Chapter Twenty-Six #2
A soft knock on the door had him crossing the room for an update. “Thanks so much, Brant. We’ll be ready.” He closed the door and turned to face her. “Wheels up in one hour.”
“Thank God.” Then she thought of Avery. “Um, what do we do about, um, Avery?”
“What about him?”
Sam rolled her eyes at the testy way he said that. “Would it be possible to offer my colleague, who was so amazingly helpful to me when I was sick, a ride back to DC?”
“Yes, it would be possible. Do you want me to call his room and see if he’s interested in joining us?”
“It’s very nice of you to offer, but I’ll call him.” She found his name on her list of contacts and placed the call.
“Hill.”
“It’s me. Sam.”
“How’re you feeling?”
“Better. We’re going home. You want to hitch a ride with us?”
After a long pause, he said, “Um, sure. I need to return the rental car, though.”
In consultation with Nick, they discussed logistics and agreed that they’d pick him up at the terminal in forty minutes.
“See you then,” Avery said before the line went dead.
“Look at us,” Nick said as he put on jeans and a sweater. “One big happy family.”
“There may be hope for you two yet.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” He came around the bed to help her up, holding her until she got her bearings.
“Take it slow. You were so sick last night, and you’re going to feel weak and dizzy for another day or two.
” He placed his hand flat against her forehead.
“You’re still warmer than you should be, too. ”
“I’m okay.” She kissed his cheek and went to find her suitcase. By the time she brushed her hair and teeth and put on some clothes, she was completely drained of energy. A dizzy spell had her gripping the bathroom sink so she wouldn’t fall.
Nick’s arms came around her from behind. “Easy, baby.”
She rested against him, letting him hold her up when it was too much to do it herself.
Sam slept through most of the ride to the airport in the pearly dawn light and woke when they stopped to pick up Avery.
The Secret Service handled everything with their usual dispatch and they were loaded onto Air Force Two a short time later.
Sam insisted on walking up the stairs to the plane herself, which in hindsight, was a mistake.
Nick belted her into her seat, and sat next to her.
Avery was seated across the aisle from them.
Though she kept her eyes closed, Sam heard the stewards offering food and beverages and Nick encouraging Avery to have whatever he wanted. Both men ordered breakfast and coffee. Nick asked for ginger ale and water for her.
Sam hoped she could handle the smell of the food.
That was the last thought she had before the wheels touching down at Joint Base Andrews jarred her out of a sound sleep.
“Welcome back, babe.” Nick held a glass of ice water as she took a greedy drink.
“I can’t believe I slept through an entire flight. I need to get sick more often if that’s what it takes to sleep when I fly.”
“You’ve got a little more color in your cheeks than you had earlier.”
“I feel better.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
Surrounded by Nick’s detail, they got off the plane and into one of the ever-present black SUVs for the ride into the city.
She fired off a text to Freddie. What’s going on?
Waiting game. Everyone is in position. WVSP is calling the shots, so we’re on standby.
Ugh.
No kidding. Cold up here.
Sam closed her phone but kept it in hand in case there were updates.
“Anything new?” Avery asked.
“Nothing yet.”
“Other than the fact that you have the director’s wife in custody, or I suppose that doesn’t count as anything.”
“I figured you already knew that, so it would be redundant to mention it.”
“What do you hope to gain by taking her in?”
“Information about her relationship with her husband, among other things.”
“What other things?”
“After what we heard yesterday, you have to ask? We want to know the true nature of her relationship with Jacoby, too.”
“What’re you suggesting?”
“Nothing. Yet.” As she said the words, another thought occurred to her. How old were Mark and Maura Hamilton when their younger brother became part of their family? What did they remember from that time? She couldn’t wait to get back into the case.
Avery clicked away on his phone for a few minutes before sending her an angry glare. “Were you going to tell me that you guys have Jacoby’s house in the mountains surrounded?”
“No, I wasn’t, because we have jurisdiction over this case, and everywhere we go, you guys show up acting as if it’s your case. How do you know about Jacoby?”
“Because he put out the word to the bureau that he’s in need of assistance at his getaway where he’s been on a hunting trip since the weekend.”
“And you buy that shit? You buy that the deputy director of the FBI would go completely off the grid without telling anyone he’s doing that? Really?”
“There’s probably a perfectly good explanation.”
“How about the fact that the thugs who took Cruz and Josh told us Jacoby hired them?”
“And you’re going to take their word for it?”
“How would they have his private phone number if he hadn’t hired them?”
“Sam,” Nick said, taking her hand. “Don’t get worked up.”
“Look,” Sam said in a calmer tone, “I know you don’t want to believe that men you looked up to were involved in something so sinister, but all the evidence is pointing in that direction.”
“Granted, but you and I both know that doesn’t mean it’s a slam dunk.”
“Never said it was.”
They existed in uneasy silence the rest of the way into the city where they dropped Avery off at home.
“Thanks for the lift.”
“Avery.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for what you did for me yesterday,” Sam said. “I appreciated it.”
“As did I,” Nick said.
Avery’s face was expressionless when he said, “Sure. No problem.”
The door closed and the agent who’d gotten out to open it got back in the front seat.
Sam waited until the car was moving again to ask the question she’d been dying to ask since they landed. “So what happened between you two while I was out cold on the plane?”