Lawson twitched nervously. He knew exactly what Sam meant.
“Now, before you think all is lost, I will give you a promise. I won’t kill you if you tell me everybody who’s involved in trying to kill my brother.”
Lawson laughed as the futility of Sam’s quest hit him. He was still trying to save his brother.
Sam looked at Rebecca. Rebecca suddenly realized why Lawson was laughing. She had, because of everything that happened, forgotten to tell Sam about the bombing.
“You poor fuck, you’ve come all this way to save a brother who’s already dead!” laughed Lawson.
The words hit Sam like a sledgehammer and he slumped onto the sofa. He looked at Rebecca who, avoiding his gaze, moved towards him and embraced him.
“Sam it’s OK,” she offered and smiled at Lawson, picking up the phone on the nearby table and making a call. After a second, she handed the phone to Sam.
“Hello?”
Sam instantly recognized the voice, it was his sister-in-law.
“Hi, how are you?” he asked solemnly.
“Fine, is everything OK? You sound awful.”
“God, I’m so sorry, I’ve just heard the news.”
“What news?” she asked, suddenly realizing. “Oh yes, such a shame, massive heart attack they think.”
Sam was stunned at how well she was taking it and the news that he had died naturally was just as shocking. Charles was a very healthy guy.
Rebecca watched, worried as Sam’s mood failed to lift.
“When did it happen?” he asked.
“Hmm, not quite sure, hold on a sec…” she shouted “Charles!”
Sam hardly heard the question about when the President had died. All he heard was that his brother was alive and well.
Senator Charles Baker took the phone and spoke at length to his brother, assuring him he was fine. They had received a call on the cell phone his wife’s friend had given her when she was hiding in her friend’s lodge. The lodge she had been originally hiding in was highly secure and the call they had received was of course meant for Beth’s friend. Nonetheless the call from Alarm Company that there were intruders in the grounds of the other lodge had spooked them all the same.
Sam talked for a few more minutes before replacing the handset and turning to a far more subdued Lawson, who having heard the whole conversation, knew Charles Baker was very much alive and well.
Rebecca pulled Sam from the room and apologized. She had forgotten to tell him about the explosion. She had had to phone in their location but gave the house where they picked his wife up, not their new location. It seemed there were very few people they could trust. However, it seemed they thought the Senator was dead which was a bonus, she said with a smile. Sam was too elated to be angry. He walked back into the lounge and looked at his watch. It was 3.20 am, 9.20pm in the US.
“OK, Lawson, you’ve got approximately ten seconds to start talking or I’m going to end your life in so much pain that you’ll be begging me to kill you for the next 12 hours.”
Lawson was a man who told people what to do and he scoffed at Sam’s threat.
Three second later, his little finger snapped like a dead twig and he began to talk. It was probably the first time in his life he had ever felt pain, thought Sam. Even he was surprised at how quickly he talked.
Sam listened as Rebecca noted down a total of six names, four names they had never heard before, one name they both instantly recognized, one that she had been ordered to protect and one other that Sam had known from the very start had to be involved, Allan Johnson.
Sam noticed a laptop lying nearby and opened it up. A videoconferencing page was the last one to be used and it gave Sam a wonderful idea. He booted up the system and selected the names that had been given from a drop down menu. Unfortunately, only four names were available. He clicked ‘conference call’ and waited as the system contacted the others.
“What are you doing?” asked Rebecca, as she watched him play with the laptop.
Sam disabled the camera and watched the screen as it offered a ‘waiting for attendees’ note in the middle of the screen. It took about five minutes before the four faces stared back at him, obviously waiting for Lawson’s face. After all, he had called them.
Sam did not disappoint them and moved the laptop in front of Lawson and enabled the camera, revealing to the other four attendees his rather disheveled and pained expression.
“James, are you OK?” asked Walter Koch.
“James!” asked John Mellon.
Lawrence Harkness moved closer to the camera, obviously having noted there was something wrong with James and taking a closer look.
“James, what’s happened?” asked William Hathaway.
Sam switched on the mike and let Lawson speak.
“Sam Baker’s here, his brother isn’t dead!” he announced. Sam stepped into view and waved at his audience.
The four men stared back in horror.
“I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I’ll be paying each and every one of you a visit very soon.” Before they had a chance to respond, he raised the pistol and shot James Lawson in the stomach. A shot that he figured would not only ensure his death but would take at least a couple of hours of total and complete agony.
Sam stepped out of the camera’s view and beckoned for Rebecca to follow him as he exited the suite.
“Why did you do that? We just lost the element of surprise!” she said, as they closed the door on Lawson’s cries of pain.
Sam shrugged. The look on their faces and the panic they would now be experiencing was well worth it.
Chapter 59
“Mr President, it’s Walter Koch again,” said Honey. “He’s not going to give up, Sir.”
“OK, put him through.” Russell had avoided him all day but he had called incessantly for the last thirty minutes.
“For God’s sake, Walter, it’s 10pm. Will you please call me in the morning?” demanded the President.
“Before you say another word, look at the link I just mailed you,” insisted Walter breathlessly.
Having never, in the twenty years he had known Walter, heard him in such a state, Russell obliged and clicked the link.
The live feed of the dying James Lawson shocked Russell to the core.
“Jesus?!” He hit the disconnect button on the computer.
“Sam Baker,” offered Walter, by way of explanation.
“But I thought we got him with his brother?”
“We didn’t because we didn’t get his brother!” exclaimed Walter exasperated and panicking.
“Sorry?”
“You missed him, you idiot. And now he knows who we are and it seems pretty clear he’s coming for us next.”
“Shit!” Russell thought back to Johnson’s warning and how if he wanted to kill the President, Sam was the man he’d get to do it.
“Exactly, we’re obviously hoping you’ll offer us some assistance!”
“Of course,” he said quickly. “I’ll get some men to you straight away, will you let Lawrence and William know?”
Walter suddenly realized there was a problem. John Mellon was also on the hit list but not on the President’s radar. They’d have to cover John some other way. It was not time to admit to the plan about John Mellon becoming VP.
“Fantastic, thank you, Mr President.”
