by Julie Hyzy
“No, really,” Ruth was saying in a voice much stronger than I expected. “I’m just fine.” Without another glance at those around her, she grabbed her son’s arm and stood up. “Joel-let’s go. Now. Please. Get the car.”
Joel took off like a shot. As soon as he was out of sight, Ruth boosted herself to leave. What prompted me to stop her, I don’t know. But I needed to. She had the answers, and there was no time to lose. “Ruth,” I said, “just a minute.”
She didn’t answer. She kept walking. Very fast.
I started to follow, but Cooper grabbed my arm. His empty water bottle dropped next to my feet. Sweaty and pale, he held fingers to his mouth. “My lips,” he said thickly. “I can’t feel them.” He looked around with wild eyes.
Cooper let go of me long enough to grab Kap’s arm. “Not China,” he said. Then his knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. “It was her.”
In an instant, I understood.
I dropped to the grass next to Cooper and pointed to the direction Ruth had taken, “Stop her,” I said to Kap. Then to the medic, I shouted, “This man needs help!”
The medic responded at once, calling for assistance as she closed the distance between us. “What have we got?” she asked.
“Tetrodotoxin,” I said. “It’s what killed Carl Minkus.”
A second medic relayed that information into his radio as he knelt on the ground next to me. “He will go into respiratory failure quickly,” I said. “His diaphragm will be paralyzed. You have to keep him alive.”
I bolted to my feet and ran to catch up with Kap, looking back long enough to see Francine standing terrified next to the emergency response team. She sobbed as she watched them work on her husband. I wanted to be there for her, but I had to follow Kap. I could see him in the distance, looking both ways; it was obvious he had lost Ruth. Behind him, Fuzzy Guzy looked ready to pounce on his quarry. My mom was about halfway between the two, looking both ways as well.
For a moment I wondered where Nana was, but I didn’t have time. I ran, full out.
I didn’t get far.
“Ollie!”
I turned.
Ruth stood behind one of the abandoned balloon sculpture tents, the right half of her body hidden from view. She peered out around the corner, struggling with something I couldn’t see. “You need to get me out of here.”
I said the first thing that came to mind. “You killed your own husband? My God, why?”
“Get me out of here. I know you can do it.”
Whatever she had behind the white canvas made her recoil.
“Get me out of here now.” Her teeth gritted. “Before it’s too late.”
Several hundred yards away, Kap turned to look around. I started to call to him.
“Don’t,” she said.
And then she jerked her quarry into view.
I started to scream, but clapped my hands over my mouth. If I drew any attention to the three of us…
Nana fought her captor, but Ruth was twenty years younger and ten times stronger. She’d shoved fabric into Nana’s mouth, and had her wrapped in a bear hug from behind. “Shut up,” Ruth said, but her voice was ragged from exertion. Then to me: “Get me out of here or your grandmother gets dosed.”
My mind telescoped to the small vial in Ruth’s left hand. She held on to it so tightly, I could see the whites of her knuckles straining her skin. Nana kicked and tried to scream. Ruth rocked sideways, maintaining control of my grandmother’s writhing form.
“Don’t mess with me, I’m warning you. You have to get me out of here. You know how to do it.”
Secret Service agents were busy with Cooper and with Kap. No one took notice of three women by this vacant tent. I took a step closer. “Give it up, Ruth.”
“You want Grandma dead?”
Nana kicked, and although Ruth grimaced, she didn’t let go.
Working to tamp down the panic crawling up my throat, I pleaded. “Listen to me. Let her go-I’ll get you out. I will.”
“She comes with.” Ruth gave the area a quick glance. “No one is going to question us if we’re helping your grandmother. She stays with me until I’m out.”
My mouth was dry, and I couldn’t think-couldn’t begin to figure a way out of this one. “Nana,” I said.
Ruth tugged Nana in a vicious Heimlich maneuver. Nana’s muffled gasp tore at my heart. She slumped, unconscious.
“Nana!” I cried, starting toward her.
