You’re finished, Garret.
Any way you slice it, you’re dead meat.” Garret grabbed his drink and walked to the far end of the room where he wouldn’t have to listen to O’Rourke. Nance entered and strode across the room. He stopped ten feet away from O’Rourke and said expressionlessly, “I see you’ve regained consciousness.” O’Rourke asked, “What did the
President want?”
“It seems your friends want you back rather badly.” O’Rourke frowned.
“What friends are you talking about?”
“Your assassin friends.”
“You’re nuts. I don’t know who the assassins are.”
“Well, we’re going to find out for sure. I think you’re lying, and at this point I really don’t have much to lose, now do I?” Nance smiled.
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“How about your life, you sick bastard!”
“Congressman, you are a simpleton. Do you think I’ve worked my whole life to get where I am so a bunch of amateurs could end my career with a simple blackmail scheme?”
“Amateurs!” O’Rourke laughed. “You’ve seen what they can do.”
O’Rourke leaned back and shouted to the other side of the room, “Hey, Garret? How do you think they’re gonna kill you?
Do you think they’ll sneak into your house some night and snap your neck like they did to Fitzgerald, or do you think they’ll get you with a rifle shot from three blocks away like they did to Basset?” Garret slammed his drink down on an end table and marched across the room.
“Mike, this is stupid! What are we doing? Let’s just turn him over right now and resign.”
“Shut up, Stu! Pour yourself another drink and sit down.” O’Rourke craned his neck around and smiled. “Maybe they’ll do it with a car bomb.” Garret snapped at O’Rourke, “Shut up!” And then looked back at Nance. “Mike, this has gone too far. I’m out. I’m calling Jim, and I’m telling him this is your deal.” Garret went for the door, and Nance blocked him. Without taking his eyes off Garret, Nance said, “Jarod, if Mr. Garret tries to leave, shoot him!” Michael laughed loudly. “You are nuts, Nance! Don’t listen to him, Stu! He doesn’t have the balls to kill you. Arthur had all the balls. Mike here was just a yes-man. Weren’t ya, Mike? If you’re such a powerful man, Mike, why don’t you kill him yourself’? You don’t have the balls to do it, do you?” Nance screamed at Garret, “Sit down and let me handle this!”
Turning back to O’Rourke, Nance yelled, “Amateur hour is over! You can either tell me what you know right now and walk away with your brain intact, or I can pump you full of drugs and who knows what you’ll be left with.” O’Rourke spit more blood on
Nance and screamed, “Go screw yourself. You’re gonna end up dead, just like your buddy
Arthur.”
Nance looked at Jarod, snapped his fingers, and then pointed at O’Rourke. “Hit him again.” Jarod took several steps forward, but this time he made the mistake of getting within striking distance of Michael. As Jarod extended the Tazer, Michael’s right foot kicked upward just as the stun gun was fired. The electric dart imbedded itself in
Michael’s stomach at the same time his foot caught Jarod in the groin. Both men shook as electricity shot through O’Rourke’s body and into Jarod’s.
THE PILOT IN THE LEAD HELICOPTER LOOKED AT THE DISPLAY ON HIS
global-positioning monitor and announced that they were five miles out from their target.
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On his mark, both he and the pilot of the Black Hawk turned off their running lights and donned their night- vision goggles. In conjunction they slowed their airspeed and dropped down to an elevation of one hundred feet. The terrain was rolling countryside with sporadic patches of trees. Both pilots scanned their path for power lines. As they neared Nance’s property, the helicopters slowed to a hover and moved in behind a patch of trees located at the base of two small hills. Straight ahead, less than a mile away, was
Nance’s rambler.
The helicopters were positioned directly to the north of Nance’s house.
The pilot of the medevac chopper spoke into his headset. “Delta Six, this is Cherokee
One. Why don’t you slip around to the south and see what you can pick up on thermal?”
“Roger that, Cherokee One.” With that reply the Black Hawk slid out of formation and started a slow traverse of the property line.
Director Stansfield had put on a headset and was listening to the pilots talk. The pilot of the medevac reached up and adjusted a knob on his night-vision goggles. He scanned the area around Nance’s house and picked up a heat signature. “I’ve got a rover,”
announced the pilot.
“Check, make that two rovers. They’re patrolling the area around the house.” Rover was the designation the team used for a guard dog. The leader of the tactical team, who was sitting right behind the pilot, asked, “Do they have handlers, or are they on their own?”
“They’re on their own,” responded the pilot. He then glanced over at Stansfield.
“Sir, do you want me to check and see if I can pick anything up on the directional mikes?”
