The Value Of Valor - KJ3 Read Free Page B

anything.”
    “Doctor’s orders. If Jay were here, she’d be giving you holy hell for not taking care of yourself and you know it. Please, Kate.”

    The Value of Valor

    She sighed, knowing she was beaten. “You’ll wake me if there’s anything?”
    “Of course,” Peter promised.
    When she was sure Kate was out of earshot, Barbara turned to Peter.
    “Do you really believe it was an accident?”
    “Not for a second.”
    “You have proof?”
    He sighed in exasperation. “No. There doesn’t appear to be anything to go on.”
    “But?”
    “My gut is screaming. Jay’s car mysteriously flies off a cliff two days after a jury convicts two scumbags of kidnapping Kate and using the cover of a prison riot to try to have her killed? Seems like too much of a coincidence to me. I smell a rat.”
    “What’re you going to do about it?”
    “I’m going to visit an old friend.”
    “Oh? Who would that be?”
    “Derek LaPointe, deputy director of the FBI.”
    Barbara whistled softly. “It’s nice to have friends in high places.”
    “We’ll see about that. Derek and I served together in Vietnam. I saved his bacon once. I’m hoping he can put some pressure in the right places to get the fibbies to keep looking. So far, all I’ve gotten from them is that there’s ‘insufficient evidence to proceed with a murder investigation.’”
    As they made their way into the kitchen, Barbara stopped Peter with a hand on his arm. “I know I shouldn’t ask this, but…”
    “Do I think there’s any chance Jay might be alive, right?”
    Barbara nodded. “Because they can’t say positively that the tooth and bone fragments belong to Jay, Kate seems convinced that she could be out there alive somewhere.”
    “My best judgment is that it’s a remote possibility but highly unlikely. It would’ve taken a miracle to survive the crash. Not only that, but the pathology reports show the bones are consistent with someone Jay’s size.”
    “I figured. What are we going to do about our Kate? You know she’s not going to give up easily.”
    “Would you, if you were in her place and it was your lover?”
    “No, I sure wouldn’t.”
    “Right.” Peter raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want to give her false hope when the probabilities and evidence say otherwise.” He held up his hand to forestall the anticipated interruption. “Which is not to say I’m not going to look into the possibility that Jay’s alive while I’m Lynn Ames

    searching for answers about the crash. You know I won’t give up as long as Kate believes there’s any chance she’s out there somewhere.”
    “I’m afraid Kate won’t let it rest without absolute proof of Jay’s death.”
    “I’m not sure we can get that for her.”
    “I know. That’s what worries me.”

    “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to track you down for days,”
    Michael Vendetti, the high-strung deputy press secretary to the president, hissed.
    “Take your hands off me, you idiot.” Robert Hawthorne, a former four-term U.S. senator and current chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was clearly livid. “What’re you doing here?”
    “Parker’s dead.”
    “I know.”
    “Did you do that—have her killed?”
    “Of course not, you fool. Parker was Breathwaite’s obsession.”
    “Then—”
    The chairman fixed Vendetti with an incredulous stare. “Please tell me you’re not naïve enough to think that could have been an accident.”
    “No,” Vendetti replied defensively, “of course not.”
    “Thank God,” Hawthorne muttered under his breath.
    “Jesus, Breathwaite did that from prison?”
    “Apparently. Revenge suits him.” Hawthorne waited a beat. “Let me ask you something, Michael. Why would I want to take a chance on a meaningless hit like that at this point? We’ve got what we want—
    Charlie’s in the White House.”
    “I know that’s not all you wanted out of this. How could it be?
    What’s ‘Part