Until the Dawn (11 page)

Maddie’s jaw dropped. “But that doesn’t happen here. Not ever. We have safeguards for something like that. The FBI on the job. The CIA looking at international criminals.”

Dan grunted. “Not if the people manning the safeguards are the ones planning the takeover. And you just acknowledged that if the president and vice president are out of the picture, Trask will be in the driver’s seat.”

“And if he is,” she shot back, “then there is no reason for him to be heading a takeover. He’ll
be
the president.” She let her eyes close, calm reason return. “None of this is proof of Trask’s involvement. We need to follow the facts. Who owns this holding company? Who is this Norseman?”

“I will continue to have my staff check that out.” Nikki promised.

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Maddie rubbed her temples. “Wait, wait, wait. I know what I can do. If there’s any rumble of this at all, no matter how secretive, my father would know about it. Let me call him and sound him out.”

Dan’s fingers closed over her wrist. “Be very careful what you say to him, baby.

You can’t let him think you have any information or even suspicions.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t exactly have intimate conversations with him. And of course, this is assuming that new bitch he hired as a gatekeeper even lets me through to talk to him.”

She hadn’t told Dan about her estranged and contentious relationship with her father but Nikki knew all about it.

“All right.” Nikki rose gracefully from her chair. “Let me go to my home office here and connect with my team in San Antonio. They’ve been trying to unravel the Norseman ownership and also see what they could find out about rogue railroad cars.

Maddie, go ahead and call your father but be very cautious. We don’t want to give away the candy store, but we don’t want to be too late to save it from attack, either.”

She looked at Dan. “And I know you’re chomping at the bit to do something, but under the circumstances you have to keep a low profile.”

“I know, I know. But I’ve got to do something pretty soon or I’ll go crazy.”

“You can hold Maddie’s hand while she talks to that asshole, Arthur Sommers.

Then come on to my office upstairs and we’ll see what we’ve come up with. I have a feeling we may be running out of time.”

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“Hi, Dad. I need to talk to you.” Maddie paused while static cut into their conversation.

“Madison?” Her father’s voice sounded gruff, as if he’d not had enough sleep last night. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Sunshine and roses was not what she expected of him, but tart nastiness was not on her list of paternal qualities she savored either. She gazed into Dan’s eyes and got past an inkling of her father’s suspicion of why she called. She had no time for a lot of games. “I’m concerned. I heard the news about the president and the vice president.”

“Yes, well. The president is the one we’re all worried about.”

“I know. I needed more information. I tried to get through to Trask, but the phone lines are so jammed, it was impossible. I knew you’d know the latest on the medical bulletins.”

“Where are you again?”

“Cancun.”

“Right. Mexico. This your cell phone, you’re calling from?”

“It is, yes. How is the vice president? Still getting better?”

“Not really.”

“No!” She grabbed Dan’s hand and squeezed. “Tell me.”

“The White House has put that out about him to calm everyone’s fears. We’ve lost presidents from sickness or assassination, but never both executives at the same time.”

“Are both of them in such serious condition?”

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“Yes, they are, Madison. My advice? Whether you can get hold of Trask or not, just put your ass on the next plane up here, because Trask is going to need you. No matter what happens.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Her father hung up without saying goodbye.

“How did I do?” Her voice quavered as she stared at Dan.

“Wonderful.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I got the gist. The VP is in serious condition, too. The White House press secretary is feeding us a line of bull to stave off panic. Damn it all! Why not treat us like adults, tell us the truth!”

Nikki appeared in the doorway, one shoulder against the jam, arms crossed. “I got the drift, too. This is not good.” She bit her lower lip and looked at the floor. “And what I have to tell you is worse.”

Dan nodded. “Shoot.”

“Norseman Holding is owned by two men. One we all know and love. Jack Starling.”

“Starling,” Dan said the name with less awe than most did. “Winged Media Enterprises. Nice little business to own. With controlling interests in three big city newspapers, a new cable station, hundreds of radio stations and a major movie studio in Hollywood and London.”

