Fatal Threat. Marie Force

Sam said.

      “Oh, damn...”

      “Nick just told me that part.”

      “So that’s what’s got you wound tighter than a two-dollar watch.”

      “He’s Mr. Double Standard. God help us all if I keep something from him, but he thinks it’s perfectly fine to keep something like that from me.”

      “He didn’t want you to worry any more than you already were.”

      “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

      “I’m always on your side, but I see Nick’s perspective in this one. He has to be regretting taking the job that caused such huge changes in both your lives. I have to admit that I don’t love your newfound notoriety. It makes an already-dangerous job a thousand times more so. Nick certainly knows that too, and it only adds to his already-considerable anxiety where your safety is concerned.”

      “I know all that, and I hate that he suffers the way he does over my safety. I got a good idea of what he goes through the other day when I didn’t know why they were bringing me in or where he was or if he was safe. I get it. I really do.”

      “What did Avery want earlier?”

      “Believe it or not, he wanted to talk about Peter.”

      Skip’s brows shot up to his hairline. “As in Peter Gibson?”

      “The one and only.”

      “What brought that on?”

      “I had this crazy dream where everyone who hates me was after me, and he was there telling me I needed a dose of humility. When I woke up, I remembered that he used to say that to me, and I told Nick. He reported it to Brant, and thus Avery’s visit in which I got to revisit that entire unsavory chapter in my life with him of all people.”

      “A tangled web you weave.”

      “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner, but I’ve stuffed him so deep into the past that I never give him a thought anymore.”

      “You honestly think he’d have the stones to threaten the vice president of the United States?”

      “Who knows? I never thought he’d try to blow me up.”

      “He’s been quiet lately. I’d hoped we’d heard the last of him.”

      “Avery said something that’s got me worried it might be him.”

      “What’s that?”

      “Peter might have a new ax to grind after I didn’t show up when they came to tell me, as his next of kin, that he’d tried to off himself. After all this time, he still had me listed as his next of kin, if you can believe that.”

      “I can believe anything where he’s concerned. It must go up his ass sideways that you’re married to the vice president.”

      “Why can’t he meet a nice, unhinged girl like him and turn his attentions toward her?”

      “I’d imagine it’s because you’re hard to get over. Just ask your husband about that.”

      “What’re we asking Sam’s husband?” Celia asked when she returned with Skip’s tea.

      “About how hard my daughter is to get over.”

      Sam shook her head. “You crack yourself up, don’t you, Skippy?”

      “Well, it’s true.”

      “I think it’s so sweet that neither of you ever forgot the first night you spent together,” Celia said.

      “I’ll never forget the douche bag who kept me from Nick for all those years, and I swear to God, if he’s behind this threat, I’m going to single-handedly nail his ass to the wall this time.” Sam stood to give Celia the chair next to the bed so she could help Skip with the tea. Filled with nervous energy, Sam began to pace the small room. “I have an idea...”

      “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?” Skip asked.

      “I need you to like it because it involves you.”

      “How so?”

      “What if you were to spike a fever that required immediate medical attention?”

      “I can’t just flip a switch and make that happen.”

      “They wouldn’t check. They’d take Celia’s word for it, and Nick would never stop me from accompanying you to the hospital. Once we get you there safely, I’ll slip away and figure out who the hell is threatening my family.”

      Skip and Celia stared at her.

      “What do you think?”

      “No way,” Skip said.

      “Come on, Dad! It would totally work to get us out of here, and you know I’d get to the bottom of this faster than the FBI ever will.”

      “You honestly think I’m going to help you put yourself in danger?”

      “I’m not going to be in any danger. They don’t want me. They threatened the kids.”

      “If it is Peter, he most definitely wants you, and he’s using the kids to get to you because he knows they’re your Achilles’ heel.”

      “He’s too stupid to get to me.”

      “He almost blew you up!”

      “Now I know what he’s capable of, and my squad can hunt him down and figure out whether he’s behind this. I won’t be doing it by myself, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

      “I’m worried about you getting yourself killed by going rogue against someone the Secret Service felt was a big enough threat to put us all in lockdown.”

      “This was a massive overreaction if you ask me.”

      “You’ll notice that no one asked you,” Nick said from the doorway.

      “Oh, here he is, the one with all the power. What do you need, oh powerful one?”

      “What’re you up to, Samantha?”

      “Not a damned thing, thanks to the fact that I’m being held prisoner against my will.”

      “Come with me,” he said in a stern tone he rarely used with her.

      “What if I don’t want to?”

      “I’m asking you to come with me.”

      Sam glanced at her dad, who raised his brows in Nick’s direction, letting her know exactly whose side he was really on. She scowled at him but went to kiss him good-night anyway. “Get that fever in the morning,” she whispered in his ear. “Do it for me.” As she walked toward the door where her husband waited with a hard-to-read expression on his handsome face, she said, “Night, Celia.”

      “Night, Sam. Try to get some sleep.”

      Nick stepped back to let Sam go by and then followed her to their room.

      “Everything all right, Mr. Vice President?” Brant asked from his post at the end of the long dark hallway.

      “Yes,” Nick replied. “Thanks, Brant.”