Oath of Loyalty (Mitch Rapp #21)(100)

“Where is he, Tony? Where is he now?”

Cook shrugged.

“You let him go?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he said, returning his attention to the glass. “If I held him or killed him, it wouldn’t stop Legion. It wouldn’t stop Kennedy or his men. They’d just keep coming until I’m dead.”

“You’re in the most secure place on the planet!” she shouted. “And it gets more secure every day. If we’d held him, at the very least we could use him to complicate the situation. To split their focus.”

“If you believe all that, why don’t you go after him, Cathy? Call him up. Tell him I’ve backed off but you’re not going to. Put your life on the line.”

“Why, Tony? Why would I do that? This is your mess, not mine. You let Darren get you into a war that you didn’t know how to win. You. Not me.”

He took a long pull on his whiskey, swirling it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing. “I’ll concede the point, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to die so you can build a campaign around my corpse.”

“He’s playing you,” she said, though she didn’t really believe it. “He’s trying to get you out from behind your security.”

Her husband saw through the sudden change in attitude. In truth, it had sounded desperate, even to her. He was the seductive liar in this partnership, not her.

“He gave me his word, Cathy. Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me he can be trusted to keep it?”

She’d always considered it a rather banal cliché, but suddenly the walls really did feel like they were closing in on her. They’d devoted everything to this. Every decision, every friendship, every conversation. Their lives didn’t exist beyond the momentum they’d built to get them there. It couldn’t end like this. Not because of a meaningless former CIA operative.

Her mind began sifting options. A resignation was fatal. Of that, there was no doubt. Once someone walked away from power, there was no getting it back. A divorce? Could she turn him into the enemy and run against his legacy? Impossible. She didn’t have that kind of support in the party nor the gifts necessary to acquire it. Could she get to Rapp? To Legion? No. Even if it was possible, her husband wouldn’t allow it. The office of the first lady was powerless without his support.

She realized that he was staring directly at her, interpreting the emotions unconsciously playing across her face. When he raised his glass again, the rattle of the ice cubes seemed almost deafening.

“Checkmate, Catherine.”





EPILOGUE


OUTSIDE OF SWAKOPMUND

NAMIBIA

“THE dishwasher’s full,” Anna said from her position in the kitchen doorway.

Claudia didn’t immediately respond, instead squeezing onto the sofa near Rapp’s feet. He moved them to her lap.

“Are there still dirty dishes?”

“Some. But just a few. I put them in the sink.”

“Why don’t you hand-wash them? We don’t want to get any more of those bugs.”

“Because there are too many! We can put them in the dishwasher tonight. There aren’t that many bugs.”

“March back in there and don’t come out until they’re all clean.”

“I can’t reach the faucet.”

“There’s a stepstool in the pantry. Any other problems I can help you with?”

“Mitch said he wanted to do them.”

He grabbed a decorative pillow and lobbed it, missing her by inches. “You’d already be done with them by now if you just stopped whining.”

“You said you were going to be gone for two days and it was like a week! I had to do them the whole time! It’s your turn.”

It was true that it had taken longer than expected to slip back into Namibia without being tracked. The fact that Cook had just let him go without saying a word about the ultimatum he’d been presented was a little worrying. While it could mean that he was going to take the deal, it could just as easily be a temporary retreat to regroup. And if that was the case, Rapp was likely being targeted by the combined forces of Homeland Security, the American military, and a significant number of US allies. In light of that, a week seemed pretty respectable.

“Anna…” Claudia cautioned.

“Fine!” she said before disappearing back into the kitchen. A few moments later the angry crash of dishes became audible.

Claudia sighed. “It could be a very long year.”

“We’ll work it out.”

“I know we will. But if the president doesn’t take your offer, we’re going to need to sketch out some more concrete plans. We can’t just spend the next year throwing darts at a world map and going where they land. Anna needs more structure than that. She’s a handful as it is. We don’t want her turning feral.”

A disturbing silence descended on the kitchen and Rapp was about to get up to investigate when the phone on the coffee table rang. They both froze. The only person with the number was Irene Kennedy and it was single use. If she was calling, it was about something important.

Claudia licked her lips, staring down at the piece of vibrating plastic like it held the secrets of the universe. Finally, she nodded and he reached for it.