The Target (28 page)

“Goddamn,” Jaime murmured. She reached for the door knob, but it was locked. “Fuck!”

“Stand back,” Erickson instructed. “We’ll shoot it opened.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Jaime said. “We don’t know what’s on the other side of this door. You could shoot Sara. Hell, you could shoot the senator.”

“You got a better idea?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” From one of her back pockets she produced a key card. She held it up and grinned. “Swiped it from Arthur.”

He nodded. “Okay. On three.”

He held up his fingers, silently counting. On three, Jaime inserted the key card. As soon as they heard the distinctive click, Erickson threw the door open.

Sara screamed then was silenced by a hand over her mouth and a gun pressed to her head. Ramsey held her tight as he moved closer to the other two men. The senator’s eyes were wide. The other man—Dodds—moved away from Ramsey, distancing himself.

All three held their weapons on Ramsey, the only one with a gun.

“Drop the gun, Ramsey,” Erickson instructed calmly. “No one needs to get hurt here.”

“Shut up,” he snapped.

He looked at Dodds, as if for help, but Dodds moved away, clutching the senator’s arm.

“We’re so thankful you’re here. He’s been like a madman,” Dodds said.

Jaime frowned.
What the hell?
Then she looked at Sara, met her frantic eyes. Sara glanced at her father and Dodds, fear showing in her eyes. Jaime took a deep breath then stepped forward, pointing her gun at Ramsey’s head.

“Let her go.”

“Get back, Detective. I swear to God I’ll shoot her.”

“You’re not going to shoot her,” Jaime said. “For one thing, you’ll be dead half a second later.” She chanced a glance at the senator.

“And secondly, if you shoot her, you’ll be doing them a great favor.”

Ramsey’s eyes widened, doubt showing for the first time.

“Their original plan to kill Sara would be accomplished,” she said reasonably. “Then we shoot you.” She shrugged. “You take the fall. These guys get charged with nothing. Hell, he might even be elected president.”

“What are you talking about?” Dodds demanded. “That’s just crazy. We’ve done nothing. He burst in here with Sara—”

“Shut up!” Ramsey screamed, his gun moving from Sara to Dodds. “I’m not taking the fall. This was all your idea. I had nothing to do with it,” he yelled.

“Somebody do something! He’s holding my daughter!” the senator said loudly, speaking for the first time.

Sara closed her eyes, then opened them, finding Jaime. She shook her head, telling Jaime all she needed to know.

“Come on, Senator. You don’t expect us to believe that Ramsey here thought all this up on his own, do you? I mean, hell, he showed up with an FBI badge, instructing me to follow Sara here. For protection,” she added sarcastically. “He had some lovely pictures of Sara and your wife. Even of you. They looked like family photos, actually. Like maybe you supplied them to him when he was putting together the little file he had about these alleged death threats.”

“I don’t know who the hell you are but you don’t speak to me that way.” He turned to Erickson. “You. You’re FBI. Arrest this man,” he demanded.

“Kinda hard to do, seeing as how he’s got a gun pointed at you, Senator.”

Ramsey finally moved his hand, freeing Sara’s mouth. His gun alternated between Dodds and the senator.

“Tell them,” he said. “Tell them what’s going on.”

Before Sara could speak, Dodds stepped forward. “Stop this nonsense, Ramsey. Put the gun down. Let’s end this.”

“You’re not getting away with this, Dodds,” Sara said. “They did it. They tried to have me killed. Their plan, their idea. Ramsey is just hired help.”

“Sara, think about what you’re saying,” the senator said, his hands outstretched. “I’m your father. I would never try to kill you.”

“You bastard,” Sara whispered. “You’re not talking your way out of this one, Senator.”

“Put the gun down, Mr. Ramsey,” Erickson said. “We’ll work this out. No bloodshed.”

“I’m not taking the fall,” he said again. “I was just following orders.”

“I understand. Now let her go. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Ramsey shook his head. “No. No. He’s got a gun.”

“He who?”

Jaime’s eyes widened as Dodds reached inside his suit coat.

“Gun!” she yelled. As soon as Dodds pulled the trigger, all three fired, knocking him back against the desk and over it. Ramsey and Sara were in a heap on the floor. Jaime ran to them, her heart stopping when she saw blood on Sara’s shirt.

