“Yes,” he said and pulled her into his arms. “Hell yes!”
But tears were in LaLa’s eyes. Because she knew, in deciding to stay with her troubled husband, she would never have that happily ever after she always dreamed she’d have. Her life with Crader McKenzie, despite his bold castration pronouncements and promises, may very well be just as drama-filled as it was filled with happiness.
But she also knew, as his kisses moved from her mouth to her breasts, that despite it all, staying with Crader was the absolute best thing she could do for herself, for her daughter, and for her man.
Gina, she also knew, would disagree mightily. But Gina had Dutch. Gina had the gold standard as far as LaLa was concerned. She could afford to disagree.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Dutch was seated upright on the weight bench and was listening intently as his FBI Director, his Homeland Security Director, and his Attorney General stood at his feet. They were in the White House gym, and had just told the president what they all considered excellent news.
“Fifty-two in all, sir,” the FBI Director relayed. “We’ve arrested fifty-two in total.”
“That’s impressive.”
All of them smiled. “Thank-you, sir,” the FBI Director said. “When one started talking, it became like dominoes. All of them started talking. At least to a point. There’s still a lot we don’t know.”
“That’s why you handle this situation with great caution,” Dutch ordered. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves. At the presser you’re going to insist that the investigation is still ongoing, and you will insist that fact repeatedly. Don’t leave the public with the false impression that your work is done. You don’t want to get caught flatfooted should more names surface during your interrogations and you have to have more and more press conferences announcing the new names. Don’t overreach.”
“Understood, sir.”
“But as far as you know now, all of the actual bombers have been arrested?”
“Yes, sir,” the FBI Director proudly asserted. “All of them.”
Dutch drained down another bottled water. He had on a pair of Puma shorts and a sweatshirt and his entire body was drenched from his high impact workout. And although he was inwardly thrilled beyond measure to hear this wonderful news, he was treading lightly. He didn’t want any surprises.
“You said the ringleader was Amir Alzrabi?”
“Alzahabi, sir, yes, sir.”
“And what was the other name again?”
“Jacarta Mustafa,” said the FBI Director. “He wasn’t even on our radar screen. Neither one of them were. But Jacarta and Amir were definitely the ringleaders. We’ve determined that much already.”
“But,” the Homeland Security Director added, “they weren’t the masterminds.”
Dutch looked at her. “They weren’t? Then who the hell was?”
The HLS Director and the FBI Director both looked at the AG. Dutch looked at her too.
“Will you excuse us?” she asked her colleagues.
When Dutch didn’t object, although they wanted him too, the two directors did leave the gym. The Attorney General, a tough lady who favored boot-cut pant suits, kneeled down on her haunches. She was now face to face with the president.
“We’ve received credible intelligence that the mastermind, Dutch, was Max Brennan.”
Dutch stared at her. He could not believe his ears. “Max?”
“Your former chief of staff. Yes, sir.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“No, sir.”
“But Max? How in the world was that worm able to mastermind something on this large a scale? Where would he have gotten the resources?”
“When you told us that Thurston Osgood was the financial backer for Marcus Rance’s attempt on the First Lady’s life, my team paid him a visit. The man was so filled with hatred for you that he didn’t care that we had him in our noose. All he cared about was that he had helped to inflict injury on your wife. He would have preferred that those injuries led to her demise, but he was happy nonetheless.”
“Happy?”
“Overjoyed, Dutch.”
Dutch shook his head. “What a perverted piece of shit,” he said.
“He can’t get over the fact that you made his gifted surgeon son an invalid.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t get over the fact that his surgeon son brutalized my daughter. But I’m sure that’s beside the point with Thurston.”
“Totally beside the point with him,” the AG said with a smile. Then she turned serious again. “But that wasn’t all,” she said. “We were about to take his old ass in as an accessory, but he wanted to make a deal.
“You better not have made a deal with that snake.”
“We didn’t, sir. Well, we did, initially. Because we knew he was ready to talk. He had no attorney there, and he was ready to talk. It was all about revenge with that guy. He didn’t care about his freedom, and he didn’t seem to care about that son of his, either. It was revenge he wanted. His son seemed like nothing more than a potted plant in a wheelchair. Just furniture in the room as far as he was concerned.”
The darkness in Dutch’s past. Henry Osgood was right there, too. “What does Thurston Osgood have to do with any of this?”
“That’s the thing,” the AG said, becoming more animated. “He told us that just like he funded Marcus Rance in his quest to destroy you, he bankrolled Max Brennan’s similar quest.”
Dutch’s heart began to pound. Max again.
“And he’s certainly rich enough to do it, Dutch,” the AG went on. “Max got in touch with Amir and Jacarta and the scheme was on. It was all about destroying your legacy. They timed the bombings to make it seem as if your resignation made the country vulnerable to attack. They wanted you to share the blame for the attacks. Max wanted to destroy your legacy, and Thurston wanted it destroyed. We believe it was just one part of a series of events Max Brennan had planned.”
“To destroy me.”
“To destroy you, sir. Yes, sir.”
“What about Max?” he asked. “Has he been intercepted?”
