“Wait a second.” Coleman held his hand up. “Leave him out of this.
You created this cluster-fuck by yourself, now it’s time to stand alone and pay the piper.” Nance continued in his confident tone, “As I was saying, I don’t expect you to like what I do, but nonetheless, I have served our country well. I have made my fair share of mistakes over the years, but they have been honest ones. I think I deserve the chance to retire and live out the rest of my life in peace.”
“Like Arthur. I know your type, you can’t just sit on the sidelines.
You will continue to meddle. You’ll try to find out who else is in my group, and if you have the chance, you will kill me without hesitation.” Nance remained aloof. “This country needs people like me whether you like it or not. I’m sorry you disagree with me, but that’s the way it is, and the way it will always be. I give you my word that I will walk away from everything.”
“Your arrogance alone is enough to make me want to kill you!” Coleman reached for his gun and pulled it out. “First of all, you deserve to die, and second of all, I don’t trust you as far as I could kick you.”
Coleman extended his arm. Nance stared down the barrel of the gun and looked to
Stansfield.
“Thomas, you are going to have a very hard time explaining my death.”
Coleman took his eyes off Nance and looked at the director of the CIA.
Stansfield replied, “If you could kill him in the same manner that you killed Senator
Fitzgerald, it would make things much easier.” It took a second for the comment to register, and then Coleman replied, “My pleasure.” The former SEAL put the gun back in his pants and stepped toward Nance. Nance turned to try and run, but O’Rourke reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. Like a rag doll, O’Rourke swung
Nance back around and presented him to Coleman. Nance’s cool demeanor had for once vanished. With a pleading voice and a panicked face he screamed, “Thomas, you will never get away with this!
You can’t do this, Thomas!” Coleman delivered a quick punch to Nance’s solar plexus, ending any further conversation. The national security adviser instantly buckled over and gasped for air. Coleman grabbed Nance by the hair and pulled him down and into the sand. The muscular killer dropped down with all of his weight, sending his knee
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into the center of Nance’s spine. His hands reached for the underside of the chin, and in a quick burst of strength he yanked up and then twisted Nance’s head to the side. A loud crack broke the still night and echoed off the water.
Coleman held his tight grip for several moments, then let the lifeless head drop to the moist sand.
SUNDAY MORNING dawned. AND The SUN WAS PEEKING THROUGH the clouds.
The limousine and its two security cars slid into the V.I.P underground parking garage at Washington’s National Airport and pulled into a row of open spaces reserved for Senators and Congressman. Three men got out of the last car and proceeded into the terminal. Two of them were carrying large attache cases. Irene Kennedy paused and looked down at the file sitting in her lap. She had been up the entire evening researching the relationship between Congressman Michael O’Rourke and Scott Coleman. Skip
McMahon, Director Roach, and Director Stansfield were listening intently as she wrapped up her briefing. “Everything seems to check out.” Kennedy tapped her pen on her file. “The only thing that bothers me is whether or not Coleman knew that Senator
Fitzgerald was the one who blew Operation Snatch Back.
Besides the counterespionage people at the Bureau, and a select few at Langley, the list of people is very short. At the top of that short list is, or I should say was, Senator
Olson. At the time all of this took place, Congressman O’Rourke was transitioning off of
Olson’s staff and getting ready to start his first year as a representative. If Coleman discovered who leaked his mission and caused the deaths of his men, it would explain his motive. If I had to guess, I would bet that Congressman O’Rourke was the one who told him about Fitzgerald.”
“Do we have any proof?.” asked Roach. Kennedy shook her head. “Only an educated guess.”
“So where do we go from here?” asked Roach. “We make sure none of this ever goes public.” Stansfield looked at Skip. “I’m going to want to debrief Coleman. In order to do that we’ll have to arrange for your surveillance team to lose him for a day or so.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.
He already shook us once.” There was a tap on the window of the limousine and
Stansfield rolled it down halfway. One of his bodyguards leaned forward and said, “Sir, the tower is holding the flight. The Congressman and Scarlatti are waiting at the gate, and we’ve secured and swept the room.”
“Thank you, Alex.” Stansfield rolled up the window.
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“Irene and Skip, would you please escort Congressman O’Rourke and Ms. Scarlatti to the room. Brian and I will meet you there.” All four of them got out of the car, and
Kennedy and McMahon went into the terminal first. As they approached the gate, Skip saw O’Rourke and Scarlatti sitting next to each other waiting for their flight. McMahon stepped forward and extended his hand. “Good morning, Congressman O’Rourke.”
Michael closed his paper and stood. Reaching out, he grabbed McMahon’s hand.
“Good morning.” McMahon turned and motioned to Irene. “Do you remember Dr.
