“Fair enough.”

  “I got an anonymous message warning me to be careful. At first, I thought it was a threat. I ignored it. Kept digging. The messages came every night. I started taking them more seriously. Then, one day, they dropped some information in my lap.”

  “That seems convenient.”

  Cara ignored him. “They pointed me in the direction of Mateo. I’d heard of him before that, obviously, but I didn’t know he was connected in any way. I started digging deeper. I was careful this time. Quieter. I found out how he had been connected to Goddard’s pipeline expansion, how he had opposed it. He had used it as an excuse to meet with politicians in D.C., but he ended up sticking around.”

  Bear’s voice was slow as he worked through his memories of the last day or so. “When Goldstone mentioned Hughes and Mateo had met with the Vice President, you didn’t even blink.”

  Cara shrugged, but she looked proud of herself. “I already knew about the meeting. It didn’t shock me that it had come up in the records.”

  Bear made a mental note not to play Cara in a game of poker. “This person messaging you could’ve been anybody.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. I took it with a grain of salt. What they were telling me was lining up, but I still had to confirm who it was. Obviously, he wasn’t keen on revealing his identity. So, I asked to meet in person. On his terms. No cameras, no recording devices. He needed me to blow this story wide open and I needed him to feed me the right information.”

  “Hold up,” Bear said, putting a hand out. “Why was he so interested in what Hughes was doing in the first place.”

  “Human decency? Patriotism?”

  “He probably wants something out of it,” Bear said.

  “You’re probably right. I’m sure there’s a lot to gain from revealing a conspiracy and corruption that has infected the top positions of the White House. Adams is still pretty young. He’s got a good base. He’ll probably try for a presidential bid after this.”

  “So, maybe it’s not altruism,” Bear said. “It’s about taking out the contenders. Hughes would be a big threat to his presidential campaign if his plan went through.”

  “It might not be altruism, but he’s still doing the right thing.”

  “I still don’t like it.” Bear shifted lanes on the highway and checked the rearview mirror again. “He’s using a young reporter to gather evidence to corroborate the story instead of going through official channels.”

  “Can you blame him?” Cara ran a hand through her hair. “He’s got to stay far away from this until we’re ready to go public. Hughes is the director of National Intelligence. He has the resources to bury anyone, even the Vice President.”

  Bear couldn’t argue with that. “So, you asked to meet your informant in person. With no backup or proof of the meeting. You realize you could’ve been walking into a trap, right?”

  “I had a taser.”

  Bear shot her a look. “Not helping.”

  “I know it was dumb,” Cara said, “but I was desperate. My story was a lot of loose ends. I needed someone who would be willing to go on record to confirm everything I had found, to link everything together and point it at Hughes.”

  Bear had a lot of questions, but they’d have to wait. “So, what happened?”

  “He gave me a time and a place. I showed up. He was alone. It was a bit of a shock to come face to face with the Vice President. Lost my voice there for a minute. He was nice, though. Very secretive. He made me take off my jacket, empty out my purse and pockets. Said I was smart for bringing the taser.”

  “And then handed you all the information you needed?”

  “No.” Cara laughed. “He said he couldn’t risk giving me any details of the meetings he’d been in. They’d know the information was coming from him. He just gave me a nudge in the right direction. I had to put the pieces together. When I was ready, he’d step forward. We’d do it together.”

  “So, why doesn’t he bring us in? Protect us?”

  “He doesn’t know who he can trust. Hughes is the Director of National Intelligence. There’s no telling who he’s got in his pocket.”

  “Fair enough.” Bear scratched his chin. “So, what’s the next step?”

  “We wait until my story is printed. Adams will know that means it’s time to get into contact with me. By now he’s realized my phone is gone. That means we’ll have to connect on a secure server he set up for us. We’re the only ones who can access it. We’ll decide where to go from there.”

  Bear wished he could see beyond just the next step in their plan, but this would have to do for now. Having the Vice President on your side sounded like just about the biggest win you could get, but he wasn’t convinced Adams would have the balls to step up to the plate. They’d have to catch Hughes with a smoking gun in his hand if they wanted to pin all of this on him. Anything less than that, and Bear was sure Adams would find some excuse to get cold feet.”

