very violent move for a peaceful businessman.”
“Will you let me see Andreas or not?”
There was a silence. “I'll talk to him. When can you get here?”
“I'm on my way. Galen and I should be arriving at your first checkpoint in fifteen minutes.”
15
It was the third time Runne had lost the track.
It had taken him twenty minutes to discover that she'd coated her shoes with mud so that they formed pillows of dirt and blurred the imprint.
Fury tore through him as he scanned the ground for new signs. She was good, and her stamina was amazing. He thought he'd have caught her by now and be waiting for Morgan to show with the trap baited. Instead, he'd spent hours chasing the bitch.
He drew a deep breath. It couldn't last much longer. The last footprints he'd found had been almost dragging. She was tiring, and exhausted prey always made mistakes.
But now he was being forced to look over his own shoulder. Surely that bastard Morgan should be here by now.
If he was coming. Maybe he'd decided the woman wasn't worth the risk. It was the decision Runne would have made. But in their short time together he'd noticed that Morgan didn't hold the same contempt for women that he did. It was that weakness he was relying on.
Footprint!
She'd tried to erase it, but she was getting careless now.
He moved forward quickly, excitement driving, surging through him.
Find the woman.
Bait the trap.
Kill Morgan.
Camp David
6:35 A.M.
Andreas didn't speak after Logan had finished.
“It's a wild story, sir,” Keller said. “The idea that Matanza has been set up as a paper dragon to front an assassination attempt is bizarre. Danley would have had to be in the plot up to his neck to pull that off.”
“And Danley has been with me for years.” Andreas stared into the flames of the fireplace. “I trusted him.”
“Past tense?” Logan asked.
“Maybe.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It's hard to trust anyone these days and harder to give up that trust once it's given. I want to hold on tight. Yet I can see Betworth corrupting everyone around him. He's like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Only the fruit of temptation isn't knowledge, it's ambition. My main problem is that I can't see why Betworth would find it worthwhile to have me dead. I haven't gotten in his way on any of the major bills. There's no way he'd be able to climb over my corpse to get the next nomination. It doesn't make sense, Logan.”
“No, it doesn't,” Logan agreed. “And I wish I didn't have to admit it. All I can tell you is what I know, and what I know scares me.”
And Andreas admired a man who could admit to fear. He'd always liked what he'd known of Logan. He hesitated. “Keller, do you have a list of our honorable colleagues who were designated to serve at Z-3?”
“In my briefcase, sir.” Keller crossed to the desk. “I thought you'd want to see it.”
“Why did you keep Plummock Falls as a bunker after what happened at Arapahoe?” Galen asked.
“I pulled our people out of the Arapahoe bunker as a precaution after the dam broke, and I stopped the rotation of personnel into the Plummock bunker. I hoped that what I'd been told was true,” Andreas said, “that there couldn't be another security breach, it couldn't happen again. We handled all the bunkers completely separately. It seemed incredible that Matanza could buy that amount of sensitive information.” His lips tightened. “I wish to hell we didn't even have to have those bunkers. But we do. Because the government has to be preserved and without them we could fall into anarchy. I won't let those bastards win that victory.”
“Maybe you should have closed down Z-3 too.”
“We discussed it,” Keller said. “But there has to be at least one safe haven in case of nuclear attack. It was decided that the alternative vulnerability wasn't acceptable. We sent security teams to Z-3 to check for any possibility of sabotage, and it came up clean as a whistle.” He opened his briefcase and drew out two documents. “Here's the bunker itself.” He spread out the first diagram on the desk. He pointed to a solid rock wall. “It's built into the side of a mountain. Five-foot-thick steel doors and an elevator that goes down seven stories. It was the last bunker built, and we learned a lot from Arapahoe and Plummock Falls. Not that the other two bunkers weren't perfectly safe. It's just that the new technology we installed at Z-3 made it absolutely impregnable. The clearing where the helicopter lands is about two-thirds of a mile away. The helicopter has to go through this pass to land. The aircraft has to fly low and would be almost on the ground before anyone could get off a shot.” He handed Andreas the second sheet of paper. “And this is the personnel list, sir. The list of volunteers is at the top.”
