The Outlaws (Presidential Agent 6)

“Ready, Harold?” Two-Gun asked.

“Lights, action, camera!” Harold replied, intentionally botching the sequence.

“Mr. Secretary, please identify yourself and give us the date and time.”

Andrews complied.

“Now, repeat after me, please: ‘I make the following statement voluntarily and without mental reservation of any kind.’”

Andrews did so.

“I acknowledge that I have informed Mrs. Julia Darby that by allowing me and Mr. McGuire of the Secret Service into her home, a compassionate gesture to get us out of the cold and snow, she in no way gives up her rights against unlawful search and seizure as provided by the U.S. Constitution—”

“Go slowly,” Andrews interrupted. “I can’t remember all that.”

“We’ll try it again. ‘I acknowledge that I ...’”

“‘. . . and further that anything said in conversation by anyone here today will not be used in any court of law for any purpose,’” Two-Gun finally concluded.

With some obvious effort, Andrews repeated that.

“Is that it, Counselor?” Mrs. Darby then asked.

“It will be as soon as Harold sends a copy of that digital recording to that great file room in the sky,” Two-Gun replied.

“Consider it done,” Harold replied.

“Why don’t we all go in the living room and have a cup of coffee while Dianne makes breakfast?” Julia Darby suggested.

“Hello, Tom,” Alex Darby said, putting out his hand. “Long time no see.”

“How are you, Alex?” McGuire replied. “Alex, this is my boss, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Mason Andrews.”

“How do you do?” Darby said.

“You’re a hard man to find, Mr. Darby.”

“I guess that would depend on who’s looking for me,” Darby said.

“A lot of people are looking for you, including Ambassador Montvale.”

“Whatever would make Ambassador Montvale look for me?”

“The President of the United States sent him to find you, Mr. Darby. Right now, he’s in Ushuaia.”

“Whatever for? I mean, why is he looking for me in Ushuaia, of all places?”

“Oh, Tom,” Julia Darby said. “I was kidding you about that.”

“Kidding him about what?” Darby asked his wife.

“I told him you were probably down there with your girlfriend,” Julia said. “I never for a moment thought he would take me seriously. Especially the girlfriend part.”

Darby looked at McGuire. “Yeah, I’m a little long in the tooth for that sort of thing, Tom.”

Mason Andrews said, “There is reason to believe that you know where Colonel Dmitri Berezovsky, Lieutenant Colonel Svetlana Alekseeva, and Lieutenant Colonel Carlos G. Castillo are.”

“As I think you know, Mr. Andrews,” Darby replied, “Colonel Castillo was ordered by the President—the late President, not Mr. Clendennen—to fall off the face of the earth and never be seen again. I believe that Colonel Castillo is obeying those orders.”