“Congresswoman,” Axel said into the abrupt silence. “May we come in?”
She didn’t say anything, simply opened the door wider and stepped away, leaving them to follow her or not.
She went into an elegantly appointed living room, the furniture upholstered in a yellow-and-white-striped fabric that was probably silk. “Please, sit down,” she said, her voice only slightly strained.
Morgan planted his ass on the striped silk, impassively watching her. He waited for Axel to speak but when Axel didn’t and she didn’t, the silence grew and deepened until all the color had leached from her face except for the artificial hues of her makeup. Morgan was accustomed to being the weapon, the point of the spear, but he realized that this time Axel was content to let him take the lead.
“Ma’am,” he said, “I regret to inform you of your husband’s death.”
She flinched, an instinctive move that was swiftly conquered. She straightened her shoulders. “I see. May I ask . . . the circumstances?”
“Head shot,” he replied laconically. “While he was attempting to commit murder.”
Joan Kingsley wasn’t made of steel, she was made of titanium. She sat quietly, watching them, waiting for one of them to betray exactly how much they knew. She wasn’t going to give them anything, not a single detail.
Axel spoke up. “We believe Foma Yartsev left the country this morning. A full-press search is going on for Devan Hubbert, but we have his personal computer, and a team is doing a thorough forensic investigation of it now.”
She had gone even whiter as she listened, but she didn’t break. She folded her hands, said calmly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Let’s be frank, Congresswoman. We know. We can’t prove it—yet—but we know.”
“Does this have anything to do with my husband’s death?” she asked, still not giving an inch, determined to play her hand as long as she could. If they couldn’t prove anything, she was for damn certain not going to confess.
Axel ignored the question. “You won’t be allowed to leave the country. The FBI will be watching every move you make. I suggest you resign from the Armed Service Committee immediately. In the short term, that might be beneficial to your health.”
She glanced swiftly at Morgan. He met her gaze with all the icy menace he felt.
“And in the long term?” she asked.
He didn’t blink. “You have to take your chances,” he said finally.
“I see.” She stood, lifted her chin. “Thank you, gentlemen, for stopping by to give me the . . . bad news. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone now. May I ask when my husband’s body will be released to me?”
“We’ll let you know,” Axel said, and they left.
CHAPTER 27
LETTING CONGRESSWOMAN KINGSLEY WALK—AT LEAST for now—went against the grain, but Morgan accepted that he’d have to let Axel do what he did best, which was handle crises. In an earlier time he’d have stayed, resumed his training, reintegrated into his team. But this was a different day, and he had to get back to Bo.
“You know how to get in touch with me,” he said as he let Axel out at the GO-Team headquarters. Darkness had fallen; even driving hard, he couldn’t make it back to Hamrickville before midnight. He could have gone to his condo and spent the night there, started out fresh in the morning, but he didn’t want to go to the condo. He wanted to look into Bo’s solemn dark eyes for himself, reassure himself she was all right even though he knew Jesse would have contacted him if anything went wrong. That was what he knew. What he felt was entirely different.
Startled, Axel said, “Where are you going?”
“Back to West Virginia.”
“Yeah, I guess you need to get your stuff.”
“No, I need to check on Bo, make sure she’s all right. We’re getting married.”
Axel’s eyes literally bugged out. “What? What? Are you crazy?”
“Team members can be married.”
“It isn’t that. It’s—are you crazy? This is my stepsister you’re talking about. She’s a vindictive viper. She’ll drive you nuts. She—”
“Yeah, she feels the same way about you.” One thing about it, those two were never going to reconcile their differences and become friends. Morgan didn’t much care; it wasn’t as if they were going to be spending their Christmases together.
“But—”
“But, nothing. We’re getting married. I asked, she said yes. You can be there if you want, but I warn you, you’ll have to be on your best behavior or the people in that town will take you apart on her behalf.”
Seeing that tactic was going nowhere, Axel shifted. “You need to get medically cleared, get back into training.” He paused. “I’m assuming you can pass the physical. You can, can’t you?”
“I wasn’t sure at first that I’d ever be able to get back into action, but yeah, I could pass the physical. I’ve been doing a lot of work on my own. That isn’t the point. The point is, I’m going back to Hamrickville. You take care of the congresswoman.”
That jerked Axel back to where his attention naturally focused. “She might walk,” he snarled. “We might not find a thing on Hubbert’s computer.”
“Taking care of problems is in your wheelhouse,” Morgan said. “Handle it.”
Axel closed the door, and Morgan put his foot to the gas pedal.