Chapter Eighteen
After Scotty left the office, Sam snuggled into Nick’s embrace. “How is it that the time with him is always the highlight of my whole damned day?”
“Likewise. He’s the best thing ever.”
“He sure is.”
Nick tightened his hold on her. “Nearly had a heart attack when I heard HQ had been bombed.”
“Nearly had one myself when it happened.”
“How close were you?”
“Not that close. I was by the morgue when it went off in the lobby. My ears are still ringing. I’m worried about Joe. He was covered in blood when they rolled him out. And Jeannie… She says she’s okay, but the baby is due soon, and four people are dead…”
“It’s horrifying.”
“They took Sergei’s body and Amara, the young woman who brought us a new case today. I know you want me here, safe and coddled, but I need to be there, Nick. I owe that young woman my best after she specifically asked for me… I have to find her.”
“They found abandoned backpacks at two post offices and outside the Treasury Department, but they were empty. We think they were put there to make this look like a wider attack.”
“Our communications were knocked out. No cell service.” Sam’s mind raced as she added this new information to what she already knew. “Why would they go to such extremes—and risk starting a war—to steal the body of a man who caused them nothing but trouble?”
“So you can’t pin the murder on them?”
“Lindsey had already done the autopsy. If they were hoping to avoid the collection of evidence, they were too late. Petrov’s regime regularly kills off the opposition.
Cameron told me that the last opposition leader was poisoned and nearly killed, and then he was left to die in a prison camp.
Why would they care if we knew they killed Sergei? ”
“Maybe they’re concerned because the murder took place here rather than in Russia?”
“What would be the implications if we’re able to prove that?”
“Foreign diplomats are granted absolute immunity from prosecution by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We’d declare them persona non grata and expel them with the understanding they’d be tried for the crime at home. It’s a diplomatic issue for us rather than a criminal one.”
“You just happen to know all that, about the Vienna Convention?”
Smiling, he said, “It’s come up a few times during my career, so yes, I happen to know that.”
She fanned her face. “That’s hot.”
“Focus, Samantha.”
“I am focusing on my super smart, sexy husband who knows all the things.”
“He doesn’t know all the things.”
“He knows more than most people do.”
“Are we done talking about me in the third person?”
“See, like you know that we were using the third person. Who knows that kind of stuff?”
His left brow lifted ever so slightly. “Um, everyone?”
“No, not everyone.”
“Can we get back to talking about what we’re going to do about the missing Russian, the missing woman and the bomb?”
“Do we have to talk about the bomb?”
“I believe it’s very much in both our best interests to figure out what the hell is going on here.”
“We chose the wrong careers.”
His laughter infused some much-needed joy into this otherwise shitty day. “You’re just realizing that now?”
“I’ve known it for a while now. This is just further confirmation.” She looked up at him, noting the unusual dark circles under his gorgeous hazel eyes and the tense set of his jaw. “I have to go back to work. I can’t not be there with this going on, and I need to check on Joe.”
He placed his hands on her face. “They bombed my love’s workplace.”
“It’s not just my workplace.”
“Who do you think they were hoping to kill?” he asked softly.
“What good would that do? It wouldn’t make the case go away.”
“Think about what it would do to me. Rather than make a big stink about this entire screwed-up international incident, I’d walk out of this place with our kids and never look back. Perhaps that’s what they were hoping to achieve.”
“If that was their goal, why’d they bomb the lobby and not the area where I work?”
“Maybe they didn’t know how to find you and hoped to get lucky. Who knows? But I’m operating under the assumption that you were a target.”
Sam’s knees went weak under her. “I… I need to sit.”
He helped her to the closest chair and crouched in front of her. “You’re pale as a ghost. What just happened?”
“Four people who were alive this morning, including three of my civilian colleagues and one of the reporters who covers us, are dead, and you think it’s because the Russians were hoping to kill the president’s wife at her workplace?”
“We don’t know anything for certain yet.”
“But that’s what you think happened, which means you’re hearing that from others, too.”
“It’s a theory, Sam. That’s all it is so far.”
