“He’ll know that someone has been— Ah, so you want him to know that someone has been in here. All right. But let’s really make this fun and have him shitting bricks. You should leave him a little note saying where his passwords are. Thanking him for making it so easy.”
Vance was laughing as he wrote that on the calendar. Then he signed it with his single initial and put a happy face by it. The man was going to be livid when he saw that, and she wished that she could be there to see it.
Two hours later they were at the dock. The ship was there being loaded, and by Army personnel too. That, she thought, was against the law. But then all of this was. Watching them for several minutes, she took out her phone and started taking pictures.
“I’m going to stop this.” She asked him what he was going to do. “I’m still in the army last I checked, so I’m going to see what the fuck is going on. Just wait here, in case I need you to come and rescue my ass.”
Since she’d seen him in nothing but fatigues, she knew that he’d be able to blend right in with the rest of the men. But that wasn’t his style or plan apparently, and as soon as he was close enough for them to make out who he was, Vance raised his rifle up over his head and fired a volley of rounds.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She laughed when several of the men dropped to their knees with their hands up over their heads. “You all should join them. I’m sure that as soon as the military police get here, they’re going to shoot those of you who are not down.”
As if they’d gotten their knees cut out from under them, the rest of them dropped. Even the ship captain came out and joined the men. Weapons were tossed away, and after that, he had complete control over them. When she joined him on the dock, he asked her to pull out his phone so he could make a call.
First, he called a friend of his by the sound of it. She could hear him the man’s excitement through the connection. He said he’d be right there with his crew, and when Vance ended the call, he winked at her.
“The newspaper.” Nodding, she watched him make a second call. “Hello, President Melton. This is Special Forces Sargent Vance McCade. I’m down here at the dock of General Adkins, and I’ve just made a discovery that you might not be aware of.” Vance put it on speaker so that she could hear too.
The president cursed a long streak of words before he seemed to gather himself up. “I’ll be down there in a bit. Don’t make any more calls, McCade. I don’t want this getting out until we have all the facts about those guns.”
“I never said they were guns, sir.” There was silence at the other end this time. “All I said was I’d made a discovery here. You knew about it, I’m thinking.”
“Mother fuck. Why won’t you just fucking die?” The line went dead and Vance turned to her.
“He wants you to die? Well, that’s just too bad for him,” she laughed. “I like you just where you are.”
Before the president arrived, if he was going to, the local news crew showed up and set up their cameras. She noticed that they were very careful not to get her or Vance in the view, but they did make sure that they got not only the name of the ship, but also the captain, as well as all the men that were on the ground. This wasn’t going to play well on the news.
They interviewed several of the men, who had plenty to say about how they’d come to be there. The captain, very helpful in that he was more than likely going to prison, said that he’d been ordered by General Adkins to load the guns onto the ship. And that he’d done this several times before. He even showed them his log book. By the time the president did show up, his name had been bandied around as well, as the man in charge of all that was happening right under their noses.
By dinner time, not only was the president being questioned, but also the vice president and some of their staff. Adkins couldn’t be found, but she was sure that he’d turn up sometime soon. She’d make sure of it. And through it all, Vance stood there with his gun on Melton and Elliot. Micky wasn’t sure if the man understood that he’d be dead if he moved or if he thought that Vance was protecting him. But then, the man wasn’t that stupid. At least she hoped not. She’d never been prouder to be a part of something.
“Mr. President, you say that you were unaware of this going on. Can you tell us how that is possible? The records of the captain of this ship say that you’ve been here when the paperwork was being signed.” Melton looked at her and Vance but said nothing. You’d have to be a fool to not notice that the man was sweating bullets and pissed off. “There is also information given to us by an unnamed source that says that you were aware of other shipments that have left this dock. What do you have to say to that?”
“I have nothing to say. And if I just happened to be here, it’s because General Adkins is a good friend of mine. Or so I thought. I had no idea of his treason to this country. You can bet that if he’s found, then I’ll have a few questions for him myself.” Vance said he would be found, but no one commented. “If there is nothing else, I need to get back to my office. I am trying to run this country, you know, and it won’t do that on its own.”
“Are you sure about that, sir?” He didn’t answer the question but waved the reporter off and headed to his car. “Mr. President, I have more questions for you. There are a lot of drugs coming into the country. Can you tell the people that you’re supposed to be protecting what that’s all about?”
No answer. When the car drove off, Peter Dillinger turned to them. He looked like he’d just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize as well as a million bucks. He shook their hands twice before he spoke to them.
“He’s going down.” Vance nodded and said that he hoped so. “Me too. I’m glad you called. And if you need me again, all you have to do is yell. I’m your man.”
Vance handed him the envelopes that he’d been given earlier. “Those are conversations, pictures, as well as a couple of people that have been murdered by those two men. Adkins is on his way to a little hangar about four miles from DC. There are a couple of people there that are going to...detain him.” Dillinger asked if he could go too. “You’d be better served if you went to his second home. He’ll have them take him by there first. Not that they should, but they’re going to in the hopes that you’ll just happen to be there. This one is just his vacation place, and he’ll try his best to pass this off as him not knowing about the activities that are going on here.”
