Page 62

9

STAR

“Mr. President, it’s an honor to meet you.”

Davidson, two steps inside the hotel room, froze at the sound of my voice. “Who are you?”

“I’m here on Aoife’s behalf.” I arched a brow at him from my seat in one of the suite’s armchairs.

“She didn’t want to see me?”

“She didn’t feel like being at the center of a media storm. Not sure I could blame her.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “And who are you?”

“My name’s Star Sullivan.”

Davidson rested his hands against the back of an antique sofa and leaned into it. “How do I know this isn’t a trap?”

“Call Aoife.”

“If it were as easy as that, I wouldn’t have asked to meet her.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m cell free at the moment.”

“Why?”

He pursed his lips at me. “Give your phone to me and I’ll call her. Assuming you have her as a contact?”

“Such little faith, sir,” I mocked, but I got to my feet, tapped Aoife’s name in my contacts list, and handed him the cell.

With a measured glance, he eyed the phone then accepted it. “Aoife? Who is this person?” His frown darkened at her answer. “Why aren’t you here? I need to speak with you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want to deal with an intermediary. I want to talk to you, dammit.”

A couple minutes later, with gritted teeth, he disconnected the call. I held out my hand, waiting for him to pass it back to me, but he didn’t.

He dropped it to the ground then dug his heel into it until it shattered beneath the pressure.

“If you wanted to brick it, you didn’t have to go old school,” I drawled at the sight of the phone on the expensive carpet beneath us.

“The NSA has gotten their hands on some technology that I’m not even attempting to understand. What I do know is that no phone conversation is safe.”

“That tech has been around for years.”

“Yes, but the software that…” He rubbed his eyes. “As I said, I don’t understand it. I just know that they can listen in to any phone call now and they have a way of both storing and sorting through the conversations.”

Why did that sound exactly like the software and hardware Conor had adapted to listen in to his brothers’ calls so his da couldn’t accuse them of mutiny?

“They could piggyback off the TV unit, Mr. President,” I pointed out. “Anything with speakers and an internet connection is fair game.”

He cocked his finger at me and led me into another room off the suite. “That’s why I picked this place. It’s supposed to be a retreat. Only a TV and a vintage-era phone in the living room.”

As we stepped into the bedroom, I leaned my back against the door and shoved my hands into my pockets.

“Now that we’re somewhere more comfortable, sir, I think I should tell you what I know, and then we can figure out how to help you with your little problem.”

“How do you know I have a problem?”

My lips curved. “I’m going to put a stupid question like that down to anxiety, sir. You wouldn’t need to meet with your love child, a daughter with ties to the Irish Mob, while you’re in office and running for reelection if there weren't a situation in need of resolving.”

His nostrils flared but he tipped his head forward in assent.

“What you need to understand about what I’m going to share with you, sir, is that it’s so off the record, it might as well be saved on microfiche?—”

“So, why are you telling me?”

“Because we can stop your career from being destroyed if you facilitate our next actions.”

“I’m listening.”

“Good. You should know I’m an ex-CIA agent. While I was serving overseas, I started to believe there was a double agent working against us at the same time as I came across the looting of some artifacts, and to shut me up, I was offloaded into the trafficking arm of the New World Sparrows.”

"What made you believe there was a double agent?"

"I uncovered the looting first. Then, the double agent. Crates were being released for travel outside of the country and someone was signing off on them. Someone who'd conveniently been blown up in an air raid. That was as much as I uncovered before I was silenced too."

“You were enslaved?” he rasped, his bewilderment clear.

“I was,” I confirmed. “I almost died, but I’m a stubborn daughter of a bitch.” My smile was tight. “I got out and I determined that I’d be their downfall.

"Over the last few years, everything that’s been uncovered about the Sparrows has almost single-handedly been orchestrated by me. I’ve been the architect of their destruction, sir, and I won’t rest until they’re either dead or locked in a cell… I’ll accept either option.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t need to hear that.”

I chuckled. “Don’t be naive, sir, and don’t think I don’t know about the atrocities you and those from your office have permitted in the hundreds of years of so-called independence.

"You forget, I served my country and I saw firsthand what happened on the ground.” I waved a hand. “Now, that isn’t to say that I’m not willing to take the legitimate route.

“I’ve got contacts of my own, contacts that, you will be displeased to hear, hold more power than you, but I have two problems. Two problems who are also your problems.”

President Davidson walked back a few steps and sat down on the foot of the bed. His elbows plunked on his knees as he stared at me.

I expected him to pepper me with questions but he didn’t. He said, “Aoife told me you’re her sister-in-law.”

“She did?” My thumb found the cameo face in the emerald and smoothed over the features. “A little premature, but I suppose she’s right.”

“How is she?”

“You could ask her yourself.”

“She won’t answer. She just says she’s fine.”

“Maybe that’s what she is.”

His jaw worked. “I made a lot of sacrifices in my life, Ms. Sullivan. Aoife, unfortunately, was one of them.”

Unease filtered through me. I wasn’t here for a TMI father-daughter sharing session. “You should tell her this. Not me.”

