Mistress

Chapter 75

I race my bike off American University’s campus with adrenaline surging through me. I have to find a cash machine, but I’m not even looking, I’m just riding as my thoughts are running rampant in so many directions, so many questions, so many twists and turns-

But at least I have the main picture. I’m finally there. The Russians dusted off the playbook from the Stalin era, even giving their operation the same name, sentimental softies that they are. Operation Delano is the Russians’ plan to blackmail President Blake Francis so he will stand down when Russia starts invading her neighbors. And they’ve already begun the initial stages of moving toward an invasion of the Republic of Georgia. So-are they blackmailing the president right now? Did their plan work? Or are they still in the process of executing it? Clearly, our government knows about it. So what’s going on right now? Is the president going to let all this happen?

And where does Diana fit in? I had her pegged for a CIA spy. So-what? She was trying to stop them, and-but why would someone fake her death, and-

Oh. Oh, shit-

I skid my bike to a halt, almost toppling forward in the process.

No. No, it can’t be.

All those evenings Diana spent at the White House, as an aide to the president’s close ally Craig Carney. A blackmail scheme. And now the US government desperately wants everyone to believe that Diana’s dead. Which means she must be a liability.

Could it be true?

Is Diana the president’s mistress?