The Savage Dead Read Free Page B

podium.”
    Juan kept silent. His team was an elite wing of the service reserved for special operations. Every member of the team had proven themselves over and over again, and he encouraged his subordinates to think on their feet and take the initiative when it came to changing plans on the fly. It was hard to relinquish that kind of total control sometimes, but he trusted Tess. So he just stood there, waiting to see what Senator Sutton was going to do. And for a moment, Sutton looked like she was seriously considering Tess’s suggestion.
    But then she turned back to her husband. He was still smiling stupidly. He was a tall, thick man, with a ruddy glow and a smile full of perfect teeth. He tilted his drink to his wife and with a gesture that looked like he was stifling a hiccup said, “Absolutely! Do that.”
    Juan saw Senator Sutton’s face harden, like she was gauging the size of the millstone hanging around her neck.
    She wheeled around on Juan. “I’m going on right now,” she said.
    And with that she marched straight for the podium, leaving Juan and the others to sort it out.
    “That’s one determined lady,” said Tess.
    Juan nodded to her, and then turned to Paul Godwin. “Your boss is being foolish. People are going to get hurt.”
    Godwin shrugged and rolled his eyes. It was the oddly feminine sort of gesture Juan had grown accustomed to seeing from the man. “I have confidence in you, Agent Perez,” Godwin said. “And Ms. Compton is right. The senator is one determined lady.”
    “Let’s hope that doesn’t get somebody killed.”
    But Godwin had already stopped listening. He was looking back toward his table, where a stunning, dark-haired Hispanic woman in a strapless black evening gown was holding a pair of martinis and smiling back at Godwin.
    Godwin’s iPhone chimed softly. He read the display quickly, then fired off what Juan realized must have been his millionth text of the night. The man never put that phone down. But then, much to Juan’s surprise, he actually slid the phone back into its holster on his belt. He looked excited and nervous. He licked his lips and straightened his tie.
    “Do you still need me for anything else, Agent Perez?” He motioned with a nod toward the woman. “I’d like to, uh, you know.”
    Juan shook his head. “No, we’re good.”
    “Great,” Godwin said. He started to leave.
    “Good luck,” Juan said.
    Godwin looked back, confused for a moment, then smiled guiltily.
    When he was gone, Tess said, “ ‘Good luck’?” Juan stifled a smile of his own as he watched Godwin take one of the martinis from the woman. She giggled at something he said, and then the two of them walked off toward the back of the ballroom, her arm on his elbow.
    “I have to admit, that’s not what I expected to see,” Juan said. “I kinda figured he was . . . well, you know.”
    Tess laughed. “You, too, huh? I actually figured he was kind of sweet on you.”
    Juan flashed a menacing look in her direction, but it only made her chuckle.
    “Come on,” he said. “We need to take our positions.”
    Without another word Tess moved to the middle of the room and took a seat next to a banker from Dallas. Juan withdrew to the corner of the stage on Sutton’s right. From where he stood he had a view of the entire room. He watched the crowd as they took their seats and quieted down. He scanned the doors along the back wall and the railing of the balcony to Senator Sutton’s left. Beneath the balcony was a staging area for the waiters, and beyond that, an entrance to the kitchen. He took all of this in with a practiced eye, his gaze constantly searching the faces in the crowd, looking for anything wrong.
    Senator Sutton had barely finished her greeting when Juan spotted the waiter.
    He was dressed in the hotel’s signature white and crimson uniform, carrying a pitcher of water, but his gaze kept flicking back to the senator, like he was making sure she was still where she was