Act of Treason

36

No one spoke. Not in the elevator. Not in the lobby. Ross wanted to speak, wanted desperately to speak, but didn’t dare until he was away from the Secret Service agents and Gordon. They were halfway between the main door and the waiting limousine when Garret reached out and grabbed Ross’s elbow. The two men stopped and then Gordon stopped and then all six agents stopped. Only one agent looked at the protectee. The other five adjusted their positions to shield Ross as much as possible. The men did not look comfortable. They’d been trained to move people from one secure area to the next. No loitering in between. Forty feet away was a brand-new armored limousine engineered to handle twice the explosion that had torn apart the older model limousine that fateful day back in October. All six Secret Service agents fought the instinct to literally grab Ross by the collar and throw him headfirst into the limo.

Special Agent Brown approached Ross and Garret. “Excuse me, sir. It’s not good to stop in the open like this. Could you please get in the limo?”

Garret ignored the agent, while Ross shot him a withering look. “This was an unscheduled stop. No one knows I’m here. Relax and back off. I want some privacy.”

Brown concealed the anger he felt toward Ross. It had been building up ever since he took over for Rivera, and it had peaked in Switzerland the previous weekend. The guy was a power-hungry son of a bitch. What did it matter to him if they talked in the back of the limo or here on the street? Brown backed away, stayed calm, signaled for his men to spread out, and made a mental note to add the incident to the file. The hell if he was going to take a fall like Rivera’s.

Gordon was checking e-mail on his BlackBerry and began drifting back toward his boss and Garret. Garret put out his hand and said, “Why don’t you go make a few phone calls?”

Gordon stopped and looked up at Garret. He was yet again the odd man out. Saturday couldn’t come soon enough. Gordon thought he might even offer to drive Garret to the airport himself.

As soon as Gordon was out of earshot, Garret moved within a half foot of Ross and in a hushed voice said, “This is too good to be true.”

“I know. Now I can go out there and really clean house.”

“I don’t give a shit about the CIA. I’m talking about the fact that they got the wrong guy.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“Give me one good reason why Rapp would refuse to come in. He knows he fucked up. He’s not going to come back here and face scrutiny. He’s gonna run, or who knows he might even try to frame this guy to save his own ass.”

“So what do we do?”

“Pour gas on this thing.”

“Huh?”

“We light the match and fan the flames. We get you out in front of this thing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Even if this is the guy, and that’s looking pretty iffy at the moment, Speyer told me there is absolutely no way he can be traced back to us. You’re a statesman now. You come out hard on this thing. Very law-and-order. What Rapp did was wrong. Excessive force. The U.S. doesn’t condone torture and will not tolerate it. Then you make some statement demanding an inquiry.”

Ross shook his head. “Too strong right now. I think we’d be better off taking a position off the record.”

“With Tom Rich from theTimes.”

“Yep. That way we drive the story and then when the other shoe drops we ask for Rapp’s and Kennedy’s head.”

“I like it.” Garret glanced over each shoulder. “These damn agents make me nervous. You go on without me. I need to make a few calls. I’ll see you back at the hotel for lunch.”

Ross watched Garret leave and then started for the limo. Gordon was standing next to the open rear door replying to an e-mail with both thumbs. Ross could see that he was unhappy with being excluded and a thought occurred to him. It was something he’d been thinking about since Garret had arrived at the airport on Sunday. The vice president-elect climbed into the back seat and waited for Gordon to settle in.

“Jonathan, have you noticed any strange behavior from Stu lately?”

The expression on Gordon’s face seemed to say, “Are you kidding me?” He put his BlackBerry away and took off his reading glasses. “I’ve always found Stu to be a bit strange.”

Ross smiled. “I know. The man is a real pain in the ass, but he’s extremely good at what he does. He’s short-term. You’re long-term. Long-term friend and confidant. Please don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t. Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome.” Ross smiled. The vehicle started to move. He glanced out the window and said, “So back to Stu. Any odd behavior lately?”

“Sir, to put it bluntly the man is an asshole. And I mean twenty-four-seven, so it’s hard to judge, but I at least expected him to relax this week.”

“Me too.”

“This is our time to celebrate. People are lining up to hand him retainers. Hell, I have people calling me to see if I can set up meetings for them.”

“The victory was very good for his business.”

“And I have no problem with that. I’d think, though, that the guy would let his hair down a little bit, but instead he has been an even bigger jerk than usual this week.”

“I agree. It’s almost like he’s preoccupied with something else.”

“How do you mean?”

“I don’t know.” A practiced perplexed expression fell across Ross’s face. “I don’t know how to put my finger on it, but something is bothering him. It seems like he’s worried about something.”

Gordon looked with concern at his boss. “Do you want me to do some checking?”

Ross hesitated like he was thinking long and hard about the question, and then shook his head. “No. I’m sure it’s nothing. We’ve put up with him this long. What’s five more days?”