Why would he do it? Why would he take that chance?
Logan shrugged. I dont know, but Id bet he did. Thats why Ive been trying to contact him. We might be able to persuade him to implicate Timwick and Lisa Chadbourne.
I cant see that Maren is a lead. Theres no way hed admit he was involved if its true. Hed be a fool.
Maybe. Logan paused. Unless we could con-vince him that hes a dead man if theyre not taken out. When I made up my list of their possible targets for elimination, Maren ranked high on it.
Eve thought about it. Hes the only witness who can link Lisa Chadbourne and Timwick to her hus-bands death.
Right. If theres no such witness and the death is discovered, they could set up a patsy, claim it was a terrorist plot or some other conspiracy. But Maren is real, and if he goes down for the murder, they couldnt be sure he wouldnt talk and bring them down with him. I havent any doubt that from the moment the plan was conceived, they were already planning on killing him.
But will he believe that?
We can try. We dont have much choice. Hes our only hope right now.
You said he was out of the country. Where is he?
Detwil sent him on a goodwill mission to Jordan to inspect the hospitals there. It was high-profile and he was supposedly requested by the king of Jordan. On the surface its an honor that would increase Marens prestige.
And below the surface?
Possibly a setup. Fiske would have found it easy to kill him there and shift the blame to a foreign dis-sident group. I think Bentz and Cadro were killed be-cause they suspected I might be getting too close, but Maren was always a target.
He wont cooperate. For Gods sake, if he killed the President, hes a dead man either way.
Not if we offer him a deal.
You dont have authority to offer him She studied his face. What are you thinking?
That I want Detwil and Lisa Chadbourne out of the White House, and I dont care how I do it. He paused. Even if it means helping Maren set himself up somewhere with a fat bank account.
Make a deal with a murderer?
What if we cant get DNA proof? Can you sug-gest anything else?
She was too confused to think clearly about any-thing at the moment. Whats to stop Fiske from still going to Jordan after Maren?
The situation has changed. They need Maren, and they wont kill him until his usefulness is ended. He smiled. Remember, they took my body to Bethesda. Theyre going to want Maren there to cover up. He was supposed to come back day after tomorrow, but now hell be winging his way home at warp speed. While we go to Emory to see Kessler, Gils going to Bethesda and try to gather Maren in.
How is Gil going to keep from being gathered in himself? Theyre bound to be on watch for us.
Through the magic of disguise, Gil said. Im going to dress up as a female nurse. He tilted his head. A blonde, I think. With great boobs.
What?
Just joking. Dont worry, Ill handle it.
She was already worried. She didnt want any harm to come to him. Gil might have been involved in the plot to deceive her, but he was a likable rascal.
And, dear Christ, there had been too many deaths already. People she had never met were dying. She seemed to be in the middle of a circle of ever-widening ripples of destruction. Thank God, those ripples hadnt touched anyone close to her yet.
And they mustnt touch them.
Youre talking as if you can move around without any problems, she pointed out. What about money? What about ID? Credit cards can be traced and
Logan took care of that. He had me buy a few handy-dandy phony drivers licenses on the black market. Youre Bridget Reilly. I thought your red hair looked like you might be of Irish descent. The picture is very satisfactorily blurred and
My picture? She turned to Logan. You got a phony drivers license for me?
He shrugged. I had to be prepared. I had Gil get IDs for everyone who was at Barrett House. I thought it might come down to this.
Damn him. He had not only known the trouble he was involving her in, he had planned on it. And I suppose you had Gil set up phony credit cards for all of us too?
He nodded. But I brought enough cash to see us through most situations.
Youre absolutely incredible.
I had to be prepared, he repeated.
She had to get out of the room, or shed do some-thing violent.
Call Margaret. She headed for the bedroom. Im going to phone my mother and tell her to be ready to go.
Her phone will be monitored, you know.