“Get back!” Ruth said. “Damn.” Tightening her hold around my grandmother, she pulled her hands close enough to start unscrewing the vial. “Get me out now, or I swear…”
“Okay.” My fear made it almost impossible to breathe. “Keep the bottle closed. Please.”
She looked both directions. “Which way out?” she asked. Then, as I started to move toward her, she yelled at me to stop again. “I don’t trust you.”
At that moment the trees behind Ruth parted and a giant purple bunny emerged. But this one was headless. The second Guzy brother held one finger on his lips as the other reached into the side of his costume. I prayed he was going for his gun.
“You can trust me,” I said, talking quickly. “You can. There is a way to get you out. I know how to do it.”
Ruth shook her head. When she let Nana’s body go, it dropped almost soundlessly to the ground. My heart dropped with her.
“No,” she said. “You won’t do it. You’re one of those bleeding-heart patriots.” Her words came fast. “But…” She glanced at the vial, then at Nana’s prone form. “I can make sure you won’t follow me.” She bent, intending to pour the liquid onto Nana’s face.
I rushed her, just as the Guzy behind Ruth shouted, “Stop!”
Her head jerked up.
The split-second delay was all I needed. I hit Ruth in a full-body tackle, grabbing her bony wrist, dragging it away from Nana as far as I could. Ruth and I twisted together as we fell to the ground. She gurgled her surprise, but recovered quickly and began fighting me, hard.
Her face contorted with effort, she yanked her arm. I felt her wrist slipping out of my grasp but the bottle flew from her hand. Time seemed to move in slow motion as the vial somersaulted about six inches above her face, about six inches below mine. I clenched my mouth and eyes shut until I heard the dull thud of the glass hitting bone. It had bounced off her cheek, spilling its contents all over her face-some in her eyes-with the bulk running down her cheek and into her open mouth. I immediately let go and jumped away from her, feeling my own face for any vestige of the deadly liquid on me. Dry. Thank God. Ruth sat up and spit, crying out for help as she clawed at her eyes.
I whirled to grab my grandmother by her shoulders. “Nana?”
She blinked up at me. “Are we safe now?”
None of the liquid had landed anywhere near my grandmother. I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“Are we safe?” Nana asked again.
“Yes,” I said. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Help me up,” she said.
“Maybe we should wait for the paramedics. You shouldn’t move around so fast.”
She boosted herself on one arm. “Help me up,” she said again, this time forcefully. “You think I didn’t do that on purpose?”
“You faked passing out?”
“Dead weight is always harder to work with,” she said as she got to her feet. “Figured you needed some assistance on this one, honey. Glad your old nana was here to help.”
We gave Ruth and Guzy wide berth as he came behind her, pulling out his handcuffs from within his fuzzy costume. “Careful,” I warned. I pointed to the vial and to Ruth, who was sobbing into the soft grass. “Tetrodotoxin.”
The headless rabbit spoke into his microphone as he knelt next to her.
The emergency staff quickly surrounded us. Joel broke through. “Mom?” He scanned the crowd before kneeling at his mother’s side. “What happened? Who did this?”
Ruth had begun to hyperventilate, sc
reaming about a conspiracy, but I noticed her gasping for air. I couldn’t watch. And I didn’t want Nana to see any of it either. I walked her away from the crowd. “Let’s get you inside,” I said. Secret Service agents swarmed the area, and we made a slow trek toward the White House. Within seconds, Mom joined us.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you later. Where’s Kap?”
She pointed back in the direction we’d come. “He’s checking on Mr. Cooper. Ollie, what just happened?”
Nana held my mom’s hand. “Corinne, we figured it out. Me and Ollie. We figured out who killed that Minkus fellow.” She looked up at me. “I don’t understand why, though. Do you know?”
I shook my head. Even if I had suspicions, I wasn’t ready to share them aloud.
“See, Corinne,” Nana continued, “it’s just like I always say. She takes after me.” Reaching up to pat my cheek, she said, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?”
CHAPTER 25
CRAIG SANDERSON CIRCLED MY CHAIR FOR the third time.
