4:40 PM
CASSIOPEIA WAITED INSIDE THE BLUE ROOM, THE SAME BEDROOM she’d occupied yesterday to change, the same one where she and Danny Daniels had talked. Shirley Kaiser was with her.
“How’s the finger?” she asked.
“Hurts like hell.”
Once plucked from the Atlantic, she, Cotton, Stephanie, and Shirley had been brought to Washington. Shirley had received medical attention for the amputation, but the Commonwealth’s doctor had done an admirable job of suturing her wound. Some medication for pain and a shot for infection was all she’d needed.
“That swim hurt worse,” Shirley said. “Salt water. But it beat the hell out of staying on board.”
Adventure’s crew had also been retrieved by a Coast Guard cutter, which arrived at the scene within minutes of the sloop’s destruction. The crew had been advised by radio to abandon ship or go down with it. All of them chose to leave. Only Quentin Hale sank with her. But he was long dead by then. Stephanie had told her about what Cotton had started and Shirley had finished.
“You okay?” she asked.
They were both worn out, their bodies sore.
“I’m glad I got to shoot him. It cost me a finger, but I think it was worth it.”
She had to say, “You shouldn’t have gone there.”
“Really? If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have come. And then who knows where we, or Stephanie, would be right now.”
The cocky attitude had returned.
“At least it’s over,” Shirley said.
That it was.
Secret Service and FBI had raided the Commonwealth compound and arrested the other three captains and all of the crew. They were busy now searching every square centimeter of all four estates.
A soft knock came at the door, then it opened and in walked Danny Daniels. She knew it had been a tough afternoon for him, too. On their return, Edwin Davis had told the president everything. Their talk had been private, then had included Pauline Daniels, the three of them, for the past hour, together behind closed doors a few rooms down the hall.
“Pauline would like to see you,” Daniels said to Shirley.
She rose to leave, but stopped in front of the president and asked him, “You okay?”
He smiled. “Coming from a woman with nine fingers? I’m fine.”
They all knew what had been discussed behind those closed doors. No sense pretending anymore.
“It’s okay, Danny,” Shirley said. “You’re going to be a man long after being president.”
“I thought you hated me?”
Shirley touched his shoulder. “I do. But thanks for what you did for us out there.”
Daniels had been the one to order the choppers dispatched. He hadn’t wanted to trust any local law enforcement so, when Davis radioed the problem, he’d given the army at Fort Bragg a direct command. He’d also been on the line, directing the pilots as to what to do, personally taking responsibility for the ship’s sinking.
“We simply stopped some presidential assassins from fleeing the country,” he said.
“You did good, Danny.”
“That’s quite a compliment. Coming from you.”
And Shirley left.
Daniels closed the door.
“You stopped more than some fleeing assassins today,” she said to him.
He sat on the bed opposite her. “Tell me about it. Who would have thought? Edwin and Pauline.”
She knew that had to be tough.
“But I’m glad,” he said. “I really am. I don’t think either one of us knew how to end this marriage.”
The attitude surprised her.
“Pauline and I have been together a long time,” he said in a low voice. “But we haven’t been happy in years. We both miss Mary. Her death drove a wedge between us that could never be removed.”
She caught the break in his voice as he said his daughter’s name.
“There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think of her. I wake up at night and hear her calling for me through that fire. It’s haunted me in ways I never understood.” He paused. “Until today.”
She saw the pain in his eyes. Clear. Deep. Unmistakable. She could only imagine the anguish.
“If Pauline can find peace, and some happiness with Edwin, then I wish her well. I truly do.”
He stared at her with a withdrawn look of fatigue.
“Edwin told me through the radio that Shirley and Stephanie had jumped off. Once I knew she was okay, I have to say, my anger took over. I gave the crew a chance to leave, but I didn’t know Hale was already dead.”
“And what do you plan to do about Stephanie?”
Daniels stayed silent a moment, then said, “I don’t know. Pauline said to me the same thing I just said to you. She wants me to be happy. I think we can both move on if we know the other is going to be okay.”
They sat quietly for a few more moments.
“Thank you,” the president finally said. “For all that you’ve done.”
She knew what he meant. He’d needed someone to open up to-someone not too close, but someone he could trust.
“I heard about how Cotton saved you. Diving off that yacht. That’s pretty special. Having a man who’ll lay down his life for you.”
She agreed.
“I hope I can find a woman like that.”
“You will.”
“That remains to be seen.” He stood from the bed. “Time for me to start acting like a president again.”
She was curious. “Have we heard from Cotton?”
He’d left North Carolina and flown straight back to Nova Scotia, but that had been early this morning.
“He should be downstairs waiting for you.”
He studied her with eyes that had softened. “Take care.”
“You too, Mr. President.”
MALONE SPOTTED CASSIOPEIA DESCENDING THE STAIRWAY from the White House’s upper floors. He’d arrived back from Canada half an hour ago and had been driven straight here by the Secret Service, talking to the president by phone on the way, reporting what happened at Fort Dominion. Stephanie had greeted him outside and now stood with him.
“I was told about New York,” Stephanie said to him. “Do you always come running when I call?”
“Only when you say it’s important.”
“I’m glad you did. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to make it out of that cell. And nice move on the boat with that gibbet.”
“There didn’t seem to be many options.”
Stephanie smiled and pointed toward Cassiopeia. “I’d say she owes you one.”
His gaze had not left the stairs. No, they were even.
He faced Stephanie. “Any word on Andrea Carbonell?”
She shook her head. “We’re watching. But, so far, nothing.”
He and several Royal Canadian Mounted Police had searched the caverns beneath the fort until the tide changed, but no trace of Carbonell had been found. Both the bay and open Atlantic were also scoured on the chance that she’d been sucked from the caverns.
Nothing there, either.
“We’ll keep looking,” Stephanie said. “The body has to be somewhere. You don’t think she got out?”
“I don’t see how. It was hard enough when the chutes were empty.”
Cassiopeia approached.
