“I don’t remember who I voted for,” Jonathan said, refusing to rise to the bait. “Far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter. Been sent to war by both parties, been lied to by both.” On the spectrum of species that Jonathan admired, politicians occupied a spot significantly south of the sand flea.
“And to think you were never a diplomat,” Irene said. “This is Jonathan’s business partner, Boxers.”
Winters’ eyes flashed. “Boxer? More like mastiff, if you ask me. You’re a big fella.”
This time, Boxers looked less concerned about hurting the hand he shook, and the corners of Winters’ eyes twitched from the pressure. Boxers didn’t like to be teased.
Irene next gestured toward the shortest of the suits, the one whose distended jacket spoke of a holstered pistol. “And this is Director Ramsey Miller,” she said. “My counterpart at the United States Secret Service.”
Miller nodded instead of shaking, and that was fine with Jonathan.
“Quite the high-level meeting,” Jonathan said. “Secrecy, too. You’ve got my attention.”
“Have you paid attention to the news this morning, Mr. Graves?” Miller asked.
“It’s Grave,” Jonathan corrected. “No S. Get to it.”
Every clandestine meeting Jonathan had ever attended — and there’d been hundreds of them over the years — presented a kind of tarantella that required early posturing. Such meetings always involved strong personalities, and all of the players wanted to be in charge. Jonathan thought of it as dick-knocking, and in this case, since he was clearly the one with the skills that others wanted, he got to be the obnoxious one.
“The news reported a drive-by shooting last night,” Irene said, hijacking the narrative. “Six Secret Service agents were killed.”
Actually, that did ring a bell. “At a DC nightclub, right?”
“Exactly.”
Jonathan gave another nod to Miller. “I’m sorry for your loss, sir.” He meant it, too. Losing a member of your unit felt like losing a member of your family.
Miller said, “Thank you.”
Jonathan said, “Not to get ahead, but the fact that we’re here leads me to believe that maybe the media got a few details wrong?”
Miller deferred to Winters. “Well, they got it right insofar as they reported what we told them.”
“Uh-oh,” Boxers grumbled.
Winters continued. “The version of the story floated to the media has the agents dying on their own time during a random shooting. In reality, they were on duty, and protecting the First Lady.”
Boxers rumbled out a chuckle. “I knew this was going to be good.”
Jonathan said, “Was she stepping out again to someplace embarrassing?”
“She was kidnapped, Mr. Grave,” Winters said.
Jonathan’s jaw dropped. He didn’t surprise easily, but this one nailed him. He waited for the rest.
“That’s all we know,” Winters said. “Her entire detail was killed, and she was taken away.”
“By whom?” Jonathan asked.
“We don’t know.”
Jonathan looked to Irene. “How is that possible? She’s the First-freakin’-Lady. How does she get out of anyone’s sight?”
“The first step is to kill her security detail,” Miller said.
Okay, this was getting circular. “What do you want from us?” Boxers asked. “You’re the FBI.”
“We want to keep this incident low profile,” Winters said.
A laugh escaped from Jonathan’s throat before he could stop it. Irene put a hand on his arm to silence him.
“These are difficult times,” Winters said. “Our enemies feel more empowered than they have in years—”
And whose fault is that? Jonathan didn’t ask.
“—financial markets are fragile. Americans’ confidence in their government is at an all-time low. If this news leaked out, the results could be devastating.”
“Shouldn’t it be devastating?” Jonathan asked. “I mean, agents are dead and the First Lady is being held hostage. That’s pretty damned hot stuff.”
“Of course it is,” Winters said. “We’re willing to move heaven and earth to clear this up. That’s why we’re turning to you, Mr. Grave.”
Boxers laughed. “You’re shitting me, right? What, you got more important things to take care of? The president too consumed with raising campaign money to devote time to this little detail?”
Winters shot a forefinger at Boxers’ nose. From the posture, he might have been pointing at a hole in the ceiling. “Watch yourself,” he snapped.
Boxers growled.
“Let it go, both of you,” Jonathan said. “Why us? You are, you know, the federal government. A few million folks in uniform and all that.”
“It’s a domestic matter,” Miller said. “The military is banned by law.”
“Jesus.” Jonathan turned to Irene. “And last time I checked, you have a few ambitious people working for you, too.”
Irene held up her hands. “Don’t think I haven’t offered.”
“We can’t risk it,” Winters said. “The news is just too big. To do what we have to do would require the involvement of courts and other law enforcement agencies. There’s no way the secret wouldn’t leak out.”
“And the secret is more important than Mrs. Darmond’s life?”
“Of course not,” Winters scoffed.
“But kinda?” Jonathan prompted.
Winters set his jaw and took a loud, deep breath. “Are you willing to help us or not?”
Jonathan squinted and looked to Boxers for a hint to what he was missing. “You’re not willing to trust the entire United States government, but you’re willing to trust me? How does that work?”
Winters nodded toward Irene. “You come very highly recommended. Director Rivers assures me that you’re very good at what you do, and that you know how to keep secrets. We’ll give you all the access you need. And we’ll pay your gate rate.”
Jonathan started to say something, but Irene cut him off. “Do this for us, Dig,” she said. “I swear to you that we’ll give you all the resources you need.”
“People?”
“Except people. We figure that we’ve got some time to work. Whoever took Mrs. Darmond hasn’t yet contacted us with a ransom demand, and they haven’t put her picture up on a website. That means they want this to stay quiet, too. Or, they’re waiting for us to break the news.”
“Or maybe they’re in the process of killing her now,” Boxers offered.
“In which case, we still have the benefit of time,” Miller said. “If she is dead, then she will be no less dead in a week.”
In a twisted way, Jonathan actually admired the honesty, despite the coldness of the delivery. “Does the president know about this?” he asked.
“Of course he does,” Winters replied. “He’s worried sick, but he also understands the gravity of the global concerns.”
Boxers shook his head. “You’re telling me that in the entirety of the US government, you can’t cobble together a handful—” He stopped and turned his gaze to Jonathan.
They both got the Big Picture at the same instant. “You want us to break the law,” Jonathan said.
“We want you to find the First Lady,” Miller said, and he looked like the words might have upset his stomach.
Jonathan looked to Irene. She shrugged with her eyebrows. “If we follow the rules, we leave a paper trail. The paper trail will most certainly be leaked, and then it will be followed.”
Just to be sure, Jonathan said, “No warrants, no due process?”
“I’m told this might not be the first time you’ve done that,” Winters said. “In fact, rumor has it that you might have had something to do with thwarting an assassination attempt at one point.”
“Not that they have any evidence to that effect,” Irene said interjected quickly.