Tessa would make sure the infatuation boiling inside her never surfaced. She’d given her heart to another man, her husband. Only Robert would remain true to her. Men like the captain preyed on hero worship. He could never love just one woman.
She sighed with resignation.
“What? Did you see something?” Carter leaned in to her ear.
Tessa turned away and glanced around the room. “No. Just nervous,” she whispered. “And scared. Very scared.”
Carter reached for her hand she let fall in her lap. She lifted her eyes to his and felt surprise at seeing the humor gone from his face. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this again. But you need to concentrate. You just might be able to save you uncle. I saw an old picture of him, but I’m sure he’s altered his appearance. Are you with me?” Tessa squeezed his hand. “Okay?”
Tessa nodded. “I’m good.”
The meal progressed but neither she nor Carter ate much. Her friends laughed and flirted with the companions placed to distract from the seriousness facing the president. With their attention effectively diverted away from the mayhem lurking in the shadows, Tessa found freedom to scan the crowd. Waiters began pouring coffee and serving dessert when Carter appeared to lift his chin ever so slightly. He resisted touching his earwig.
“Ladies.” Carter spoke as he pushed his chair back. He took Tessa’s elbow and pulled her up. “Tessa and I are going to get some air before the president speaks.”
Shelly waved a dismissive hand without a glance their way. Kate, hanging on every word of her Marine, didn’t appear to have heard the announcement.
“What is it, Carter?” Tessa stayed close when they headed toward a side door leading to the service entrance for waiters. Carter took one last glance at the ballroom, looking up towards the closed off balcony with mild concern.
“The president wants to speak to you.”
Tessa put on the brakes and spun around in front of her escort. “Excuse me?”
Carter broke concentration as he appeared to drink in the close proximity of the temporary Enigma agent. His mischievous grin turned up at one corner of his mouth as he let his eyes drift around her face then her hair before letting them fall to bare skin above the bodice of her dress.
Landing a soft fist on his chest, Tessa snarled. “Stop it. I hate it when you do that, by the way.” She could feel the color rising in her cheeks. “Why?”
“I already told you, Tessa.” He moved her forward by spinning her around and taking her hand. “The president wants to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“The weather? That dress you’re wearing?” He felt her try to squirm out of the hard grasp of his hand. “Your uncle is my guess. Ready?”
They exited the service area into a long hall that appeared to lead outside to the alley. Four Secret Service agents held the double doors open. Even though the rain and wind was deafening it couldn’t cover the sudden smell of garbage wafting into the corridor. Tessa remembered that Ronald Reagan had often commented on knowing he’d arrived at a speaking engagement by the smell of the garbage at some obscure rear entrance.
Several other agents carrying umbrellas towered over another man with his head down. He seemed to burst into the hall, shaking his black coat then straightened to his full six foot frame. His eyes took everything in as if he expected something to occur without warning. It appeared almost ironic to see such big men remove the president’s coat with gentle care and respect. Although she couldn’t hear him speak, Tessa watched President Austin mouth “thank you” as he stepped forward. His eyes lifted, and then zeroed in on her and Carter.
In that suspended moment in time, Tessa realized when their eyes collided; the president was no different than the Enigma agents she’d thrown her fate to. The steel resolve in his walk, the threat in the eyes of undetermined color, reinforced the understanding that here was a man used to getting his own way. There wasn’t a lot of gray area with this president.
Unconsciously, Tessa eyed his body looking for a pistol bump. She found none. Stories circulated from time to time that the Secret Service removed weapons from his living quarters and his office on more than one occasion. He once admitted in an interview he was just making sure he was ready in case the protection detail needed help.
Rumors of sweeps when the Russian or Chinese Ambassadors planned a visit were common knowledge. Although he respected the Israelis, the Secret Service knew better than to allow him any wiggle room. His nickname among the agents varied from The Lone Ranger to Roy Rodgers, depending on the president’s mood.
The Secret Service took him target shooting each week to appease his irritation of not having his guns around. “I’m a Texan for God’s sake. It’s my birthright.” The National Rifle Association loved to quote him.
Carter whispered further gossip into Tessa’s ear in hopes of an amused attitude. Each week a new face appeared on the target.
“Sometimes it’s a head of state like North Korea or a Somali pirate. The most recent target was the Speaker of the House. Afterwards the agents burned the target. It wouldn’t be proper for the president to appear uncooperative with the third most powerful man in the government, despite his despicable behavior toward the men who protected him. The agents resisted taking a shot even after the president encouraged them to vent.”
Now the most powerful man in the world moved toward Tessa. Unconsciously she stopped resisting against Carter’s grip and slipped her free hand over his arm. He appeared to sense her nervousness, pulling her in closer to his side.
The president stopped abruptly in front of Tessa and Carter, glancing over his shoulder as if signaling a tall, muscular man to come alongside him.
Chase strode up beside the president.
Tessa’s eyes, wide with admiration and awe, shifted to Chase. Her mouth felt dry as her lips parted in hopes of speaking something clever, yet respectful. She only managed to clear her throat.
The leader of the free world fist bumped the ex-astronaut on the shoulder. “Good to see you, Carter. I see you managed to get a date on short notice.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, Sir.” His eyes turned to Tessa as if he planned to introduce her.
