Her father stood up and started to walk toward the door.
“If you walk out of here without telling me what the hell’s going on, I’m gonna make your life so miserable you’ll wish I’d never been born,” she said, her voice fierce and true.
Her father stopped but didn’t turn around. Never before in her life had she raised her voice to her father like that. Never before had she spoken to him with such venom. But she meant every word.
His shoulders sagged ever so slightly, and she could swear that she saw his fighting spirit drain out of him. He slowly turned toward her. His face was as pale as she’d ever seen it. Veronica sensed the impact of her words on her father. They had hit home.
“There are things that I keep from you not because I don’t trust you or don’t value your opinion. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I keep them away to protect you—”
“I’m no child anymore, Alexander,” Veronica said, cutting him off. She had him in a corner now, and she was going to press her advantage. She continued, her eyes never wavering from his. “I don’t need one of your bullshit explanations. I want to know what my fiancé’s doing in South Africa.”
“You don’t give up, do you? Just like your old man.”
Veronica couldn’t be sure, and she wasn’t going to ask, but she thought she detected a note of pride in his voice.
Alexander Hammond took a seat at the dining table and gestured to his daughter to do the same, which she did. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have come to the house. He should have simply called her and explained that he was too busy to stop by. She deserved the truth, but even when he was ready to share with her, she’d only ever get a version of the truth he’d told White, depending on whether White made it back alive.
Veronica was staring at him, her eyes boring holes into his forehead. She waited for him to start talking.
“I sent Clayton to South Africa to investigate a lead we had,” he said, reaching for her hand. She gave it to him.
“Keep talking, Dad,” she said.
“What else do you want to know?”
Her face turned red, and she pulled her hand back. “Am I gonna have to ask all the questions? I don’t want to fight you over every bit of information.”
Hammond almost chuckled. “Glad to hear you don’t want to fight,” he said, putting his phone on the table.
“Why did you send Clay? I’m sure there are hundreds of FBI or Secret Service agents who could have investigated that lead.”
Hammond knew that to be true, and this was where he had to tread carefully. The good relationship he had spent decades building with his daughter was on the line.
“The investigation needed to be run outside official channels,” he explained.
His daughter’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. Why?”
His cell phone, which was sitting on the dining table, began to vibrate. He was going to ignore it, not wanting to anger his daughter, but knew he couldn’t when he recognized the number.
Before he could grab it, his daughter did. “You take it here,” she warned him.
“This isn’t a game, Veronica,” Hammond hissed back. “I’m the future vice president of this country. You can’t ask me to—”
“You take the goddamn call here. Understood?”
Hammond couldn’t afford to miss that call. It was from his contact in Cape Town. He nodded at his daughter.
“Yes,” Hammond said into the phone, looking at his daughter angrily.
“Your man’s been taken,” Pierre Sarazin said.
Hammond tried to keep a straight face but failed. Veronica must have sensed something had gone terribly wrong because her demeanor changed from angry to fearful in the span of a second. Hammond’s head started to pound.
“When? How?”
“They were waiting for him at his hotel.”
How was this even possible? Only he, Girdner, and the CIA station chief in Pretoria knew about White’s trip to Cape Town. And even then, Hammond hadn’t given them any specifics, just the overall picture. He hadn’t intended to leak White’s location for another three days. He would then have used White’s capture as an excuse to launch a covert operation against Oxley.
Now the timeline had changed, and they weren’t ready. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if it was Oxley who had him. What in hell had gone wrong?
“Are you absolutely sure?” Hammond asked. “Think before you answer.”
“I’m sure. I heard it happen.”