The Rescue(25)

“Me, too. I can’t imagine my next phone call if the Russians had turned that room into teenage spaghetti,” said Reeves. “This is gonna be bad enough.”

“Senator Steele?”

“I’m going to take a walk for this one. She’s not going to like what I have to say.”

“Stop it. You’re one of her favorites,” said Kincaid.

“Not after this call.”





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Senator Margaret Steele’s grip on the telephone handset tightened to the point she felt the plastic start to crackle.

“I need to put you on speakerphone,” she said, not entirely sure that was going to prevent her from damaging government property. “Give me a minute. I’m a little challenged with this thing.”

“I’ll call you right back if we get disconnected, ma’am,” said Reeves, the tension in his voice unmistakable.

She took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed before switching the call over and replacing the handset. It took every bit of restraint she could muster to keep from glancing at the picture on the wall next to her. She knew that would crack the facade of composure she’d built since her world had been turned upside down.

The past few days—watching the beasts behind her daughter’s ordeal walk free—had been hard enough. The power and influence she had spent nearly twenty years amassing had amounted to nothing. The Department of Justice couldn’t risk taking Viktor Penkin and his associates to trial given new revelations about the source and validity of the evidence.

If the US attorney’s office had lost the trial, the repercussions would be felt for years, jeopardizing future cases. Better to build a new case from the ground up, based on untainted evidence. One that’d stick. Whatever. These people had ruined her life. She wanted the same for them, times a thousand. Her fitness band vibrated, indicating that her heart rate had topped 110. Several deep, slow breaths later, she had her heart rate under a hundred. Back in control—sort of.

“Joe? You still there?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Reeves, his voice filling the senator’s office.

“Thank you. I needed a few moments to compose myself.”

“I understand, ma’am,” said Reeves. “It’s been a, uh . . . not a good week.”

“A shitty week, Joe. A very shitty one.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m just going to come out and say it, Joe. How the fuck did this happen?” said Steele. “Pardon my language, by the way.”

“I don’t have that answer, ma’am, and I suspect the Bureau of Prisons won’t have an answer right away, either,” said Reeves. “The warden at Victorville was unaware that Decker had been released. He learned it from me.”

“Wait. Why are you in the middle of this?”

“Technically, I’m not,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain this, ma’am, but I was checking up on Decker. I have some more big news to share with you.”

“Joe, I can’t take any more bad news today,” said Steele.

A long pause ensued. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s been a long night, and I lost track of the date. Sorry. I just wanted you to hear this from me, instead of seeing it on the news.”

“I appreciate that, Joe. You’ve been a good friend and a dependable ally through all of this,” she said. “What’s the other news? May as well get it over with.”

“It’s not exactly bad news,” said Reeves. “Penkin was kidnapped from one of his clubs last night. I’m at the scene right now. We have nine dead Russians. Two seriously wounded. One of the dead is Kuznetsov. Ten kids escaped unharmed.”

“This sounds like wonderful news,” said Steele. “What’s the catch? Wait. You think Decker had something to do with this?”

“I do. That’s why I called Victorville. When I saw the carnage, and we determined Penkin had been taken, he was the first name that came to mind. A lot of people want Penkin dead, but Decker is at the top of that list. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“No. It can’t. Do you have any leads on Decker?”

“Nothing from the kidnap scene, but he obviously had a lot of help pulling this off,” said Reeves. “And I’m guessing that he’s not finished. He’ll surface again, and we’ll be there to grab him.”

“Do you think he’d come after me?”

“I can’t imagine it, ma’am. But if you’d asked me last week if I thought Decker might orchestrate his own release so he could torture and kill Viktor Penkin, I would have said the same thing.”

“I can’t say I would have agreed with you on that, Joe. I think Decker would like nothing more in the world than to torture and kill that animal,” said Steele. “I say that from personal experience.”

“I get it, ma’am,” said Reeves. “To the degree I can.”

“As much as I’d like to hope Decker won’t come after me, I can’t afford to operate under that assumption. I was instrumental in getting him locked up.”

“You and me both.”

“Then you better watch your back, too, Joe.”

“I honestly hadn’t thought of that.”