Buch lesen: «Security Breach»

ONE

Nicholas Cole hurried toward the White House special in-house security chief’s office in the West Wing, gripping the leash for his K-9 partner, Max. Two Secret Service agents emerged from the office, wearing gloves and carrying a folder. Both nodded toward him as he entered the room.

General Margaret Meyer stood behind her oak desk, her hands fisted on the tan blotter, a fierce expression on her face, her intense blue eyes narrowing on him. He swallowed hard. He rarely saw her this upset, but tension poured off her.

“Shut the door, Nicholas.” The general moved from behind her desk, gesturing toward its flat surface. “This office has been searched.”

After following her instruction, he came to attention in front of his boss, having a hard time shaking his military training in the Navy SEALs. “What happened?” He scanned the neat desk and the bookcase to the right, and wondered how she knew.

She straightened to her full height of five feet three inches, her shoulders thrust back. “When I went to get a folder from the bottom left-hand drawer, the stack was out of order. I have a very precise way of arranging everything in here, and thankfully I do or I might not have known someone went through the Michael Jeffries file.”

The Jeffries case was an investigation being undertaken by the Capitol K-9 Unit, comprising fourteen cops, soldiers and special agents who looked into important cases and reported to Margaret Meyer, a former four-star general who worked under the president’s direction. “Anything missing?”

“No, but it would be easy to take pictures of the papers and evidence the team has uncovered so far.”

“What do you want me to do, ma’am?” Nicholas knew the murder of Michael Jeffries—son of the prominent congressman Harland Jeffries, who had been wounded in the attack against Michael—was important to the general, as well as to his unit captain, Gavin McCord. He and the rest of the team had pledged to find who killed Michael and left his father to bleed to death.

“Coordinate with Special Agent Dan Calvert who just left. You’re to work with him on this. I want to know who was in my office. It could be the break we’ve needed on this case. I have Congressman Jeffries breathing down my neck. He wants answers to who killed his son. Not to mention Senator Eagleton insisting his daughter had nothing to do with Michael Jeffries’s murder. Those two men have never been friends, and each one has a great deal of political clout.”

Erin Eagleton, who’d been Michael Jeffries’s girlfriend, was a person of interest in Michael’s murder and the shooting of the congressman. Her starfish charm, with her initials engraved on it, had been found at the crime scene. Considering that Capitol K-9 Unit member Chase Zachary had run into Erin only hours before the murder and she’d been wearing the charm, the team desperately wanted to find Erin to bring her in for questioning. They’d been searching for her since Michael’s murder. “I noticed Dan carrying a file from your office. Is he processing it for latent prints?”

“Yes, and any other physical evidence he can get. With the Easter Egg Roll today, the White House has been crawling with visitors since early this morning. Dan is going to view the security tapes and no doubt come up with a long list of suspects who had access.” She shook her head, a scowl wrinkling her forehead. “Especially with the Oval Office and the Situation Room here in the West Wing being used for the festivities.”

A security nightmare in his opinion, but the Easter Egg Roll was a long White House tradition. “When was the last time you opened that drawer?”

“Yesterday evening before I left for a reception in the Roosevelt Room then attended a state dinner for dignitaries from the UN. After that, I went home. I didn’t come back here.”

“Then we’re looking at a sixteen-hour window.”

General Meyer adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses. “So you see the problem. The list is much longer than I would like.” She checked her wristwatch. “In fact, I need to put in an appearance at the Easter Egg Roll. I know the event is covered by the Secret Service, but I want you out there with Max. My office was breached and the perpetrator could likely be among the guests outside.”

“May I inspect your office first?”

She nodded once. “I’ll see you later. If you discover anything, find me right away. I want to be kept informed on everything.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After the door closed, and he and Max were alone in the office, he unfastened the leash to his rottweiler and let him investigate. In addition to his usual duties as a guard/suspect-apprehension dog, Max was cross-trained on bomb detection, as an extra security precaution due to their post at the White House.

While Max moved around the room, Nicholas snapped on latex gloves and crouched behind the desk on the left side. He inspected the bottom drawer, then slid his hand back as far as he could under the piece of furniture, feeling for anything that might have fallen and rolled beneath it. Nothing.