“I intended on telling her that,” he growled. “That’s why I invited her here. Not you .” Davidson scrubbed a hand over his face. “Her mother was the love of my life. Aoife was born of that love. Yet here I am, denying her. Hiding her away like she’s the dirty little secret when she’s the one right thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“I don’t need to hear this.”

He surged to his feet. “You can’t hold the truth of her identity over me to make me fall in line.”

Meaning someone had already tried…

“That wasn’t my intention,” I told him calmly.

Watching him work himself up over this would have been amusing if he hadn’t skipped over his kid to get into the White House.

“Then you just admitted to crimes to the president for fun?” he drawled.

“I admitted to nothing other than doing a better job than your security services at uncovering the Sparrows’ identities.

"If anything, that shows incompetence on your government’s behalf, not guilt on mine.” With a sniff and a pointed look, I continued, “I’m not trying to make you fall in line. I’m here with a different purpose.

“Let’s face it, your approval rating has never been higher. Not only because of your proactive stance on the Sparrows but because of your wife’s murder. You’ll likely win the reelection.”

“Likely means nothing in the end. Especially if Aoife’s relationship with me is revealed to the press.”

“I assume that you have been threatened?”

“Yes. My chief of staff intercepted a letter—” His jaw clenched as the fury in his eyes lit up his whole face. “I don’t do well with threats, Ms. Sullivan.”

His chief of staff .

Smythe and Foundry were fucking obvious. They had about as much finesse as Kat turning cartwheels down a hallway.

“What did this letter ask you to do?”

“Resign from reelecting in exchange for discretion regarding Aoife’s parentage.”

“Will you comply?”

“No.”

“Would your chief of staff have known that?”

“Yes. He knows my stance on these things. I don’t do deals with terrorists.”

I almost snorted at the irony—his First Lady had been a part of the goddamn ECD.

Unable to stop myself from smiling, my top lip quirked up at the many layers of his ignorance. “What would you do if I told you that Garry Smythe is a top-ranking Sparrow? One of the highest in the land, even.”

He stilled. “Garry Smythe… as in my top advisor?” he choked out.

“Yes. The name David Foundry ring a bell?”

“Of course! He’s my attorney general—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “The second of your two problems?”

“Yes. As highly ranked in the New World Sparrows as Smythe.”

“Garry… Smythe’s known about Aoife for years. He found her for me, for God’s sake. Why’s he leveraging that information now?” He scowled. “You’re wrong. Garry can’t be a goddamn Sparrow. He’s my youngest son’s godfather!”

“I’m afraid he is, sir.”

“Where’s your proof?”

“You don’t want to know what proof I have. If you knew, you’d have to act, and you can’t.”

“Why can’t I? I’m the president of the United States!”

“You’re a POTUS who’s pledged to eradicate the New World Sparrows from his government when his top advisor and his AG are Sparrows! You’d be laughed out of the Capitol.

“They’re a problem, sir. They won’t go away. They’re all pests that are difficult to eradicate but they’re due to meet in a day’s time. I will be intercepting that meeting and they’ll no longer be a problem for either of us. However, I need your help.”

“I don’t need to know this,” he choked out. “If the truth comes out, it comes out. I won’t hide her?—”

“Don’t be selfish,” I snapped, my anger genuinely focused on his goddamn ego and his inability to process that this option was not beneficial for the daughter he professed to care about. “You might be okay with, how did you phrase it? Your ‘dirty little secret’ coming out, but Aoife’s got a life of her own. Do you think she needs to be dragged into your political battles? Her world torn to shreds by the press because you couldn’t keep it rubbered up when you were cheating on your wife nearly thirty years ago?”

His mouth rounded. “She’s my daughter. I shouldn’t deny her?—”

“What you should do is consider her wishes first. If you can protect her from the truth coming out, then that’s what you should do.

“She’s a businesswoman in her own right, an influencer who’s built her reputation on good values. You could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for by being reckless.”

“Reckless? I’d be ruining my reputation too!”

“Unnecessarily!”

“And what do you propose I do?”

“Let me deal with our mutual problems.”

He stared at me. “You mean murder them?”

“I mean ‘deal with’ them,” I said coolly.

“I can’t be involved in this,” he rasped. “Losing my career is one thing; going to jail for conspiracy to commit murder is another.”

“You’re not conspiring to do anything,” I disregarded. “In the aftermath of their disappearances, it will be revealed that David Foundry owns shares in a brothel in Las Vegas. It’s a farm for blackmail as a lot of senior politicians use it.

“I will pass on the information to the press and they will start their hunt into the clients of said brothel and your government will be in a shitstorm that you can ride through with your fancy approval ratings to reelection. Unless you were also a client?" At his rapid headshake, I mused, "There's no point in lying to me. I'll find out soon enough."

"I'm not lying. Whores have never been my vice."

I hummed my disbelief but merely said, "Regardless, amid the maelstrom, Foundry’s and Smythe’s disappearances can be covered up.

“That’s your role in this. Don’t ask questions. As you said, Smythe has become a part of your family. The president would wade into any investigations on his next-of-kin's behalf. Don’t do that. Keep your distance.”

