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“To say the very least,” David shouted. “It seems that every time I place Vanessa under your care, something dreadful happens.”

From the doorway, Amanda said, “If anyone is to blame for this, it’s you, David.”

“Amanda!” George exclaimed.

David wanted to strangle the snooty bitch for speaking to him like that, but he had to admire the guts it took. “Forget it, George,” he said brusquely. “I’ve got to get back to the White House immediately. Are you coming with me?”

“Certainly.”

They went down the front walkway, flanked by Secret Service agents who obviously had been alerted to the latest emergency. The limo awaited at the curb, one car behind it, one in front, four motorcycle policemen leading the motorcade.

Speeding through the streets toward Pennsylvania Avenue, David checked to see that the tinted glass behind the driver was raised, then turned to George and began laughing.

“I told you he would do it. Didn’t I tell you that Gray was noble enough, crazy enough, to stage a dramatic rescue?”

George Allan stared into space. “Yes, David. That’s what you told me.”

“I knew he’d try to get her out of there. And when Spence’s men reported that the old man, Welsh, was being used as a decoy tonight, I figured the escape was on.”

“It seems you were correct on all counts.”

“Did you do your part, George?”

“Yes. Just before I left her tonight.”

“And it’ll work?”

“It’ll work. She’ll die from a toxic level of lithium.”

This would, of course, be determined in the postmortem, but neither the doctor nor the president would ever be suspected because they were having pie and coffee together when Vanessa fell into the hands of Gray Bondurant and his accomplice, Barrie Travis. They would be charged with kidnapping and murder.

As an intimate friend, Gray would know that Vanessa’s medication had to be carefully monitored and administered. Too small a dosage of lithium and her mood disorder couldn’t be controlled. Too much could cause seizures, coma, or death, especially when combined with the sedatives she was being given at the hospital to ensure the rest that she needed.

“They’ll want to know where Gray obtained the drug,” George observed.

“A man of his resourcefulness?” David said, dismissing that as a problem. “A good prosecutor will have no trouble convincing a jury that he’s clever enough to have obtained and destroyed all evidence of it.”

“I’m unclear on their motive,” George said. “If they went to all that trouble to rescue Vanessa, why would they kill her?”

George was so dense, sometimes David wondered how he’d ever earned a medical degree. He also had an irritating tendency to make simple things difficult.

“Gray was Vanessa’s spurned lover. He wore his heart on his sleeve for the whole damn country to see. At first he was content to leave Washington and nurse his wounded pride in seclusion. But his antagon

ism festered. Finally, his ego couldn’t be assuaged until Vanessa was dead.”

“And Barrie Travis?”

“Is in love with Gray. She was happy to eliminate her competition. After the Shinlin incident, they’re public enemy number one and number two. People will be ready to believe them capable of this heinous crime.”

The President leaned his head back and smiled. “It’s such a brilliant plan, George. So damn perfect. Spence always said it’s better not to destroy your enemies but to let them destroy themselves. Too bad he isn’t here to see this. He would have loved it.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Senator Armbruster was waiting for Barrie and Gray at the prearranged spot. The rotors on the helicopter were already whirling.

“Thank God you made it,” he said as Gray bounded out of the car. “How is she?”

“Alive.”