“Not yet. But we’re on it, sir. Our last intelligence placed him in Boston---”
Dutch looked at her. “In Boston?”
“The home base of Harber Industries, yes, sir. We believe he was attempting to infiltrate your company and sabotage it. We don’t know which executive he approached, but we’re working on it.”
“Investigate all of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Begin with Lee Perry.”
“Your CFO, sir?”
“Right. She has skeletons in her closet. She doesn’t think I know about them, but I do.”
“And she’s still CFO of your company?”
Dutch nodded. “Yes. Apparently when she and her brother were teenagers, fifteen I think,, they had an altercation with their alcoholic, abusive father. Something went sideways and the father ended up deceased later that night. The brother took the blame, declaring that his sister wasn’t even at home that night. Of course, the townspeople started talking and it was widely believed in their small Georgia town that Lenora was probably there and participated too. She had been badly abused by her father too.”
Dutch thought about Lenora. He thought about the smart, capable woman she became. “But the brother was the only one of the two teens arrested and he ended up hanging himself in jail, which devastated Lee even more. But the authorities considered the death of her father as a case closed, and she later left the town, changed her name, and told everyone who would listen that her father walked away from the family one day, and never came back.”
“I’m assuming Max knew about her past?”
“Oh, yes,” Dutch said. “He was my best friend when I was vetting her for the job. He was my go-to guy. He was the one who handled the investigation.”
The AG nodded and wrote in her notebook. “We will definitely begin with Miss Perry.”
“And you will def
initely keep that part of your investigation completely for eyes only. I do not want her background a source of public sneer. Understood? She was an abused teenager who got herself caught in a horrible situation, but that’s become her personal hell. And it had better stay that way.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What about Thurston Osgood? You said you initially made a deal with Osgood?”
“Initially, yes, sir. To get what we needed out of him there and then, before he had an opportunity to lawyer up. And then after he told us what we needed to hear we arrested him and stood ignorant to any such claim of a deal.”
“Good,” Dutch said. Then got back down to business. “I want the vice president leading the press conference.”
“The V.P., sir?”
“Yes. I want his wife there, I want you there, I want all of the heads of the intelligence agencies there.”
“But, sir, with respect,” the AG said with concern in her eyes. “Don’t you think the American public would prefer to hear the good news from you?”
“I frankly don’t care who they would prefer to hear it from. Crader is going to announce that my resignation is now in full effect and that he is now their president, and then Crader will announce the good news. I will be associated with the disaster, Crader will be associated with solving the disaster.” Dutch looked at his AG. “And that’s the way it’s going to be.”
The AG nodded her head. “Yes, sir,” she said. “It should take a couple hours to assemble, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
Then, as the AG was about to leave, she leaned over and hugged the president. Dutch returned her affection.
“It’s been an honor working for you, sir,” she said. “You give me hope that all men aren’t dogs after all.”
Dutch always felt sheepish whenever such praise was heaped on him. He didn’t deserve it, and he often told them so, but they still heaped it anyway. “All men are dogs,” he said only half-jokingly. “Including me. Some just are more astute at hiding their bite.”
The AG laughed, and left the gym.
But Dutch’s mood remained uneasy. He idea that Max was at it again in ways that even Dutch would not have thought he was capable of. But the last time Dutch had seen him, he was a very broken, bitter man. He had been warned to get his act together, but apparently he didn’t heed that warning. But his days were numbered. If he was captured alive, Dutch would have to see to that. But Max was once his closest friend. Max was once a man he loved with all of his heart. He couldn’t pretend this news didn’t hurt.
But he couldn’t dwell on it. He stood up and grabbed another bottled water, ready to continue his workout. But he was interrupted again.
“Hello, Christian,” Dutch said when Christian walked in and made his way to the weight bench.
“Good morning, sir.”
“If you’re here to talk to me about Jade again, save your breath. She’s getting the treatment she needs. That may delay your divorce proceedings, but it can’t be helped.”
“Yes, sir. I mean, I’m not here about that, sir. I want Jade to get help. She needs it.”
“Yes,” Dutch agreed, and his daughter was yet another pain in his life.
Christian went on. “I’m here to let you know that Gina, that the First Lady, has arrived.”
Dutch was stunned. “Already? She isn’t due back here until tonight.”
“I know, sir. But she came back early.”
Dutch’s heart leaped for joy. He tossed his towel onto the bench, and without so much as a by-your-leave, took off running. Christian was amazed at how the president’s entire demeanor changed at just the mention of the First Lady’s name. And he thought about his rotten success at love. With Jade, who didn’t want his love, and with his beloved LaLa, who didn’t need it.
It all seemed so hopeless, he thought as he grabbed the president’s towel and the empty bottles of water on the gym floor. But whenever he saw a powerful man like Dutch Harber behave like a kid in a candy store just because his wife was back home to him, he felt hopeful too. At least somebody was getting it right, Christian thought.
But then he thought again about LaLa, and how determined she was to stay with that crazy-ass Crader McKenzie, and he tossed the towel right back down.
Gina was standing in the middle of the bedroom, heading for the closet, when Dutch entered the room.
