Fires of Autumn (20 page)

Colt
sighed sharply and down the third shot of whisky.  He set the glass aside. “If
you say so, sir,” he said. “The truth is that I want to go with her very much.”

“Then you
will,” Russ agreed. “Tell Eckart to make another reservation and tell him to
put you both in Business Class.  I’ll talk to Casey myself in the morning
before you both leave.  But for now, why don’t you two used the spare bedroom? 
She needs to try and get some sleep before she goes, poor woman.”

Colt’s
eyebrows lifted. “You want us to
share
a bedroom?”

Russ
grinned. “I’ll have Tracy put her to bed and you can slip in after Peter and
the boys clear the house. They’re not in here when we go to bed, except on the
perimeter.”

Colt knew
the protection detail and safety screen. He’d set it up himself, so he simply
shrugged his shoulders at the President’s assessment.  After a moment, he held
out his hand.

“Thank
you, sir,” he said sincerely. “I appreciate your discretion and your
understanding.”

Russ shook
his hand firmly. “And I appreciate you and Casey, and everything you do to make
my job easier,” he replied. “I’m only as good as the people around me. You and
Casey are two of the best. I don’t want to lose either of you but I suspect,
after what you just told me, if one of you leaves, the other one will too.  I
don’t want to chance it.”

Colt felt
as if they had reached an understanding, as if they shared something more now
other than a work relationship.  There was a deeper trust between them.  Colt
couldn’t even think of Meade and his cronies at the moment; he just wanted to
think of Casey and Russ, and of what decent people they were.  He felt so very
fortunate.

He stayed
up late into the night, moving through the security zones, chatting with his
agents and with Peter in particular.  Peter had the ranch house perimeter,
mainly the porch, so he and Colt stood on the big wooden verandah, watching the
sky with its blanket of stars and speaking of trivial things.  It was a
spectacular evening and they could hear the chipper of coyotes in the distance,
giving the land a very cowboy-like feel. 

Colt was
slouched against one of the supports for the porch, gazing up at the sky as
Peter stood on the ground below him, hands in his jacket pockets.  He was
looking at the corrals in the distance, listening to the horses nicker softly.

“Sorry to
hear about Casey’s boy,” Peter said. “I hope he’s okay.”

Colt
nodded. “He’s got the best of care right now, so that has to be comforting,” he
replied. “I suppose she’ll know more tomorrow when she gets home.”

Peter
nodded faintly, his gaze moving over the compound.  “I’m sorry we couldn’t find
her sooner,” he said. “We tried.  We went all over the place looking for her.”

Colt
grunted softly. “Pete,” he muttered. “It’s okay; you don’t have to beat around
the bush. Yes, Casey was with me. We were together at the resort. You couldn’t
find her because we were out riding horses and having a picnic.”

Peter
didn’t say anything. He continued to stare out into the night. “So… you two
have a thing, I take it?”

Colt came
down off the porch. “We’re in love,” he said softly. “I’m telling you this
because I respect you and I suspect, after discussing this with the President,
that you have already figured the situation out. But this doesn’t go any
further, understand? I’m telling you because you’re my second in command and I
won’t keep secrets from you.  Our lives may depend on it.”

Peter
nodded seriously. “I appreciate your honesty,” he said. “Nobody is going to
hear anything from me.”

“Thanks.”

“How does
the President feel about it?”

“He’s fine
with it, provided we keep it quiet.”

Peter
grinned. “I do have to say that I’m surprised,” he said. “I was there when you
two first met. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight.”

Colt gave
him a lop-sided grin. “It was my fault,” he said. “I shouldn’t have grabbed the
envelope out of her hand. She had every right to get pissed off.”

“You’re
lucky she didn’t smack you.”

Colt
wriggled his eyebrows. “No kidding.”

“She’s the
Queen of Everything, you know. Even the President calls her ‘General’.”

“I know.”

Peter’s
snickers held out a moment longer before he sobered. “So now what?”

“Nothing
changes,” Colt said. “Everything is status quo.  But you know what’s going on
and I’m comfortable with that. I trust you to keep a lid on it.”

Peter
nodded. “You have my word,” he said, eyeing him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Those
flowers she got last week… were they both from you?”

“No.”

“Was one
from you?”

“Yes.”

“Who sent
the others?”

Colt
looked at him, his lips twitching with a smile. “Senator Scott Dane,” he
enunciated the name softly but succinctly. “You’ll keep that quiet, too.  If
that man makes a pass at her, I may have to kill him and bury the body.”

Peter
started laughing. “So why are you telling me?”

“I may
need help.”

Peter’s
laughter grew. “I suppose if I don’t help, you might kill me and bury my body,
too.”

Colt just
gave him a knowing grin and turned for the rear of the house. “Have a good
evening, Special Agent Harrios,” he said.

Peter
watched him go, the smile fading from his face.  Then he turned back around,
focusing on landscape before him.  His thoughts, however, were on Colt Sheridan
and the man’s confession.

Peter had
been involved with Mr. Meade for eleven years.  His father before him had
worked for Meade, so he had fallen into the task like a family legacy.  Most of
his assignments were to simply observe and report, like this one.  He’d never
been given any real spy stuff to accomplish, so his work for them had always
been easy to cover, easy to erase. 

Although
he promised Colt he wouldn’t spread the word around that he and Casey were an
item, he would make sure to tell Mr. Meade.  Any alterations or changes around
the President were to be reported, no matter how small. Sometimes the smallest
details contributed to the biggest failures.

Meade
would know about this latest change.

