AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That’s the most any of them say to me as they move through my house from room to room. One goes to the front door and lets in another three or four people.
“Am I in trouble?” I ask.
Finally, someone talks to me. “We’re here on orders from the Oval Office.”
I peek out the open front door, and several official-looking vehicles have blocked the street. More agents are outside, directing traffic away from the area.
Something small and white barks ferociously at one of the black-clad people in the street.
“Good morning, Mrs. Palmieri.” I wave and smile at my flabbergasted neighbor.
She reaches down, picks up the frightened Sparky, and tucks him under her arm.
“Is everything okay, dear?”
I nod. “We had a little pest problem. It’s being handled. Nothing to worry about.”
The older woman cocks her head curiously. “So, will you still need some clothes for your lady friend who lost her house in the fire?”
It takes a second to remember the story I’d told her yesterday.
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I tell her. She smiles and retreats excitedly to her house, happy to have a project.
Suddenly, the blockade opens to let in another black S.U.V., which screeches to a halt at the end of the driveway.
The Speaker of the House exits the vehicle and marches up to me, his face a thundercloud. “Do you want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
I stiffen when I see Sara’s uncle. “Sir, I’d like to know that myself.”
His breath puffs out in white steam as he approaches my front porch. “My niece called me this morning saying someone broke into your house. What the hell is she doing at your house?”
“What the hell is she calling you with?” I shout back, then realize she must have peeked around me yesterday while I put her phone away. She memorized the code to the kitchen safe when my back was turned. “And since when does the Speaker get Secret Service protection?”
He puffs out his chest. “I was in the Oval when she called. The president ordered special coverage.”
It’s a good thing he did because it looks like I’m tangled up in something much bigger than myself.
This is all much, much bigger than a babysitting job.
I have so many questions.
“Sir, can I ask what the hell you and my boss are involved in?”
He points a gloved finger in my face. “I had one of my colleagues phone the head of Sentinel Security to let them know things were…not going as planned. And do you know who answered?”
I shake my head. “Who?”
“Not the woman who met with me two weeks ago,” he says. “The second in command, who told me that Ms. Dunne is under F.B.I. investigation.”
“What the hell….”
He laughs, realizing that I don’t know. “Dunne went rogue. Saw a chance to get her hands on some of my late sister’s fortune and had her people make connections with my people. She planted the seed that made me think my niece needed to be followed. I was starting to get ads on my phone for Sentinel, even. Very sneaky. Very fucking creepy.”
My mind travels back to the day my I.D. card didn’t work, and something clicks. The guy in my kitchen. The weird office with the secret entrance. They deactivated my card and took me to a secret location because the whole assignment was not officially on the books. I could vomit.
“I don’t understand why she’d pick me,” I say.
The senator is not interested in having this conversation right now, though. “I’d like to see my niece, please,” he says.
