The Apostle

CHAPTER 53

ANNANDALE, VIRGINIA

Elise Campbell took a deep breath and knocked on Todd Hutchinson’s faded front door. When he didn’t answer, she began knocking louder.

Finally, a shadow passed behind the peephole and there was the scrape of the chain being undone, followed by the sound of the dead bolt unlocking.

Hutchinson must have been down in his basement, working out. “Campbell?” he said, standing there in a pair of gym shorts and a tight T-shirt. “What are you doing here?”

Elise had never before noticed how well built her colleague was. “We need to talk,” she said, as she brushed past him and entered his home uninvited.

“Come on in. I guess,” said Hutch as he closed and locked the door behind her.

Campbell had purposefully worked herself into a lather on the drive down from D.C. The more emotional she appeared, the harder it would be for him to read her. “Why’d you lie to me?”

“Wait a second, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you and Nikki Hale.”

Hutchinson was about to say something, but then stopped himself. Abandoning his response, he asked, “What about me and Nikki Hale?”

“Do you think I’m stupid, Hutch? Did you think nobody was going to know?”

“Know what?” demanded the man. “You’re talking in circles.”

“The night Nikki Hale died, you had sex with her.”

No sooner had the accusation sprung from her lips than the microexpression Campbell had witnessed in Lafayette Park was back on Hutchinson’s face.

“You’re out of your mind,” he stated.

“Really?” bluffed Campbell, removing the Suffolk County medical examiner’s form from her pocket. “Not only were you dumb enough to screw her, you were dumb enough to leave your DNA behind.”

Hutchinson snatched the form away from her. “That’s insane. Let me see that.”

“I’ve got a witness that saw you playing grab-ass with her near the guesthouse.”

“Who?”

“Never mind who. Did you and Nikki have an ongoing relationship, or was this just a one-nighter?”

“This is bullshit,” said Hutchinson as he crumpled the ME’s form and tossed it across the room. “I want you to leave.”

“If this is all bullshit, you’ve got nothing to lose by answering my questions, do you?”

“What’s the point? You’ve already made up your mind.”

“The point is, five people died that night and you know something you’re not telling me. If I have to drag your relationship with Nikki Hale into the light of day to get some answers, believe me, I’m going to do it.”

Hutchinson grabbed the back of his neck with his right hand and lowered his eyes to the floor.

“You’ve got thirty seconds, Hutch,” said Campbell.

“It was a mistake,” he said, walking over to his couch and sitting down. “She came on to me. I guess that should have told me right there how wasted she was.”

“So you were with her,” said Elise.

Hutchinson nodded.

“You left Mrs. Alden alone?”

“No.”

Campbell remained standing and looked down at him. “You’re not making any sense.”

“The president’s detail was with her.”

“How is that possible? You said Alden didn’t show up at the guesthouse until after Hale had left that night.”

“I lied.”

Her read of him had been right. “What else did you lie to me about?”

Hutchinson raised his eyes. “I don’t want to lose my job, Elise.”

“Right about now, I’d say that’s the least of your problems.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Tell me what happened that night.”

Hutchinson took a deep breath. “Nikki Hale had been upstairs at the guesthouse with the first lady-”

“Drinking.”

“Yes. After a while, things got heated and they began arguing. Right about then, the president showed up.”

“What happened?”

“He went upstairs, and the argument got worse. Nikki stormed out of the room. She was mad as hell. The first lady yelled at the president to make up his mind. Either Nikki was history or she was.”

“So they were having an affair?”

Hutchinson nodded. “As Nikki came down the stairs, she had a few choice words for both of them. Alden had left his agents outside. I was the only one in the guesthouse. He saw me and told me to take Hale to her car and make sure she got the hell off the estate.”

“Did the president know she was drunk?”

“He and Mrs. Alden both did, but they didn’t care. They wanted her gone.”

“And you had an opportunity to take advantage of her,” said Campbell, the disdain evident in her voice.

“No, I wanted to find her a ride home,” Hutchinson replied. “I was walking her back to the main house, and the kiss just happened. She was pissed off at Alden and she wanted to get back at him. I shouldn’t have let it happen. It was unprofessional.”

“About as unprofessional as putting a woman that intoxicated into her car and sending her off into the night,” said Campbell.

“I told you. I was trying to find her a ride.”

She didn’t believe him. He would have done anything the Aldens asked him to and now she knew why he’d been allowed to stay on the first lady’s detail.

“I’m serious,” Hutchinson continued. “We were on our way to the main house when Alden came up behind us. Nikki had left her purse behind. Alden was still fuming and he flung it at her. They began arguing again. I tried to tell him that we needed to get her a ride home and he told me to return to my post or he’d have me fired.”

“And you chose to follow orders instead of stopping Alden from sending that girl off drunk to kill herself and the Coleman family.”

Once again, Hutchinson lowered his eyes to the floor.

There were a million things she wanted to say to the pathetic excuse for a man sitting in front of her, but she couldn’t bear the sight of him anymore. Besides, he wasn’t the one she needed to settle this with. The man she needed to confront was President Robert Alden.

CHAPTER 54

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

Even though Reshteen had lined the space with blankets, Harvath and Fontaine lay in the bed of his truck freezing to death. They were also dangerously close to ru

They had been hidden beneath a mountain of carefully stacked gear, which had then been lashed down with ropes. As the truck fishtailed up the icy roadway, it hit pothole after pothole and Harvath began to worry less about being discovered and executed by one of Massoud’s soldiers and more about being crushed beneath the ton of Taliban cargo swaying above them.

Theirs was one of three trucks making the supply run up to Massoud’s outpost. The Taliban commander had ordered up enough supplies for two weeks. If they didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, it was unlikely they’d get another chance.

Remembering the evil eye he’d received from the old, black-turbaned man in Surobi, he knew that no matter how authentic their clothing, there was no way he and Fontaine could pass close inspection as villagers from Dagar. Coming in sight unseen was their only bet. Harvath prayed that Massoud’s sentries would be like most soldiers standing post overnight-cold, bored, and hungry.

The security setup along the road was similar to that leading into Massoud’s village and involved two checkpoints.

When Harvath felt the truck coming to a halt at the first stop, his heart began to quicken and his hands tightened around his MP5. Next to him, he knew Fontaine was readying himself as well. Neither dared speak and they both knew what they would have to do if they were discovered.

Their bodies tense, each of the men listened for any indication that suggested the sentries suspected something was wrong. Despite the bitter cold, Harvath could feel the sweat forming on his skin as the adrenaline dumped into his bloodstream.