First Family (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 4)

“Yeah, but no telling when he might get back to us. And this might be a wild-goose chase anyway.”

“My gut’s telling me otherwise.”

“Mine too,” he admitted.

“How do you want to play this out?”

“Get the lay of the land. See what we can accomplish. Pray for a miracle, find Willa.”

Michelle pointed up ahead. “That looks like it might be Atlee.” The place had appeared as they rounded a curve. Big southern long-leaf pines lined both sides of the drive heading to the old antebellum mansion. It made the darkness even more opaque.

“I don’t see any cars out front,” said Michelle, as she slipped her pistol out.

“Lots of places around here to park I would imagine.”

The ringing phone startled them both.

It was Aaron Betack. Sean listened for a couple of minutes and then clicked off and looked at his partner.

“The shit has hit the fan at the White House. Apparently Jane Cox

came back from dinner and stormed into the Oval Office. She and the president went up to their private quarters, had a discussion, and the next thing you know the First Couple are taking a flight, in an unmarked jet, to an undisclosed location.”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Someone made contact with her while she was out at dinner, obviously.”

“But why an unmarked jet?”

“They apparently don’t want anyone to know about this. Certainly not the public.”

“The Service must be freaking out because they’ve had no chance to advance-team this.”

“Exactly. They’re cobbling stuff together as best they can, but when you don’t know where you’re going?”

“You didn’t tell him what we found out.”

“He has his hands full, and this may pan out to be nothing. But if we find anything that connects to the president, we’ll let him know ASAP.”

“Cut the lights and the engine!” Michelle hissed.

The SUV went dark and quiet. “What’s up?”

“Someone just came out of the house.” She pointed up ahead. “Let’s do the rest on foot.”

They slipped out of the truck and crept toward the dark house.

Michelle held up a hand. She’d obviously seen something that he hadn’t. Her night vision was beyond human, he’d found.

“Where?” Sean whispered in Michelle’s ear.

“There, on the front porch.”

He stared in that direction and saw some small shape apparently sitting on the steps. Michelle hissed in his ear. “I think that might be Gabriel, the little boy the MPs interviewed. He was nearly nine then, the report said. That would put him at ten or eleven now.”

As they waited to see if anyone else joined Gabriel, the darkness around them started to lift with increased speed. From somewhere a rooster crowed.

“Haven’t heard that in a while,” confessed Sean.