I, Alex Cross (Alex Cross 16)

“Nana’s sick and she fell down. That’s all it is,” I told him. “An ambulance is going to come and take her to the hospital.”

“Is she going to die?” Ali asked, and tears flooded his gentle eyes.

I didn’t answer, but I kept my arms around him, and we stood in the doorway to the kitchen. The one thing I couldn’t do right now was leave Nana. “We’re going to stay right here, and we’re going to think about how much we love Nana. Okay?”

Ali nodded slowly without taking his eyes off her.

“Daddy?”

I turned and saw Jannie in the hall. She was even more shocked and wide-eyed than her brother. I motioned her over, and we all waited together for the ambulance to arrive.

Finally, we heard a low siren outside. In a strange way, it seemed to make everything worse.

Once the EMTs got there, they took Nana’s vitals and started her on oxygen.

“What’s her name?” one of them asked.

“Regina.” The word almost stuck in my throat. Nana’s name means queen, of course, and that’s what she is to us.

“Regina! Can you hear me?” The tech pushed a knuckle into her sternum, and she didn’t move. “No pain response. Let’s get a heart rhythm.”

They asked me a few more questions while they worked. Was she on medication? Had her condition changed since we called 911? Was there any history of heart trouble with her or in the family?

I kept a hand on Ali the whole time, to let him know I was there, but vice versa too. Jannie stayed right by my side as well.

Within minutes, the EMTs had started a saline lock. Then they slid a collar around Nana’s neck and put a backboard under her. Jannie finally buried her face in my side, sobbing quietly.

That got Ali crying again. And Bree too.

“We’re a mess,” I finally managed. “That’s why she can’t leave us.”

They lifted Nana’s tiny body onto a stretcher, and we followed them through the dining and living rooms, then out the front door. The familiarity of the surroundings seemed both sad and scary.

Bree had disappeared for a minute, and now she came up from behind, handing me my cell, a shirt, and a pair of shoes. Then she took Ali from me and put an arm around Jannie. Their faces were like mirrors of everything I was feeling.

“Go with Nana, Alex. We’ll follow you in the car.”

Chapter 24

GABE REESE WAS pacing with his arms folded tightly, just inside the West Wing lobby doors. He wasn’t used to this kind of uncertainty, the total lack of information, the fucking mystery of it all. He had plenty of resources at his disposal—he just couldn’t use most of them on this. Not until he was sure what they were dealing with.

He was waiting for the vice president, and the subject was Zeus, of course, and what had been found out so far, and what kind of unprecedented scandal this could turn out to be. Tillman was scheduled to address the National Association of Small Business Owners from 12:30 to 1:00 at the Convention Center. It was less than a mile and a half away, which meant maybe five minutes in the car. Reese was going to need every second.

At exactly 12:20, the vice president strode into the lobby with the Secret Service’s Dan Cormorant on one side and a deputy director of communications on the other.

Two scheduling assistants and another Secret Service agent trailed behind. The usual kind of entourage, trappings of power and arrogance.

Tillman looked surprised to see Reese standing there, holding his trademark fedora in one hand.

“Gabe, you’re coming to this thing?”

“Yes, sir. Wouldn’t miss it. Not a word. Not an arching eyebrow.”

“Okay. Okay. Let’s go, then.”

They continued outside, where the vice president’s Cadillac limo, two black Suburbans, and three motorcycle police waited with engines running. As the vice president stepped into his car, Reese put a hand on Cormorant’s shoulder.

“We need some privacy, Dan.”