All Nick could muster was: “Yes, I guess it did.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Commitment to a Relationship
Beth had been in the CIA building many times since she was a little girl. Over the years, she had gotten to know the guards well, and they were aware of what position her father held.
Getting in was no problem. A few smiles, a couple of nods, and some polite conversation, and she entered easily through a back door, lacking any kind of security screening device, compliments of Levi.
She breezed past some familiar faces in the hall that had worked with her father on many Russian operations, and she seemed to be making her way toward his office. One more junction and she made the turn down the unfamiliar wing of the building that housed Mideast affairs. A marquee told her the office number for Dan Archer, and there she would find Sharon.
Dan had already begun cleaning out his office. Sharon had found some boxes, and she, too, was piling things on her desk in anticipation of being fired. She didn’t want to stay anyway, if her boss was to leave. Neither saw Beth peering around the corner, watching them shred files from Dan’s cabinets.
“Here are some of the first things we worked on,” remarked Sharon as she slid them in.
“I almost feel bad about the situation,” replied Dan. “No. I feel bad because of all the other people who don’t have the convenience to leave. After all, both of us can afford to go.”
“Sneaking off somewhere?” came Beth’s voice from the door.
They turned to see her aiming the pistol directly at Dan’s head.
“Beth! What are you doing?”
“What do you think, Sharon? I can’t let you go. You must come back to me.”
Dan boiled inside but kept his calm. “So, you’re Beth.”
“And you’re the one who fucked my girlfriend. Surprised to see me?”
“No, not really. I can only imagine how you got that gun in here.”
Sharon grew more concerned because Dan was using an aggressive tone with her. “Dan, don’t.”
“After all, when you’re Levi Carp’s little girl I bet you get about anything you want.”
“What?” Sharon jerked around. “I never knew that! You never told me that, Beth!”
The revelation pushed Beth off balance for the moment. “I–I didn’t think it was that important. I didn’t think it was necessary or that you would understand.”
“Beth!” cried Sharon. “You used me! Your father used me.”
“No, honey. No, I didn’t. Don’t you see? It was the only way for me to meet you and for us to be together.”
Dan laughed. “Blah, blah, blah. For a woman pretending to be a man you sure don’t handle pressure very well. What’s the matter? Your penis too small?”
“You shut up!”
“Or what? Pull that trigger, and fifty agents riddle you with holes. No way, babe. You can’t do it.”
“Sharon, leave,” said Beth calmly.
“That idea is the first good one you had all day. Get out of here, Sharon, and let us handle it a man’s way.” Dan didn’t care. He found being threatened with a gun very distasteful, and he tried to punch all of Beth’s buttons.
Sharon quickly slid behind Beth and back into her area.
Beth began, “You know, I’m not doing this for revenge—”
“Sure you are,” Dan cut her off. “It’s a typical male reaction when your girlfriend gets fucked by another.”
“Shut up, you fucker!” she screamed. “You’re making this hard.”
“Well, I ain’t going to make it easy. What did you expect me to do, beg for my life?”
“I’ve got to show Sharon how much I love her.”
“There’s some handy thinking. You love Sharon, so blow me away.”
“Fine, Mr. CIA Man.” She cocked the gun. “Have it your way.”
“You don’t have the balls!”
Dan didn’t know exactly what he heard first. The shot or the front side of Beth’s head exploding as the slug passed through it. Most of it wound up on his shirt before it was over. He stood rigid as he blinked himself back into reality and assured himself that it was not he who had been shot.
Sharon stood, quivering in the doorframe. A .38 pistol that Dan always kept in her file cabinet rested between her hands. Then she broke down.
It was the only time Sukudo had spent eight hours on a plane, and it felt good when he got off. A military car was waiting for him as the transport landed and drove him to the White House as soon as he got in. From the phone in the vehicle he called the president and asked for an immediate meeting. It was granted.
By the time he stepped out, it was six thirty. The great house was strangely quiet, as if the president had ordered everyone home. He was escorted to the now all-too-familiar Oval Office and found the commander in chief quietly waiting for him.
“Hello, Admiral.”
“Mr. President.”
“I guess you have something to tell me?” The president was relaxed. The past two days had been rough. He had been on the phone constantly defending his position to other world leaders. He had had little success. The papers had crucified him, and the opposing party in Congress had already begun questioning what he knew and when. Inadvertently, he had committed political suicide. Now there were rumblings of impeachment. It was so much that he couldn’t even get upset. He had a tumbler with three fingers of scotch and refused to take any more calls. “I hope it’s good news.”
“It’s not, Mr. President.” Kenneth was a strong man, but what he was about to do made it hard for him to remain still. “I’m asking that you resign.”
“I don’t get it.”
“I want you to resign.”
“How does a rear admiral in the navy ask for the resignation of his commander in chief?”
“Sir, you are not prepared to lead this country. You and your followers make up a ‘reaction government.’ That is, rather than take the lead, you respond to situations and hope to change them to your benefit. That makes you dangerous through ignorance, and that makes the world a very unsafe place.”
The president seemed unfazed. “That’s treason.”
“Perhaps. Or opinion.”
The country’s leader leaned back into his chair. “I was set up. Don’t think only by you. There were others. I was set up by many people on this one.”
“Mr. President, you came off in a bad light because you let someone else call the shots while you hoped to come out smelling like a rose. It makes my point exactly.”
“Then tell me one thing. About your recommendation on letting the sub go. Your excuse was more fiction than anything else. The Chinese never entered into the equation, did they?”
Sukudo shrugged. “I still want to see you resign. The complete details of this thing would get you impeached. Please try to save face.”
There came another knock at the door.
“Come in.”
Dan stepped in. He was wearing an overcoat and tried to hide his bloodstained shirt. After the incident in his office, he had been summoned and didn’t have time to change. “Mr. President.” He saw Kenneth and nodded. “How’s our sub, Admiral?” He was still angry about his betrayal in their last meeting.
“On the bottom of the ocean.”
The news surprised him. “It’s over?”
“Yes,” Kenneth replied.
That information made him feel better. The world would survive another day.
“Mr. Archer,” said the president, bringing the attention back to him. “Before Anthony DeCurtis resigned we had talked about either promoting you or Levi Carp to the director position. I now want you to fill that post.”
Dan’s expression said it all. “Thank you, Mr. President. I’ll inform Levi right away.”
“I’m sorry, Dan, but it will have to be handled in another fashion.” He removed a manila envelope from a drawer and flopped it on the desk. “That contains a presidential pardon. It is signed not only by me but five other US senators. Present that to the US attorney general tomorrow.”