“Oh, God. Don’t move,” she said quietly. “Don’t move, sweetheart.”

Sara’s eyes fluttered open. “I don’t feel anything,” she whispered.

“I know. That happens. Help is on the way.” Jaime gripped Sara’s hand hard. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Jaime, I mean I don’t feel anything,” she said again as she tried to sit up. “I don’t think it’s my blood.”

“Oh Jesus. Are you sure?” Jaime gently lifted her shirt, revealing smooth, unblemished skin. Jaime closed her eyes. “Thank God.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Come here. Let’s see about Ramsey.”

Sara moved, looking down at the man who had most likely saved her life. His shirt was covered with blood and his hand was pressed to his upper chest.

“It was all their plan,” he whispered hoarsely.

Sara nodded. “I know.” She tilted her head. “But you had the gun.”

“Dodds?”

“He’s dead, man,” Jaime said. “How bad are you?”

“He got me up high. Been hit worse.”

“He was aiming at me,” Sara stated.

“Yeah. Kill you, then it’s their word against poor Ramsey here.”

Jaime took a pocketknife out and cut part of Ramsey’s coat. “Here, hold this on the wound. It’ll help with the bleeding.”

Sara watched them then moved her eyes to her father. No, the
senator
, she corrected. He was sitting dazed in one of the oversized visitor’s chairs beside his desk. His eyes wide, he simply stared at Dodds’ body which lay in an unnatural heap behind his desk.

Erickson and Fielding were both on their phones, talking frantically.

Trying to find out how to spin all this, no doubt. Well, no amount of spin and damage control could possibly get the senator out of this mess. She’d see to it. Not after what he’d done to her mother. She turned.

“Jaime? My mother?”

“Arthur’s with her. Ambulance should be here by now.”

Sara walked over, squeezing Jaime’s arm. “Thank you. Again. For saving my life.”

Jaime smiled. “It’s my job, ma’am,” she said quietly.

“And you do it very well.” Sara let her hand drift to Jaime’s stomach, rubbing lightly, intimately. “I want to go be with my mother. Is that okay?”

“Sure. Go on. It’s going to be awhile before we wrap it up here, anyway.”

Sara glanced one last time at the senator, wondering what in the world he’d been thinking when he concocted this plot. But he never looked at her. His eyes were still fixed on Dodds’.

Sara knocked lightly on the hospital door, then pushed it open.

Bright sunshine streamed in through the window, landing softly on her mother. She turned when Sara entered, a smile transforming her face.

“Sara. Come in, darling.”

Sara moved to the bed, taking one of her mother’s hands, feeling warmth that hadn’t been there for the last two days. Her eyes looked clear, alert.

“You’re looking better,” Sara replied before bending to kiss her cheek.

“Still a little groggy but the brain seems to be working again.”

She motioned to the chair beside the bed. “Sit. We should talk.”

Sara nodded. “Do you feel up to it?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve put it off long enough.” She sighed. “I watched the local news this morning. They even had him in handcuffs. I can’t imagine his embarrassment. I suppose he wishes he had been killed along with Dodds.”

“I’m just thankful he didn’t weasel his way out of it,” Sara said sharply. Then she squeezed her mother’s hand. “I’m sorry. He’s your husband.”

“He ceased being a husband a long time ago, Sara. Our marriage was simply amicable and convenient. We didn’t argue or fight. I smiled when the cameras were on and said all the right things. But when the doors were closed and the cameras were off, we went our separate ways.”

“Was there someone else for you? For him?”

“Oh, he’s had women all along. I’m sure he thinks I didn’t know.” She shook her head. “Not for me. There was just the one time.” She met Sara’s eyes. “And I should have told you years ago. There just didn’t seem to be a purpose. He was already dead.”

“Tell me about him,” Sara said quietly. “When did you meet?”

Her mother’s eyes turned dreamy and she closed them for a moment. Sara waited while her mother remembered.

“It was our first or second year of marriage, I guess. Your father had—I’m sorry,
Peter
had just joined the law firm and was working seventy, eighty hours a week. We seldom saw each other.” She smiled at Sara. “I told you once I was a professional student. Well, I was taking grad classes. He was a young professor. I think it was love at first sight. I was completely enamored by him. He was all the things your father wasn’t.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry …
Peter
wasn’t.”

“It’s okay. I’ve spent thirty years thinking of him as my father.”