****

It was a
burn phone. He always used burn phones, those disposable things that could be
purchased at convenience stores with minutes pre-loaded on it. 

 Peter was
too smart, and too suspicious, to purchase the phones locally, so he had family
members from all over the  States mail them to him.  He asked for the phones
for Christmas and Birthday gifts, giving everyone a sob story about how he was
being stalked by an ex-girlfriend and she was unable to trace the pre-loaded
phone numbers.

Therefore,
he received the phones from his aunts, uncles, mother and cousins, and he had
them from all over the country.  Storing them in a safe deposit box that
required a court order to open if anyone became suspicious, the box that
contained the phones had an explosive device on them that, if the proper code
wasn’t input within fifteen seconds of opening the deposit box, would
self-destruct using nitrates and gunpowder with an electronic ignition.  It
would blow up the box but not much else and make it look like one of the phones
had combusted.  It would be difficult to trace and even more difficult to prove
because everything would be ash.

Peter was
using one of those phones now as he called Mr. Meade from his post in New
Mexico, guarding the perimeter of Russell Talbot’s ranch.  Sitting in an old
Jeep with his ray bans on, watching the golden sunset over the desert,  he
listened to Meade’s greeting.

“It’s
Peter,” he said as Meade identified himself.

Meade
immediately warmed. “Peter,” he repeated. “It’s been awhile since we have heard
from you.”

“I haven’t
had much to report, sir.”

“What do
you have to report to me today?”

Peter
kicked a foot up on to the dashboard of the Jeep. “Not too much, but I thought
I’d better call in,” he replied. “The President and his wife are on vacation
and everything is fairly status except for Sheridan.”

“What
about him?”

Peter
wriggled his eyebrows even though Meade couldn’t see him. “It seems that he and
Casey Cleburne have something going.”

“Really?”
Meade seemed pleased, although he didn’t let on too much since Peter didn’t
know that Colt was a fellow Core agent. “How do you know?”

“Because
he told me they’re in love.”

Meade
chewed on the information, pondering and digesting it. He wondered how much
truth there was to it or if it was Colt spinning yarn for the benefit of his
colleagues.

 “Interesting,”
he said. “Did he use those words?”

“He did.”

“And
there’s nothing else of note around the President?”

“Nothing
else. That was the only change.”

“Then
you’ll call me when something else noteworthy happens,” Meade replied. His
calls were usually short because longer calls could be listened in on or
traced. “Good evening, Special Agent Harrios.”

The line
went dead. Peter hung up the phone, shut it down, removed the SIM card and
destroyed it.   He put the phone back in his pocket to be thrown away at the
next opportunity.

He’d
earned his keep for the month.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Luckily,
the flight from Albuquerque to Washington D.C. was smooth and uneventful.  Colt
and Casey sat in First Class, with Casey crying intermittently the entire way. 
Colt held her hand, trying to be of some comfort, as they counted off the three
hour flight until they landed at Dulles International Airport.   At one point,
she climbed out of her seat and sat on his lap, curled up, her face in his neck
as she sniffled softly.  The flight attendants would pass by now and again,
seeing that she was upset, and just left them alone.  Colt held her for a good
part of the flight, managing to get her back into her seat as they descended. 
Once on the ground, they were the first ones off the plane.

There was
a Secret Service car waiting for them curb-side after they collected their
luggage.   The loaded up their gear and climbed into the back of the town car
as the driver headed for Children’s National Medical Center.  Casey sat next to
Colt, trying to compose herself, wishing he could hold her hand but knowing he
wasn’t going to because of the driver.  Already, too many people knew about
their relationship and there didn’t need to be one more rumor to quash.  She
was okay with the President and his wife, but she wasn’t okay with anyone else.
So she sat with her hands in her lap, sniffling now and again, anxious to get
to Brody.  She called her sister to let her know they would be at the hospital
shortly.

The driver
dropped them off at the White House so they could get their vehicles.  Both of
them had parked in the structure across the street to the west and after the
car left, Colt took Casey’s luggage as well as his own and rolled them across
the blustery street and up to the second floor where their vehicles were.

It was a
cool day and the wind was whipping, even in the parking structure. As Casey
unlocked her car, Colt opened her trunk and put her luggage in the back.  His
Audi was right next to hers and he put his suitcase in his trunk, slamming it
just about the time Casey put her purse into the passenger seat of her car.  He
came between the cars, trapping her up against the driver’s side of her
vehicle.

She looked
exhausted and pale, and he put his arms around her, hugging her tightly.  Casey
clung to him and the tears started to return but she fought them.  His show of
strength, comfort and compassion undid her.

“I’ll
follow you over there,” he said. “Are you okay to drive?”                                                        

She
nodded, struggling not to cry. “I’m fine.”

He opened
her door for her. “Get in,” he told her, helping her into the car. He even
reached in to start it because she hadn’t managed to get that far yet.  Then he
looked at her. “I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

She
nodded, wiping at the tears that had managed to escape. “Thank you,” she
whispered.

He kissed
her cheek and shut the door. Casey pulled her big Expedition out and Colt, as
promised, followed close behind. Rain clouds were blowing in from the east as
they made their way to the Children’s National Medical Center on the grounds of
George Washington University Hospital, about two miles from the White House.

As they
pulled into the parking lot, it began to rain but Casey didn’t stop to find her
umbrella. Dressed in jeans, a casual top and a knee-length brown wool coat, she
jumped out of her car with Colt on her heels, walking very quickly through the
growing rain until they reached the lobby of the hospital.  By the time she hit
the lobby, a red-haired woman ran up and grabbed her.