the US government was concerned, no longer exist.
Sean watched the car drive off into the distance before walking back to the hospital to find a cab. The governor’s driver sat waiting and waved to Sean. He folded the newspaper and started the engine, as Sean walked towards him.
“What are you still doing here?” asked Sean quizzically, as he climbed into the car.
“Katherine told me to wait and bring you back,” he replied, selecting 'Drive’ and pulling away. “And trust me, what she wants I give her!” he said with a wide grin.
Sean gave the driver a look, the look that men know, the look that said, you are fucking kidding me. The driver was in his fifties overweight and had not been blessed with looks.
“Fuck no, man, but I can dream!” he laughed.
With a few minutes to spare, he called Vincent.
“Sorry I never asked, how are you feeling?” asked Sean.
“About a million times better than yesterday,” he replied, the strength had still not returned to his voice.
“You really should be taking it easy, V,” replied Sean. Vincent may have been a million times better than the day before but he was still a million times worse than he’d been the day before that.
“There’s too much to do, Sean,” replied Vincent.
“Let somebody else deal with Surkov!” he argued.
“I can’t Sean. There’s just not enough evidence to convince anyone, we’ve lived it, we know it’s real. Other than that, what do we have? Mike’s been retired since the cold war and to the boys on the Russian desk, he’s a dinosaur. Christ, half of them don’t even know who the KGB were they’re so fucking young now!’
“OK, OK but please, just try to take it easy. It would be good if you were still around when I got back from Moscow,” suggested Sean. “Look, I’m at the mansion, I need to go.”
Vincent replaced the receiver and stared at the handset.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jane, rushing over.
“The call I had with Justice this morning, they are serious. They are going to throw the book at Sean. I thought they might have calmed down overnight but not a chance. They have a team of prosecutors gearing up to hit him with everything and anything they can think of. They warned me to say goodbye to my boy, I’ll not be seeing him for a very long time.”
“But it wasn’t just Sean, I made the calls!” she said. “We should all be in trouble!”
“You’re a CIA employee, they wouldn’t dare. Same with Mike, he was being paid for his work”
“Say Sean was working for you!” she countered logically.
“He’s already told everyone he’s not a CIA employee,” replied Vincent, shaking his head.
“They’re going to charge him with smuggling on a national scale and for hooking up the cartel and the East coast suppliers!”
“You’ll think of something,” smiled Jane.
“Quote 'you can’t get him out of this V, drugs are the President’s big thing’ and that’s straight from the Attorney General, the childhood friend of the President! He’s about to risk his life for a country that wants to lock him up and throw away the key. That same country who protected the Senator that nearly got him killed!”
“Tell him not to go!” she said defiantly. “Fuck them all!”
Vincent stared at Jane in shock. In all the years he had known her, she had never once blasphemed, never mind use the F word.
“I can’t, it’s the same country I would give every last breath to protect!”
Chapter 72
Katherine led Sean through to the Governor’s study where the Governor sat, despondently staring into space.
“Good afternoon, Governor Brown,” said Sean, taking the seat next to him.
Katherine waited until Sean looked at her, took the hint and left.
“I’ll leave you to it,” she said, closing the door behind her.
Sean had a list of things he had been told not to discuss with the Governor. Specifically anything to do with Surkov and what they may or may not think he was up to, along with the Russian President. As they had been warned previously, relations with Russia were at an all time high. It was not the time for the next US President to storm into Russia and declare their president was hooked up with a lunatic of world ending proportion.
The man was broken. Nothing Sean said was going to change that. And nothing he said was going to get the Governor on a plane to Moscow any time in the near future. He stood up and patted the man on the back before joining Katherine in the hallway.
“Well?” she asked
Sean began to shake his head but stopped as he considered what he had been through the previous day. Five CIA agents had given their lives and all because of Dr Boris Surkov. For all they knew, it was Surkov who had had the Governor’s wife killed.
“Just give me another minute,” said Sean, before rejoining the Governor.
Katherine paced the hallway as Sean did whatever he was doing. After ten minutes, a cry came from the study. “Katherine!” had her rushing into the room.
She looked at the sofa where the governor had become a feature. He wasn’t there. She looked at his desk where the Governor stood, reviewing his diary.
“What time are we leaving?” he asked, all business.
“Five pm Sir, in just over three hours.”
“Anything in the diary for this afternoon?”
'No I cleared it,” replied Katherine.
Governor Brown looked over at Sean. “Well, I don’t see any reason to wait, let’s go now! It’s not like we’re flying commercial,” he announced.
As the Governor marched out of the room, Katherine looked across at Sean, hoping for some inkling as to how he pulled off the impossible.
Sean shrugged in response. It was bad enough he had spilled his guts for the Governor, he wasn’t about to do it for Katherine as well.
“Oh, and Katherine,” the Governor paused at the door. “Get the FBI to investigate Nicole’s death more fully. I want a full report on my return!”
“Of course, Sir!” replied Katherine, remaining as calm on the outside as her body would allow. Tricking the Austin police force with her killing was one thing, the FBI was another.
She immediately turned back to Sean who gave her a 'what can you do’ shrug, as he followed the Governor into the hallway.
Katherine went to the desk and picked up the phone. If she called the FBI, they wouldn’t rest until they found something. Her affair with Nicole might even be uncovered if they decided to look deep into Nicole’s life before her death. The local police had not done any of this, accepting, as expected, the tragedy at face value.
She hovered over the telephone, the FBI could destroy everything she had spent a lifetime preparing. Involving them now couldn’t be undone. But nobody would know but her, she realized. They were about to leave. The FBI wouldn’t arrive until after they had left in any event. And after Moscow, well none of it would matter, she thought. The White House and first lady remained the goal.
Chapter 73
Surkov received the update from Katherine and was, as ever, amazed at how she achieved the seemingly impossible. Not only was the Governor coming but he was coming early. Remarkable, just like her mother, he thought. He remembered her fondly, a beautiful child whose beauty had grown throughout her life. However, that
