TQ was handcuffed and pushed down the hall while the cop read her her rights.
Back outside, Shield found Ryden anxiously seeking her out amongst the cars and cops.
“Thank God, you’re all right,” Ryden said, running up to her.
“I’m fine.” Shield smiled.
“I panicked. Didn’t know what to think when all the cops and the ambulance showed up. I thought…I thought…”
“Shh.” Shield held her by the shoulders to calm her. “It’s over. TQ was arrested.”
“Ms. Wagner.” Pierce came up behind them. “I’d like you to go with Chief of Police James.”
Ryden looked from Pierce to Shield. “I’m being arrested.”
Pierce hadn’t discussed this with Shield, but then again, he didn’t have to. Shield knew it was inevitable and she couldn’t do a thing to stop it. She wanted to stop time, turn it back and change everything, but she couldn’t do a thing.
“I’m afraid so,” Pierce said.
“Tell them the truth, Ryden. Tell them what they did to you.” Shield tried to stay calm. “You’re a big part of the proof against TQ and what she pulled, but you were an unwilling accomplice. Let them see that.”
“I don’t think they’ll care. I’m a criminal to them,” Ryden replied. “That’s all that matters.”
“What you are, Ms. Wagner, will depend on the president’s testimony,” Pierce said. “As you know, she hasn’t made any charges as of yet.”
“Which means what?”
“That your future depends on her,” Shield said.
Pierce gestured for the chief of police, who had been waiting out of earshot, to join them. Chief James looked at Ryden and hesitated. He appeared uncomfortable, probably due to her resemblance to Thomas. Reluctantly, he removed the handcuffs from his belt.
“No cuffs.” Pierce stopped him. “Her arrest stays quiet until you hear from the president.”
“You got it,” James replied. “This way, ma’am.” He gestured to Ryden.
“Tell them everything,” Shield repeated as Ryden took a step toward James.
“I’m sorry…about everything.” Ryden stopped again and turned to Shield. “I hope you can one day forgive me.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
As soon as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Monty was escorted to an exam room and given nitroglycerine for his heart, while a trauma team worked on Jaclyn elsewhere in the ER before whisking her away for surgery.
“You need to take it easy,” the doctor told him. “Your heart’s in bad shape, as you already know, and—”
“Yes, yes. I realize all that. Have you heard anything about Ms. Harding?” Monty buttoned up his shirt, feeling much better after the pill.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
He headed out into the waiting area. Shield and Arthur, who’d gotten his forehead stitched, stood when they saw him approach.
“Nothing on Jaclyn, yet,” Arthur said. “How about you? How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine now. Where’s Monroe?”
“As close as they’ll allow her to the operating room.”
“What happened?” Shield asked. “How did you get TQ to cooperate?”
“When I heard you…” he looked at Arthur, “say that Jaclyn wasn’t doing well, I headed out of the restaurant to come find you. I’d made it as far as the door when I saw TQ being escorted out of the building by five of her men.” He filled them in on what they’d missed.
Monty hurried across the street and intercepted TQ as she and her goons neared a black Mercedes parked close by. “Ms. Rothschild.”
He knew TQ had seen his picture when she’d made Arthur, and the fact that she blanched proved him right.
“Mr. P…Pierce. I…”
“We had a deal.”
“Who was the man I saw in my office?”
“I prefer to protect my identity, but you leave me no choice.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You’ve made a very big mistake, TQ.”
“Is that so? Because frankly, I doubt you have any power over me at all.”
“If I may?” Monty carefully reached for the cell inside his suit pocket and punched in a number. When the call went through, he said, “This is Montgomery Pierce from the EOO. I need to speak to Madam President. Tell her it involves her safety.” He put it on speakerphone while he waited.
“The president’s office,” a male voice said. “How can I help you?”
“I need to speak to the president directly,” Monty replied.
“That’s not possible, sir.”
“Tell her I know what happened to her. She’ll know what I mean.”
TQ didn’t try to stop him, but she fidgeted with her purse.
Seconds later, that distinctive Maine-accented voice came on the line. “This is President Thomas. Who is this?”
“Chief Administrator of the EOO. We have worked for you in the past.”
“What can I do for you?” the president asked carefully.
“I know about your abduction and replacement.”
A long pause. “How?”
“That’s not important. I also know you are afraid to talk because they said no one would believe you and you will lose your credibility and put your family’s safety at risk.”
“How do you know all this?” she asked.
“Madam President, we have helped people in your situation before, and we can do it again. I will provide the proof the world needs and give you and your family twenty-four-hour protection until the people involved in your kidnapping are arrested.”
“Even if that’s true, how do I know you’ll find these people? I can’t hide myself or my family forever. I’m the president, Mr.—”
“Pierce. We already know who did it.”
“What?” Thomas snapped. “Why haven’t they been arrested?”
“I can make that happen in approximately…” Monty checked his watch. “Eight hours.”
TQ grabbed the cell from his hand and disconnected.
“Time is wasting,” Monty said. “You have eight hours, Cinderella.”
“Bring them both here,” TQ said to her men.
“No.” Monty was afraid Jack was too weak to cooperate on the trip up, and moving her around would only enhance the blood loss. If she was barely conscious, she’d never survive being manhandled by these butchers. “I’m going to get them myself and you’re coming with me.”
“You don’t need me.”
“I want you where I can see you until I get what I came for. Tick tock.”
TQ pushed the goon behind her aside and stomped back to the building.
“Oh, and by the way,” Monty said when they got in the elevator, “should Jack not survive, I will destroy you anyway.”
“All this fuss for a nobody assassin,” TQ said benignly as she looked at her reflection in the shiny metal door.
“Also, should you ever come near her or anyone she cares about, I will personally rip that ugly head you keep admiring off that skinny body.”
“You called Thomas?” Shield asked.
“No, I called Wagner,” he replied. “Of course, I called the driver first, who played the role of secretary.”