Christina raced down the corridor, fighting the traffic that flowed in both directions, forward and backward, all around her. By now, word of the poisoning had spread across the building. Everyone was in a panic. The Capitol Police were trying to maintain some semblance of order, but the numbers overwhelmed them. Rumors were flying of other suspicious mail, other poisonings. Truth or panic? There was no way for her to know.
She had been calling Ben continuously the entire time she had been running toward their office. He had not answered. Despite the fact that she had finally managed to teach the man to keep that thing in his pocket at all times, he had not answered.
Which left only two possible explanations. Either he didn’t want to. Or he couldn’t.
What possible reason could he have for not taking a call from her now? There simply wasn’t any.
Only the latter possibility remained.
She raced up the steps to the second floor, taking them two at a time. “Ben!” she shouted, well before she was close enough that he could hear. She couldn’t help herself. Some of the other people racing down the corridors stared at her as if she were insane. She didn’t care about that, either. All she cared about was her sweet husband, her sweet stupid husband who was just naive enough to open a deadly envelope given the proper incentive.
My God -why had she left him alone? Why didn’t she see this coming? The President of the United States had told him he could be in danger-wasn’t that warning enough? How could she have been so blind? She almost slammed into the Capitol Police officer posted outside the door.
“Sorry, ma’am. You can’t go in there.”
“I work in there!”
“Sorry, ma’am. The office has been quarantined.”
“Quarantined? Why?”
The officer took a deep breath. “There’s been another ricin poisoning.”
Christina’s eyes widened with despair. “Oh my God. Ben!” She pushed forward.
The police officer gently but firmly held her back. “Ma’am.”
“Oh my God. I’m too late! He’s-he’s-Ben!”
“You calling me?”
She whirled around. “You’re alive!”
“Thank you, Princess Obvious.”
She slugged him on the shoulder. “You idiot! I was afraid you were-” She stopped herself. “I was afraid you’d opened the mail.”
“I did. But I wore rubber gloves and a mask like the security people told us to do. What do you think I am, some sort of idiot?”
“You-you-”
“Good thing, too, ’cause there was something weird about one of those envelopes. That’s why I called the Capitol cops.”
“Which envelope?”
“The big one. The one you told me to open.”
“The one I-what?”
“The one you told me to open. Before Jones saw it. When you called.”
She stared at him, her mouth gaping. “What are you talking about? I didn’t tell you to open anything.”
Ben’s eyebrows moved closer together. “That wasn’t you?”
“Besides which-I’ve been trying to contact you and not getting any answer.”
“But I definitely got a call.”
“Give me your cell.” Ben passed it across to her. She pushed a few buttons. “Yes, you’ve definitely had a call, but not from my phone.” She pushed several more buttons faster than Ben could follow. “Let me give you another news flash, handsome. This isn’t your cell phone.”
“What?”
“Someone switched out on you. Looks like your phone, but it isn’t. Has a different number. That’s why they were able to call you-and I wasn’t.” She looked up. “Have you been keeping this phone in your pocket like I told you to do?”
Ben squirmed. “Usually.”
“Usually?”
“Well…sometimes I leave it in my briefcase.”
“And you leave your briefcase lying around all the time.”
“Not all the time.”
“At meetings?”
“Well…”
She pounded her forehead. “Anyone with access to this building could’ve switched phones on you.”
“But who would want to?”
Christina looked at him with cold dark eyes. “Whoever wanted you to open that envelope filled with ricin. The same person who killed Senator DeMouy.”
Ben’s eyes widened like balloons. “When did this happen?”
She wiped a hand across her brow. “My God-the President of the United States warned that you might be in danger. He didn’t know the half of it.” She paused, her mind racing. “Or did he?”
“Christina-what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that someone just tried to kill you, Ben.”
“But-why?”
“The same reason they killed Senator DeMouy.”
“Which is?”
Christina slowly wrapped her arm around his shoulders and hugged him tight. “Because he was leading the drive to toughen the nation’s antiterrorism capabilities via a proposed constitutional amendment. An amendment someone apparently does not want to become law.” She looked at him grimly. “Even if it means killing the key players supporting the amendment.”
43
When Jason Simic came through the back door under the cover of darkness, Belinda was waiting for him. She was decked out in black-a padded push-up bra and a skintight mesh catsuit with a zipper at the crotch for convenience.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed up close against him.
He dropped his briefcase. “My God, Belinda, can’t you wait till I get the door shut?”
She pulled away, obviously put out. “I remember when you couldn’t wait until I got my bra unsnapped.”
He walked to the nearest bay window and closed the drapes. “It’s different now. I probably shouldn’t even be here. I assume a short visit is okay-I am your late husband’s chief of staff, after all. It’s only natural that we would have much to talk about. But a lengthy visit might arouse suspicion.”
“Your body arouses me, big boy.”
“Stop!” He lifted her hands and removed them from his body. “Tell me what happened with the police.”
“They don’t have a clue. It’s just as you said it would be. They’re totally off track. Asked if Jeff had received any threats from known terrorists, that sort of thing. Didn’t show the slightest sign of suspicion that I was involved.”
Which they wouldn’t, Jason knew, even if they had suspicions. But still, it was a good sign.
“Did they talk to you?” she asked.
