“I’m going to the Cad. I’ll drop off this stuff and pick up my next outfit for the visit to Senator Ambrose.”
“Why do you have to kill the Senator?”
“Because Frank was right about one thing: Ambrose is trying to kill us.”
The tone of his answer prompted Rachel to dispense with the questioning.
“We’ll be packed and ready to leave when you get back.”
Nick parked the Escalade around the block from the apartment building where Senator Ambrose’s suite was located. Putting on a dark blue windbreaker and ball cap, Nick carried a small shoulder bag with him to the alleyway entrance. He used the access code stolen during his first days in Denver, and made his way up the stairwell through the predawn silence. Outside Senator Ambrose’s door, he listened intently for a few moments, before using his access card to get in. After shutting the door silently, Nick took off his shoes. Seconds later, he stood at the entrance to the Senator’s bedroom, where the outlines of two bodies breathed in varying degrees of sleep.
Nick crept over to the woman’s bedside. He placed the chloroformed white pad next to her nose. When her breathing changed, he removed the pad and moved to the Senator’s side. He gently pulled the cover back from the Senator, who was lying on his back, snoring slightly. Nick position himself above the Senator and jammed his knee into Ambrose’s Solar Plexus, driving the breath from him. Ambrose’s eyes popped open as he gasped and flailed. Nick put a gloved hand over his mouth, easing the knee back until Ambrose could breathe.
“Hi, Senator. Stay quiet. Keep your arms at your sides and legs still, or I’ll crush your chest. Nod if you understand.”
Ambrose nodded. Nick removed his hand.
“I’m Nick. I have some questions for -”
“Nick…McCarty?” Ambrose managed to interrupt with a wheeze.
“One and the same,” Nick confirmed. “How many other people besides you and Frank know about me?”
“You…you murdered the only others who knew about you.”
“If you’re the lone boss man, why does Frank always make it sound like there’s a board of directors?”
“No one has all the pieces. I formed the group after -”
“Khobar Towers. I know. Do you deal all this shit out on a whim, or do you actually run it by a committee?”
“We’ve split off from everyone…but everyone reports to me in some way through Frank. How did you find…Frank…? Frank gave me up?”
“Yep. I believe old Frank is tired of taking orders from you and shit from me. He rigged it up so I’d kill you and another team would kill me. It didn’t work out. Was Tanus a real national security threat?”
“We have to take some bad with the good. Come on McCarty, you…you can’t be that naïve,” Ambrose blustered, starting to move around. “To get intel, we need bad men to get it for us, and bad men like you to end the lives of ones who cross the line. Now get the hell off me.”
“I like that,” Nick smiled, sealing the Senator’s mouth once more, as his knee dug in again. “Bad men to end the lives of the ones who cross the line. Works for me, Tony. Adios.”
“Sorry we had to leave so quickly, Danger,” Nick told Jean, sliding in behind the steering wheel and looking back at the little girl with her ever present lap dog.
“It’s okay, Nick.” Jean shrugged. “I’m getting to like this traveling. We get to stay in different cool places. Too bad it’s so hard to find places that’ll take Deke.”
“It usually just takes a little extra money.” He started the Escalade.
“Are we going to Washington D.C.?”
“Why would we go there?”
“To meet up with your friend, Frank.”
Nick feigned surprise. “I’m shocked at you, Rachel. I think you’re getting a little bloodthirsty, my dear. We can’t just flit around the country, hunting poor dupes of the government/media complex down on a whim. You are a monster. Shame on you.”
Halfway through his performance, Jean was giggling, and Rachel’s mouth had dropped open in actual shock. Her eyes narrowed suddenly. She punched Nick’s arm.
“Okay, good one.” She leaned back, arms folded across her chest. “My daughter seems to know when you’re making fun of me faster than I do. How sad is that? Now, where the hell are we going, and do you think I’ll ever get the job at your friend’s café in Pacific Grove?”
“That’s our goal.” Nick steered the Cadillac out onto the road. “We’re heading for Sarasota. I’m hoping to be in Missouri before we call it quits today. We’ll take Danger to the best hotel we can find. You and Deke should be entertained enough with the portable Playstation and DVD player, right Danger?”
“Sure Nick, but we are going to stop to eat, aren’t we?”
“Yep. But I’d like to be out of Colorado when we do. We’ll stop the moment we get into Kansas. As for my old buddy, Frank, we’re going to play a little game with him and buy some time. I’m going to wait for his call and -”
“Pretend you’re coming after him,” Rachel interrupted, grabbing Nick’s arm. “You are such a monster. He’ll be going nuts wondering when and where.”
“Is this my plan or yours, Miss I’m Going To D.C.?” Nick glanced at her with an award winning look of annoyance. She’s good. “Yes, I’m betting Frank has to pretend he doesn’t know anything about anything. It will be impossible for the weasel to simply take off, especially when they find the surprises we’ve left behind. He knows I would arrive in a roundabout fashion, so who knows how big a dragnet he’ll put out for me between Colorado and D.C.? If I convince him I’m coming, he knows I’ll recon every possible item in his life. He will indeed be preoccupied with my arrival-enough so he will pull his resources out of Sarasota.”
“Leaving us to deal only with the thugs we expected before.”
“That’s the plan. I figure we can take our time once we split off for the South.”
“You’ll have to be subtle and not openly threaten him. If…what?” Rachel laughed, seeing the quick glances she was getting from Nick as she lectured him on the obvious. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate you don’t already have every detail of your conversation with Frank planned out, Master.”
“Very well, you’re forgiven, young Jedi.” Nick glanced back at Jean, who had her Playstation already out and headphones on. “I figure the room-temperature Senator will be discovered very soon. It’ll be interesting to hear how the cops play it out with what I left them. Frank will know instantly, which will lead him to try and make immediate contact with 'Beavis and Butthead,' who are also at room-temperature. I’ll bet he doesn’t have any assets in the area to clean up the mess either. Although I took all their personal stuff, you can bet their DNA and fingerprints are on file somewhere. They’ll be looking into that scene very closely. I believe he’ll be calling right around the time we stop to eat.”
“Those guys… the sniper team…do -”
“Don’t go there, Rachel,” Nick cautioned. “They were paid to take us out. We’re driving toward Kansas because we were better.”
“You were better.”
“When you told me to hold up at the door, I was going in. Chances are, without my spotter, I’d be dead. You can bet ‘Beavis and Butthead’ had skills. Don’t short change yourself. If all goes as planned, you and I may develop into one of the best teams around.”
“As long as we don’t raise Jean up in the family business, I’ll go where you go.”
“Hey, don’t limit your daughter’s potential, Mom.”
“Not funny!”
“Calm down.” Nick laughed. “Hell, you figured to be dead by now.”
“We’ll never really be safe after this, will we, Nick?” Rachel reached over to put a hand on his thigh.