Next, he examined a cabinet behind the desk. Underneath, his fingers touched something small. A cufflink? He pulled it out and scrutinized the gold cufflink with a bald-eagle imprint and the initials VG. How long had this been there? Did it belong to a visitor or the intruder?

After putting the piece of jewelry into an evidence bag and pocketing it, he continued his search of the office. Ten minutes later, other than the cufflink, he and Max had come up empty-handed.

“Time to go to the party, boy. General Meyer requires our attendance.”

His rottweiler turned his amber-colored eyes on Nicholas and gave one bark.

Dressed in his black uniform with the emblem of the Capitol K-9 Unit on each sleeve and over his left pocket, Nicholas exited the West Wing by the West Colonnade and cut across the Rose Garden toward the South Lawn where the Easter Egg Roll was taking place.

For a few minutes he stood on the outskirts of the crowd assembled to enjoy the special party for the young children who’d won tickets by a lottery system. The kids were joined by various government officials, which included the president and his wife, and celebrities. The highlight was a visit by the Easter Bunny, but other costumed characters mingled among the crowd.

He scanned the people gathered, looking for anyone with the initials VG. His survey came to rest upon Selena Barrow, the White House tour director, responsible for planning this event. Even from a distance, Selena commanded a person’s attention. Tall, slender with long wavy brown hair and the bluest eyes, she was attractive, but what drew him to Selena was her air of integrity and compassion. Since Erin had disappeared, Selena had been relentless in her support of her cousin’s innocence, and he admired that kind of dedication.

When a couple with their two little girls stopped to talk to her, she smiled, bent down and spoke to the children. He glimpsed the radiant look on Selena’s face. She probably was having as much fun as the kids at the event. Whenever he saw her with children, he got the feeling she must love being around them.

Last year he’d dated a woman who’d wanted half a dozen kids. It hadn’t taken him long to know they weren’t a good fit. He didn’t want to be a parent after the childhood he’d had. His father had certainly not been a good example to follow, and his mother hadn’t been much better. He pushed thoughts of his past away and concentrated on the job he had to do today.

Selena would have an updated list of people invited to the party. It might save him a trip to the front gate if he asked her for it. And give him a reason to talk to her.

* * *

After slipping her keys back into her jacket pocket, her computer tablet nestled against the crook of her arm, Selena checked the schedule to see which age group of children would be doing the Easter Egg Roll next. Her friend Amy and her daughter were attending this year, and she wanted to cheer for Courtney in the egg roll.

Everything was set up. All the other activities were progressing according to plan—the Eggspress Yourself, the Eggtivity Zone Obstacle Course, the Rockin’ Egg Roll Stage and the Storytime Stage with Senator Eagleton, her uncle, reading a Peter Cottontail book. A special appearance by the Easter Bunny would occur at the end of the story.

She watched her uncle entertaining the children sitting on the ground around him, his deep voice expressive, with the right inflection to convey the emotions of the characters. If only things had been different in her past, she and her uncle might have been on good terms. Instead, he barely acknowledged her because of her mother, his younger sister. He was polite but distant and reserved around Selena.

Selena wove her way through the crowd preparing to watch the Easter Egg Roll competition for the three-and four-year-old children. The president stepped into the fenced-off area to demonstrate what they were to do and start the race.

Selena pushed closer toward the activity. Moving quickly through the throng, Miss Chick, one of the costumed characters, bumped into her and nearly knocked Selena down.

Miss Chick, dressed in a feathered chicken outfit, steadied Selena and said, “Sorry. Late for the Eggspress Yourself,” and scurried away, the daisy on her large straw hat swaying in the breeze.

Selena turned from watching Miss Chick disappear to continue toward the Easter Egg Roll and ran right into Nicholas Cole. Slowly she raised her gaze to his face, taking in his strong jawline, lips tilted in a grin, his deep brown eyes.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” His smoky voice with a slight Southern drawl always sent a thrill through her.

“The Egg Roll. To see if everything is going smoothly.”

Being at least six inches taller than her five-nine, he scanned the mass of people who tried to get closer to the Easter Egg Roll. “From what I see everything is fine. You’ve done a good job.”

“Thanks, but it isn’t over with until this evening. I won’t relax until then.”

