Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“I’ve been told she was actively involved in the opposition movement, and yet you claim to have had no knowledge of that. With your country’s sophisticated intelligence-gathering capabilities, I find that to be preposterous.”
“As do I, Mr. President. As I said, they knew how to keep their communications off official channels, which is why their relationship wasn’t discovered sooner.
But regardless of what she was doing, you have my word that there is no official effort underway on the part of the United States to try to overthrow your government, and her actions are being thoroughly investigated. ”
“Your word… Isn’t that so quaint?”
“Call it what you will, but it’s the truth.”
“Another quaint concept. Truth…”
“Not in my world.” Nick had had about enough of Petrov at this point. “We’ll be in touch with more information as soon as we have it. In the meantime, I expect you to allow the bombers to be tried here. Four Americans were killed. They deserve justice.”
“I’ll be back to you on that shortly.”
“I’ll be waiting to hear.”
“Have a good day.”
“You as well.”
The second the connection ended, Nick exhaled. “Well, that was fun. When can we do that again?”
“You handled him as well as you could, Mr. President,” Graham said.
“He’s such a goddamned liar. Of course he ordered him killed.”
“Do you think he ordered the bombing, too?”
“No,” Nick said, “none of the rest of it was at his command or it wouldn’t have been bungled so badly. When he knocks people off, he does it surgically. There was nothing surgical about this. Thank you, everyone.”
The others stood as Nick got up and left the Situation Room with Terry and Graham.
“That was excruciating,” Nick said as they returned to the Oval Office. “Everything he said about Gretchen was true. What if we’d caught his second-in-command hanging out with someone actively trying to get rid of me? What would we say about it?”
“The same thing he did,” Graham said. “He has every good reason to be suspicious.”
“Fucking Gretchen,” Nick muttered under his breath. “This is a fine mess she’s gotten us into. I want an update on what’s happening with her.”
“I’ll check with the FBI,” Terry said.
The BlackBerry vibrated in his suit coat pocket. He withdrew it to read the text from Sam. Since he had a minute, he sat behind the desk to answer her request that he call.
“Hey,” she said, sounding busy and harried, the way she always did when she was working. “Collins called.”
Nick groaned. “What now?”
“Your mother is in the ICU at Fairfax Inova with pneumonia. He said her condition is touch and go, and she’s asking for you.”
He released a protracted moan. “Speaking of the last freaking thing I need…”
“I know. I so did not want to have to tell you this. I told him you’re leaving on a trip and won’t be back until Sunday. So you could put off responding until then. They know how busy you are.”
“What if she kicks it in the meantime? Will I have to feel guilty for the rest of my life?”
“Absolutely not. In fact, I just testified about how she took twenty-five large to spread lies about you. Don’t forget about that.”
“I never will.”
“You owe her nothing.”
“Except for the fact that I’m here in the first place.”
“Nick, please tell me you don’t feel obligated to go running to her bedside.”
“I don’t.”
“But?”
“I don’t know. I’ll see if I can squeeze it in before I leave for Greenland.”
“If you’re doing that, I want to go with you.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
“You’re too good for her. I hope you know that.”
“Of course I do. My wife tells me that every time my mother rears her ugly head.”
“Your wife is a wise woman, and you should always listen to her.”
“Haha. I wish I’d listened to her about my ex-VP.”
“Speaking of her, we’ve taken her ex-husband Curtis Henderson into custody.
When we questioned him about Ivanov, he broke out in a sweat, among other things.
Said he had nothing to do with it, but he’ll be our guest while we confirm.
From what we can gather, he was under the impression that he and Gretchen were on the road to reconciliation—until his kids told him that Mom’s Russian friend was spending the night at the Naval Observatory. ”
“Do you think Curtis killed Sergei? Because I’m almost positive Petrov ordered it done.”
“Not sure yet, but his extremely nervous reaction to our questions makes him a person of interest.”
“Keep me posted?”
“You do the same, and remember… You owe your mother nothing.”
“I hear you. I’ll let you know what I decide to do.”
“If you decide you need to see her, you’re not going without me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me ma’am. I get enough of that nonsense from other people.”
Chuckling, he said, “Thanks for calling. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“Wow,” Nick said to Terry, who walked into the office as he was ending the call. “Sam has detained Gretchen’s ex-husband with questions about Ivanov.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” Terry said. “Maybe he caught wind of Gretchen reconciling with an old flame and decided to eliminate the competition.”
“If we can pin this murder on someone who has nothing to do with me, the better it’ll be for our relationship, such as it is, with Petrov.”
“You really think it was someone besides him?” Graham asked.
“Not at all. I’m almost completely certain it was ordered by him.”
“I’m going to head home and take the temperature of my wife on this amazing offer you’ve made us,” Graham said.
“Let me know what she has to say.”
“You’ll be the first to know, my friend.”
Nick shook his hand.
“Thank you again for asking me. It means a lot.”
“I need you.”
Graham winced. “Way to twist the knife.”
“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their president,” Nick said with a grin as he recited an old saying that usually ended with their party or their country.
“Well played, Mr. President,” Graham said with a chuckle. “Very well played. I’ll be in touch.”
“I’ll be here.” Nick watched Graham leave with the Secret Service agents who’d drive him home, hoping beyond hope that the retired senator could persuade his wife to take one more tour of duty on behalf of their country.