“All done.”
“Really done?”
“Trust me — we just solved the puzzle without even buying a vowel.”
Neither of them said another word until they turned the corner and stepped into an empty elevator.
“Thanks again for helping me out with this,” Barry began.
“If it’s important to you…”
“It was actually important to Matthew. That’s the only reason I’m involved.”
“Either way — if it’s important to you, it’s important to me,” Dinah insisted as the elevator doors slid shut.
With a single sweep of his cane, Barry looked around, listening. “We’re alone, aren’t we?”
“That we are,” she said, stepping closer.
Barry once again reached out for her shoulder, this time lightly brushing his fingers against the edge of her bra strap. “Then let me say a proper thank-you,” he added as the elevator bucked slightly, descending toward the basement. Sliding his hand up the back of her neck and through her short blond hair, he leaned forward and gave her a long, deep kiss.
58
“Final boarding call for Northwest Airlines flight 1168 to Minneapolis-St. Paul,” a female voice announced through the Rapid City airport terminal. “All ticketed passengers should now be on board.”
Shutting the switch for the PA system, the gate attendant turned to Janos, checking his boarding pass and driver’s license.
Janos looked up, but only because his cell phone started vibrating in his jacket pocket. As he pulled the phone out, the gate attendant smiled and said, “Hope it’s a quick call — we’re about to push back…”
Shooting the attendant a dark glare, he headed up the jetway. As he turned his attention to the phone, he didn’t need to check caller ID to know who it was.
“Do you have any conception how much money your sloppiness just cost me?” Sauls asked through the phone. His voice was as calm as Janos had ever heard it, which meant it was even worse than Janos thought.
“Not now,” Janos warned.
“He threw our technician into the sphere. Sixty-four photomultiplier tubes completely shattered. You know how much each of those costs? The components alone came from England, France, and Japan — then had to be assembled, tested, shipped, and reassembled under clean-room conditions. Now we have to redo it sixty-four damn times.”
“You done yet?”
“I don’t think you heard me. You blew it, Janos.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Sauls went silent. “That’s the third time you’ve said that,” he finally growled. “But let me promise you right now, Janos — if you don’t take care of it soon, we’ll be hiring someone to take care of you.”
With a soft click, the phone went dead.
“Nice to see you tonight,” a flight attendant said as Janos boarded the plane.
Ignoring the attendant, he went straight for his seat in first class and stared out the oval window at the concrete runway. Sauls was still right about one thing: He had been getting sloppy lately. From getting stranded on the first flight, to the second elevator — he should’ve seen those coming. It was the most basic rule of tracking: cover every exit. Sure, he’d underestimated Harris — even with Viv slowing him down, and despite the panic that had to be swirling through his brain, he still somehow managed to plot a few moves ahead. No doubt, all those years in the Senate served him well. But as Janos knew, this was far more serious than politics. Leaning back against the headrest and losing himself in the roar of the jet engines, Janos closed his eyes and took another mental look at the pieces on the board. Time to get back to basics. No question, Harris was playing great chess — but even the best grandmasters know there’s no such thing as a perfect game.
59
“Daddy’s going to work now,” Lowell Nash called out to his four-year-old daughter early the following morning.
Staring at the TV, she didn’t respond.
As Deputy Attorney General, Lowell wasn’t used to being ignored, but when it came to family… family was a whole different story. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“Say good-bye to Daddy,” Lowell’s wife added from the living room of their Bethesda, Maryland, home.
Never taking her eyes off the videotaped glow of
Lowell smiled and waved good-bye to his wife. At formal events, his colleagues at the Justice Department called him
Leaving his house at a few minutes past seven A.M., Lowell locked the door behind himself, then twisted the doorknob and checked it three times. Directly above, the sky was gray, the sun tucked behind the clouds. No question, rain would be here soon. By the time he reached the driveway on the side of the old stucco colonial, his smile was gone — but the ritual was still the same. As he’d done every day for the past week, he checked every bush, tree, and shrub in sight. He checked the cars that were parked on the street. And most important, as he pushed a button and unlocked the doors on his silver Audi, he checked his own front seat as well. The lightning- shaped fracture was still fresh in the side window, but Janos was gone. For now.
Starting the car and pulling out onto Underwood Street, Lowell scanned the rest of the block, including the rooftop of every nearby house. Since the day he graduated from Columbia Law School, he had always been careful with his professional life. He paid his cleaning woman over the table, told his accountant not to be greedy on his taxes, and in a town of freebies, reported every gift he ever got from a lobbyist. No drugs… no outrageous drinking… nothing stupid at any of the social events he’d attended over the years. Too bad the same couldn’t be said of his wife. It was just one dumb night — even for the college kid she was back then. A few too many drinks… a cab would take too long… If she got behind the wheel, she’d be home in minutes instead of an hour.
By the time she was done, a boy was paralyzed. The car hit him so hard, it shattered his pelvis. Through some quick thinking and expensive legal maneuvers, the lawyers expunged her record. But somehow, Janos found it. THE NEXT COLIN POWELL? the
Lowell didn’t care. And he wasn’t afraid to tell Janos. He didn’t get to be number two at Justice by running and hiding at every political threat. Sooner or later, the news about his wife would come out — so if it was sooner, well… there’s no way he’d hurt Harris for that.
That’s when Janos started showing up at Lowell’s daughter’s preschool. And at the playground where they took her on weekends. Lowell saw him immediately. Not doing anything illegal, just standing there. With those dark, haunting eyes. For Lowell, that was it. He knew it all too well — family was a different story.
Janos didn’t ask for much: Keep him informed when Harris called — and stay the hell out of it.
Lowell had thought it’d be easy. It was harder than he ever imagined. Every night, the tossing and turning increased. Last night he was up so late, he heard the paper hit his doorstep at five A.M. Turning onto Connecticut Avenue and heading downtown, he could barely keep the car straight on the road. A droplet of water splattered against his windshield. Then another. It was starting to pour. Lowell didn’t even notice.
No doubt, Lowell had been careful. Careful with his money… with his career… and with his future. But right
