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She pressed his arm, then dropped her hand. “This is so terribly dangerous for you. I’m surprised you took a chance on coming here.”

Barrie told her about the surveillance they’d been under since the incident in Shinlin. “We were followed when we left my friend’s house. Gray was able to lose the other car in traffic. But I must warn you that someone else we talked to was murdered last night.”

“My God.”

“Why don’t you and the children go away for a while. Until all this is cleared up,” Gray suggested.

She considered it, but only briefly. “If I took

the children out of school and fled, that would make us look all the more suspicious. Besides, I won’t leave George.”

Barrie’s admiration for the woman increased again.

“We took every precaution to protect you, but don’t trust anyone,” Gray warned her. “Not even someone you ordinarily would. Like Spence Martin.”

Amanda cocked her head. “But… you took care of that viper. Didn’t you? I assumed…”

“What do you mean?”

Amanda indicated the small TV built in to the kitchen cabinetry. “It was on earlier. A news bulletin.”

“What was the news?” Barrie asked.

“Gray. Gray Bondurant was the news.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Gray Bondurant, hero of the hostage rescue mission, was being sought by the FBI for questioning into the disappearance of Spencer Martin, presidential aide.

David Merritt heard of this at the same time as the rest of the country did.

He and Spence were holding a confidential meeting in the President’s private quarters. Only a handful of people at the White House knew that Spence was in residence. He had moved into an extra bedroom on the third floor. Here, they could talk freely. The room was both soundproof and impossible to bug.

“The guy was a moron,” Spence said of Howie Fripp. “He was actually glad to see me. Invited me in. Didn’t even stop to wonder how I knew where he lived.”

“You’re sure he didn’t have time to contact Travis and Gray between the time he left the bar and when you showed up at his door?”

“I had him in sight the whole time.” Spence took a sip of Pepsi. “But it wouldn’t have mattered if he had contacted them. He didn’t know anything. He was only boasting that he did, to impress me. He couldn’t—”

“What the hell is that?”

Turning to see what had captured David’s attention, Spence was as alarmed to see his face on the television screen as the President was. It was an old picture, probably the only one of him on file. Nevertheless, he was recognizable. He picked up the remote control and disengaged the mute button.

“… has been reported missing.”

David and Spence looked at each other with complete bafflement, which only increased as the network’s Capitol Hill correspondent went on. “It is believed that Gray Bondurant, who came to national fame following a daring hostage rescue mission, was the last person to see Spencer Martin, when he recently entertained the President’s adviser at his ranch in Wyoming. A full-scale investigation to locate Mr. Martin is under way.”

“Jesus!” Spence surged to his feet. “Who’s responsible for this?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” He reached for the telephone and demanded that a call be placed to the attorney general.

“Use the speakerphone,” Spence said.

Attorney General William Yancey was out, so one of his subordinates got a good taste of wrath, presidential style. “What the fuck is going on? Where is Mr. Yancey? I want to speak with him immediately.”

“He and Mrs. Yancey are out to dinner, Mr. President.”

“Well, track him down. Now. In the meantime, I want to know who authorized this investigation into Spencer Martin’s disappearance.”