“Yeah. I guess he would.”
“I was staying in touch with his doctors, Mitch. He wasn’t going to last much longer, and the death they described . . .” Her voice faded for a moment. “I’ve come to believe that it was better this way.”
Rapp just nodded. It was a scenario that had scared the hell out of him. Hurley would have never killed himself—survival was woven into every fiber of his being. And that would have left it to Rapp to slip into the hospital late one night as the shifts were changing. What would it have felt like to press a silencer to Hurley’s temple while the old cuss goaded him on?
“Are Rickman’s files safe?” Rapp asked as the coffin hit bottom and the funeral started to break up. Chuck was the first to take off, and this time Nash gave chase while the rest of his family dabbed at their eyes with a shared handkerchief. Coleman’s people drifted away, leaving only their boss to stare stoically down at the hole.
“President Chutani has started an internal investigation. We have a man in his administration who tells us the files were stored on a computer that Ahmed Taj kept in his office safe. Marcus is familiar with the encryption protocol he used and says that it’ll take the Pakistanis a minimum of thirty years to crack it. By then the information will only be interesting to historians.”
They didn’t speak again until they were the only mourners left, watched discreetly from the trees by the men charged with covering Hurley up.
“Senator Ferris was trampled during the panic caused by Taj’s poisoning,” Kennedy said. “Six cracked ribs, a broken wrist, and a puncture wound in his thigh. Last night he was transferred to Bethesda and he insists that you’re responsible. That you stabbed him with a steak knife. Is that true?”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“Positive. It was a fork.”
“He told the White House that you tried to kill him.”
“I don’t try to kill people, Irene. I either do it or I don’t.”
“That’s essentially what I said to President Alexander. And Chutani is extremely grateful for your intervention. According to him, the security footage was somehow corrupted. He also says that he has two men who will sign affidavits stating that Ferris was drunk and that you were nowhere near him when he fell.”
“Problem solved, then.”
“That was pushing the limits, Mitch. Even for you.”
“We needed to send a message to that piece of garbage. Consider it sent.”
“Fortunately for both of us, President Alexander privately agrees. Having said that, he did mention that if you ever do anything like this again, he’s going to personally come to Langley and kick your ass.”
Rapp laughed and started toward his car. “Tell him any time.”
THE SURVIVOR
Table of Contents
PRELUDE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
EPILOGUE