“It’s time for us to go,” he said amidst protests. I smiled gratefully and let him lead me out of the restaurant.
We walked in silence, our house only a twenty minute walk away. He threaded his fingers through mine and I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“You know, it was four years ago today that my father was arrested.”
He grunted. “And almost three years since he was sentenced.”
“He wrote me a letter.” I hadn’t told Zane that, and I felt him tense.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. He apologized and wished us well. Said he’d like to meet the baby when it comes.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
I smiled, glancing up at Zane. He was always so diplomatic, but I’d learned to read the micro expressions on his face. Right now, he was panicking. I squeezed his hand.
“I feel apprehensive. I don’t want to bring a child to a federal prison. I figure I’ll think about it and see how I feel when the baby comes.”
Zane grunted, and I nudged him with my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Zane. If you’re uncomfortable with it, I won’t do anything you don’t want. We’re a team, remember? We’ll parent this kid with a united front.”
He glanced at me, and his shoulders relaxed. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners and he paused in the street, cupping my cheek in his hand.
He kissed me slowly and tenderly, under the streetlights in our quiet neighborhood. The world fell away, and all that existed was him and me. He held me close and let out a sigh.
“You’re so much stronger than me, Sadie,” he whispered.
“I’ve seen you in the gym, and I disagree.”
A smile stretched across his lips—his smiles had been getting more and more frequent as time went on. He shook his head and pressed his lips to mine.
“It takes a lot more strength to forgive than it does to stay bitter.”
“Forgiveness is a choice, Zane. It’s quick, like flipping a switch. You fight it and fight it and fight it… and then, you decide to forgive.”
“I’m not sure I’m there yet.”
“You don’t have to be.”
He smiled again and shook his head. “What did I do to deserve you?”
I hooked my arms around his neck and grinned. “Well, you made me orgasm really hard about ten thousand times. That earned you a couple points.”
His eyes sparkled. “Yeah? What else?”
“You also saved me from Russian mobsters and stopped me from getting sexually assaulted by my ex-fiancé. That counts for something.”
A smile twitched at his lips, and he intertwined his fingers in mine. We kept walking and I leaned into him.
“You also encouraged me to stop law school and pursue veterinary school, which is something that I never would have done on my own.”
“You know, I’m actually pretty great.”
“And best of all, you gave me a child, and a life, and a future full of happiness.”
That earned me the biggest smile I’d seen from Zane since our wedding day. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me the rest of the way home. He kicked our front door open and carried me across the threshold into our loving, happy home.
* * *
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His Oath
Book 2
1
Cat
If someone told me that my first day as a US Senator would involve a bucket of rotting fish guts being poured over me, I would never have believed them. I would have called them crazy.
I would have been wrong.
When I arrived at the Hart Senate Office building, I dropped my cardboard box onto my new desk and glanced around the office. It was bigger than my last office, but it felt cold. Clinical. Empty.
For now.
I wandered over to the window and looked outside. My office overlooked the internal courtyard of the building. It had a massive glass roof that cast a dim, artificial light over everything it covered—including my office. People in suits rushed from one side of the courtyard to the other, checking their watches and lugging expensive-looking briefcases with them.
My eyes drifted over everything as a smile tugged at the edge of my lips and excitement snaked in the pit of my stomach.
I never expected to be here, in D.C., so early in my career. I never expected to be the youngest female senator that this country had ever seen.
And yet… I was here. All the sacrifices that I’d made on my way here were starting to pay off. All the late nights campaigning, all the unpaid internships, all the relationships I never had—it was all worth it.
I made it.
A nervous tingle spread through my body and I took a deep breath.
All eyes were on me. I’d been handed an opportunity on a golden platter, and I wasn’t going to mess it up.
The Governor appointed me after Senator Nathan Blanchet was exposed for his involvement in a Russian weapons deal last month. It was up to me to fill his position and make sure that no more scandals hurt our office from now until the next election.
I would serve as the interim senator until the General Election in three months’ time. After that, the people would vote. If I won, I’d serve for the next six years.
Thanks to Nathan Blanchet’s traitorous deal, my career was on a fast track to success. If he wasn’t a traitor and a felon, I’d thank him for what he’d done for me.
Walking back to my desk, I opened one of the drawers. Two old pens and a few paperclips slid toward the front of the drawer, and I grinned.
This was all that was left of Nathan Blanchet’s term—a few leftover office supplies. I took a deep breath and started unpacking my box.
I set a picture of me, my older brother, and my grandfather on the corner of my desk and a cactus on the other. I put some books on the bookshelf that lined the eastern wall and tucked my favorite pen into the stationary drawer. Glancing around my office, a grin tugged at my lips. This was the beginning of something big.
A knock came from the doorway, and I saw the other senator for Maryland, Levi Whitehall, grinning at me like the Cheshire Cat. He was an older man with salt-and-pepper hair trimmed in a tight crew cut. He adjusted his tie and whistled.
