Page 4 of State of Retribution (First Family #9)

T he kids were cranky and out of sorts in the morning, which made for a difficult slog through getting them dressed and fed. Nick had gone to an early security briefing and hadn’t returned for breakfast the way he did some days. No doubt today wouldn’t be a normal day at the office for him.

By the time the twins left with their detail, Sam was ready to go back to bed.

But that wasn’t an option with a new body in the morgue and the inquest in Stahl’s mass murder case beginning that afternoon.

At some point this week, she had to find time to meet with Assistant U.S.

Attorney Faith Miller to discuss her testimony at the preliminary hearing for Harlan Peckham, charged in the murder of U.S.

Attorney Tom Forrester and the shooting of FBI Agent Avery Hill.

They would also be discussing final preparations for the trial of the former president’s disgraced son, Christopher Nelson, scheduled to begin in a week.

He’d gone on a murderous rampage to try to push Nick, his father’s popular vice president, out of the spotlight in pursuit of his own political ambitions.

Among others, he’d killed Sam’s ex-husband, Peter Gibson.

That trial hung over her—and Nick—as they dreaded resurrecting that horrible story and having everything about that case relitigated once again.

Nick’s glory days of soaring approval numbers seemed like a long time ago now that he was the president and the subject of nonstop attacks on everything from his character to his youth to the fact that he’d never been elected.

Her day had barely begun, and she was already exhausted. Her sleep had been plagued with disturbing dreams of people coming for her and Nick, wielding guns and other weapons, including a crossbow that had her waking in a cold sweat from a dead sleep at three a.m.

“Are you okay?” Scotty asked as he put his plate in the dishwasher.

“Yeah, you know… Still processing it all.”

“Same.”

“Are you okay?”

“Trying to be, but it’s hard to think about people wanting to harm my parents simply because of what they do for a living.”

“When your dad and I were considering whether to bring you into our lives, that was something we talked about, whether it was fair to do that to you.”

“I have no regrets about who I chose to be my parents, so don’t add that to your list of worries.”

“That’s nice to hear, but I hope you know that we wish you weren’t burdened with those concerns.”

“It’s worth it to have everything that goes along with you two. Except the kissing and stuff. I could definitely do with less of that.”

Sam laughed as she hugged him. “Sorry, pal. That’s not likely to change any time soon. Your dad is an excellent kisser.”

He scowled. “Why’d you have to go there?”

“Just stating the truth. Go brush your teeth so your breath doesn’t stink if you decide you want to kiss a girl.”

“Ew. That’s very unsanitary.”

“I can’t wait for your thoughts to change on that topic. Any day now.”

“Whatever you say.”

Scotty took off to brush his teeth and grab his backpack. When he returned, Sam was waiting to give him a hug before he left with his detail. “Have a good day. I love you.”

He hugged her back, a little tighter than usual. “I love you, too. I hope you have a good day as well.”

“That’s the goal.”

“See ya on the flip side.”

As she showered and got dressed, Sam thought about Scotty and how fun it had been to watch him mature into a delightful young man.

The best thing she and Nick had ever done was to take him into their home when they were barely married.

Even though the timing hadn’t been ideal, they had zero regrets and loved him with all their hearts.

Well, the one regret she had was that they hadn’t met him sooner.

In four years, he’d be heading off to college, a thought that made her profoundly sad.

Thankfully, they’d have the twins to keep them entertained after Scotty left.

That reminded her that their lawyer friend Andy Simone had texted yesterday with an update on their plan to adopt Alden, Aubrey and Elijah, even though Eli was a legal adult.

They hoped that would fend off any future attempts by their maternal grandparents, aunt and uncle to get at the money the kids’ billionaire father had left them.

Hi there, Andy had written. Wanted to give you an update…

We’ve started the paperwork on the adoption, and it should be fairly straightforward since Elijah is the twins’ legal guardian.

As such, his approval is the only one needed, and he’s completed all the initial paperwork.

Will keep you posted and apprised of the future court date at which it will become official. Let me know if you have any questions!

Sam composed a reply to him. Hey, sorry for the delay in responding. As I’m sure you’ve heard, yesterday was a bit nuts around here. Good times. Thanks for the update. We’ll all rest easier when this is done. Appreciate your help, as always!