“But we have the paperwork.” Vance nodded at the man. “You’re slick, Vance. I think you should run this country. You’d do a hell of a job, better than we’ve had of late.”
“Nah, I have a dragon to take care of.” Peter laughed and walked away. Vance looked at her. “They never believe me when I say that to them. I wonder why not?”
“Perhaps it’s your delivery. You might want to work on that.” She laughed when he said that he would. Taking her hand in his, he kissed the back of it and they started toward his car. “Where to now? I’m assuming that we have more work to be done.”
“Yes. Two more things. One is seeing what Melton has to say once he gets back to his offices. And the second thing, I want to find you a ring. I want you branded with my mark.” She felt her body heat up. “You keep that up and I’ll be branding you in a different way right here on the dock.”
“You can brand me any way you want. Just do it soon, will you?” They were nearly to their car when she paused. There was something here, someone was watching them. “Butler is around here. He might be watching to see what you’re doing.”
“Let him watch.” Vance pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was meant to show possession, she knew that, but it warmed her all the way to her toes and back again. When he let her go, she could see the desire on his face. “Okay, we have three things to do today. Back to the house.”
Chapter 3
Abe didn’t know what to do. Run? That would be the best thing, he thought, but there wasn’t much hope of him getting far. Should he just go on like nothing had happened? Like that was going to be able to
happen now that McCade had fucked things up for them. Abe looked at Morton when he started cursing.
“That man is going to get us impeached.” Abe thought that was a pretty sure bet once this hit the papers. “My wife is going to demand answers too. What the fuck am I supposed to tell her? She has it in her head that I’m running again with you next term. She’s enjoying being the wife of the vice president.”
“My wife too. First lady is something that she’d had put on her stationary. Not that she mails shit out, but she had it put there.” He thought of all the things she had going on too, things that were above board and legal. “Mildred is going to have a cow when she finds out. And I think she’ll have no trouble believing it all either.”
“Mine too. We’re so fucked over this. We need that man dead.” Abe told him it wouldn’t matter now. They’d dig until they found all the shit on them. “Still, having him dead would make me feel a good deal better.” Morton’s cell was ringing before he could answer him.
It would be nice for him to be dead, it surely would, but the problem that he saw with that was that he’d be blamed for McCade’s death as well. And even though he’d been trying since he took office, the man had never died by his hand. It was like he had nine fucking lives or something.
“I just heard from the computer room. We’ve been raided.” He asked how the fuck that had happened. “Those men we have down there, they called in the MPs. Something about they were told to do it. I didn’t tell them, did you?”
“Why the fuck would I have them call in the military police when I have more to lose than you do? Mother fuck balls, I just know it was McCade. Have we heard anything about his family coming here? Not that they would now, but anything at all?” Morton nodded. “Please tell me that their house burned down. Or they’ve all died from some poison that had them suffering for weeks and weeks. Anything at all.”
“The mother called in to thank you for sending her the lovely tea set. She said that it was very nice of you to send her the entire set.” Abe counted to ten, then when that didn’t calm him down, he counted again. “She is a nice lady.”
Abe punched Morton in the face. It might have been a bit more satisfying if not for the fact that he fell forward when the car stopped suddenly, and blood got all over Abe as well. This was why, he’d bet, they weren’t supposed to ride in the same car. So they’d not kill each other.
Asking what the fuck was going on, Abe jumped when the door opened to his right. Abe was positive that he didn’t want to exit the vehicle. He had no idea why, but he knew that something bad was about to go down. When Vance’s face appeared in the empty space where the door had been, he cringed back from him. This wasn’t going to end well.
“Hello, gentlemen. I’m to escort you the rest of the way to the White House.” Abe said no, but Vance got in the car with them anyway. “Did you know that you both have blood on yourself? And I’ve not even had my fun yet.”
“Are you going to kill us?” That was a good question from Morton. But Abe wasn’t sure that he wanted to know the answer. “There are a lot of people that will know that you’ve done it.”
“Of that, I have no doubt. But for now, I’m only taking you back to the White House. Your buddy Adkins has been located. He’s been talking like he has one of those strings on him. Pull it and you get all kinds of shit you didn’t even ask about.” This was bad. Really bad. “You’ve not asked me why I’m the one escorting you home—well, your home for a little bit longer. Don’t you even care? Or is it you’ve figured it out?”
“I don’t want to know.” He didn’t either, and turned away when Morton asked. He thought it was better to imagine than to know what his fate was. “You’ve really fucked this up for us, McCade. You could have been a national hero, but now you’re going to be shit.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I did stop a great deal of guns from going out of the country. Where they were headed, they would have killed a lot more men than just me, I think. Then there is the added fact that we found your little room and all the shit that was going on there too.” He threw a handful of little devices at them both. Abe knew just what they were. “It was easy enough to figure out who had ordered them put into my body. And I’ve a good friend who is going over the bodies of my other men that have recently turned up dead. They’ve found four, so far, in the body of Sawyer.”