“Nice office, Cat—or should I say Senator Crawford?”
“Cat is fine.” I grinned. “But Senator Crawford does have a nice ring to it.”
He extended his hand toward me and I shook it firmly. His eyes gleamed with fatherly pride. “I’m proud of you, Catherine. I remember when you started as my intern. It wasn’t that long ago, really.”
“And look at me now.” I smiled, spreading my arms out wide. “I guess I have Senator Blanchet to thank for that.”
Whitehall’s face darkened. “If I’d have known…” He shook his head, inhaling. “I should have figured it out. He was always sneaking around, and I knew he had contacts at the ports in Baltimore.”
“No one expected it, Levi. I have contacts at the ports in Baltimore—hell, my brother works there. But it doesn’t mean I’m making deals with the Russians.”
He nodded. “Well, I still should have seen it coming. I never liked that guy.” He tilted his head. “You ready for your first committee meeting?”
I scoffed. “Yeah, the Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Committee—lucky me. Senator Blanchet was serving on half a dozen Armed Services Committees, and I’m assigned to watch over the fish?”
Levi chuckled. “You’re green, and he was an embarrassment to the entire Senate. They’re not going to let that happen again. You’ll have to work your way from the bottom up. Plus, you said it yourself—you’ve got contacts at the ports. That’s related to the fisheries, right?”
I grunted in re
sponse, and Levi grinned.
“Oh, and Cat?”
I glanced at him, arching my eyebrow in question.
He nodded to my feet. “Might want to choose some more, uh, senatorial footwear.” He rapped his knuckles on the door jamb and nodded to me before heading back to his own office. I glanced down at my white Nikes—the same shoes I wore all the time. I had heels in my bag, but I hated having sore feet.
He was probably right, though. My first day on the job probably required more appropriate shoes.
As I changed my shoes, I sighed. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t mind being on the Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Committee. I’d grown up next to the ocean and my grandfather was a fisherman—it just wasn’t exactly the most prestigious position in the Senate.
But I supposed Levi was right. I’d been appointed to the Senate ahead of a number of other senior officials. I had to pay my dues somewhere, and being on a lesser committee wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. It was the first rung in a very tall ladder.
At least, I hoped it was.
I arrived at the committee meeting a few minutes ahead of time and took a seat at the end of the table. I watched as other senators filed in. I recognized Senator Yule from Florida, a stern-looking woman with a tight grey bun. She smoothed her skirt as she sat, nodding to me curtly. There was Senator Barlow from New York, who’d always struck me as a bit full of himself. He didn’t even deign to glance my way as he took his seat at the head of the table.
I didn’t recognize anyone else, and it made me feel like I hadn’t done my homework. The meeting started with a quick introduction—Senator Barlow was chairing. He introduced me to the seven Republican senators and seven Democrats in the room, and then the meeting started.
“The first order of business is the Baltimore Wastewater Plant. At the moment, the plant isn’t meeting the requirements set out by the Clean Water Act. Senator Crawford, would you care to explain what the plant is doing to rectify the breaches?”
Fourteen pairs of eyes turned to me. Senator Barlow’s jowls trembled as he looked at me, his eyes gleaming. He looked like he was enjoying putting me on the spot on my first day. My stomach squeezed into a tight ball as my heart bounced against my rib cage. I cleared my throat, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
I glanced down at the blank notepad in front of me, knowing I wouldn’t find an answer to his question there. I didn’t know anything about the Baltimore Wastewater Plant. I didn’t know anything about wastewater at all.
This would require some Grade-A smoke and mirrors. I would either have to admit that I knew nothing or pretend that I was already looking into it. Barlow arched an eyebrow at me. He was enjoying watching me squirm, and he looked like he was looking forward to watching me fail. Anger flared in my chest.
Looks like I was going for Grade-A smoke and mirrors.
“Well, Senator Barlow,” I started. “In regards to—”
A door behind me opened with a loud bang. I turned in time to see a huge, hulking man in a ski mask carrying a large bucket. Something sloshed inside it.
Then the smell hit me. The stench of rotting, putrefied fish slammed into me and took my breath away. I gagged, struggling to breathe as the masked man took another step toward us.
“You say you protect our waterways,” he growled.
“Sir—” Senator Barlow started, stiffening in his chair.
“You claim to keep our oceans clean. Well look at what your last bill has done to my business.” The man growled again, and then flung the bucket at us.
I gasped as a red, slimy liquid came hurtling toward me. A scream choked in my throat as the smell intensified, and then the slop slammed into me with a sickening, wet slap.
A fish head hit the side of my face as blood, innards, and scales slid down the inside of my new shirt. I screamed and choked, coughing at the stench that enveloped me. The whole Committee screamed, gasped, jumped, but all I did was freeze. Senator Yates called for security as the man screamed something about polluted waterways.
