Chapter 26
Staring through the bars at the most famous home in the nation, I admired the beautiful façade of the White House, the South lawn and the graceful columns. Fall was inching its way towards me, the air had a crispness that I could feel under the thin jacket I’d picked up at the bus station. Stolen from a fat teenager with a guitar strapped to his back and headed for Nashville.
There were security everywhere, Secret Service agents with holstered weapons and ear-buds. As I watched, a convoy of black Cadillac Escalades approached the gates, showed their credentials and were let inside. I didn’t know why I was here at the White House, only that I was drawn here by some compulsion.
Warm breath on my neck. I froze, hugging the steel bars of the fence. Freshly painted black. “Daniel,” Parker Ames said. He sounded pissed. He punched me twice, short hooking blows to the kidneys that smashed my face into the steel. I cried out, but the pain took my breath away. He supported me so I didn’t fall and half carried me off towards a small car parked down the street.
“Where’s my cash, you fucker?” He growled, which I took to mean he’d found his wallet at the home. He searched my pockets, found the cash and replaced it in the expensive titanium case. Threw me in the backseat of a small rental car. I drew my legs up and kicked at him, pushing him onto the curb. He slipped, his leg went under and was jammed beneath the curb and the undercarriage. He was crying out in pain.
I leaped over him, felt him grab at my thigh and a sharp stick into the deep muscle. Ran down the sidewalk and my legs didn’t want to work. I felt drunk, reached for my thigh, and felt a hard lump under the sting, dislodging a needle. I threw the syringe to the cement. Heard shouts behind me. More men were coming, men in suits and uniforms. Police. Soldiers. I sobbed. “Danny? Where are you? I need help! ”
Fell onto my hands. Got up and ran like one of those stumbling idiots in horror movies. Did I even see horror movies? My mind was not my own, I was inside a thousand lies all it once and it terrified me.
They screamed at me. Back at the fence, I vaguely understood it was a barrier I needed to get over. Tried to climb it and heard them, shouting to stop. People running everywhere. Things hitting me, sharp blows to the arms, legs, body. I fell, curled up in a ball and covered my head, crying while they argued over me.
Heard another car pull up and a sharp voice order the cluster fuck to break up. A man’s voice, deep with an authoritative tone and a vaguely Northern accent. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing we can’t handle, Agent James,” the man I knew as Parker spoke up. “Here’s my credentials, he’s one of ours. He’s a vet just had a PTSD episode.”
“And that required a brawl with Metro PD, men and agents?”
“He’s been on the loose since last night. Assaulted an officer in Bradley Park, robbed a Starbucks and scared the customers. Stole my wallet.”
“Tell your boss he needs to keep better control of his people. This isn’t going to make the President happy.”
A woman’s voice interrupted, “Jake, see if he’s okay. They hit him pretty hard.”
I peeked between my clenched hands and saw a neat pair of feminine legs emerge from the driver side rear seat. She was in nylons with lime green heels, a knee length skirt in a soft butter yellow with a pale green blouse under a stunning hand knit Scottish Isle sweater cowled up to her delicate chin. Above that, two piercing green eyes with arching black brows. Felice Rickover, the President’s daughter tried to see me.
My face was swelling, several blows from fists and batons had hit my cheek, I could taste blood in my mouth. Vision was diminished down to one eye. Most of the pain was ebbing away. I didn’t know if it was because I was dying or because of what Parker had stuck me with. I could barely see her. Danny took that Moment to awaken. He stiffened in my head as he stared at the tall man restraining Parker.
Jake, he whispered. His eyes, my eyes turned to the woman. Girl.
Felice, he shouted and I winced.
“Danny, shut up,” I pleaded. “Too loud. In my head. You’re too loud.”
Parker kicked me. Full in the face, caught the tip of my chin. I felt my neck snap back, my contacts pop out of my eyes. Light, sound, and sparks exploded in my head and drowned out Danny’s screams. Ground out everything in white noise. Velvet blackness.