Chase’s lackluster expression revealed nothing of his concern of a possible assassination attempt. He beat Carter to the punch. “Mr. President, this is Tessa Scott.” Clearly his attention shot to Carter, then to his temporary agent.
She remembered at that moment how unemotional Chase could sound in times of great conflict and crisis.
Should she offer her hand? Curtsey? Kiss his hand? What? After all it was her uncle that had brought her to this point in time. Maybe she should start with an apology.
As if sensing her discomfort, the president almost smiled as he stuck out his hand. “Scott is it?”
Tessa reached out and let his hand surround hers. She felt a tingling of enthusiasm at being in the presence of greatness. “Yes, sir,” came her squeaky response. She cleared her throat again. “Yes, sir.”
“The captain tells me you’ve come on board with Director Clark.” It was a declaration, one that couldn’t be refused.
Nodding almost child-like, she answered. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”
He dropped her hand. “Good job last year at that whole isotope fiasco outside Sacramento. The captain tells me they couldn’t have been successful without your help.”
Tessa’s eyes darted to Chase only to find him staring over her head as if she were invisible. “I didn’t realize the captain was given to exaggeration.” The sarcastic words crossed her lips before she could stop them. Embarrassed, Tessa quickly put her hand over her mouth as she felt hot coloring move up her neck.
Even though the words forced Chase’s robotic stare to shift her way, Tessa wondered if she’d pay for that impudent remark when they were alone. The president chuckled as he hit the back of his hand on the chest of his agent. His attention remained on Tessa.
“Can you shoot, Scott?” The president continu
ed to smile.
“Not very well, Mr. President.”
“How about your uncle?”
The question caught her off guard. She found herself hugging Carter’s arm again. She answered only after feeling Carter squeeze her hand and a nod toward the president.
“Yes, sir. I’m afraid he’s a very good shot.” The hard swallow that stuck in her throat nearly choked her.
“Hmm.” The president managed to grunt as he nodded at Chase before moving forward down the long corridor toward a possible rendezvous with death. His gait revealed nothing about his trepidation concerning his safety. Tessa guessed with men like Chase at your side a certain cloak of invincibility could make a person over confident.
Chase ignored her as he brushed by, his attention never leaving the president. Not even Carter’s arm that had slipped around her waist deterred him from his appointed task.
“Why didn’t the president just stay home tonight?” Tessa quizzed in a whisper as she turned to watch them disappear through doors that eventually would lead to the ballroom. She felt Carter’s arm tense as she looked sideways at his profile. Startled to see concern in his usually flirtatious eyes, Tessa patted his hand that rested on her waist.
“The president doesn’t like to back down from a fight or a chance to get more votes come next election. Men like the president think they’re insulated from mayhem. These kinds of threats aren’t new. If he stayed at the White House every time someone got miffed at him, the president would become a prisoner in his own home. This threat escalated.”
“Now what?”
“We better look for that uncle of yours. Any ideas?” Carter nodded to some of the Secret Service men that protected the exit. They were all good men, devoted to the president. “Any sense as to how this might play out? Where he would feel the most confident?”
Tessa released his hand as they moved back through the service area. She shook her head, trying to examine the many faces scurrying around the kitchen located behind the staging area for the servers. The sound of silverware dropping, pans hitting stove burners and several chefs screaming about stupidity, created a kind of chaos designed to cover deception.
“My uncle loves to cook.” She felt Carter step away.
“Let’s split up. Try to look at every single person in here.” He pulled out a picture of Jake from a newspaper article from her hometown paper taken ten years earlier. “Has he changed much?”
Tessa gently retrieved the picture then handed it back. “Thinner. Grayer. Not as much hair on top.” She touched the top of her hair. “The picture doesn’t show the pock marks on his left cheek under his eye, from having acne when he was a kid I guess. He squints out of habit. But if he isn’t doing that you’ll notice he has one blue eye and one green eye. It’s only slightly different.”
“Anything else?”
“I look a lot like him. People always thought he was my dad.” Tessa looked down, knowing she was selling out someone she loved.
Is this what Enigma did to a person? Had her allegiance shifted from family to protecting a man she never even voted for in the last election?
~~~
“We’ll do everything to stop him before he gets too close, Tessa.” Carter resisted putting his hand on her shoulder. She might be a temporary Enigma agent, but the hard callousness which would eventually control her reasoning powers remained absent. Her utter hopelessness and vulnerability touched him unexpectedly. Carter offered a slight grin as he lifted her chin with one finger. “You can do this, Kiddo. Not rocket science.”
Knowing the reference to his NASA work would please her, he was rewarded with a half-hearted smile. When she nodded bravely and turned to do her search, Carter understood in that moment how she must affect Hunter.
The thought of candy wrapped in poison ivy flashed in his mind. Wanting something like that could get you killed. Although Carter’s attraction to Tessa had more to just being female and breathing, he saw something the other agents at Enigma failed to possess. Looking after her in the coming months, if she remained an agent, would fall to Chase. Would the captain put himself in harm’s way like a love-sick puppy for a naïve woman who would never return his affections? Running interference, keeping the leader off guard, might save his friend from pondering too hard on the possibility of romance.