There were fish guts in my ear. There was a fish head on my lap, and a tail sitting on top of my blank notepad on the table. I took a deep, gulping breath, and then I retched. I managed to keep the contents of my stomach down… barely. I reached up to touch my hair, the slimy goop coating it completely.
Within seconds, two security guards clamped their hands over the man’s arms and started dragging him out. He kicked and clawed at them, screaming at us. His foot connected with the bucket and it came rolling toward me.
“Clean water, my ass,” he growled. His beady eyes pierced through his ski mask, staring right at me. I retched again, unable to do anything but sit there and feel sick.
The man screamed all the way down the hall until a door slammed, and a tense silence fell over the room. I was still frozen, my arms floating at my sides as fish blood soaked my shirt and clung to my skin. A drop slid down the side of my face, leaving a trail of sticky slime down my temple.
I glanced up at the other senators. The man across from me dabbed at a spot on his tie, and the woman beside me had gotten a bit of splash damage on her pants.
But it was me that had gotten the brunt of the chum. I was covered.
I retched again and then took a deep breath. The smell was everywhere, clinging to my nostrils and churning in my stomach.
I stood up slowly, and fifteen pairs of eyes followed my movements.
“Cat…” Senator Yule said gently. I shook my head at her.
“Excuse me.”
I walked out of the room, dazed, my feet squelching with fish guts. I waddled all the way to the restrooms, holding my breath for fear of throwing up.
If this was my first day, it could only get better from here… right?
2
Chris
“Do you understand your assignment?” Berkeley glanced at me from behind his desk. He smoothed his hand over his bald head as if he were rubbing an 8-ball for an answer.
“Yes, sir.”
“We still don’t know how deep the Russians infiltrated the Senate. For all we know, Catherine Crawford could be in their pocket, too. It’s absolutely imperative that you don’t reveal yourself to her. You’re nothing more than the lead of her security detail, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He nodded and sighed, glancing at me. “You sure you want this, Chris? I can put someone else on the assignment. After everything that happened with Zane…”
I shook my head. “It’s fine, Berk. I want to do this. If there are any more corrupt senators in Washington, I’ll sniff them out.”
Berkeley nodded, pursing his lips. “Okay.”
Berk had been my boss for the past decade. He was slightly shorter than me, but he had a way of making me feel small. With dark eyes and dark skin, his face was almost always serious. He was the kind of guy who immediately commanded authority. He scared a lot of new recruits, but I knew he cared.
We were like sons and daughters to him. Everybody under his command in the Special Activities Division of the CIA respected Berk, and everyone wanted to make him proud.
I was no exception.
When Zane blew open the case with Senator Blanchet, I wasn’t by his side. I helped him, sure, but I wasn’t there when it all went down. I showed up when he had a gun to his head. Ten seconds later and my best friend would have been dead.
I wasn’t going to let that happen again. If there was even a hint of Russian involvement in any Senate dealings, I would find out and eliminate the threat.
And if Catherine Crawford had anything to do with it, she would be the first to fall. My stomach tightened at the thought as I pinched my lips into a thin line. I’d learned my lesson five years ago when it came to women—untrustworthy, spineless creatures. Catherine Crawford was no different.
This operation seemed eerily similar to my very first undercover operation when I almost got myself and countless others killed—all because of a woman like Crawford. Maybe this w
ould be my chance to atone.
I knew one thing for sure—I wasn’t going to fuck it up.
Berk nodded. “Gary will take you to her now. There’s been an incident this morning, so it’ll be a good time to make contact.”
“An incident?”
Berkeley’s lips tugged and his eyes flashed with mirth. “Apparently, some environmental activist forced his way into their committee meeting and covered her in a bucket of chum.”
“Chum as in…”
“As in chopped up fish guts.”
I whistled, and Berkeley chuckled. He nodded to the door behind me. “Go.”
I nodded and stalked outside. Freddy Finch was waiting for me.
“What did the boss say?”
“I’m on Senator babysitting duty.”
“Lucky you.” He grinned. “I’m angling for the North Korean detail—probably see more action in a week than you will for the next six months.”
Berkley poked his head out of his office. He nodded at Freddy. “Finch, you’re with Anders.” He looked at me. “Bring him up to speed.”
I glanced at Freddy as his face fell. I arched an eyebrow. “You were saying?”
Freddy shrugged, running his fingers through his black hair. His green eyes sparked as he tried to keep his voice nonchalant. “I could use an easy assignment, for once. I’m done with international intrigue and terrorists.”
“You’re working for the Central Intelligence Agency, Finch,” I grunted. “You’re never done with international intrigue and terrorists.”
I nodded toward the exit, and we started walking. We wove our way through cubicles, ignoring the desk jockeys tapping on their computers. After a month of filing reports, I was ready to get back in the field.
When we stepped out the door, Freddy glanced at me. “What’s this about, anyway?”
“Security detail for Senator Catherine Crawford from Maryland. She’s Blanchet’s replacement.”
The Protector: The Complete C.I.A Romance Series Page 18