Andreas smiled crookedly as he scanned the names. “Betworth. No surprise there.” His smile faded. “Life in those bunkers isn't exactly luxurious. It was my understanding it was hard to get volunteers from the higher echelon. But here's Ellswyth, Johnson, Cornwall, Waterson. It reads like a fraternity of Betworth's cohorts. He stacked the deck with a powerhouse of his own players. Nolan, Thorpall . . .” He glanced up. “Shepard? I thought he was going to go to Plummock Falls in case of any problems. He was changed after the mine explosion?”
“No, after Arapahoe Dam. Z-3 was the stronger facility and more secure than Plummock Falls.” Keller paused. “But Danley agreed it would be safer for the Vice President.”
“Interesting.”
“And Shepard did come to me and suggest that he'd feel better about a change to our strongest facility.” He paused again. “Which might mean nothing, sir.”
“And it could mean a hell of a lot,” Logan said. “Where's Shepard now?”
“I'll find out.” Keller pulled out his phone.
“It would fill in the missing blank,” Logan said. “The reason why Betworth would instigate a chancy conspiracy like this.”
“Don't push, Logan. I have to think about it.” Andreas moved across the room to the window. It had been a bitter cold night and the glass was frosted. He felt cold and hollow himself. It wasn't every day a man found out he was scheduled to die in a little more than twenty-four hours. “You say this man, Morgan, is at Z-3?”
“So I understand from Galen.”
“And is he good at what he does?”
“Yes, the best,” Logan said. “No one can say he's a team player, but Galen trusts him.”
“Mr. President.”
Andreas turned to see that Keller was off the phone. “Well?”
“Vice President Shepard is presently at Z-3. It's his scheduled time to spend a few days at the bunker.”
“How convenient. Safe and sound and away from nasty suspicions.”
“You believe Shepard is involved in the conspiracy?”
“If there is a conspiracy.”
“What can I do to convince you?” Logan asked. “There's not much time. Any number of things could set Betworth off. Hell, if they discover we knocked out that tech van, that may escalate—”
“I told you not to push,” Andreas said. “Okay, Shepard is a possibility. He's been grabbing the limelight frequently, taking my place at functions and acting more aggressively than I've ever seen him. That doesn't necessarily link him to—”
“The Homeland Infrastructure bill,” Keller said suddenly.
“What's that?” Logan said.
“It's a bill Shepard's been pushing for the last year,” Andreas said. “It's aimed at improving and shoring up vulnerable areas and infrastructure that might be targeted for sabotage or in danger from natural disasters. It's a general bill, nothing to send up any red flags, but the Arapahoe Dam disaster made Shepard look very smart.”
&nbs
p; “And presidential?” Galen asked. “You're probably the most popular President we've ever had. Shepard had some work to do to make himself over into your image. Betworth not only stocked Z-3 with his own crew and planned to destroy the rest of the bunkers, but he used their destruction to set up Shepard.”
“You say the bomb was supposed to have been smuggled into the White House, Logan.” Andreas shook his head. “That's almost unbelievable. Everyone who enters is searched thoroughly.”
“Except you, Mr. President.” Logan turned to Keller. “And you wouldn't insult the Vice President either, would you?”
“It's possible he could do it,” Keller said cautiously.
“And if he brought it in piece by piece and Betworth sent a man in to assemble it later . . .”
“It's also possible he could have been instrumental in the other two attempts on my life,” Andreas murmured. “Talk about an inside man. But you were too good, Keller. You made sure that every aspect of my life was impossible to penetrate without detection. They must have gotten nervous about getting caught and decided to go a different route.”
“You believe us?” Logan asked.
“Shepard would take over the presidency if I was killed,” Andreas said. “The presidency is the ultimate power, and Betworth has wanted it for years. And I'd judge Shepard a man who can be controlled by someone as clever as Betworth. Shepard takes over the presidency, has Matanza to blame for the assassination, and initiates a crusade against terrorism that immediately sends his approval rate soaring. In the meantime, Betworth is behind him pulling all the strings, with a nice little pocket of puppets in the FBI and CIA already in place. Matanza gets the glory, Shepard gets the presidency, Betworth gets the power.” He grimaced. “And I get dead. I can't say I regard that as an acceptable scenario.”
“It's supposition, sir,” Keller said.
“Then I suggest you get on the phone and call your Secret Service people in charge of protecting Shepard and see if there's been any increase in contact between Betworth and Shepard in the last six months. I want a tap on Betworth's and Shepard's phones immediately. And get a tech van out to Betworth's place on the double to monitor and record any calls.”
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