Erin patted Ashley’s shoulder. “What in the world did he say to you out there to get you so upset?”
“Nothing. He said nothing, but it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with me. Did you see how he and Trish danced together earlier? She was all over him, rubbing up against him, doing all sorts of things, which he didn’t seem to mind in the least. But when I danced with him, he was stiff and acted like he was dancing with his great-aunt Edith or something.”
“I was watching the two of you. You looked great together. Then you stopped dancing and walked away from him. You’re the one who left him standing on the dance floor, so why are you so angry?”
Ashley sank into one of the chairs provided. “Because he said that our dancing together wasn’t a good idea. I don’t know why he feels that way! I thought we were finally becoming friends. He was so nice to me this morning, when he could have really given me hell. I was hoping…” Her voice trailed off. Her lips firmed and her jaw tightened. “Well, it doesn’t really matter what I was hoping, does it?” She opened her purse and found her compact. She took her time powdering her nose and refreshing her lipstick, then turned to Erin and said, “Let’s go dance. I refuse to let him ruin this evening for me.”
Erin smiled. “Honey, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“No, of course not, I just—”
“I recognize all the signs, believe me.”
Ashley slumped in her chair. “He doesn’t see me as a woman at all, Erin. I’m just a part of his job.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
Ashley glanced at her, caught by something in her voice. “What do you mean?”
“Has it ever occurred to you that because of his job, he may consider you off-limits to him?”
She looked at Erin in surprise. “But that’s ridiculous. I—”
“No, it isn’t. Just think about it, Ashley. He has to stay detached in order to do his job. Maybe he finds it a little tough to stay detached when you’re in his arms like you were earlier.”
“Do you think?” she asked, her hopes rising.
“It’s a possibility. He seems relaxed enough with the rest of us, but I’ve noticed he gets all tense and business like with you.”
“Which irritates me no end.”
“Maybe that’s the only way he can hide his feelings for you.”
“Hah! The way he acts, he has no feelings. He’s just a robot who…” Ashley paused. “I’m really being childish. And it’s got to stop.” She smiled and said, “Enough soul-searching for the evening. Let’s go knock ’em dead on the dance floor!”
Nick saw them come out of the restroom laughing. He had a hunch the joke was at his expense. The fact that Ashley ignored him for the rest of the evening didn’t make him feel any better.
He’d handled the whole situation poorly. Positive interpersonal relationships with members of the opposite sex were definitely not in his line of experience.
He hadn’t meant to offend Ashley. In fact, he’d enjoyed her friendliness toward him this afternoon. He spent the rest of the evening trying to think of something that he could say to help ease the situation, but nothing came to mind.
By the time they returned to the chalet, it was after midnight—officially the day before New Year’s Eve. The group was already making plans to attend the big party being thrown by the resort to celebrate the end of the old year and to welcome the new.
The other topic of discussion was the weather forecast. They were promised a day of sunshine and clear skies tomorrow, actually later that day. Nick listened to them on their way upstairs, discussing when to set their alarms. Everyone was in agreement they wanted to get an early start. No one wanted to miss a minute on the slopes while they were here.
Nick seriously began to wonder if he’d be able to keep up the pace they’d set for the next three days.
“What happened between you and Ashley tonight?” Ron asked once they were in their respective beds and the lights turned off. “The temperature suddenly dropped about thirty degrees at our table. I could have sworn Ashley walked off and left you standing on the dance floor.”
“Just a result of my natural charm, I guess.”
“I thought she was beginning to tolerate you earlier today.”
“So did I. Obviously I managed to exceed her toleration limit with very little effort.”
“Do you know what set her off?”
“Not exactly, no.”
“Something you said, maybe?”
“I don’t recall that we were doing much talking.”
Ron’s laugh wafted toward him in the dark. “Well, I have to admit I enjoyed the evening. I haven’t danced in years.”
“Same here. That may have been one of the problems.”
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself with the other two.”
Nick sighed. He’d been relaxed with Erin and Trish. He didn’t react to them the way he did to Ashley. He had never reacted to any woman the way he reacted to Ashley Sullivan.
That was the thought that kept him sleepless for several hours that night.
Chapter 7
Wednesday, December 30
A steady beeping finally drew Nick out of an exhausted sleep. He recognized the sound of his cellular phone. He fumbled for the lamp so he could see. As soon as the light was on, he looked at his watch.
It was three o’clock in the morning. He’d had maybe an hour of sleep. What in the hell could be so blasted important that someone needed him at this time of night!
“Logan,” he muttered into the receiver, shoving his hand through his hair.
“This is Chambers, Logan. We’ve got a problem.”
As soon as he heard his superior’s voice, he knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. “Okay. Let’s have it.”
Ron sat up and watched him. Nick mouthed the word “Chambers” to him. Ron nodded grimly.
The news was as bad as it could get.