As if she could relax with her cousin missing. Since Erin’s disappearance, Selena had constantly asked the Capitol K-9 Unit for updates about Erin’s whereabouts, but she’d pestered this man the most because he was assigned to the White House. What was the Capitol K-9 Unit doing to find her cousin? To find the real killer of Michael Jeffries, Erin’s boyfriend? There was no way she had murdered Michael. So far, Selena hadn’t been successful in proving Erin was innocent, but she was getting closer. She’d been spending her off-hours investigating the cases Michael had been working on as an attorney. Maybe one of them was the reason he was killed.

“I have a favor to ask you.” The dimples in his cheeks appeared.

And as usual she melted at the sight of them. He had the most engaging smile. “If I can help, I will.” She didn’t want to antagonize every member of the unit.

“I need a list of all the people attending today’s events.”

“All thirty thousand?”

“And the volunteers, too.”

“Oh, what’s an additional thousand or so. Security has that list.”

Now, on top of the dimples, his brown eyes sparkled, luring her to forget she was working. “I know, but I thought you might have it on your tablet. It’s important.” He tapped the device she held in her hands.

“Only the volunteers. The full list is in my office.” She glanced toward the West Wing and realized it was closer than Security. “I can pull it up on my computer for you.”

“Please.”

“I’d ask you why, but I’m sure you won’t tell me for security reasons.”

His grin grew.

Maybe if she did him a favor, he would return it and help her concerning Erin. “Let’s go. Everything seems to be going fine. If not, I’m sure I’ll be notified.”

Nicholas looked toward General Margaret Meyer. “I need to tell the general something. Go ahead and pull the list up. I’ll be right there.”

As Selena headed toward the West Wing, she glanced at Nicholas talking to General Meyer. The older woman frowned, clearly upset about whatever they were discussing. Did it have anything to do with Erin or the murder case? She knew her uncle, Erin’s father, was insisting the general’s team find the real killer.

Selena walked past the Rose Garden and entered the West Wing through the West Colonnade entrance. When she reached the door to her office, she slipped her hand into her jacket pocket for her keys. Nothing.

They were gone!

She just had them outside. She tried the knob, and it turned as though she’d never locked the door when she left hours ago. She always did. As she eased it open, it was wrenched from her grasp, and Miss Chick, in her yellow-feathered costume, latched onto her arm and dragged her into the office. Before she could react, Miss Chick smashed a vase against her skull. Selena fell backward, hitting the floor as Miss Chick fled.

She started to get up to alert Security, but the room spun before her. She sank back and closed her eyes. The darkness continued to swirl...

“Selena. Selena, are you okay?”

She pried her eyelids up and saw Nicholas’s face looming close to hers. Worry lined his handsome features. A pounding in her head quickly reminded her of what had occurred. She tried to rise.

Nicholas clasped her shoulders. “Stay still. I’ve called Security and the doctor. Someone hit you with a vase.” A latex glove on his hand, he held up a shard of a beautiful green-and-pink ceramic vase the president had given her when she’d first come to work as the White House tour director and his assistant.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Did you see Miss Chick leave?”

Nicholas shook his head. The same costumed characters were hired every year for the event, and Nicholas had to be long used to seeing them all. “Does she have something to do with this?” He gestured to the mess in the office.

This time, despite the throbbing head, Selena propped herself up on her elbows and scanned the usually neat area. “She hit me with the vase and fled.” Had she lost any consciousness? “How long did you talk with the general?”

“About five minutes then I came straight here.” He spoke to Security through his invisible headset. “Miss Chick needs to be found and detained.” He quickly described her costume. “She attacked Selena Barrow in her office.”

Shortly, two security guards came into the room as well as Secret Service agent Dan Calvert. He took one look and said, “Fill me in.”

Selena sat all the way up, trying to ignore the light-headedness swarming her. “I came to get the visitor list for Nicholas. That’s when I discovered my keys were missing and the door was unlocked. The next thing I know, Miss Chick is grabbing me and yanking me inside then hitting me with a vase. She ran out after that. I don’t know anything else.”

“Your keys were stolen? Any idea when?” Nicholas asked, helping Selena to her feet and guiding her to a chair nearby.

She eased down, gripping the arms to steady herself. “I know exactly, but at the time I didn’t realize it. Miss Chick bumped into me outside a few minutes before you and I talked. I had my keys until then.”