Then she forwarded Andy’s note to the secure BlackBerry she used to communicate with Nick and Eli, who’d decided to be adopted along with his siblings so they’d all belong to the same family.

As she unlocked the bedside drawer where she kept her service weapon, cuffs and other items for work, she felt weirdly off her game as she went through the rote motions of a regular day.

Nothing about this day was regular, however.

Hanging over everything was the reality of what’d happened yesterday and how close they’d come to disaster.

She went downstairs to meet Vernon and Jimmy, feeling the weight of it all on her shoulders and hoping she could put it aside to focus on her job after a long weekend with her family.

“Good morning,” Vernon said.

“Morning.”

Harold, one of the ushers, held Sam’s coat for her.

“Thank you, Harold.”

“My pleasure, ma’am. You have a good day.”

“You do the same.”

“Every day at the White House is a good day. Well, some are better than others.”

That made her laugh. “Indeed.”

Vernon held the door to the back seat of the SUV for her. “How’re you holding up?”

“Just dandy. Anything new?”

“Nothing much. The investigation is ongoing. Yada, yada.”

He closed the door and got into the driver’s seat.

When they were on the way to HQ, she got a text from Andy. Can’t believe the news. Thank goodness you’re all safe—and everyone else is, too.

Thanks. Unsettling, to say the least.

“What can you tell me about what you’re not supposed to tell me?” she asked Vernon and Jimmy.

“Honestly, nothing,” Vernon said. “We’re no closer to knowing who sent those drones than we were yesterday.”

“That does nothing to calm my nerves.”

“Our nerves are pretty raw, too.”

“I’m sure they are. Thank you for the fast action yesterday, even if I seemed angry about the kids. I was terrified more than anything.”

“We totally understand,” Vernon said. “Don’t give that another thought. I’d want my kids close to me during a situation like that, too.”

“I can’t believe how feral I can get over them.”

“You’re a mom. That’s what moms do.”

“That still takes me by surprise, though, that I’m a mother to three and a half kids.” They considered Eli the half, since he was fully grown when he came into their lives, but they loved him like a son.

“It happened a little differently for you, but the feelings are universal.”

“Yes, they are.”

“I’ve been worried that I won’t feel the right things for the baby,” Jimmy said. His wife, Liz, was expecting their first child.

“I felt the same way before my oldest was born,” Vernon said. “What if the baby comes, and I couldn’t care less? But let me tell you… The second you set eyes on a child that’s meant to be yours, it’s all there.”

Sam appreciated the way he said that— a child that’s meant to be yours . “That’s how it happened for me, too. After an hour with Scotty, I knew a million hours would never be enough. Same with the twins.”

“You have a big, loving heart, Jimmy,” Vernon said. “You’re going to be a great dad.”

“That means a lot coming from you. Your kids worship you.”

“They’d better, or I’ll kick their asses.”

“Haha,” Sam said. “As if.”

“I got lucky with some pretty great daughters,” Vernon said, “and you’re lucky with great kids, too, Sam.

You and Liz are going to be awesome parents, Jimmy.

I know it. Wait till that little face is looking up at you, completely dependent upon you for everything…

Even when that little face isn’t an infant anymore, it’s a feeling unlike any other. ”

“Truth,” Sam said. “And that they love you despite all your faults— many, many faults, in my case.”

“They know how much you love them, Sam,” Vernon said. “You show them that every day while setting a great example of being a high-profile working mom juggling a lot of demands and doing it seamlessly.”

“Right. Seamlessly. If you ask me, all the seams are showing.”

“Not to them. They see a badass mom getting shit done and taking down the bad guys.”

“What he said,” Jimmy added. “They have the coolest mom ever, and they know it.”

“Do you guys get paid extra for these therapy sessions?”

“Nah,” Vernon said on a guffaw. “They’re free of charge because we like you.”

“Aw shucks.”

“So, hey, back to business.” Vernon met her gaze in the mirror. “Everyone’s on edge today, as you can imagine. They want someone inside headquarters with you.”

“Who do they think is coming for me inside?”

“Until we know more about who sent those drones, we’re doubling down across the board.”

Sam didn’t like the idea of agents hovering inside HQ, but she wasn’t about to cause them any trouble when they were dealing with more than enough already. “Whatever you gotta do. I know you’ll stay out of the way.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“Which one of you is coming to Take Your Agent to Work Day?”

