' Force field? '
'Yeah, you know, that the bullets couldn't penetrate. How else can you explain me and Becca surviving that attack?'
'Luck. She dropped her spoon.'
Bode pointed at Jim Bob like an eyewitness picking out the guilty criminal.
'Nonbeliever.'
' Nonbeliever? '
The Professor stood and gestured at Mandy.
'She thinks she's gonna have your bastard baby and still be the first lady of America, and you think God's picking Republican presidential candidates-I'm in a fucking insane asylum!'
Tears now streamed down Mandy's face. Her voice was childlike.
'My dad died when I was only seven. I missed him so much, growing up. My therapist says that's why I've always been attracted to older men, that I'm subconsciously searching for a father-figure, a man to replace my dad.'
She wiped her face and looked at Bode.
'Okay. I'll do it. For you.'
She put on a brave smile and started around the wide desk. The pregnancy had put a glow on her face that only made her more beautiful, if that was possible.
'Because I love you.'
She extended her arms to him, and he reached out to her. Just as she rounded the corner of his desk and stepped between Bode and the window and blocked the sunlight from his face, her beautiful face exploded and her brains and blood splattered all over Bode, and she tumbled into his arms.
' Jesus! '
The next thing Bode knew, they were sprawled on the wood floor… blood was everywhere… Jim Bob screamed, 'Help!'… the door flew open and Texas Rangers with guns drawn rushed in and shouted, 'Get away from the window!'… someone called 911… 'We need ambulances at the Governor's Mansion! The governor's been shot! The bullets came through the east window. We need Austin PD's SWAT on the scene now! Cordon off the one hundred block of Congress Avenue, the sniper had to be positioned there!'… and Bode felt Mandy's warm blood flow from her body and soak his shirt and wet his skin until he lay drenched in her blood… and he felt life leave her.
Jim Bob Burnet stumbled out of the Governor's Office and down the hall and into his office. Eddie Jones followed him in and shut the door. He had rushed into the Governor's Office when he heard Jim Bob's call for help. He now holstered his gun.
'You okay?'
Jim Bob fell onto the couch. His heart was pounding out of his chest. He heard sirens coming closer. The last image in his mind was of Bode Bonner lying on the floor clutching Mandy Morgan's bloody head-what was left of it-in his arms.
'Jesus, her face… it was just gone.'
'High-caliber bullet,' Eddie said. 'Small entry wound, big exit wound.'
Jim Bob shook his head. 'Shit, if she hadn't stepped in the way, that bullet would have killed Bode.'
'The next one might.'
'The next one?'
'Sending a sniper to Austin-that drug lord ain't quitting until the boss is dead.'
'Can you kill him first? You were in Iraq, doing all that mercenary shit. You could get a few mercs, cross the river at night and kill him, get the hell out.'
Eddie snorted. 'You been watching too many action movies. Cartels got private armies, ex-special forces guys, and they're kicking the shit out of the regular Mexican Army. Sure, I could kill him. But getting out alive, that's the trick.'
'I had a million dollars set aside for Mandy. That money's available now.'
'One man with the right skill set… it's possible.'
'What if that were Bode instead of…?'
Jim Bob couldn't clear the image of Mandy's face from his mind.
'You were right,' Eddie said.
'About what?'
'That she was either gonna come to Jesus or meet Him.'
Jim Bob lay his head back.
'I didn't want this. I just wanted her to get an abortion.'
'She just did.'
'Saving those kids, surviving an assassination attempt, now this-maybe God really does want Bode Bonner in the White House.'
'Well, if He does, He'd better find a way to stop that autopsy.'
'What autopsy?'
'On the girl. Homicide, they always do an autopsy. Problem is, they do an autopsy on Mandy-'
Jim Bob snapped to a sitting position.
'They find the baby.'
The Border Patrol agent named Rusty stepped through the front door of the clinic. Inez took one look at his olive green uniform and his badge and gun and jumped up from her chair as if she were guilty.
'Doctor!'
Jesse looked up from his desk. The Border Patrol agents seldom came into the colonias, and then only to chase drug bandits, and only if they had shot an agent. Lindsay turned away. Jesse walked over to the agent and stuck his hand out.
'Rusty, how are you this day?'
The agent's expression was grim.
'Sorry to bother you, Doc, but I know you don't have a TV or nothing out here. Seeing how you might run for governor, thought you should know.'
'Know what?'
'The governor's dead. Sniper killed him in the Governor's Mansion.'
The governor's wife screamed.
Governor Bode Bonner stepped out the front doors of the Governor's Mansion and onto the veranda. Cameras clicked and recorded the moment. He stepped to the microphones clumped together on a stand. He was still wearing the clothes stained with Mandy's blood.
'An hour ago, a bullet intended for me struck Mandy Morgan instead, killing her instantly. She was a wonderful, beautiful, smart young woman, and a tireless aide to me. She was my employee and my friend, but she was not my lover.'
He was lying, but Jim Bob said he had no choice.
'Governor, from what location did the shooter fire?'
'Apparently from the roof of an office building across Congress. The police and Rangers are investigating, but so far they've found no sign of the shooter.'
'El Diablo hasn't given up on killing you?'
'Apparently not.'
'What are you going to do now, Governor?'
'I'm going to bury Mandy Morgan.'
'Her mother wants to cremate her body,' Jim Bob said.
Two hours after Mandy had been murdered, Jim Bob Burnet had gathered himself. He had also convinced Mandy's mother that she did not want her daughter to be remembered as she was now but as she was before. Mandy Morgan's disfigured body now lay on a stainless steel table in the first-floor morgue at the Travis County Medical Examiner's office eight blocks away. Jim Bob had called to arrange a speedy transfer of the body to the funeral home, but the Chief ME was having none of it.
'Only after we conduct an autopsy,' Dr. Paul Janofsky said.
'Why?'