“It’ll seem strange if I don’t!”

“It won’t. You should expect a call from Mr. Kuznetsov later.” His eyes bugged at Kuznetsov’s name. “He permitted me to speak to you before him which I’ve done as a courtesy to Aoife. This isn’t a request, sir. It will become an order.

“Much like you helped provide your wife with a pocket of space where she found herself without the Secret Service, you will appear to facilitate the investigations into Foundry’s and Smythe’s disappearances but you will do no more than you are legally obliged to. Much as you’ve done with the investigation into the First Lady’s death.” My top lip quirked into a sneer. “Turning a blind eye is something I think you’re good at.”

Straightening, I moved from the wall and headed into the living room.

Before I reached the doorway, he rasped, “In our Brothers we trust?”

Frowning, I turned to look at him. “I’m not a Brother."

"Neither am I. My wife was."

I blinked.

Was there anything that skeevy bitch didn't have her nose in?

"Kuznetsov is my grandfather,” I shared warily, one victim of a narcissist to another.

“You’re Galena’s daughter?” he rasped.

It was my turn to freeze. “Galena?”

My surprise appeared to ease his discomposure. “Your mother was a friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Were you fucking her too?”

He scowled at me. “No. As I said, she was a friend. A good one. Her death was… It was a sad day when we lost her.”

“You say that as a...?”

“A friend,” he repeated.

My mouth tightened. “How close are you to Kuznetsov?”

“Why do you think I’m the president? I paid a lot of dues to reach this position. The Five Points weren’t the only ones who got their pound of flesh when I reached the Oval Office.” He hitched a shoulder. "Elizabeth slept with Anton whenever he was in town."

Well, that was more than I bargained for—talk about the whore who kept on whoring. And with Anton’s wrinkly raisins too.

Eww.

I studied him longer than I should have, until my words finally formed. “If I were you, sir, I would resign from reelection. You might win, but if the truth comes out about Aoife, then it isn’t only your life you’ll be ruining—it’s hers too. I don’t think she deserves that, do you?”

Not looking back, I headed out of the suite and moved toward the elevator. As the doors closed behind me, I delved into my pocket and retrieved another cell phone.

“Did you get all that?”

Conor huffed. “Of course I did.”

“How did the NSA get access to your laptop? Do you think they’ve discovered Maverick’s worm? You took that with you when you went into Langley, didn’t you?”

“I did, but there was no need to open it.” He grunted. “If my checking Eagle’s Claw was a front, then maybe the coders were working on remote access…” Silence, then: “No. I’d have known. It’s more likely that Riggs broke into my apartment when she knew I was in Langley. Temper collected me from my building. Ordinarily, Riggs would have been the one escorting me wherever I needed to go.”

“Your doorman must have let her in. That wouldn’t have triggered your alarms, would it?”

“They can enter in an emergency, but I should have seen it on the logs. After everything that happened, I was exhausted and I was starting to freak out about you because of Temper. Maybe I didn’t check, but I’m sure that I did.” He sighed. “I literally went home to pack my bags and headed to the airport. I didn’t give a fuck about anything other than getting to you.”

The heartburn was back.

Apparently, admitting that I loved him didn’t stop that affliction.

I cleared my throat. “You found me.”

“I did. I could ask Denny, but if I do…”

“You’ll have to kill him.”

He grunted. “Yeah. I’d prefer to get him fired. He just had a kid.”

I almost smiled. “That kind heart of yours will bite us in the ass if we’re not careful.”

“So long as you do the biting, I can deal.”

“Of course, you can,” I said with an eye roll.

“I’ll check the logs once I’m done talking to you.”

“Fine. What we know for certain is that your software’s rogue. Do you have a kill switch, or is that too much to ask?”

“The storage houses a weakness. The kill switch targets that. If they copied the program from my hard drive, which we can assume they did, then it’ll render it unusable. Because half the battle is storing so many files and being able to scan it for keywords.”

My brow puckered. “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t use a cloud for that?”

“No. I kept running through terabytes of storage too quickly and the SD cards were useless too.”

“So you invented something?”

“Yup. I’ll show you when you get back if you want?”

“I’d prefer to see your dick.”

A soft chuckle sounded in my ear. “I mean, that can also be arranged.”

“Make it happen,” I growled, turned on beyond reason. “Why the fuck haven’t you started mass-producing this solution? You do know how many resources cloud storage drains?”

“I’m still tweaking it.”

How was I supposed to function when he was this clever?

“We’ll tweak it together so we can roll it out faster. I’d like for Katina to live in a world that isn’t four degrees hotter than it is now.”

“Hey?”

“What?”

“Check your upper jacket pocket and I’ll see you later, okay? I’m at my penthouse, don’t forget.”

I didn’t have a chance to answer, but I dug deep into my jacket pocket and…

I sighed. “Damn you, Conor O’Donnelly.”

Pulling out a Werther’s Original from the pocket I never used, I popped it into my mouth.

I wasn’t sure whether it was the toffee or his cuteness that eased the heartburn in my chest, but it definitely had me smiling.