First Daughter - Eric van Lustbader [129]
He nodded. "You're just telling me something both Sharon and I should've realized long before now."
SHARON LOOKED scared out of her wits when she opened the door.
"Alli!"
"Hello, Mrs. McClure."
"Come on in." Sharon took a look over their shoulders before closing and locking the door behind them. "Now what's this all about, Jack?"
They went into the living room, sat down on the L-shaped sofa.
"I'll get you something for your headache," Jack said.
"No," Alli said. "It's gone now."
Jack regarded her for a moment before turning to Sharon. "I need a safe haven for Alli," he said. "Just for a short time while I take care of some business."
Sharon looked skeptical. "Alli, why aren't you home with your parents?"
"It's a long story," Jack began.
"I'm asking Alli, Jack."
"It's not for her to answer that question."
"I think it is," Sharon persisted. "Alli?"
Alli looked down at her hands. "This is what Emma said it was like, being with you."
"What?" Sharon said. "What did you say?"
"You wanted her to answer," Jack said softly. "Hear her out."
Sharon glared at him, but remained silent. Perhaps the rattle of sabers was all she was prepared to deliver. Still, Jack could hear the snorting of her warhorse champing at the bit to head into battle.
Intuiting the silence as a tacit acknowledgment that she should go on, Alli took a deep breath. "There's no use arguing over this," she said softly. "Jack's right. If he can't tell you why I'm not with my parents, I can't either." She lifted her head. "But it's important I stay with you, that he's free to do whatever he has to do."
Sharon sat back, looked at Jack. "Did you put her up to this?" Seeing the expression on Jack's face, she raised her hands defensively. "Sorry. Sorry." She nodded. "Of course you can stay with me, Alli." She smiled. "As long as you want or need to."
Alli ducked her head. "Thank you, Mrs. McClure."
Sharon's smile widened. "But only if you call me Sharon."
JACK FOUND Nina's car idling at the curb outside Sharon's house. Before he could open the door, the passenger's-side window slid smoothly down, and Nina, leaning over from behind the wheel, said, "Backseat, Jack."
Curious, Jack opened the rear door. Sliding onto the seat, he found himself next to a rather short barrel-chested man with a neatly trimmed beard and the calm demeanor of a sage.
"Jack," Nina said, "meet Dennis Paull, Secretary of Homeland Security."
"Jack, it's good to finally meet you," Secretary Paull said as he briefly enclosed Jack's hand in a hearty grip. "Nina has told me a great deal about you."
"Has she?" Jack caught Nina's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Spying on me?"
Paull laughed. "Keeping an eye on you is how I see it. Nina works for me undercover. She's a damn good operative."
"I'm in no position to dispute that," Jack said.
Paull laughed again. "I don't trust people without a sense of humor, Jack. And d'you know why? Because nothing murders a sense of humor faster than keeping secrets."
"Nina's a barrel of laughs, I can vouch for that," Jack said. "She's the only one I ever met who used a chocolate-chip cookie as a missile."
That got an appreciative chuckle out of Nina.
"Okay, now that we're one big, happy family, let's get down to brass tacks," Paull said. "Jack, I think you're looking for some answers, and I have them. I sent out the Dark Car manned by two of my agents in order to keep an eye on you. They had orders to protect you should anyone make a move against you. Unfortunately, the National Security Advisor—perhaps with the blessing of the president—countermanded those orders."
What have I gotten myself into? Jack asked himself. "Why would anyone want to make a move against me?"
"We'll get to the details in a moment," Paull said. "Now, suffice it to say that you're Edward Carson's man. As you might imagine, the president-elect is seen as something of a threat to certain individuals in the Administration. There's an initiative to get certain matters the president deems pressing sewn up before the twentieth."
"Like rounding