Page 43 of State of Retribution (First Family #9)

N ick was right. She hadn’t had enough sleep, but she wouldn’t trade more sleep for the middle-of-the-night lovemaking with him. He was always worth the sacrifices, especially when he whispered dirty words in her ear and made her explode like a firecracker.

“What’re you smiling about, Mom?” Scotty asked in a grumpy tone as he sipped the one cup of coffee they allowed him these days, because “a man” needed his caffeine to survive eighth-grade algebra.

“Nothing I can tell you.”

“Why are you thinking about that stuff when there’re children present?”

“I’m not allowed to even think about it? What the heck kind of rules are you making, anyway?”

“The kind that will allow us to raise halfway decent children in this house.”

Sam snorted out a laugh. “Our decent children will have the example of a very loving marriage to carry with them into adulthood.”

“You have to put it that way—‘a very loving marriage.’” His imitation of her was spot-on, which cracked her up.

Alden and Aubrey came into the kitchen, dragging backpacks behind them. They’d managed to dress on their own, but Sam made a few adjustments to collars and buttons.

“How’d we do?” Alden asked.

“Not too bad.”

“I told Nick we’re old enough to dress ourselves,” Alden said.

“Did you now?”

“Uh-huh. We’re not babies anymore.”

“No, you aren’t. I made you egg sandwiches today.”

“My favorite,” Aubrey said as she took a seat at the table.

“I thought pancakes were your favorite,” Sam said as she put plates in front of them that also included pineapple and blueberries.

“They’re my weekend favorite.”

“Oh, I see,” Sam said, amused by her as always.

While they ate, Sam sipped her coffee and chatted with them about everything and nothing. She didn’t care what they talked about, it was always entertaining and often comical. Thankfully, Aubrey didn’t get into the recent chicken-and-egg conversation again while she ate.

“I got invited to a sleepover at Jonah’s house this weekend,” Scotty said. “Is that something I’m allowed to do?”

Her first impulse was to say no way because she didn’t want him anywhere but with them, but she knew better than to say that. “Do we know Jonah’s parents?”

“Yeah, you met them at the rink. I think their names are Denise and Mike.”

“Can you get his mom’s number for me, and then I’ll talk to Debra and see what we can do.”

“Okay. I’d really like to go.”

“If we can make it happen, we will.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry everything is a hassle.”

“It’s fine. There are more perks than hassles. We have our own movie theater, for crying out loud.”

“This is true. Any time you want to have your friends here, you can, you know. It’s easier for them to come here.”

“I know, but sometimes they want to do things at their houses, too.”

“I understand.”

“Dad said you guys wanted to talk to me later about high school. What’s up with that?”

“Nothing much. The Secret Service is starting to prepare for the transition, and they had a few questions.”

“Oh, okay. As long as they aren’t wanting me to go somewhere other than Eastern.”

Sam tried to school her expression and must have failed, because he pounced immediately.

His brown eyes went wide. “Is that it?”

“We shut it down. Don’t worry.”

He gave her a wary look. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. We know exactly what you want and acted accordingly. Don’t spend your day worrying about that. We’ll fill you in later.” Sam hugged him tightly and kissed the top of his head.

“You’re sure there’s nothing to worry about?”

“I’m positive. We were very clear with them.”

“Thank you for that.”

“Anything for you, kid. Get me that number for Jonah’s mom, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Debra came to collect him, and off they went to another day of middle school.

Sam couldn’t believe he’d start high school in September. They’d have only six years in total at home together, which wasn’t anywhere near enough for her. She sent the twins to brush their teeth and wash their faces while she put lunch boxes in backpacks.

She met them in the hallway and helped them into their spring jackets, hooking the backpacks over their right shoulders. “You want the other strap, too?”

“That’s not cool, Sam,” Alden told her. “None of the kids wear both straps.”

“Oh well, my bad.”

Aubrey giggled. “It’s okay, Sam. That’s why you have us. To keep you cool.”

Sam laughed as she realized she needed to start writing this stuff down because she never wanted to forget any of it.

She sent them off with hugs and kisses and love and wishes for a great day, and then she bolted into her room to unlock the bedside table where she kept her weapon and cuffs.

After brushing her teeth and running a brush through her hair, she was headed down the stairs to meet Vernon and Q five minutes later.