“Media. Right. Useful to have a man like that on your side if you’re interested in taking over a country by hook or by crook, isn’t it?” Maddie conjectured, taking in Dan’s and Nikki’s looks of surprise that she might be seeing things their way about Trask’s aspirations. “Who’s the other owner, Nikki?”

“Tomas Barberos.”

Maddie winced. “The Greek international shipping mogul from hell. Will cut your profits and your throat if you become his competitor.”
Barberos.
A very good friend of the Speaker’s. Since they had gone to Cambridge together in England. But during the 83

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past two years, she noted now with a start, she had often seen them together, heads close, voices low and discreet.
Thick as thieves
were the words she often used to describe their body language.

Maddie had often wondered if Trask had gotten his buddy Barberos to donate to his campaigns. Illegal to have a foreigner contribute, but so what? There were ways to hide such sums. But she had never asked. Not her purview. Trask had never intimated anything of the sort. He didn’t have to. By practice and law, a Congressman’s campaign funding was separate from his staff’s reach. She had never seen the campaign records.

Never asked. But she could try.

“What are you cooking up?” Dan asked with caution in his green eyes. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

She squeezed his hand. “Yes, you do.” She glanced up at Nikki. “For once in my life, I’m going to follow my father’s advice. I’ll make an attempt to go to hook up with Trask. I’m calling his regional office here in south Texas. Someone there must know where he is. Especially with the president and vice president in such bad health.”

“Better get your story straight before you dial the number. Spin it for me, honey.

Why are you calling around to find Trask?” Dan asked.

“I’m flying in from Cancun, you see. To help. To be by his side at this critical time.

Offer my expertise at a time when half his staff in Washington is out on vacation. Of course, I also will have access to his networked computer. His calendar, his appointments—and all of this is linked to his Capitol office. And there, I know, is a list of donors to his campaigns.” She beamed.

Nikki smiled back. “You think Starling is one?”

“Could be. Money from Barberos would be harder to track. Either way, I have to go into Trask’s computer system to see if I can find any trace of treason.”

Dan shook his head. “Aside from the fact that this is dangerous, I don’t know that donations from either man prove any complicity in what we’re talking about here.”

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“True,” Maddie said. “We need more. Damn,” she murmured, “we always need
more
.”

“But it’s a start,” Nikki agreed.

“I still don’t like it,” Dan barked. “I’m going with you.”

“You can’t!” Maddie put him off.

He raised his hand, his face stern. “One,” he said and raised a finger, “you might know Krav Maga, but you clutch with a gun in your hand. I don’t. Two,” he ticked off and raised a second finger, “if you are discovered mid-search, you can’t call for back up.

I can. Three, if you get in there and Trask is there, you won’t be able to access anything while he’s there. And four—”

“I’ll be quick!”

“Quick?” he asked as if she had rocks in her head.

“And dead,” Nikki inserted.

“No!” Maddie slammed her hand down. “When I last saw Trask, I was telling him how you had disappeared, Dan. If I show up and you’re with me, Trask will pepper you with questions. And none of them will be easy to answer. Soon you’ll find yourself telling him your real profession—and that won’t be pretty for any of us.”

“Fine. I’ll stay outside. You’ll wear a wire. Nikki, can you get us a wire, pronto?”

“Absolutely. Anything else?”

“A camera. Small, hi res.”

Nikki snorted. “I have a dandy little creature we designed for a woman. A diamond-studded Patek.”

“That’ll do.” Dan rose from his chair and stalked Maddie.

“I get the wire, but—”- She didn’t know whether to thank them or laugh first.

“What do I need a camera for?”

“In case you can’t copy or transfer files. Does the camera take pictures of computer screens, Nikki?”

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“Check.”

“Meanwhile,” Dan murmured as he gathered Maddie up in his arms, “Nikki is putting me at the head of her team that goes with us. Aren’t you, Nick?”

“Roger that, Foreman,” Nikki replied with laughter in her voice.

“So, then, Madison Sommers,” Dan crooned, “if you think I am letting you go anywhere alone after what we know about how ruthless the people running this operation are, then you don’t know me at all.”

