Williams’ shoulders stiffened. “My gifts have made her extremely powerful.”
“In the interest of our truce, I don’t suppose it matters if you know now—”
“Is she alive?” Williams interrupted.
“Oh yes, very much so.”
Williams held the phone away from his peeling face and exhaled relief.
“But our task would be much easier if she weren’t,” the Senator pushed.
“Gideon Niche was your mole, correct?” Williams’ fingers itched for his silver orbs, but he refused to give in to the urge—his unconscious act of punishment.
“Of course, he was. He brought Meg to me weeks ago. He died last night helping her escape my compound. That daughter of yours is a powerful mind bender. She even had me convinced for a while.”
Williams smiled unapologetically at what he construed as compliments.
“Where is she now?” Williams asked.
“I know exactly where she is. She’s already at the Winter ranch in Texas.”
“How do you know?”
“She sent me a message ten minutes ago; quite a temper, that one.”
“Why would she send you a message?”
“Oh, she didn’t mean to at first. I had the place wired with surveillance after the incident in Flagstaff. She inadvertently set off the motion activated cameras,” he laughed at the image of her smashing the hell out of the device, “She wasn’t very happy about being observed.”
“No, I imagine she wasn’t.”
“So if our people arrive before the family, they’ll only have to deal with Meg. She’s formidable, but she’ll be alone. We take her out and leave her body visible so the remaining members of the family fight demoralized. In their anger and thirst for vengeance, they’ll be easy targets for us. Meg is the linchpin. Without her, without the hope of her, the family falls apart.”
“I was wanting to collect my daughter alive. My plan was to maintain her as I had been before Gideon stole her away. If she is properly dosed with a sedative, she is harmless.” Williams struggled to maintain a detached tone in his voice, but Arkdone saw easily through his front.
“Don’t tell me you’ve grown an authentic sense of attachment to her!” Arkdone shook his head in disbelief.
“She is my daughter!” Williams snapped.
“She’s far too dangerous to be allowed to live, Williams, and you know it,” Arkdone growled. “This is a deal-breaker, Kenneth. Meg Winter will die. She’s on top of the kill list, or I back out now.”
Williams responded with silence.
“What’ll it be Williams?”
“Fine,” he growled through a clenched jaw.
“So there’s no misunderstanding, I’ll need to see her body myself as proof regardless of who got the final kill shot.”
Williams hissed, snake-like. “Understood.”
“Good. Let’s finish this. I will have my metamonarch leader up to speed and mobilized immediately.”
“I’ll inform my company leader of our plan. We should get our leaders in touch with one another so they can coordinate,” Williams suggested, trying to get his mind off the topic of Meg’s imminent death.
“Better yet, we need to set everyone up to video conference.” Arkdone set his drink down hard and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “You’ve been studying these people for years, Kenneth. You know their specific abilities and possible weaknesses. We need to prepare the troops for what they’re going up against. The video conference will get all parties on the same page.”
“Yes, but do we trust this kind of information to be transmitted across the airwaves?”
Arkdone scoffed, “Leave the technical side of this to me. My system has state-of-the-art encryption capabilities. No one will see or hear anything said unless they were invited to join us. Just be sure you have access to a laptop in exactly,” Arkdone checked his Rolex, “two hours. I’ll send you an email with a link inviting you to the meeting well before it is to begin.”
“Fine.”
“I have that press conference in twenty-three minutes after which I’ll catch a plane to join you and our people in Texas.”
“I’m still about five hours from landing. I have nearly three dozen soldiers with me to add to my 17th Company.”
“Brilliant. I’ll be in touch,” Arkdone grabbed his drink off the table and took a deep swig.
“As will I. Goodbye, Donovan.”
Click
40 It’s All in the Details
Arkdone refilled his drink and carried it into the next room where Adrian Roth had two laptops open as he screened multiple social networks. He was monitoring reactions to the news he leaked to certain outlets concerning the imminent press conference.
“Senator,” he acknowledged respectfully, though his eyes never left the screens.
“How’s the world taking the news?” Arkdone tossed back his drink like it was water.
“No surprises. The other camp is feeling pressure to make a similar announcement, but we’ve caught them with their pants down. They aren’t ready to name anyone as running mate. If we’re lucky, they’ll make a rash decision trying to look as put-together as our camp.”