Irene said, “We’re all here, right now, because I got a call from General Grand, chief of staff of the Army. He told me that he had heard from Mrs. Darmond that there was trouble. In fact, he called it a dire threat to the nation.”
“So why are you in Fisherman’s Cove instead of in some situation room somewhere?” Jonathan asked. “Why haven’t you activated some counterterrorism task force to expose the plot and bring the bad guys to justice?”
Irene said, “Accusations are not evidence. If we were to come forward with what we have, the administration would merely deny everything, cancel whatever they had in motion, and make us a laughingstock. And as a flag officer in the United States Army, General Grand would be guilty of high treason.”
Whatever burden Jonathan was feeling before quadrupled. “So, again. Why are you here?”
A long pause.
Irene broke the silence. “You’re a patriot’s patriot,” she said. “We knew you could provide a safe haven.”
“And then what?” Venice asked.
“That’s where it starts to get sketchy,” Irene said with a smile that was clearly designed to disarm.
A double-tap knock on the door prompted Boxers to rise and open it.
David and Becky stood on the other side, and they both looked like hammered shit.
“Welcome back,” Jonathan said. “Did you have a nice escape?”
David led the way into the library. “Oh, man,” he said. “You wouldn’t believe—” He caught his first glimpse of the First Lady and stopped so abruptly that Becky collided into him.
“Oh. My. God,” he said.
It took only a few more seconds for the color to drain from Becky’s face. “Mrs. Darmond?” she said.
Yelena flashed the smile that the tabloids knew so well. “The one and only.” She extended her hand.
Becky took it in both of hers. “It’s an honor to meet you,” she said. “But I’m so sorry about your family.”
Yelena’s face turned to stone as everyone in the room froze. “What about my family?”
“Oh, shit,” David said. “You don’t know.”
Yelena stood. For the first time, Jonathan saw real emotion in her eyes. And the emotion was fear. “What about my family?”
David seemed shocked to be delivering the news. “Your son,” he said. “Nicholas. He’s been kidnapped.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Who?” Yelena asked. Her tone was just this side of Wpanic. “Who kidnapped him?”
“A Russian,” David said. “That’s all I know.”
“And how do you know that?” Irene asked.
For the first time, David took in the faces he saw in the room. His shoulders and jaw both sagged in unison. “Holy God,” he said. “Are you Director Rivers? Of the FBI?”
“I was this morning.” She shot a look to Jonathan. Can I trust him?
Jonathan shrugged. We’ll find out together.
“I believe you have the advantage,” Irene said as she shook hands.
“Huh? Oh. My name is David. David Kirk. I work for the Washington Enquirer.”
“Oh, shit.” That came out before Irene could stop it.
Jonathan tried to defuse the moment. “And this is Becky Beckeman,” he said. “Also with the Enquirer. For what it’s worth, they have both pledged not to report anything of what they see.”
Yelena connected the dots in her head. “You’re the boy Mr. Grave was telling me about. You knew Officer Lincoln.”
David brightened. “You knew Deeshy?”
She demurred. “In a manner of speaking. Please tell me about my family.”
Davis fished a reporter’s notebook out of his back pocket. “I’m really sorry to have been so blunt,” he said as he fished through for the right page. “We’re talking about Nicholas Mishin, right?”
Yelena paled and sat heavily in her chair.
“Okay,” David said. “Well, my source told me—”
“Stop there,” Jonathan commanded.
David’s head snapped up.
“Names,” Jonathan said. “At this stage, we need names. Who is your source?”
David looked to Becky, who looked at a spot on the ceiling. It took the better part of a half-minute for him to search his conscience. Jonathan got that he was conflicted, but he also got that there were too many secrets on the table now to start holding back selectively.
“It’s a guy in the White House press office,” he said, finally. “His name is Billy.”
“Billy Zanger?” Yelena said. She seemed startled.
“Yes, ma’am,” David said. “He told me that they’d just gotten word. Apparently, you were—” He stopped himself.
“Candor, Mr. Kirk,” Irene said. “That’s really all we’ve got at this point.”
He nodded. “Okay. Apparently, you were supposed to be killed last night,” he said to the First Lady. “That, or you were supposed to be brought back to the White House. That was Douglas Winters’s preference, so you know. Being brought back, I mean.”
“How does this Bobby what’s-his-name know this?” Jonathan asked.
“Billy Zanger,” David said. “And I don’t know how he knows. I forgot to ask him.”
“But he’s telling the truth,” Becky added. “I could tell. He was like totally relieved to get this off his chest. I think he’s really scared.”
“Billy Zanger is Douglas’s press liaison,” Yelena explained. “They work very closely with each other. The two of them thought each other’s thoughts.”
“All well and good,” Jonathan said. “But what does this kidnapping have to do with anything?”
Becky said, “It was some kind of quid pro quo. Billy said he didn’t understand the details, but apparently the kidnapping was in retaliation for something Mrs. Darmond had done. Billy didn’t know what that was.”
But Jonathan did. Except for the latecomers, the entire population of the room knew. The kidnapping had been triggered by the First Lady’s decision to spirit the flash drive out of the White House.
Jonathan looked to Wolverine. “This sounds like a job for your shop,” he said.
“Do you have any idea where they took them?” Irene asked.
David shook his head. “No. But Billy seemed to think that it would be out of the country.”
“Shit,” Jonathan said. “Any idea where? Even which country?”
David looked down at his feet. “No,” he said. “I’m sorry I don’t.”
Yelena scanned the group with her gaze. “We have to get him back,” she said. “He has my grandson with him this week.”
“Oh, damn,” Boxers said. He wasn’t all that fond of small children, but he had a special hatred for those who abused them.
“How old is he?” Jonathan asked.
“Josef is thirteen,” Yelena said. “And a half.”
Jonathan nodded as he considered the ramifications. At that age, kids were far from rational, but they were able to respond to commands and participate in their own rescue. That was a good thing.
“Where were they kidnapped from?” Jonathan asked David.
Yelena answered, “Vail. In Colorado. David has a home out there.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “They must be terrified. We have to get them back.”
Easier said than done, Jonathan didn’t say. “First, we have to figure out where they are.” He looked to Wolverine. “Is this your op or is it mine?”
“So far, I don’t have a vector into the case,” Irene said. “If this goes international, it all gets very complicated.”
“We should call the police,” Yelena said. “They should be out looking for them.”
“Did this Billy guy give any indication of how long ago the snatch went down?” Jonathan asked David.