The Chairman staggered over to the record player and Diane quickly went for the pouch she’d stashed in the brim of her panties. It was no longer there. A hot panic rose up her neck and into her cheeks. It had slid further down and she pushed her fingers deeper to retrieve it. The Chairman was by the gramophone now, winding it up.
“I’ve got just the song.”
Finally she found it and with shaking fingers struggled to pry it open. She heard the needle scratch as the Chairman tried to steady it. Tearing a small hole, Diane reached over and poured the contents into his wine glass as the music started to play. It was from the 1859 opera Faust by Hector Berlioz.
Diane glanced over to find the Chairman glaring back at her. He didn’t seem drunk anymore. Gone too was the warm smile he’d been wearing since she’d arrived. That was when she knew for certain she’d been caught.
Chapter 34
In three quick strides he was nearly on her, his face a mask of anger. Diane reached into her right boot and pulled out the knife. Edward had told her this was her last resort if she were caught trying to slip him the Ambien and now she was getting ready to use it.
“Get back,” she shouted, waving the blade in the air. If he took another step she was ready to jam it into his belly.
The Chairman skidded to a stop. He had a smirk on his face, as though he knew she didn’t really have the upper hand.
Sure, Oneida wasn’t the biggest town, but if this was who the president had sent to restore order and protect the people, then the commander-in-chief’s judgment was far worse than she’d previously believed.
In a flash, a choice was suddenly before her. Turn and charge out the door behind her or lunge and end the life of a man who’d already victimized countless others.
“Diane, if you only knew how much trouble you’re—”
Flipping the knife into an overhand grip, Diane took two giant steps and swung down, narrowly missing his chest. Instead, the edge of the sharpened blade pierced the dark blazer he was wearing and tore a long gash down the front. Up went the knife for the next strike when a clump of folded papers dropped from the hole in the Chairman’s jacket. That split-second delay was all the time he needed to turn and run to the kitchen screaming for help.
Were those the papers she’d been sent to retrieve? Diane scooped them up and ran for the door.
The swinging kitchen door blasted open right as she rounded the last set of tables. The humorless Secret Service agents emerged, pistols drawn and firing. But Diane continued running until she slammed through the front door, bullets shattering the glass around her. If she’d been hit, she didn’t know it.
“Get her,” the Chairman screeched from inside.
Escape wasn’t possible. Diane was smart enough to know that. But she needed to find somewhere safe to stash these documents. She ducked around the back of the next building, hoping to buy herself some time, and that was when she saw it. A mailbox not ten feet away. Because of the curfew, the streets here were empty, but she knew that with the gunfire and shouts that would all soon change.
Charging full force, Diane skidded up to the mailbox, pulled open the lip and slid the documents inside, waiting until they landed with a dull thud.
From there she ran north on Main Street, heading back toward the apartment where Kay and the kids were staying.
A handful of shots rang out behind her. They were firing at her with pistols and the rounds went zinging over her head. She was less than a dozen yards from the building when the men on horseback came galloping up from the other direction and surrounded her.
Diane put her hands in the air and let the knife drop to the sidewalk where it fell with a clang.
The men in dark suits were there a moment later, twisting her hands behind her back and restraining them with zip ties.
She kept expecting them to read her Miranda rights, before remembering those didn’t exist anymore. One of many checks and balances that had once made this country great and had become some of the first casualties in the new world order.
The Chairman caught up a few seconds later, his shredded blazer showing clear signs of her handiwork.
“Where is it?” he demanded.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You like to play games, do you? Well so do I.” The Chairman turned to the suit beside him. “Send her to the interrogation room. And bring the others along too.”
Diane gasped. She knew perfectly well ‘the others’ meant Kay and the children.
Chapter 35
The townspeople emerged from their homes as Diane was led away by the two Secret Service men. She could tell by the looks on the faces of those gathering that they’d seen many others carted away.
Although John didn’t often open up about his experiences in the military, he had told her about neighborhoods on the outskirts of Baghdad that were controlled by militants and in some cases Al-Qaeda. He’d tried to describe to her the meek way people watched the injustices going on around them. The fear of being the next victim often made them subdued as yet another member of the community was taken away never to be seen again.
They couldn’t entirely be blamed, John had told her. Risking one’s life for a cause took tremendous courage and extraordinary foolishness. But what these people watching now didn’t fully understand was that by standing by, they were becoming complicit in the crimes they were witnessing.
“Don’t you people see what’s happening?” she shouted. “Is this the kind of country we want to live in?”
One of the Secret Service men swatted her on the back of the head with an open hand. She felt a burst of stinging pain, but kept appealing to the growing crowd of onlookers.
“Shut her up,” the Chairman yelled from somewhere behind them.
The next blow wasn’t with an open fist. Something hard connected with the back of Diane’s skull and for a moment she saw stars. She struggled to catch her breath. Her arms wrenched at a painful angle behind her back.
Within minutes she was led into a small warehouse off the main strip and shoved into a wooden chair. Her hands were freed of the zip ties and lashed to the back of the seat. After that, her ankles were bound to the legs of the chair. Opposite her was another seat, presumably for her interrogator.
Diane wasn’t entirely surprised to see the Chairman enter wearing a new blazer.
“Frankly, I expected more from you, Diane,” he said, examining the cuticles of his right hand.
“Yeah, well, I’m happy to disappoint you.”
The Chairman grinned and there wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. “I could have made you and your family comfortable, do you know that? I didn’t ask for much. Just a little company. Some nice conversation.”
“When the president finds out what you’ve been up to here…”
The Chairman laughed. “When he finds out? Whose orders do you think I’m following? When the threat against democracy is this high then extreme measures must sometimes be used. The freedoms you enjoy are guarded by men who break the Constitution every single day. You don’t see it because it’s hidden from you. That’s the reality that none of you are willing to accept. Sometimes the rules must be bent in order to preserve the things we love. You had a chance to bend your own rules with me and you chose not to.”
“Because I’m married.”
“See what I mean? Your loyalty to that vow was stronger than your need to protect your family. If you’d only played along, Diane, then none of this would be happening.”