“I’ll run you over, then.”
“Would you be a dear and do that? If it’s—”
“Of course I’d do that! And listen, if they give you any time off mid-week, you call me, you hear?”
“I hear you. Mm-hmm.” Rita leaned close and kissed her again. “And that status update? I’m going to update mine on Tuesday.”
PHILADELPHIA, TIME LINE TWO, AUGUST 2020
Rita got back to the hotel at eleven thirty. As she entered the lobby arm-in-arm with Angie, she spotted Sonia Gomez sitting on a sofa at one side, reading something on her fatphone. As Gomez glanced up Rita turned and squeezed Angie’s hand, then gave her a swift peck on one cheek. “I’ll be in touch,” she whispered.
“Who’s she?” Angie asked tensely.
“My problem, not yours. Internal security. Go home, now. Thanks for, for everything.”
Rita waited for Angie to leave before she approached Gomez, with a spring in her step that the agent’s sour expression couldn’t banish. Gomez, for her part, didn’t meet Rita’s eyes but instead focused on Angie’s departing back.
“Well, isn’t that a special piece. Got one in every port, have we?”
Fuck you too, Rita thought, but kept the words to herself. “I’ll be updating my relationship status the day after tomorrow.” Rita gave her a shit-eating grin. “Or is having fun against your religion?”
“You didn’t check in.” Gomez hissed like an angry cat, positively bristling.
“I carried my phone, didn’t I? And the Colonel’s little helpers could have told you who I was talking to and exactly where I was at any time.”
“That’s not the point—” Gomez’s fingers curled. “Fuck, you don’t get it, do you? Come on.” She grabbed Rita’s elbow, gripping it painfully, and marched her toward the elevators. “You may not be needed over the weekend but you do not go off-base during—”
“Fuck you, Patrick told me to take a weekend leave!” Rita shook her arm free and glared at Gomez.
“Patrick—” Gomez glared back at her. “I’m going to follow this up. He shouldn’t have. If you were needed at short notice, if anything happened while you were putting out like a two-bit hooker—”
“You’d have been sent to fetch me, wouldn’t you?” Rita pulled her arm away. “I was in Philly, Sonia, catching up with—I hadn’t fled the country. I have a life, you know?”
“Could have fooled me up till now,” Gomez muttered under her breath. The elevator stopped. “Come on. Briefing’s on in twenty minutes. The Colonel’s come here specially to see you. Wipe that smirk off your face.”
Rita’s face was still stretched in a rictus grin when they approached one of the hotel conference rooms. The rest of the conference floor seemed curiously empty, bereft of weekend sales conventions and the like, but they’d passed a handful of armed DHS cops on their way. “What’s going on here, Sonia—did he book the whole hotel?”
“Yes he did. Are you beginning to see where this is going, yet?”
“Mushroom, remember?” Rita waggled a couple of fingers in the air. “You keep me in the dark and feed me shit, you can’t expect me to make a positive contribution.”
“Well, try not to fuck up, child. It’s not just the Colonel today, and these guys play at the high-stakes table.”
Rita looked at Gomez sharply. “You know what? I’d be more inclined to listen to your advice if you didn’t do such a good job of hating on me.”
Gomez snorted. “It’s not you I hate.” She gestured at the closed conference room door ahead. “Go right on in—the lions are hungry and waiting. I’ll be back for you with a mop and a body bag when they call me.”
The door led into a large conference suite, with an outer office. Patrick was waiting there. “Had a good weekend?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Rita found it impossible to keep a smile off her face. “Thanks for the time off!”
“Is she an old friend? Or a new one?” He stood up.
“We were in the Girl Scouts together.” Rita forced her expression back to bland. “What’s this about? What’s going on?”
Patrick paused with his hand on the inner door. “Everything blew up about six hours ago. Until then, it was hurry up and wait. Now—” He shrugged. “You ready?” His glance reminded Rita that she wasn’t exactly dressed for the office: hair tousled, clothes casual.
“They’ll just have to take me as they find me,” she said, her assumed levity only half false.
“Good.” Patrick ushered her in.
“Hello, Rita.” The Colonel smiled like he was putting a brave face on a toothache.
There were a couple of other men around the table, overformal in black suits with small gold lapel-pin crosses. Recalling her conversation with Angie, they reminded Rita of Mormon missionaries, except they were too old and senior for that. Their body language showed a subtle deference toward the third interloper. She was a middle-aged woman, her wavy dark hair sprinkled with gray. Rita would have pegged her as an HR manager first or an accountant second, but for the escort. Uh-oh, she thought as Patrick pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit. “Is there a problem?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, but you’re not it.” The Colonel’s smile was unreassuring.
Okay, I’m not in trouble yet but he’s about to throw me in it … “It’s nearly midnight,” she pointed out. “I thought we were going for Tuesday?”
“Yes, well so did I.” She caught Colonel Smith’s brief sidelong glance at the woman. “Rita, I’d like you to meet Dr. Eileen Scranton. Dr. Scranton is the deputy assistant to the Secretary of State for Homeland Security. “
“Pleased to meet you, Doctor,” Rita managed to say without stuttering.
Scranton smiled back graciously. “Likewise, I’m sure.”
“Eileen is in my immediate reporting chain, two levels up,” the Colonel added. Two levels up from Major General equivalent, Rita translated internally. What does that even mean? “She reports in turn to the Homeland Security Council and, thanks to the miracle of matrix management, to the National Security Council. The HSC being DHS and the NSC being the Defense Department.”
“Uh—uh—” Rita tried not to hyperventilate. Where does the President come into all this? She had a horrible feeling that the ladder of government didn’t have much headspace above the Homeland Security Council. Suddenly Gomez’s paranoid live-wire act was looking less like an overreaction and more like justifiable caution. “I’m honored. Um. What can I do for you, Doctor?”
“For me personally, nothing.” Eileen smiled self-deprecatingly. She glanced at Colonel Smith. “I’m just sitting in as a monitor. Ensuring that the Homeland Security Council and National Security Council are fully informed.”