“If I had a gun....” Abe wasn’t sure in that moment if he would have killed himself or McCade. But he seemed to understand and laughed. “You’re a bastard, did you know that? A fucking royal pain in my ass too.”
“Well, that should be taken care of soon enough, don’t you think?” The limo slid to a smooth stop and Abe leaned back and closed his eyes. “No time for napping, I’m afraid. You have a bunch of people here that need some answers. Oh, I’m supposed to let you know that you’re also being audited by the IRS. There seems to be a great deal of money in some accounts that have your name on them overseas.”
With that, Vance got out of the limo when the door was opened and stood there. Abe thought about running again, hoping that he’d be shot in the head as he did so. It might be a good deal quicker than what he was up against. Everything in his life was going down the toilet.
Every news crew that he’d ever seen was on the front lawn of the White House. Not that they could get much further than they were right now, but he could hear the questions being screamed at him. See the greed in the news reporters’ eyes as they hoped for a good shot at him and Morton. Vance was right there, just holding his rifle at his chest like he was going to protect them, when Abe knew that he’d be the first to fire if he could.
Mildred was the first person he saw as soon as he got inside. She wasted no time in slapping him and stomping away. His own wife had turned against him. Not that he wasn’t going to get rid of her as soon as he could, but this hurt. She was abandoning her post, which was to stand beside her man. Going to his office, he was escorted by the same men that he’d tried to have killed by sending arms to the countries they were fighting against. Any one of them would have easily killed him, and they’d be justified in it.
Instead of going to the Oval Office, where he thought they were taking him, he was taken to a room he’d had no idea was there—a dark room with mirrors all around it, which were no doubt being monitored by every covert person in the country. Sitting in the room’s only chair, he looked at McCade when he joined him.
“Why?” Abe looked at him when he asked the question. “You did this for a reason other than money, didn’t you? I mean, please tell me you had another reason for sticking it to the men and women that lay their lives on the line every day for this country.”
“You’d like there to be another reason, wouldn’t you? Oh, I figure they have enough on me right now that I’ll never see the light of day again. So, all right. I’ll answer you. No, I didn’t have any other reason than to get more money. And who doesn’t need more money when it’s right there to be had?” Abe looked around the room, at each of the mirrors that reflected back at him. “There isn’t a person in this room with us that wouldn’t have done the same thing. You too, if given the chance.”
“No, I’d never do that.” Abe nodded, but didn’t agree or disagree with him. “You had it all, you know. A good job, safe from anyone trying to murder you, and you fucked everyone over for money. I think you’re the saddest person I’ve ever come across.”
“Me too now that I’m caught. I don’t want to talk to you anymore, McCade. You’ve done enough damage to me for one lifetime.” McCade didn’t say anything then, which was good. Abe was trying to figure out his own fate in all this.
“Mr. Melton?” He nodded and noticed that he was no longer Mr. President. “My name is Agent Oliver Stanton. I’m from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m here to ask you some questions about some things that we’ve been made aware of.” Abe said that he didn’t want McCade there. “Well, that’s just too bad. I want him here, as do the rest of the people that are here to ask y
ou some questions. I don’t care if you’re comfortable, but if you want a drink or something, I can get you that. It’s going to be a long day.”
“No, I’m fine.” Abe looked at McCade. If they ever wanted to update their recruiting posters, this man would be the best one for the job. He was every bit military, from the top of his buzz haircut to the bottom of his boots. His appearance just screamed don’t fuck with me. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? I have a country to run into the ground.”
Abe laughed but neither man did. He was in over his head, they all had to know that. So if he was just a little insane at the moment, that was the reason why. As the questions started coming, mostly about the arms deals he had set up, one thought kept coming to his mind. He wondered what was going to happen to McCade now.
They’d have a parade in his honor. Then almost as he thought of that, he discarded it. He’d not want that. It would be showy, and this man was not. He’d like something like a nice dinner with just him and a woman. No one knowing his name. McCade wasn’t going to go far with that way of thinking, but Abe thought he was right. That was just what the man would want.
The questioning went on for six hours. He answered them honestly, or as best he could, giving up the names of the people that he’d had on his payroll, as well as a couple he wished had been. There was no point in lying to them. When he’d started out doing just that, they had brought out paperwork, his own words on a transcript that proved him wrong.
Abe thought he was finished for the day when Stanton said he was finished for now. All he wanted to do was go to his rooms, take a long shower, and lie down. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen when two men came in, handcuffed him with his hands behind him, and took him to the van waiting on the front lawn. He was going to prison, just as surely as he’d gotten out of bed that morning.
This time McCade didn’t go with him. He was at the prison when he got there, but he neither said anything nor looked at him directly. Abe supposed he’d seen and heard enough for one day, and wondered what the man was going to do now that his mission to ruin him was finished.
Vance_The McCade Dragon Page 3