“The president’s yacht is missing. We lost contact with her a couple of hours ago. The Coast Guard is on the way to the area. We had a security ship nearby. We can’t raise either of them.”
“Dear God,” Nick said in a low voice. His phone call late yesterday hadn’t been much help, it seemed. If this was part of the plot he’d been investigating, then whoever was behind it was still several jumps ahead of him.
“It’s too soon to draw any conclusions, of course,” Chambers continued. “There may be some eletromagnetic disturbance out there. It’s possible it’s only a communications snafu.”
“Or they could have cruised into the Bermuda Triangle,” Nick suggested as a joke.
“You’re the third person this morning to suggest that possibility. No one is amused.”
This morning. That’s right, it was five o’clock in Washington.
“We should know something as soon as the Coast Guard reaches their last position,” Chambers continued. “They’re watching for flares or for possible debris. It’s not a good situation.”
“No, sir, it isn’t,” Nick replied. If Chambers believed it was a communications problem, he would not have called at this time of night. “What do you want us to do, sir?”
“We don’t want to set off any public alarms just yet, but the situation is being treated as a national security emergency.”
“understood, sir.”
“Vice President Freeman is here at the White House. He was notified immediately as soon as we realized we’d lost contact. He has taken command under the circumstances. Mr. Freeman has suggested that we bring Ashley back here to await news of her family.”
Jason Freeman was now in charge. The irony didn’t escape Nick. He’d been a member of the VP detail for a few years. Scarcely two weeks had passed since his sudden transfer. And now the vice president was the man in charge of the nation. For only the moment…hopefully.
“Is there any reason to believe the family is in danger?” Nick asked in a carefully controlled voice. “We have so many
safeguards around the president. I don’t really see how this could have happened.”
“Neither do I!” Chambers replied tersely. “I don’t like any of this. We were monitoring them, had both of them on radar when first the yacht, then the other ship suddenly disappeared off the screen. We’re afraid there may have been some kind of explosion.”
“The Coast Guard will be able to tell, won’t they?”
“You’d certainly think so, wouldn’t you? But at this point we’re all scratching our heads, including the Coast Guard.”
“What do you want us to tell Ashley?”
His question was met with a long silence before Nick discerned a sigh on the other end of the line. “There’s no need to alarm her.”
“I agree. So what should we say? We were scheduled to stay here for two more days.”
“Yeah, I know. I’d hate to have you lie to her. Hell, I don’t know. Just use your judgment.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Rather than fly her back commercially, we’re having a private plane meet you at one of the smaller airports closer to the ski area. It’s already on its way and should be there in another hour.” He gave Nick directions to the airport. “There’s always the possibility that this thing will turn out more positive than it looks at the moment, you know. Perhaps by the time you get back here, we’ll discover it was just a mechanical glitch somewhere.”
Neither one of them believed that for a second, but it sounded reassuring. It also gave him a line to take when discussing the matter with Ashley. The truth was, they had no idea at this time what had happened to her family, nor could they guess at a possible outcome. In their business they had to prepare for the worst and pray for the best.
“We’ll have her at the airport, waiting.”
“If you should run into any problems, contact me immediately.”
“Will do.”
He disconnected the line and looked at Ron, who was already dressed and waiting. Nick recognized the attitude of alertness. Adrenaline was already pumping in his own veins.
“Good news rarely arrives at this time of night,” Ron said quietly.
Nick sank down on his bed, ignoring the fact he wore nothing more than his boxer shorts. “That’s for sure.”
“The president is missing?”
“They lost contact with the yacht and the security ship a couple of hours ago. There was no sign of an explosion, no flares, no SOS, nothing. They just suddenly disappeared from the radar screen. There was no response to any of the messages sent.”
“Damn.” Ron looked like he’d been punched in the gut.
Nick knew exactly how he felt. “Yeah, at the very least. They’ve sent the Coast Guard looking, but so far, no sign of anything.”
“In a way that’s good news, Nick. If there had been an explosion, they would have seen the blast, maybe, or found debris. Something would have shown up somewhere.”
“Who knows how close they are to the yacht’s last position. It’s my guess it’s too soon for them to have found anything.”
“The whole family was on board?”
Nick nodded. “Except for Ashley,” he said thoughtfully. He was quiet for several minutes. “We have to tell her…something, anyway, because the vice president has sent word that he wants her returned to Washington immediately. There’s a private plane on its way to pick us up. They’re landing at a nearby field to save us the drive back to Denver.”
Ron folded the bedding he’d used. “What are we going to tell the others?”
“Good question…and I don’t have an answer at the moment.” Nick reached for his clothes. “Why don’t we just let Joe know that Ashley’s family called and needs her back early? He seems to be the leader of the group. They’re due to leave here in a couple of days, anyway. hopefully they’ll understand.” He finished dressing, made certain all of his gear was in his bag and placed his bedding on the sofa to be picked up by the cleaning crew.