This small office in the East Wing-the same one where I’d waited to be interrogated by Secret Service assistant deputy Jack Brewster last week-was cold. I kept my hands together between my knees for warmth, but shivered involuntarily. Craig smiled at my discomfort, and tried to share the enjoyment with the only other person in the room, Agent Snyabar.
Snyabar stared straight ahead. Totally impassive.
Craig started in on me again. “You told the medic on the scene that Agent Cooper had ingested tetrodotoxin.”
It wasn’t exactly a question, so I didn’t answer.
He rubbed his chin, feigning thoughtfulness as he continued to pace around me. “I have to wonder how you knew which toxin killed Carl Minkus.”
Still not a direct question. I bit the insides of my mouth.
“Not that we aren’t grateful, mind you. Agent Cooper is in intensive care, but is expected to make a full recovery.” He stopped and looked down at me. “I’m sure he’s very appreciative of your intervention. And your prescience. How did you know what he’d been poisoned with? Oh wait! I forgot just who we’re dealing with here-the White House chef who feeds the First Family and saves the world in her spare time.” A frown contorted his face as he glared down at me. “Like a special agent in disguise. Talk about delusions.”
Silence hung in the air between us. I stared at the walls.
Craig cleared his throat. “Ms. Paras, you made a special effort to inform me that you and Agent MacKenzie were no longer… in your words, ‘in a relationship.’ ”
I looked up at him.
His eyebrows arched upward. “Why?”
“I told you why. So that you could no longer hold him responsible for my actions.”
He made a sound like, “Tsk.”
“What?” I asked.
He exhaled loudly. “This is an unfortunate turn of events. However, the ends do not justify the means.”
“What are you talking about?”
Craig’s smile was just nasty as his frown. I wanted to slap it off his face. “While I’m sure Agent Cooper is indebted to you for saving his life, it is clear to me that you could not have known about the toxin unless Agent MacKenzie breached security by telling you.”
I jumped in my chair. “He didn’t tell me.”
“Oh, I suppose you guessed?”
“Yeah, kind of. I figured it out.”
Craig seemed to find that funny. He looked up at Snyabar again. The other agent kept his eyes forward. “And how- exactly-were you able to figure out something so incredibly obscure?”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t mention Kap. Late yesterday, I had been debriefed to the extent deemed necessary. Kap was, indeed, not the man he appeared to be. A covert CIA agent, he and Cooper had uncovered Carl Minkus’s deep secret. It was Minkus who had been selling intelligence to China for years. Cooper and Kap were on the verge of being able to prove his treason-but then Minkus died. In the White House.
“I hear things, and I can put two and two together.” Sitting up a little straighter, I added, “That’s a talent that comes in handy, don’t you think?”
“Two plus two,” he said. “In addition to being a culinary genius, the chef is a math whiz.” His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. “You will be interested to know that I have taken steps to dismiss Agent MacKenzie from the PPD.”
I caught my breath. “You can’t do that.”
“I most certainly can, Ms. Paras.” He lips widened in a mean, straight line. “Unless you care to share any more of your mathematical skills with us…”
I waited. I had no idea where he was going.
“For instance, if you tell me specifically how you ‘deduced’ the name of the toxin… if,” he continued, raising his voice, “you were to cooperate-fully-I might be convinced to refrain from transferring Agent MacKenzie to the uniformed division.”
During yesterday’s debriefing, which had not included Craig, I learned that both Cooper and Kap had suspected Chinese operatives from the start. They were, however, stymied as to how the assassination had been carried out. Never did they suspect Ruth of slipping the toxin into her husband’s dish.
I wasn’t supposed to talk about it. I had given my word. But I thought about Tom-he had worked his entire career to become a member of the elite PPD. And now Craig, with no justification, planned to strip him of that. “I can’t talk about it,” I said. “But I can tell you that Tom did absolutely nothing wrong. He did not breach security.” I sighed. “He never does, even when it costs us both.”
