Page 30 (1/2)

SEVENTY

MARYLAND

7:30 AM

STEPHANIE DROVE THE SUBURBAN THAT PRESIDENT DANIELS had supplied them He’d also provided two Secret Service revolvers and spare azines She wasn’t quite sure what they were headed into, but apparently he wanted them prepared

"You realize this truck is probably electronically tagged," Cassiopeia said

"We can only hope"

"And you realize that this whole thing is nuts We don’t have any idea who to trust, including the president of the United States"

"No question We’re pawns on the chessboard But a pawn can take the king, if properly positioned"

"Stephanie, we’re bait"

She agreed, but said nothing

They cruised into a ston, one of countless bedroo the directions given to her, she recognized the nalass-fronted restaurant nestled beneath a canopy of leafy trees

Aunt B’s

One of Larry Daley’s favorite haunts

She parked and they stepped inside, greeted by the pungent s buffet line was being attacked by eager diners They bypassed the cashier and spotted Daley sitting alone

"Get sorits, and a fried pork chop sat before hireed, Cassiopeia moved to another table where she could watch the room Stephanie sat with Daley "No thanks" She noticed a colorful sign near the buffet line that shoo oversized pink pigs surrounded by the slogan GET YOUR FAT BACK AT AUNT B’S She pointed "That why you eat here? To get your fat back"

"I like the place Re I know you find this hard to believe, but I a the Billet? You’re in charge now"

"It’s being handled We have ayour ass"

He sliced his pork chop "These things are great You should eat so You need a little fat back, Stephanie"

"So nice of you to notice irlfriend?"

"I have no idea I assu withthe saain contrary to what you think, I’estion, she’d called Daley two hours before and requested the reed What bothered her hy Daniels, if he actually wanted her to talk to Daley, had interrupted the encounter at thelist "We didn’t finish our conversation"

"Time for a reality check, Stephanie The stuff you have on o down, so does the president Truth be told, I wanted you to find it"

She found that hard to believe

"I knew all about your investigation That whore you sent my way? I’m not that weak Do you think that’s the first tis onSo I made it easy for you to find what you wanted But you took your ti doesn’t hunt here"

He worked on a co to believe any of this But for once could you forget you hate uts and just listen?"

That’s why she’d co Lot of crap swirling Strange stuff I’h to cop a feel When I found out you were looking at ured you’d move on me at some point-and when you did, we could deal"

"Why didn’t you just ask for my help?"

"Get real You can’t stand to be in the saured once you peeped into theand saas happening, then you’d be a lot ht now"

"You still bribing Congress?"

"Yeah Me and about a thousand other lobbyists Hell, it should be an Olylanced at Cassiopeia and saw nothing that triggered alarm Families and older couples populated the et all that It’s the least of our concerns," Daley said

"I didn’t knoe had any concerns"

"Much e juice "Daood"

"If you eat like this all the time, how do you stay so thin?"

"Stress Best diet in the world" He tabled the glass "There’s a conspiracy going on, Stephanie"

"To do what?"

"Change the president"

This was new

"It’s the only thing that makes sense" He shoved the plate aside "The vice president is in Europe attending an economic suht late and went to meet with a man named Alfred Hermann Supposedly a courtesy visit But the VP is not a courteous s for a reason He’s met with Hermann before I checked"

"And discovered that Heranization called the Order of the Golden Fleece"

A look of amazement flooded Daley’s face "I knew you’d be a help So you already know about it"

"What I want to knohy any of that is iroup cultivates political influence and they have reach all over the world Hermann and the VP have been friends awhile I’ve heard talk about hihts fairly close I knoants to be president He’s gearing up to run, but I think hefor a shortcut"

Daniels had said nothing about this subject

"You still have those flash drives you took from my house?"

She nodded

"On one are sos of telephone conversations Only a few, but da They’re with the VP’s chief of staff-a true asshole if ever there was one He funneled the Alexandria Link directly to Alfred Here to learn that?"

"I was there"

She kept her face blank

"Right there with him So I documented the whole encounter WeThat’s when I brought Dixon in"

That was new, too

"Yeah I went to her and told her as happening with the link I also told her about the ht"

"Seemed so at the time The Israelis were the only ally I couldto Hermann was soot was Dixon as my babysitter" He sed more juice "Which wasn’t all bad"

"Now I’ sick"

Daley shook his head "It was about a month later when the VP’s chief of staff and I were alone Asshole that he is, he still likes to brag That’s what usually gets guys like that in trouble We’d had a few drinks and he made some comments By then I was suspicious, so I kept a pocket recorder on ht"

Cassiopeia stood frolass wall Outside, cars ca lot

"He talked about the Twenty-fifth A details He asked me what I knew about it, which wasn’t h I was neither"

She knehat the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution said

In case of the renation, the Vice President shall become President

SEVENTY-ONE

SINAI PENINSULA

MALONE CHECKED HIS WATCH: 11:58 AM HE’D ALREADY glanced through the two openings once and seen nothing Pam and McCollum stood below him as he balanced atop the fourteen stones

Noon arrived and a carillon of bells pealed in the distance

"That’s eerie," Pam said "Out here in the reed "Sounds a ways off" Like froht

The sun blazed overhead His body and fatigues were dah the openings

Point after point, stretching down the backbone of the ridge, came into view What may have been hermit caves dotted the rock wall like black eyes Then he noticed so A stony trail etched up one of the mounds A camel track? He’d checked in Lisbon before they left and learned that the ion concealed fertile hollows the local Bedouins called farsh Usually that meant a water source and drehatever few inhabitants the land enjoyed St Catherine’s monastery to the south, near Moses Mountain, occupied a farsh He’d assumed more surrounded him

He watched as shadows disappeared and the color of the granitecourse of the path up the hillside, now s fra