He thought of how excited all of them were about skiing later today…and attending the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night. What a mess.
“Do you want me to wake Ashley?” Ron asked, standing at the window with his hands in his pockets.
Nick sighed. “This is going to be very difficult, no matter how we handle it. We don’t want her falling apart on us.” He shook his head wearily. “And, yes. I think you’d better be the one to talk to her. She’ll take any news better from you than she would from me.”
“We could tell her the same thing we intend to tell Joe and wait until we’re airborne to explain the situation more fully.”
Nick nodded. “Good idea. In the meantime, I’m going to make some coffee. We have to be on the road in thirty minutes so she needs to pack as quickly as she can. It would help if we could avoid waking Trish, but I’m not certain that’s going to be possible.”
Ron turned away from the window. “At least the weather is holding, although there’s the possibility of a storm in the forecast.”
“I thought it was supposed to be clear tomorrow.”
“So they said. The storm was just a possibility. Probably nothing to be concerned about.”
“I hope not. All we need is to get socked in here due to weather conditions. That will really make the VP happy with us.”
“Hey, he can’t hold us responsible for the weather, you know. We do what we can. That’s got to be good enough.”
“Yeah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?” He waited until he reached the kitchen and shut the swinging door to the hallway beforeturning on the lights and making coffee.
The president and his family was missing. He wondered what Sam might have to say when he heard about this.
Nick tried to recall which agents were with the president. A chill went through him. He needed to talk to Chambers, but this wasn’t the time. As soon as they got back to Washington he would discuss his suspicions with him.
Then he remembered Sam’s warning—trust no one.
He rubbed the furrows in his brow, trying to think all this through. The main thing was to stay calm. Once the three of them were on that plane, his duties would be virtually relieved.
What was Ashley going to do if something had happened to her entire family? She was too young to have to face such a possibility. But he knew better. Whole families were wiped out all the time—through fire, floods, tornadoes. But not like this. Not a family as closely guarded as the first family.
Nick fought the urge that made him want to wrap her in his arms and promise her that he would always be there for her.
He could just imagine her reaction to such a declaration.
Regardless of any possible response from Ashley, falling for the daughter of the President of the United States had to be right at the top of the list of suicidal ways to destroy a career. He had braced himself to get through the remaining days. Now those days had shrunk to a matter of hours of close contact before they were back in Washington.
The brutal facts were that there was a strong possibility none of her family was alive, which meant the life she had known up until now would be changing radically in the next few hours. He wanted to be there for her in any way she would allow.
The door swung open. Ashley stepped into the kitchen, wearing a robe over thermal pajamas. She hadn’t bothered to comb her hair and it tumbled around her shoulders. She looked vulnerable and bewildered.
“Nick? What’s going on? Why are we supposed to leave now?”
“Didn’t Ron say?”
“No. He came in and woke me, then pantomimed that I wasn’t to say anything to wake Trish. He just pointed me down the stairs, then went into Joe’s room.”
Nick filled a cup with coffee and silently handed it to her, then poured two more, setting them on the table.
Ron slipped in behind her without making any noise. He was the one who said, “Sit down, Ashley. We don’t have much time, but we’ll try to explain.”
His voice coming from close behind her startled her, and Ashley flinc
hed, almost dropping her cup. “Oh. I didn’t hear you.” She sat down at the table and looked up at them impatiently.
Ron sat down across from her. With a muttered thanks to Nick, Ron sipped on the coffee and waited for Nick to join them.
Ashley watched them both, her gaze darting from one to the other.
“Something’s happened, hasn’t it? What’s wrong?”
Nick picked his words carefully. “Something has come up. Your father wants you back earlier than was originally planned. There’s a plane arriving shortly to take us back to D.C.”
Still looking at Ron, she asked, “My father? He’s still fishing, isn’t he? They aren’t due home until the weekend.” When Ron didn’t answer, she went on, “This doesn’t make any sense. We’re going home day after tomorrow, anyway. Why can’t I wait and go back with the rest of them?”
This time Ron answered her. “Ashley, in this business we don’t ask a lot of questions, you know what I mean? We got the call that they want you back in Washington and that the plane is on its way. It’s our job to get you to the plane.”
She frowned. “But what about the rest of the group?”
“I’ve already told Joe that you have to leave early and he will explain to the others in the morning. All he needs to do is to arrange a ride back to the airport for everyone on the first. He’ll be able to do that with no problem through the resort. I imagine they have a shuttle that runs between here and the airport.” Ron patted her hand. “Sorry you can’t finish your stay with them, but at least you’ve had some time out here with your friends and have lots of stories to share when you get home.”
Nick looked away, concentrating on what needed to be done, not wanting to dwell on the news that might be awaiting her in a few hours. “Do you think you can get dressed and packed without waking Trish?” he asked brusquely.
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