His first task as director had been to begin purging the Secret Service’s security detail of anyone with loyalties to either Mitch Rapp or Irene Kennedy. Secondarily, he was augmenting existing security protocols and changing those that Rapp and Kennedy would be familiar enough with to circumvent. Finally, he was quietly overseeing some of the agencies that had not yet been brought under the Cooks’ thumb—most notably the FBI.
“What do you have for us?” the president asked.
“My people temporarily lost Irene Kennedy, but then the surveillance team watching Mitch Rapp’s neighborhood reacquired her. She went to Mike Nash’s house—”
“Is he there?”
“She met someone in the driveway who we couldn’t identify because of the weather. They went inside for about forty-five minutes and then drove to Rapp’s house. Getting surveillance inside his wall is difficult. Particularly with drones unable to fly.”
Cook went silent for a moment, his eyes darting nervously around the office. “Is it him? Is it Rapp?”
“I don’t think we need to jump to conclusions,” Catherine interjected. “It could just be Mike. He and Kennedy might have business at Rapp’s house. They’d certainly have access to it. Mike is probably one of the people who take care of it when it’s empty.”
Wright just stood there in silence, looking back and forth at them. It was something she’d become accustomed to long ago. They governed very much as a team and people often weren’t sure where the power in the room was located.
“It’s him,” Cook said.
“Tony, we—”
“Don’t patronize me, Cathy!” He turned back to Wright. “Is your team ready?”
She felt the hairs stand on the back of her neck. “What team, Tony?”
“Yes, sir. In place and waiting for your authorization.”
“Do it.”
Wright gave a short nod and rushed from the room. When the door closed, Catherine repeated herself. “What team, Tony?”
It was hard to discern whether he was intentionally ignoring her question or just having a hard time tracking on it. “Mike’s dead,” he said flatly. “And in all likelihood, Rapp tortured him first. If that’s the case, he knows everything about our involvement with the Saudis. With Ward. And he knows what we sent Mike to Africa to do. Right now, he and Kennedy are standing in that fortress he built planning their next move.”
“You need to calm down, Tony. Even if everything you say is true, we don’t know what that next move is. This is our town and our country. Ours. Not theirs.”
“I’m not willing to be so dismissive, Cathy. If we let them disappear, they’ll reconnect with Coleman and his team. And that’s not all. They still have allies all over—”
“If Mike’s out of the picture, then Nicholas Ward is probably still alive,” she said, trying to stop him before he completely disappeared into the rabbit hole he was heading down. “We’re going to have to figure out how to handle that when it becomes public. There’s also the problem of no longer having a credible candidate to take over the Agency. Mike was going to be a popular appointment that would provide some cover for the ones that—”
“Politics? Are you really talking about politics while Rapp and Kennedy strategize about how to get to me?”
“I think it’s unlikely that’s what they’re doing. I admit that Rapp isn’t one to forgive, but Kennedy calculates everything she does. And a rash move against us isn’t going to pencil out to her.”
“Tell that to Christine Barnett.”
Christine Barnett had been their party’s leader before her very unexpected suicide. Conspiracy theories and suspicions abounded, but no one had ever been able to turn up anything that contradicted the official story.
“Speculation, Tony.”
“Speculation? Christine thought she was the second coming of Jesus and she was eight points ahead in the polls. Then, right when she’s about to get everything she’s ever wanted, she kills herself? Don’t insult my intelligence. Or your own.”
“More reason not to go after Kennedy and Rapp half-cocked, Tony. Right now, you’re in the most secure place on the planet, with a literal army dedicated to your safety. We have the luxury of stepping back and taking a breath.”
Another unfamiliar expression flickered across her husband’s face. Suspicion?
“That’s easy for you to say, Cathy. Rapp’s not coming for you. He’s coming for me.”