Watching Tessa carefully scope out the grand kitchen, forced Carter to do the same. Time was of the essence. The slap of metal against porcelain throughout the kitchen registered as brain clutter when he began examining each face. Who looked distracted? Did the slow movement mean an old man? Were there any Middle Eastern waiters giving him too much attention?
Carter looked back to see Tessa standing by a walk-in refrigerator. She reached for the handle as the door swung open and two young people burst from inside, smiling with satisfaction. By the looks of the young woman’s clothes and guy’s hair they hadn’t been getting supplies. They plowed into Tessa unaware that she blocked their path.
“Oh. Sorry, lady.” The young man hiccupped the apology through a mischievous grin. “Better watch where ya stand in this place.”
Tessa nodded and caught the door with her toe as the young man threw back a piece of wadded up paper which rolled inside.
~~~
Deep down Tessa imagined Carter asked for her assistance to keep her mind occupied or out of trouble. She wasn’t sure which. No one at Enigma could possibly think her capable of making a difference in national security. The isotope fiasco the president mentioned moments earlier was a miracle on her part. Requesting help to locate her uncle made no sense at all. She might as well have a giant fish hook sticking out of her mouth considering the possibility she was now Enigma bait. Once again, they were using her as a means to an end. That end would probably result in the death of a man she’d loved her entire life.
The crumpled paper stuck to something in a purple gel. Tessa wrinkled her nose as she pulled it free and smelled the sweet scent of grape jelly. She tried to open the paper without touching the smear. Just as her eyes began to adjust to the dim light, the door swung open, flooding across the words before her.
“Let’s go.” It was Carter. He watched Tessa pale as her eyes lifted from the paper. Without warning he snatched it from her fingers and read the words ‘Stop me’.
Chapter 15
T he Secret Service grabbed the two lovers when Carter tipped them off to the contents of the note. A hush fell over the kitchen as everyone watched two of their own being strong armed out the door. The girl started calling the men names like “Nazi pigs” and “Homeland storm troopers.” The young man tried to relieve his arm of the vice grip leading him into the laundry area. Once removed, the two were immediately separated for interrogation.
“Are you sure that’s your uncle’s handwriting, Tessa?” Carter saw that she was shaken. The reality of her uncle’s plan paralyzed her with fear. He could see it in her eyes and the way she stood. Her hands twitched and those eyes blinked incessantly. She rubbed her nose to stop a sniff.
Tessa nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. She took the note from his hand then pointed to the letters. The Secret Service agent, the one Carter called John, leaned in to see her trace her index finger across the evidence. “The S is printed backwards at first then he corrected it. See?” Tessa turned it around for them. “He’s a little dyslexic and constantly struggles with that letter. He did it again here on the p. Backwards then corrected. Letters like d and q were always a little crazy for him too. But he learned to overcome it for the most part. So much so he became a code breaker. He could see things no one else could. That’s why he was on the USS Liberty in 1967. It was a last-minute switch. He was slotted to go home.”
“Let’s have a chat with our refrigerator lovers,” John said frowning and motioning with his head to follow.
She trailed after the two men as they entered the laundry area. Three other Secret Service agents waited for John’s instructions, but he gave none. He moved toward where the young man stood h
andcuffed to a pipe before looking at Tessa.
“You better take the girl. She’ll probably open up to you. Seems like she has a chip on her shoulder.”
“Me?” Tessa felt her stomach lurch. Her eyes locked on Carter. She started to shake her head “no” when he pushed her around the corner to where the girl sat handcuffed to a metal table.
She didn’t appear to be nearly as rattled as her boyfriend. The frown turned into a snarl as they approached. The knees locked together with feet spread apart gave her the appearance of a ragdoll. The thick black eyeliner had smudged a bit. Tessa wondered if it was due to lovemaking or crying.
Carter nudged Tessa and took a step back as he whispered. “You can do this.”
Looking at the girl, the generation gap slapped her in the face. She worked with students all the time. In recent years a growing trend of disrespect and apathy toward teachers became the norm. This girl’s narrowed eyes revealed another self-absorbed brat who felt the world owed her something.
The hard swallow in Tessa’s throat sounded like a nervous gulp. “Hi. I’m…” Tessa paused knowing she wasn’t supposed to give her real name. What had Chase called her a year ago? “I’m Melanie. What’s your name?” Sitting on the edge of the table, Tessa tried to smile. Unconsciously she tugged at the bodice of her dress.
“None of your business, Bitch.” The response carried a little wayward spit. “I didn’t do anything wrong. That moron in there made me go into the fridge with him.” She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling then over at the walls. The sound of dryers tumbled rhythmically in the background.
“Are you saying he raped you?” Tessa knew she sounded disgusted.
The girl snickered and eyed Tessa flippantly. “No.” For such a short answer the girl let the word slide out like a multiple syllable word. “I’m saying he tricked me into going inside and well,” she smirked, “one thing led to another. He’s kinda cute, don’t ya think? His daddy is rich.”
The Enigma Series Boxed Set Page 52
