They took the elevator down to the third floor and approached the doors of the Vanvlanderen apartment. The two armed, uniformed police officers in front nodded as the man on the left turned. He inserted the key and opened the door.
'It's an honour to meet you, Congressman,' said the officer on the right, impetuously extending his hand.
'A pleasure to meet you,' said Kendrick, shaking the hand and going inside.
'How does it feel being such a celebrity?' asked Khalehla, closing the door.
'Neither comfortable nor gratifying,' replied Evan as they walked across the marble foyer and down into the sunken living room. 'Where are the photographs?'
'He wasn't specific, only that they were in her office, and you should find ones taken in Lausanne and Amsterdam.'
'Over there,' said Kendrick, seeing a lighted desk lamp in a room to the left. 'Come on.'
They walked across the carpeted room into the study. Evan adjusted his eyes to the shadowed interior, then crossed to another lamp across the room and turned it on. The crisscrossing arrangement of photographs sprang into light.
'Good Lord, how do we start?' said Khalehla.
'Slowly and carefully,' answered Kendrick, quickly dismissing the panel on the left and concentrating on the right wall. 'This is Europe,' he said, his eyes roaming. 'That's Lausanne,' he added, focusing on two people in an enlarged snapshot with the Leman Marina in the background. 'It's Ardis and… no, it couldn't be.'
'What couldn't be?'
'Wait a minute.' Evan followed the pattern to the lower right, concentrating on another framed enlargement, the faces clearer. 'Lausanne, again. This is in the gardens of the Beau Rivage… Is it possible?'
'Is what?… He mentioned the Beau Rivage, the blond man, I mean. Also Amsterdam, the rose something-or-other.'
'The Rozengracht. Here it is.' Kendrick pointed at a photograph in which the two subjects' faces were even sharper, more distinct. 'My God, it's him!'
'Who?'
'Abdel Hamendi. I knew him years ago in Riyadh. He was a minister for the Saudis until the family caught him working on his own, making millions with false leases and ersatz contracts. He was to be publicly executed, but he got out of the country… They say he built a fortress for himself somewhere in the Alps near Divonne and went into a new brokering business. Armaments. I was told he's become the most powerful arms merchant in the world with the lowest profile.'
'Ardis Vanvlanderen mentioned Divonne on the second tape. It was a quick reference, but now it makes sense.'
Evan stepped back and looked at Khalehla. 'Our dead European's instincts were right. He didn't remember the details, but he saw the blood on Hamendi as surely as if it were coming out of that photograph… A government within the government dealing with a global brokerage house for all the illicit weapons in the world.' Kendrick suddenly frowned, his expression startled. 'Is it all tied in with Bollinger?’
'The European said there was no way to tell. What does he know or what doesn't he know? There's only one thing that's certain. He's the rallying point for the heaviest political contributors in the country.'
'My God, they're entrenched—’
'There's something else you should know. Ardis Vanvlanderen's husband was the one who made contact with the terrorists. He arranged for the attacks on your homes.'
'Jesus!' roared Evan. 'Why?'
'You,' answered Khalehla softly. 'You were the target; he wanted you killed. He acted alone—it's why his wife was murdered when the others found out; to cut off any ties to them—but they're all afraid of you. Starting next week there's going to begin a nationwide campaign to put you on the ticket replacing Bollinger as the new Vice President.'
'The blond European's people?'
'Yes. And the men around Bollinger can't tolerate that. They think you'll squeeze them out, reduce their influence to