“If it’s true, that’s the end of my career.” She swallowed frantically, trying to dislodge the huge lump in her throat. “How do I go back there if four, or more, people were killed because of me?”
“You didn’t kill anyone.”
“Nick… Please tell me you understand what I’m saying. I can’t work there anymore if people are bombing the place, hoping to take me out! I’ve already got two injured Secret Service agents on my conscience. This… This is too much.”
She swiped angrily at the tears that appeared out of nowhere.
“How about we wait to see what the investigation reveals before we make any big decisions?” He leaned forward to kiss the tears off her face. “I’m sorry to have upset you.”
“You didn’t. I was already upset when I got here, but now I don’t know what to do. I need to go back to work, but will I be making it unsafe for everyone else just by being there?”
“The thing is, we don’t know for sure, and until we do, it might be better to work from here.”
Work from here… How in the hell would she work a case like this from home, and what message would that send to her colleagues, who were managing a catastrophe while she hid out in the comfort and safety of the White House?
She wiped the last of the tears from her face. “If I don’t go back now, I can’t go ever again. I’m simply not prepared to make that call when my house has been bombed and Amara is missing. My team needs me.”
Nick stood and stepped back to give her room to get up.
When she wobbled on unsteady legs, his hands on her shoulders steadied her.
“I know it’s not what you want, and I respect your rationale, but please understand—”
He kissed her. “I do. I understand. I don’t like it, but I get it. And P.S., if this is about you, then it’s my fault, not yours.”
“Can you please find out if the Russians stole Sergei and took my witness?”
“I’ll get the Russian ambassador in here right away and request his assistance with both those things.”
“Let me know what you find out.”
“You’ll be the first to know—if I can tell you, that is.”
They shared a warm smile and another tight hug.
“Please keep your wits about you. All the time, but especially right now.”
“My wits are always right where they should be—focused on getting the job done and coming home to you and the kids.”
He held on tighter.
“You have to let go.”
“Never.”
“Nick.”
Terry knocked and came into the room. “Oh, sorry.”
“Come in, Terry,” Sam said. “I was just leaving.”
Terry gestured to them, still wrapped up in a tight embrace. “That doesn’t look like leaving.”
“Mr. President doesn’t agree with the plan.”
“He loves you very much,” Nick whispered.
“Same goes. Now release me. Nonnegotiable.”
He chuckled. “If I must.”
“You must.”
“If you get yourself killed, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Likewise.” Sam kissed him and headed for the door before he changed his mind and pulled presidential rank on her. She was shocked that he hadn’t done that already. “Keep him busy until I can get out of here,” she said to Terry.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t work for her, Terry,” Sam heard Nick say as she walked swiftly out of his office and took off running toward the lobby while calling Q for a ride.
She had to get out of there before he changed his mind.
Q met her in the lobby with a second agent, a petite Black woman named Dana. Her hair was shoulder-length, and she wore a sharp-looking navy blue suit with a pink patterned blouse. Sam felt like a schlub next to her in jeans and sneakers.
Sam shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Dana, and welcome to the bedlam known as my detail.”
Dana smiled. “It’s an honor, ma’am.”
“The honor is all mine. Thank you for what you do.” To Q, she said, “What’re you hearing about Vernon?”
“Just a bump on the head. No concussion. They sent him home for the rest of the day, but he’ll be back in the morning.”
“That’s great news. I need to get back to work.”
“Our bosses are adamant that they want you here until we know who’s planting bombs in DC and why,” Q said.
Sam took a beat before she calmly said, “I understand and respect their concern, but I need to be with my colleagues to help figure out why our house was bombed.”
“All due respect, ma’am, but we’d like you to leave that to the team charged with investigating these things while you take shelter here.”
“I’ve cleared it with the president. He’s aware of my decision to return to work and will handle any pushback from your leadership.”
“They’re not concerned only about you, ma’am,” Q said.
His words hit her right in the chest. They were worried about him and Dana and the other agents, too. Jimmy was already out on medical leave after taking a bullet meant for her, and now Vernon was injured, too.
She swallowed hard as the implications hit like a tsunami. People she cared about were in danger because she chose to show up to work every day.