“Let me ask you something,” she said when they were on the way to HQ.

“What’s up?” Vernon asked.

“Scotty wants to go to a sleepover at a friend’s house this weekend. What’s the feeling on that?”

“The higher-ups won’t be thrilled about it,” Vernon said. “We’d have to vet the parents, the family, the house… And we’d want at least one agent inside with him.”

“I was afraid you might say that.”

“Can he invite his friends to the White House?”

“I suggested that, but he said sometimes his friends want to host at their houses, which is a fair point.”

“Yes, it is, and we’ve had meetings about how things will get more complicated for his detail as he gets into high school.”

“There’re actual meetings about that?”

“Yep.”

“We have meetings about everything ,” Q added. “Meetings on top of meetings.”

“When do you have time for meetings when you’re with me all day?”

“A lot of them are at zero six hundred,” Q said. “We meet every morning to go over the schedule for the day, to plan for backup as needed and to make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Except for your detail, ma’am. They never know what you’re doing on any given day.”

Sam laughed. “I like to keep them guessing.” She took a call from Freddie. “Morning. I’ll be there in five.”

“Thought you’d want to know we have a witness to the murder of Nate Andrews.”

She sat up straighter when she heard that. “What’d they see?”

“The witness left the gym a minute or so after Nate and was walking about a block behind him. According to what he told Carlucci, he saw a white Nissan Altima with District plates pull up near where Nate was walking. A guy got out of the car, hit Nate and then took off. He estimates the whole thing happened in about ten seconds, start to finish.”

“What did he do after the car drove away?”

“He called 911 and then took off in case they came back. He wasn’t there when our people arrived on the scene.”

“By all accounts, this occurred on a dark stretch of sidewalk, but the witness could ID the make and model of the car as well as the District plates?”

“He was adamant about those details.”

“This is great info. A white sedan was seen on the video of Harlowe St. John’s abduction, too. We need to track down every white Altima with District plates.”

“Cameron is on that now, and we’ve put out a BOLO for Patrol to keep an eye out for the make and model.”

“Good job. Let’s get this meeting done so we can get to work.”

Chief Farnsworth stood at the front of the room with Captain Malone and Agent Hill.

As Sam took a seat at the table, she noted that Avery looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept in days. She hoped he wasn’t pushing himself too hard when he was still recovering from being shot.

“Agent Hill is here to brief us on the federal response to Monday’s drone incident involving the White House, as well as the shooting of one of Lieutenant Holland’s Secret Service agents. Agent Hill?”

“Thanks, Chief. My team has been working around the clock since Monday to determine the origin of the drones that were dispatched into the National Capital Region’s airspace during the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

We’ve brought in a bevy of experts on drones, and they’ve determined the devices were created on a 3D printer and outfitted with homemade weapons.

All this to say we still don’t know who sent them, but we’re working on several promising leads and hope to have more information later today.

I understand you’re working with a theory that this, the shooting of Lieutenant Holland’s agent and several recent homicides might be related? I’d like to hear more about that.”

“Detective Cruz,” Sam said, “would you please brief Agent Hill on what we have so far?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She enjoyed catching him off guard but also loved giving him opportunities to shine.

Freddie stood and went to the current murder board, where photos of their four victims, alive and dead, were lined up in chronological order.

He went through the facts of each case, provided details about each victim and then added the possibility that Lt.

Archelotta’s friend Harlowe St. John might be a fifth victim due to the nature of her head injury.

“In addition to these cases, we have Hector Reese giving interviews blasting Lieutenant Holland for an incident that happened more than two years ago, as well as a reporter reaching out to Deputy Chief McBride with questions about a case that only a small number of people inside this building would know about.

“Last night, Captain Malone and I confronted Paul Conklin, the former deputy chief, about whether he’d been talking to anyone about Sam and her cases.

He said he was sorry, but he’d needed the money, which led us to believe that he was one of the few people who knew about the case McBride was called about.

We put him under arrest, and while we were transporting him, he began to choke and gasp for air.

ER doctors have declared him deceased and he’s currently with the ME.

We believe that when he realized who was at his door, he took something, knowing it would kill him. ”

“Fucking coward,” Gonzo muttered loud enough for everyone to hear him.