Dan directed the security officers to stand guard outside the office. “What keys were taken?”

“To this office, my file cabinets, a storeroom around the corner and my house. I keep my car keys separate in my purse, which is locked in the top left drawer of my desk.”

“Was that drawer key taken, too?”

“Yes.”

Nicholas peered behind the desk. “Everything has been emptied.” Donning a second glove, he moved toward the purse on the floor and held it up. “Check to see if anything was taken. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She took the brown Coach bag Erin had given her for her birthday. All her life Selena had fought for everything she had, so it was nice to have a champion for a moment, especially with all the tension of her cousin Erin named a person of interest in her boyfriend’s murder and the shooting of Congressman Jeffries. That day, when they’d met to celebrate her birthday, her cousin had seemed so happy. Just a few weeks later, Michael was murdered...and Erin had disappeared.

Selena intended to help prove Erin couldn’t have done it. Erin cared for Michael and wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Then why did she disappear the night of the murder?

Selena refused to dwell on that nagging question and instead focused on what might be missing from her purse. She dumped the contents on her lap, her car keys falling out, and went through her wallet, then looked up. “No, everything is here.”

The doctor arrived with his black bag. He quickly examined her, asking how she felt.

“My head hurts, but I’m all right. I’ve had worse headaches than this one.” She couldn’t leave the White House in the middle of the biggest affair she’d put together.

“Do you have any nausea?”

“No.”

He checked the movement of her eyes, then the bump forming on the side of her head. “You’ll have a knot, but there wasn’t a cut, so no stitches. You should at least go to my office and let me do a more extensive evaluation in case you need to go to the hospital.”

“I will later. I want to check and see if anything is missing from my office.”

The doctor frowned but nodded. He looked toward Nicholas. “Make sure she does.”

“I will.”

The doctor turned back to Selena. “If you get dizzy or your vision is affected, blurry, bright-light sensitive, let me know immediately. Please rest as much as possible, and you can take over-the-counter pain meds for the headache. If it gets worse, let me know that immediately, too.”

“I understand. If anything changes, I will.”

When the doctor left, she swung her attention between Dan and Nicholas. “I want to see if anything has been taken, though Miss Chick didn’t appear to have anything on her.” Selena had to check a few files in particular to see if they were intact.

“If you’re feeling up to it,” Nicholas said, “Dan and I need to know that, too.” Behind her desk, Nicholas bent over and picked up a straw hat with a daisy on it. “I’m assuming this isn’t yours.”

“No, it’s Miss Chick’s.”

“Good. I’m going to use it to see if I can find where she went while Dan stays here with you.” Nicholas covered the distance to his K-9 partner, waiting near the door.

Taking hold of Max’s leash, Nicholas showed the straw hat to the rottweiler, and the dog sniffed it. “Find, Max.”

Nicholas and Max disappeared out into the hallway. Previously, when she’d seen Nicholas working with his K-9 partner, she’d always been amazed at Max’s abilities. She hoped they’d find Miss Chick—whoever the costumed intruder really was.

* * *

Nicholas followed his dog through the crowds and out the door to the West Colonnade. Max headed east, stopping every once in a while and pointing his nose in the air, then charging forward. The dog entered the Rose Garden and headed to the lawn area bordered by flowering plants and boxwoods. The tulips were in full bloom, adding a brilliant splash among the greenery. Max came to a halt near the cluster of white furniture under a large magnolia tree and barked.

Nicholas checked the area, wondering if Miss Chick had sat here sometime recently. He moved behind two white chairs and inspected the bushes, plunging his hand into the middle. When he grasped a feathery material, glimpsing yellow, he tugged it free.

Miss Chick’s costume—discarded.

“Good boy.” He gave Max a treat.

He placed a call to Dan. “I found the costume in the Rose Garden minus Miss Chick. Are you still with Selena?”

“Yes. Do you want to talk to her?”

“Yes.” When Selena came on, Nicholas asked, “Who’s Miss Chick?”

“Just a minute. I’ll have to look on my list of employees.” A moment late, she answered, “Tara Wilkins.”

“When she bumped into you earlier, could you tell if it was Tara Wilkins?”

A long pause—he could imagine her forehead creasing with a frown while her blue eyes darkened—then Selena said, “No, not for sure. Her voice was low and husky, but I’m pretty sure it was a woman.”