“Vernon,” Jimmy said. “I get to stay with the car.”

“I’m not sure which end of that is more boring,” Sam said.

“We’ll compare notes at the end of the day to decide who wins that contest,” Vernon said.

Sam laughed. “Knock yourselves out.”

When they arrived at HQ, Vernon held the back door for her and then followed her inside through the morgue entrance.

“I stop to say hi to Lindsey every morning. Do you have to come in with me?”

“I’ll wait out here.”

Sam walked through the automatic glass doors to the morgue, where Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsey McNamara held court. “Morning.”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Just dandy. As a result of yesterday’s madness, I got me a shadow inside the building as well as outside.”

“Oh joy. I’m sure they’re being extra vigilant.”

“Yep. Still no clue on who sent the drones.”

“Jeez. That’s crazy. And scary.” Lindsey shivered. “To think of all those people I love being exposed to such a thing.”

Lindsey was due to marry Nick’s chief of staff, Terry O’Connor, in July.

“Thank God the Secret Service moved quickly to protect everyone. From what I heard, they had the whole event secured in a matter of minutes, which couldn’t have been easy with a crowd of that size.”

“I’m sure they have extra people and intense training for events like that.”

“Definitely. We’re thankful that everything worked the way it was supposed to. How was your Easter?”

“It was nice. We saw my sisters and nieces in the morning and then went out to the farm and had dinner with Terry’s family. Lovely day. How was yours at Camp David?”

“Relaxing and fun. The kids enjoyed the egg hunt the staff did for them.”

“Was it hard to be there?”

Her sister Angela’s husband had died of a fentanyl overdose during a visit to Camp David in early February. “At first. I avoided the cabin where Spencer died.”

“Understandably.”

“Nick likes being at Camp David so much that I’m trying to rally for his sake, but there’ll always be a bit of a dark cloud over that place now.”

“Of course there will. It’s still so hard to believe it happened in the first place.”

“For us, too. I mean, we had no idea he was reliant on pain meds or that he’d even been injured.

It was such a shock.” Sam and the rest of their family had been stunned to learn that Spencer had become addicted to pain medication following a back injury.

After his doctors had cut him off from the meds, he’d resorted to buying pills on the street and had gotten some laced with the deadly substance.

Sam and her team had hunted down the source of the pills that’d also killed numerous other people.

The perpetrators were now awaiting trial.

“How’re Angela and her kids doing?”

“They’re getting by. I don’t know how she’s going to do it with a new baby on top of everything.” A GoFundMe that Freddie had started for Angela, which Nick had shared to his vast social media audience, had given Angela a way to support her children for the time being.

“You’ll all rally around her and get her through it.”

“I suppose so. Well, I’d better get back to work after my four-day weekend that I enjoyed far too much.”

“No such thing.”

“Heard we caught a new case.”

“Yes, killed by a single blow to the back of the head. I’ll have more info for you guys shortly.”

“Thank you, and welcome back to me, where my prize is a body in the morgue waiting for me.”

Lindsey laughed. “We don’t want you to get lazy.”

“No chance of that around here. Talk to you later.”

“Have a good day.”

“You do the same, Doc.”

Sam joined Vernon in the hallway. “Let me ask you something.”

“Anything you want.”

“How many extra agents were on duty for the event yesterday?”

“We had close to a thousand of our people there, with hundreds each from multiple other agencies as well as perimeter support from the MPD.”

“Wow.”

“That’s pretty typical for high-profile public events like that.”

“It’s amazing to me, even as someone under protection, how the massive presence doesn’t show.”

“That’s the goal. We don’t want to detract from the enjoyment of the event, but we want it to be safe for everyone. A lot of planning and strategy go into it ahead of time.”

“Thank you for that, and please give my thanks to everyone else, too. We appreciate all you do to keep us safe, and we probably don’t say that often enough.”

“I’ll pass that on. It’ll mean a lot to everyone.”

“How close to me do you have to be today?”

“I need to keep you in sight.”

“Good thing we have glass walls around here.” To her team, gathered in the pit, she said, “Morning, citizens. Give me five minutes and then meet me in the conference room.”

“Welcome back, LT,” Detective Cameron Green said. “We missed you.”

“I missed you, too. Not.”