“Dutch!” she said with a grand smile and ran to greet him. He lifted her into his arms and kissed her long, hard and passionately. Then he remembered that she was back so early.
He looked at her, removing her hair out of her face. “Are you alright?”
“I’m great now that I’m back home with you and Little Walt.”
Dutch smiled. “Have you seen that son of ours? He miss you terribly.”
“Yes, I’ve seen him, and I miss him too,” she said as she stood back on her feet. “I’ve only been gone for a few days, but it seems as if he’s grown another inch to me. Is that my imagination?”
“You better believe it is,” Dutch said.
Then Gina’s look turned serious.
Dutch noticed the change. “What’s the matter?”
“I heard they found Marcus’s body in some field in Virginia earlier this morning.”
Dutch stared at her. “Yes, I heard that too.”
“They said his body was riddled with bullets.”
Dutch hesitated. “How does that make you feel?”
“He’s my half-brother,” she said. “Despite what he did to me, and thought he was doing to you, it doesn’t make me feel fantastic. But . . .”
“But what?”
“But a part of me is relieved, to be honest with you. Very relieved.”
Dutch nodded. That was all he wanted. “Good,” he said. “Very good. And one other thing, darling.”
Gina looked at him. His look had turned so solemn.
“What is it?” she asked.
“They’ve made an arrest, Gina.”
Gina’s face lit up, which made Dutch smile too.
“They know who caused those explosions?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Dutch! That means. . . Does that mean?”
“Yes,” Dutch said proudly. “That means we can go home. For good this time.”
“Oh, Dutch,” Gina said with such relief as she jumped back into his arms. And Dutch shared her joy. Because he knew how badly she wanted out. How badly they both wanted out.
But as he held her and felt her stomach and her breasts and her thighs against him, the fact that she had been out of his bed for two straight nights caused his mood to change. And suddenly it all turned lustful, and he had to have her.
He began kissing her while carrying her to the bed at the same time. Gina returned his kisses just as affectionately because their lack of intimacy wasn’t lost on her, either.
He laid her vertically and lifted her blouse and her bra. He began kissing and sucking her breasts as he pulled down her skirt and panties. When her shoes dropped and he lifted her panties and skirt completely off, he opened her legs wider and moved his kisses downward.
He moaned at that familiar smell he loved and began licking her passionately as he unzipped his own pants. He pulled his penis out and realized he didn’t have to prep it at all. He already had a sizeable erection.
He continued to lick her as his penis remained aroused. It was beyond ready for penetration. But Dutch wanted Gina beyond ready, too. His hands continued to squeeze her breasts above, as his tongue handled her below.
Gina was so thrilled to feel Dutch again that she wrapped her legs around his neck and pushed up as close as she could push it. And that nearly did it for Dutch. He removed his hands from her breasts and placed them beneath her butt, giving his mouth optimum accessibility. And he went to town on her cunt. He held nothing back. Until his dick screamed for attention too.
He stood up, stepped out of his shorts and briefs, tossed his sweatshirt over his head, and got on the bed. He moved up the length o
f her until his dick was going into her mouth. And her mouth, as he knew she would, took him in full.
He closed his eyes and sighed as she mouth-fucked him in that sensual way of hers no other woman on the face of this earth could do. His entire body relaxed as his penis moved up and down inside of her mouth and she sucked and squeezed and loved every inch of his rod. He missed her so much. He missed the way she did him expertly. Until she became a victim of her own success.
And he had to have more of her.
He moved down, positioned his penis, and entered her. Her body arched as he penetrated her with one hard, passionate push that landed him deep within her. She cried out in joy as his strokes pushed through the constrictions of her vagina and made her tremble with feelings. He missed her terribly, and was determined to show it.
Dutch laid down on top of his wife and fucked her for nearly an hour. Gina’s legs were wrapped around him and his arms were wrapped around her and they kissed and embraced and fucked in complete rhythm with each other.
Somehow their love made it possible for them to make such intense feelings last and last. Just when they thought they were too close to the edge of climax, and this couldn’t possibly go on a second longer, they continued to fuck. The world was shifting, his administration was preparing to make the announcement the entire country had been waiting to hear, and they continued to fuck.
And even when Gina reached her most intense organism, and Dutch began pouring into her with a ferocity he didn’t think he still had in him, they couldn’t will themselves to stop. They didn’t even slow down.
What did love have to do with it? For Dutch and Gina: everything.
EPILOGUE
Just as Crader McKenzie was announcing to the world that Dutch Harber’s resignation was in full effect and he was now their president, Dutch and Gina and Little Walt Harber were making their way onto the helipad on the south lawn of the White House. Just as Crader McKenzie, with Loretta “LaLa” McKenzie and the heads of every intelligence agency behind him, was pleased to inform the public of the magnificent arrest of the terrorists who attacked their homeland, the helicopter was lifting off the ground. Dutch and Gina looked at the White House as the helicopter lifted off ground. And already it felt groundbreaking to them. They were leaving the fishbowl for good. It was final now. There would be no glitches, no technicalities, this time.
DUTCH AND GINA: WHAT HE DID FOR LOVE Page 20