“Not good enough. Who else could have possibly told you about the tetrodotoxin?”
Desperation ran through my mind. Then, I had it. “I did get the information from someone here at the White House.”
Craig’s eyebrows raised again. “Who?”
I took a deep breath. “Peter Everett Sargeant the Third.”
“The sensitivity director?” His face contorted. “How would he know anything?”
I shrugged. “He came in and started grilling me about puffer fish on Saturday. He asked, repeatedly, if I’d ever served it to the president. It wasn’t much of a leap after that. Like I said, two plus two…”
“Nice try, Ms. Paras, but-”
The door opened. Craig’s boss, Jack Brewster, walked in, followed by one of the Guzy brothers and Tom. “Excuse us, Ms. Paras.” He gestured me out. I stood, making eye contact with Tom, but his expression was unreadable. Just as I made it to the doorway, Brewster added, “You are released.”
I stood still as the door closed behind me.
It had been suggested-strongly-that I take some personal time. And now that I had agreed, I had no responsibilities in the kitchen until late next week. Bucky was being reinstated, and I knew that my team, especially with Henry there, would handle everything just fine. Although I longed to go down there to see my staff, I knew it would be best if I went home and spent time with Mom and Nana.
But something made me stay. Exhaustion? Fear for Tom? Whatever it was, I stopped at a chair in the hallway and sat down.
The last I’d heard yesterday, Ruth was in intensive care. No word on her condition today. But she had talked-some. From what the authorities discovered, she had known about her husband’s treasonous activities for a long time. He had even shared with her his fears about being found out. He knew Kap was onto him and he planned to take Kap out.
Aware that Carl’s treason would be brought to light at any moment, Ruth could no longer take the pressure. Worse than her husband being a traitor was the effect Carl’s arrest might have on their son’s political aspirations. Reasoning that Carl would be put to death for his actions anyway, she did her best to prevent him from ruining their son’s life by squelching the ugly truth before it came out. When Carl revealed his plan to kill Kap, Ruth saw an opportunity to save her son’s career. She used Carl’s own supply of toxin to kill him, in effect hoisting him by his own petard.
All to save Joel
from the stigma of being the son of a traitor.
I thought about Nana’s observation at the wake. No happy family pictures on that digital slideshow. My guess was there were more issues in Ruth’s life-but those we might not ever know.
So deep was I in thought that I didn’t hear the door opening until Craig emerged. He shot me a look that would kill a less sturdy woman. But I stood.
He stormed down the hall.
I scrambled to get out of the way when Jack Brewster came out a moment later, talking genially with Tom. Brewster saw me and walked over. “I don’t condone your involvement in sensitive activities, Ms. Paras. Remember that.” He turned to Tom and shook his hand. “I’ll see you later.”
Guzy and Snyabar followed Brewster, but as they passed, Snyabar turned to me and winked.
“What happened?” I asked Tom.
His eyes held a look I hadn’t seen before. Excitement tinged with sadness. “I’ve been promoted.” He looked down the hall where Craig had gone. “I’ve got Craig’s job. He’s been assigned to a field office.”
It took me a moment to find my voice. “How?”
“Someone-a high-ranking someone whose name I have not been provided-came to your defense. Craig tried very hard to get you fired and to get me reassigned. Instead, it backfired on him.”
I thought of Craig’s gloating smile as he was grilling me. “Good.”
Again Tom looked down the hall. “He was just trying to do his job, Ollie. Protect the president.”
Suddenly I felt very small. Craig had just been doing his job. I shouldn’t be taking any glee in the fact that he’d been demoted. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
He turned toward me. “I am, too. This is not how I wanted to be promoted. If Craig hadn’t tried so hard to get rid of you…” He gave me a look that I didn’t understand. “You have friends in high places and you came out on top. Again.”
“Then why do I feel just the opposite?”
“That I can’t answer. But I feel it, too.”
Our eyes locked for a few seconds. He didn’t smile. Instead he mumbled that he needed to go, and left me standing in the hall.
I stared after him for a long moment, before heading home.