“And
that
,” Nikki said, turning on her heel, “is my exit cue.”

“I’ll chain you to me before I would let you go alone to find Trask.” Dan bristled with determination as he crushed Maddie closer.

She pressed her lips to his throat. Pleased he wouldn’t take no for an answer, proud he wanted to protect her that badly, she whispered, “If I said I’d be happy to have you accompany me tomorrow, provided you stayed in the background, would you chain me to you anyway?”

He snorted, then kissed her heartily on the mouth. “What do you think?”

“Dunno. Wanna show me?”

* * * * *

Maddie had been to Trask’s regional office in the Del Rio area only twice before, but she knew each one on the small staff of three. With a rental car that Dan had told Nikki to acquire from a Houston agency near Bush Intercontinental, Maddie drove into the parking lot of the Federal Building and parked.

Across the street, she saw a black sedan already in place. There, she knew, Dan waited alone. Nikki’s team of four commandos stood in readiness at four points around the building. Each of them had a feed from her wire. Each was armed. And dangerous.

Breathing deeply, she climbed out of the car and headed for the building.

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“No need to say anything to us,” Dan had instructed her as he secured the small microphone into her bra. “We’ll see you or we’ll hear you. And we will hear whoever talks to you.” He had patted her wrist where Nikki’s camera watch fit her snuggly.

Marching into the building, Maddie noted that things seemed quiet. More quiet than they should be if Trask were here.
Is he?

She sailed through the hallway, past the picture of President George Hamill smiling down at her.
Hey, George. Get better, will you?
He hadn’t. In fact, bulletins this morning said he had slipped into a deeper coma. He had no responses to nerve stimuli now. The vice president, said the news channels, had improved. She didn’t know whether to believe that or not. But she did know one thing and that was that Speaker of the House Paul Trask was still not answering her calls. She told herself he was incognito because the Secret Service would want it that way—but she knew her boss might have used his own private bodyguards to disappear. That was a Houdini act he’d pulled before, employing four full-time men to clear his paths. True, he had always excused his absences by telling her his actions were top secret, but now putting this all together with her new suspicions, she had fewer reasons to trust every word he said.

“Hello, Flora,” she bade the receptionist as she stepped into the Congressional office. She thrust her hand out to shake Flora’s.

The middle--aged, dark--haired woman blinked at her. “Miss Sommers? What are you doing here?”

Sweeping aside the answer to that with a wave of her hand, she announced, “I’ve been trying to reach the Speaker, Flora. I must talk to him. Where is he?”

Fright made Flora’s eyes grow darker. “He was here yesterday. The Secret Service, too. It’s scary, isn’t it, to think both the president and vice president could go, just like that?” She snapped her fingers.

Flora had always been long on empathy, short on logic.

Maddie threw her a tolerant smile. “Who else is here? John? Lupe?” She mentioned the other two regional legislative aides who took care of Trask’s constituents’ problems 87

Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

with land rights, taxes, appointments to the service academies, passports and a thousand other things.

“Both out. The Speaker took them with him.”

That alarmed Maddie. Why would Trask take his aides with him? “He had tasks for them?” She had no idea what that might be, unless…

“
Si
. He told them he needed them to help me organize an event.”

“What event?”

“A meeting.” The woman shrugged.

“Where? With whom?”

“Oh, you know how he does that. Up in Midland or Alpine usually. But this time, I think he said Big Bend.”

“Big Bend?” Out in the middle of nowhere? Rocks and hills that dinosaurs once roamed. A barren, ugly landscape of craggy mountains, desolate valleys filled with cougars, snakes and scorpions the size of your fist. “Why the hell would they go deeper into the wilderness when we have a crisis in the line of succession?”

“I know. I know. But I can’t tell you anything more than what they told me!”

Maddie put a hand to the shoulder of the distressed woman. “It’s okay, Flora. I hear you. Well, then, I just need to do a few things here. Talk to people in the Speaker’s office in the Capitol and send them some things via email. Some of them are sensitive material, Flora. So I’ll just let myself into the Speakers Office.”