“When was the last time you saw Tara Wilkins without the headpiece on?”

“When I talked with the costumed characters in the East Wing entrance before the event started. That was seven this morning.”

“What do you know about Tara Wilkins? Is she trustworthy? Could she have given the costume to someone so the person could break into your office after the morning briefing?”

“She was Miss Chick last year and did a good job. The Secret Service vetted her as they do for all the people I use as costumed characters for this event, but I suppose it’s possible.”

“I’ll have the police check her residence.” He didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“I don’t see her putting her reputation on the line like that.” Selena’s worry came through the line.

“One good thing is that all the people who are here are on a list. You don’t get in here without going through checkpoints.”

“Please let me know what’s happening. I’m responsible for the employees I hired for this event.”

“I will. Anything missing from your office?”

“No.”

“Let me talk with Dan again.”

When Dan came back on the phone, he said, “I’ll let Security know what’s developing.”

“Tara Wilkins needs to be found. Her residence checked. We don’t have any idea what’s going on. I’m not even sure it was Tara Wilkins in the costume, but I’m going to see if Max can follow the scent from the clothing. I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Good. In the meantime, I’m escorting Miss Barrow to the doctor’s office.”

Nicholas heard a protest coming from the background, and he smiled. Dan was going to have his hands full getting her to go. “Have fun. I’ll check in later.”

“Chicken,” Dan whispered. “You left me with the toughest job. Anyone can follow a dog around.”

Nicholas chuckled and disconnected the call, then let Max smell the yellow feathery costume. “Find.”

As Max sniffed the air, Nicholas couldn’t get the sound of Selena’s voice out of his mind. What he had seen of her around the White House only reinforced the image of a woman dedicated to doing a good job. Did she think she had failed at her job by hiring Tara Wilkins?

As Nicholas followed Max through several areas of the Easter Egg Roll, he scanned his surroundings, wondering if the person who had discarded Miss Chick’s costume was still here. If so, Max would find her—or possibly him. He had a photo on his phone of the volunteer who was supposed to be Miss Chick. If she wasn’t the one who ran into Selena, then where was she?

Passing the Storytime Stage, Max dodged around the adults and children attending and finally came to a stop at the entrance to the women’s restroom on the west side of the lawn.

Was the person still inside?

Nicholas started to look for a female security officer, but before he could, his rottweiler sniffed the ground then the air and took off toward the nearby exit to the event. When Nicholas emerged onto West Executive Avenue, Max halted in the middle of the road then trotted toward E Street. Near the Souvenir Egg Pickup, his K-9 came to another stop then wandered around the area but never picked up the scent again.

“Sorry, boy.” Nicholas petted his dog. “She must have gotten into a vehicle. At least we know how she left and an approximate time.”

Could that woman also be the same one who had gone through General Meyer’s office? The intruder couldn’t have picked a better day, with thirty thousand visitors and over a thousand volunteers. He’d have to watch a lot of security tapes to see if he could pinpoint who had ransacked the general’s office and who had stolen Selena’s keys. And why her keys? To rob her? Nothing was missing from her office.

Was something else going on here involving Michael Jeffries’s case? That could be the connection between what had happened in General Meyer’s office and in Selena’s. Selena was a first cousin to Erin Eagleton—a person of interest in Congressman Jeffries’s shooting and the murder of his son. When the Capitol K-9 Unit had begun investigating, Selena had been questioned to determine if she had helped Erin Eagleton disappear. They couldn’t find anything to indicate she had assisted her cousin. Yet.

Did someone think Selena knew something? Did she? Had she helped her cousin somehow? He hoped not. He would hate to have to arrest her if he discovered she had.

Security had been breached with the two break-ins —likely by someone who had been at the White House before, possibly a frequent visitor or staff member. This probably wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment theft, and he would have to let General Meyer know about this latest development just as soon as he spoke to Selena again.

Max barked, interrupting Nicholas’s thoughts.

“Come on, boy. Back to the party.” Nicholas shortened the leash as they headed to the White House to find Selena.

A voice came over Nicholas’s earbud. “We’ve found Tara Wilkins.”

With Selena’s keys in her possession? Or, had someone hurt Tara and taken the costume?