“But I should have had the courage to tell you the truth.”

“You’re telling me the truth now. Finish your story. He was all the things …
your husband
wasn’t,” Sara stated quietly.

“Peter was always handsome but he had that aristocratic air about him. He was always so controlled, so
refined
. Bryan—his name was Bryan—was charming and mischievous, and he made me laugh. It just felt good to be around him, you know. One of those kinds of people. You just want to embrace them.”

Sara nodded. “Yes, I know.”

“But of course I was married and Bryan knew it. So we flirted harmlessly. Or what we thought was harmless. We were actually falling in love.” She shook her head. “But I couldn’t. Peter had such huge aspirations for his life, our life. Even then, he was planning his political future. He was a brilliant trial lawyer and he was quickly making a name for himself. And he was worming his way into the inner circle of the very rich and powerful of this state. And I knew my place. So an affair with Bryan was out of the question.”

“Divorce?”

“A divorce would be seen as a failure and Peter could not afford any failures in his life. No, I knew he would never allow it.”

“But you obviously
did
have an affair with Bryan.”

She nodded, her eyes softening. “We were out on a picnic after class one day. A thunderstorm caught us. We were soaking wet by the time we made it back.” She laughed. “I knew right then it would happen. He lived in this small cottage right by campus.” She took Sara’s hand, squeezing tightly. “Oh, Sara, it was the most beautiful thing. We spent hours together. And afterward, when I knew I had to leave, he told me he loved me.” She shook her head.

“But I couldn’t tell him. I had no right to tell him. I was married to another man.”

“But you did love him.”

“Oh, yes. He owned my heart. But Peter owned my life,” she said sadly.

“So that’s when you got pregnant?”

She nodded. “Yes. It never occurred to me to use protection and I wasn’t on any birth control. Peter wanted us to have two children. I mean, what politician doesn’t have kids? But I never got pregnant. I assumed it was me, not Peter. So I was quite surprised when I missed my first period.” She met Sara’s eyes. “Shocked. Scared. In my heart, I knew it was Bryan’s. But I broke the news to Peter one night over a bottle of champagne. He was very excited, I remember.”

“When did you tell Bryan?”

“I waited until the semester was over. He asked if he was the father. I told him no.” She looked away. “I think I broke his heart that day.”

“So you didn’t see him after that?”

“I saw him occasionally around campus. He always told me how beautiful I looked pregnant,” she said softly. “It was on those occasions that he broke my heart.”

Sara stood and walked to the window, looking out into the sunshine.

She wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Her heart ached for a man she didn’t even know existed until a few days ago. She turned back to her mother.

“You should have told him.”

“I know, Sara. But I couldn’t. And as it turns out, I didn’t have to. I think he knew all along. A few months after you were born, he came to see me. He took one look at you and burst into tears,” she whispered. “There was no doubt you were his child.” She cleared her throat. “Everyone always commented that you got Peter’s blue eyes.” She slowly shook her head. “Bryan’s eyes used to turn the color of the ocean sometimes. Blue, with a hint of green. Just like yours.”

Sara closed her eyes, nearly embarrassed by the tears she was shedding for a man she never met. A man who, as it turned out, was her father.

“I’m sorry, Sara. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough. Bryan would have made a wonderful husband … and a terrific father. But I wasn’t strong enough to make a change.”

Sara nodded. “How did he die?”

“It was a car accident. It happened … it happened on your first birthday. When I heard the news, I thought how terribly ironic it was.”

“But it was no accident,” Sara stated.

“Apparently not. It never occurred to me that Peter knew. All these years, it never once occurred to me. And even then that he would go so far as to have him killed. I just can’t believe it.”

Sara gave a humorless laugh. “Well, believe it. Because the man chasing us in the mountains was very real.” Sara walked to the window again and stared out. “One of our group was shot down right in front of us. Sandra.” A sad smile crossed her face. “One minute talking and laughing, the next, laying there dead within the blink of an eye.” Sara turned back around. “That’s how I was supposed to die.” She cleared her throat. “I’m almost sorry he didn’t end up like Dodds.”

Her mother shook her head. “Believe me, this humiliation he’s suffering is far worse than death. Everything he’s worked his whole life for, all the plans he made, all of it gone. He always wanted to be the headline story on CNN. Now he is.”