“I… I don’t know what to do, Q. Earlier, a young woman came in to report that she witnessed her brother’s murder.
She wanted to speak only to me, and after she trusted me with her heartbreaking story, I told her I’d see her through every step of the journey toward getting justice for her brother.
Then the bomb went off, and when the dust settled, she was gone, along with the body of another murder victim.
How do I hide out in the safety of this place when she’s missing?
I have to help find her. I think she’s an innocent bystander caught up in something big because I took her to the morgue to wait for Lindsey and… ”
“Take a breath,” Q said quietly.
As she realized she was on the verge of hyperventilating, she forced air into her lungs and then exhaled before doing it again. “It’s a lot to know that I’m endangering others by showing up to work.”
“We don’t know anything for sure yet,” Dana said. “We’re operating out of an abundance of caution as the investigation into the bombing proceeds.”
“Tell me what I should do,” Sam said with weary resignation. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
The two agents exchanged glances.
Dana used her chin to tell Q it was his call.
“Let’s go and play it by ear,” he said.
“Are you sure? I want you guys to be okay with the plan. The last thing I want is anyone else hurt.”
“When we signed on to your detail,” Q said, “we were briefed on the risk, which is considered second only to POTUS’s detail. Usually, the first lady’s detail isn’t particularly high risk. So we knew what we were getting into.”
“You mean when you have normal first ladies, it’s not high risk.”
“Let it be said for the record that you used the word ‘normal,’ not me,” Q replied with a grin.
“Ma’am, if I may…”
Sam glanced at Q, hoping he’d fill Dana in on the rules.
“Ma’am prefers we call her Sam when it’s just us.”
Dana’s eyes went wide. “And you do that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam laughed. “Nice comeback, Q. It helps to keep things real for me, Dana. My life is… Well, weird… And the SUV is a decompression zone of sorts. We also have a rule that what goes on in the SUV stays in the SUV, so no one will ever know what you call me in private.”
“I’m not sure I can do it,” Dana said, swallowing hard.
She was too cute. “Try.”
“Sam,” she said in a squeakier tone than her usual speaking voice.
“Good start. What did you want to say?”
“Just that it’s a true privilege to get to work on your detail, and I’m completely fine with whatever risk comes along with protecting the nation’s first working first lady. You have no idea how many women admire what you’re doing. To have a front-row seat to history is truly special to me.”
“That’s very kind of you to say. It’s still surreal to me that anything I do is considered history, but here we are. Thank you both for everything you do to keep me and my family safe, and for taking on the added risk of following the first lady into danger rather than wherever I should be going.”
“You’re going exactly where you’re meant to be.” Q held the back door to the SUV for her. “Let’s get to it.”
When they were in the car and on the way, Sam’s phone came back online and went wild with texts and missed calls from everyone she knew. She sent a quick group text to tell her family and close friends that she was okay.
Sam read a text from her friend Roberto. HOLY SHIT, LADY COP. Hope you are okay!
I’m okay. Waiting to hear about others. Thank you for checking.
Praying for y’all. Wedding invitation in the mail.
Looking forward to that!
We are, too.
Sam texted Freddie to let him know she was coming back.
He called her. “What happened?”
“I talked to Nick and made him understand that if I don’t go back, I’ll never be able to again. He’s concerned the bomb was meant for me, but until we can prove that, we’re proceeding under an abundance of caution, to quote my detail.” After a long pause, she said, “Freddie?”
“I’m here.”
“Is there something you want to say?”
“A few people have asked if I think this was directed at you.”
Sam’s heart sank. “If it was for me, why’d they bomb the lobby and not the pit?”
“Because they can’t get to the pit. Anyone can walk into the lobby. That’s as close as they could get.”
“So you also think it was aimed at me?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Should I not come back?”
“Let’s steer clear of HQ until we know more about what happened today.”
“Okay… What aren’t you saying?”
“Tensions are running high here.”
“Is there any word on the chief?”
“He has a concussion and a broken wrist and is already asking when he can come back to work.”
“That’s a relief. I’d like to run over to GW to see him and Marti. Want to meet me there?”
“Will do. See you there.”
Sam slapped her phone closed. “Let’s go to GW.”