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Zen wheeled himself outside with the garbage. He loved his daughter dearly, but there were plenty of times when he wished he had a son as well. He could have made a cool sword for Basanio.
Zen wrestled with the plastic top of the can. It never seemed to want to unlatch when he needed it to. That would be an asset, undoubtedly, in a rural area where there were raccoons or even bears prowling for midnight snacks, but in the wilds of the Washington suburbs, it was more than a little a
Brea
“How now, fair queen?” Zen asked. “How goeth the princess?”
“The princess is off to bed, awaiting your kiss.”
“Her costume is done?”
“Such as it is.”
“You know we could—”
“Zen, we are not going to hire a seamstress to make it.”
“I wasn’t going to suggest that,” said Zen. He was fudging: he’d been thinking of Anthony, his tailor.
“You spoil her,” added Brea
“That’s my job,” said Zen, rolling down the hall to Teri’s bedroom.
Most senators had two homes, one near Washington, D.C., and one back in their home state. Since he represented Virginia, Zen was lucky enough to need only one—though he saw the value in a ready excuse to leave town.
“Hey, Portia, you done for the night?” he asked his daughter as he rolled into her room.
“Uh-huh,” she murmured. “It’s a good uniform.”
“I think they call them judges’ robes.”
“Whatever.”
“Whatever,” he mimicked, bending over and kissing her. “Say your prayers?”
“Uh-huh.”
“See you in the morning, all right?”
Her head popped up as he started to roll himself backward.
“Are you taking me to school?”
“Don’t I always?”
“Sometimes Mom does.”
“Sometimes Mom does. Not tomorrow.”
“Can we do my lines in the car?”
“You haven’t memorized them already?”
“I need practice.”
“We’ll practice. Sleep now.”
Brea
She ran them under the water in the sink to clean them. They’d gotten them for their wedding, but now she wasn’t sure who’d given them.
“Champagne?” said Zen, startling her.
The glass slipped from her hand and fell on the floor, shattering.
“Damn,” muttered Brea
“You OK?” Zen asked.
“Oh, I’m fine.”
She picked up the stem and the largest fragment, dropping them into the garbage bin.
“What are we celebrating?”
“Your law,” she said, going for the broom. “Today’s vote.”
“It’s not a law yet. Still a bill.”
“It will be a law. It should be a law.”
“Tell that to the President.”
“I will.”
“I think she’ll sign it. Hell, I’m going to Kiev for her.”
“Kiev?”
“Well, not really for her. Did I tell you—Al Osten had a heart attack.”
“Senator Osten?”
“Yeah, he’s OK. They got him to the hospital in time, thank God.” Zen swung around to the cabinet and got out another glass. “He was supposed to go to the NATO meeting next week in Ukraine. I’m going to pinch hit for him. I called him at the hospital to see how he was doing—you know that’s all he wanted to talk about? He wanted to go himself.”
Brea
“You’ve got a juice glass,” she told him as he handed her the flute.
“Can’t reach the fancy stuff. Tastes the same. Here’s to us.”
“To your bill.”
They clicked glasses, then each took a small sip.
“Not bad,” said Zen.
“Why are you going to the NATO meeting?” asked Brea
“Your President needs someone she can count on.”
“That’s you?”
“Not really. But Tompkins can’t go. She sure can’t send someone from the other party. And we need someone important there. So that leaves me. I suggested it,” he added, shrugging.
“Jeff—there have been threats.”
“Yeah, I know, Bree. There’s always threats. The security people will do a good job.”
Brea
“I don’t…” she started.
The words died on her lips. What was she going to say? She didn’t want him to go? But she couldn’t prevent him.
“There are always intelligence reports about people who want to break these things up,” said Zen. “Remember last year, the OPEC meeting? The CIA was convinced there was going to be a bomb attack. Nothing happened. Nada.”
“I know.”
“Come on. Let’s go sit inside. Bring the bottle.”
Brea
How much different if he’d never had the accident?
Brea
“I don’t want you to go,” she said when he turned back around. “I want you to stay home.”
“I’m sorry, babe. It’s too late for that.” Zen took a sip of his champagne. His casual smile was gone now; he looked as serious as if they were back at Dreamland, outlining a mission. “What’s up?”
“I think it’s dangerous.”
“Something else is bothering you. Something big.”
She’d never been able to keep secrets from him. Brea
“The intelligence is very good,” she told him. “The Russians want the meeting disrupted.”
“So? They going to bomb it?”
“We believe they hired a group of assassins to disrupt it. They’re pretty nasty folks. The idea would be to kill some of the ministers, and make it look like a terrorist attack. Or simply to stop the meeting from taking place.”
“Hired assassins?”
“It’s a group called the Wolves. Have you heard of them?”
“No. Should I have?”
“Not necessarily. Whiplash is involved.”
“Oh, really. Why wasn’t the oversight committee notified?”
“No action was endorsed. This is being undertaken as part of a joint task force project lead by the CIA. There’s an NSC finding.”
“A thin white sheet of paper to cover everyone’s behind.”
“Are we talking as husband and wife, or senator and Tech Office head?”
“Both. What’s Whiplash’s involvement? You’re providing security?”
“Not necessarily, Jeff. Don’t ask me.”
“Don’t ask you?”
“I have to draw the line.” Brea
“Whoa, whoa, what do you mean, you have to draw the line? Wait just a second there, Bree.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said defensively, even though she had started for the kitchen.
“Tell me about what you’re doing,” demanded Zen.
“I can’t, Jeff. You know that. There’s a line.”
Zen took one of his exaggerated, I’m-holding-everything-in deep breaths.
Brea
“You’re not talking to a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee,” he said finally. “You’re talking to your husband.”
She remained silent.
“All right, so the Wolves are assassins,” said Zen. “Why should I be more afraid of them than run-of-the-mill Russian spies?”
“You shouldn’t,” she said.
“Good.”
Zen took another sip of his champagne, a bigger one this time.
“Should I be worried?” he asked.