Page 54 of Protecting Olivia

The crack of the bullet sliced through the room, the suppressor only quieting the sonic shockwave. Siles’ body slumped to the side. Zane walked over to his body and checked his pulse.

“Extortion three-one on the move,” I called in our ride home. “LZ one for pickup.”

Zane and I made our way back to the extraction point. Jaxon, Colin, and Eric all stood in front of the helicopter watching our six should anyone try and come out of the prison.

We all piled into the helicopter. “Go,” Z instructed the pilot.

Once we were airborne, my body relaxed a little. I was one step closer to getting back to Olivia. I rested my head against the window and enjoyed the vibration of the helicopter.

Seven hours later we were back in DC. Zane called ahead and told Tom we needed a face-to-face. By the time we got to the White House, the situation room had been cleared and ready for our use.

Zane knocked twice on the door and swiped his temporary White House badge.

“Crash code of the day?” a voice said over the intercom.

“Tanker One,” Zane answered.

“Color of the day?”

“Red.” Zane rolled his eyes.

That about summed it up. The White House protocols were almost as annoying as Zane’s need for twenty security checkpoints before you could enter the office.

“Confirmed.”

The lock clicked, and Zane pushed open the door. The President sat at the conference table, suit jacket off and his tie loose around his neck.

“Welcome back,” Tom greeted.

He looked like shit, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I guess being the President, it was.

“Are we secure?” Zane inquired.

“Completely,” Tom confirmed.

“We paid a visit to our friend. My balls are still defrosting by the way. He gave us an interesting piece of information. He seemed to think that his contact was a woman. We haven’t vetted this intel. But I did want you to know,” Zane explained.

“A woman? How reliable do you think this is?” Tom asked.

“I think there’s a strong possibility he was telling the truth. It was the way he said it. He was smug like he knew something we didn’t and was happy to share. He wasn’t running off at the mouth,” I interjected.

The whole way back to the states, I was going over what Siles had said and the way he said it. The more I thought about it, the more I believed him.

“I hate to sound like the sexist pig here, but women are easier to turn. It’s easy to exploit their emotional side. Women become irrational when a loved one is in danger. If it is a woman, the blackmail started with a close family member. We can also narrow it down to a desk jockey. She’s not a field agent and she most likely has access to files,” Jaxon explained.

“I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman. Whoever it is, is a traitor, and I want he or she dealt with accordingly. I’ll make sure you have access to whatever you need.” Tom stopped and took a drink. “Take a few days, you all need some rest. We’ll shelve this for now.”

“Copy that. Thank you for your time.” Zane handed Tom a file. “For your eyes only. I trust you’ll destroy it when you’re done.”

“One more thing before you go.” Tom leveled me with his hard stare. “I heard you’ve claimed Olivia.” Tom put his hand up to stop me when I tried to interrupt. “She’s a good girl. I’m happy she has you. She’s going to need all the support she can get. Peter told me about your sit down and Pamela’s behavior. I need to explain something that could shed some light on her behavior – Pamela has a benign brain tumor. The swelling in her frontal lobe has caused mood swings and aggression. Pamela is normally a mild-mannered woman for the most part. She’s currently undergoing treatment to reduce the swelling so she can undergo surgery.”

I knew Pamela was ill, Tex had revealed that much, but no one knew the exact details.

“Shit. This is going to kill Olivia. She and Pamela are not on the best of terms. What’s the prognosis?” I asked.

“Westinghouse pulled some strings and got her in with the best brain specialist in the country. He’s confident he can remove the tumor. But we’re talking brain surgery. There are no guarantees.”

“I can’t keep this from Olivia. She has to know.”