  “So,” Cara said, interrupting his thoughts, “where to next?”

  “The closer, the better,” Bear said. He spotted an upcoming exit that would stop taking them south and start taking them east.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means it’s time we head to D.C.”

  26

  Bear set their new destination as Fairfax, Virginia. It was less than an hour outside D.C., and even though it was about ten times bigger than good ol’ New Glarus, Bear wasn’t too worried about being spotted, as long as they were smart. The fact that Cara could pass for a college student didn’t hurt, either.

  Bear drove until it was dark, then look a random exit and looked for the cheapest motel he could find. This one required a credit card, so he handed Cara one with a fake name and sent her on her way. Bear couldn’t tell if he was proud or concerned that she was getting better at going with the flow now. She got the room without any resistance, and even remembered to ask for one on the ground floor and near an exit.

  They didn’t talk much that night. There wasn’t a whole lot to be said, anyway. They had their new heading and the beginnings of a rudimentary plan to get them out of this hole they had both found themselves in. For now, that would be enough.

  Besides, long drives always seemed to take their toll, even if you were just sitting there all day. Something about the monotony of the road sucked all the energy from your bones. The two of them traded off showers and then hit their beds without so much as a goodnight.

  The following morning, Bear woke up at the crack of dawn, ready to get rolling. Cara took a little longer to come around, but she managed to walk to the truck on her own before passing out again. Bear risked grabbing them both coffee, and soon enough, they were back on the road.

  Several hours later, Bear pulled to a stop, jolting Cara awake from her second nap of the day. She glared at him while he grinned and shrugged. He’d take his entertainment where he could get it.

  “What’s the plan?” She stretched and Bear heard a couple joints pop.

  “We need a computer.”

  “Library?”

  “I thought about that, too, but I don’t like the idea of being cooped up in a building like that. I’d rather have full view of the street and an easy escape route.”

  “Where else are we going to get free computer time?”

  “We’re not.” Bear reached into his wallet and pulled out a different credit card. “We’ll need to buy a laptop. Something cheap. We just need it for the internet.”

  “Must be nice to have money to throw away on a computer we’ll only use once.” Cara took the card and looked at it. “You don’t look like a Mr. Alex Monroe.”

  All Bear said was, “Looks can be deceiving.”

  Bear sent Cara off down Main Street to find a store that sold computers and buy the cheapest one available. Her story would be that her computer crashed and she needed something to finish her paper for school. The card was her father’s. If they needed proof, she’d have them call Bear.

  It didn’t come to that. Twenty minutes later, Cara walked up to the truck with a grin on her face and a bag under her arm.

  “Success,” she said, as soon as she slid back into her seat. “Only cost you $600.”

  “Only.” Bear rolled his eyes. “They didn’t have anything cheaper?”

  “This was the best I could do.” She handed back his card. “What’s step two?”

  “Find a café with Wi-Fi.”

  “That shouldn’t be hard. There’s about twelve dozen of them down there.”

  “We need one with a back entrance.”

  Cara pinched her eyebrows together. “That’s a bit more specific.”

  “It’s always good to have a backup plan.”

  She shrugged. “You’re the expert.”

  Bear took in the area around him, and when he was sure no one was watching too closely, he slid out of the truck and made his way toward Main Street. He had instructed Cara to wait for a count of sixty before following him. She needed to keep an eye on him without walking too close. Bear didn’t want anyone seeing them enter the café together. Once inside, they’d have to risk sitting at the same table. He wanted to keep an eye on everything Vice President Adams was saying.

  Bear walked the length of Main Street and then back up the other side. Halfway down, he spotted a café with a little alley along the side. A door set in the brick wall told him they’d have an exit strategy that didn’t involve busting out through the front door. It was better than nothing.

  The café was small and dark—perfect for them. Bear took a seat in the far corner and waited for Cara to show up. He counted to sixty. And then sixty again. His mind started to spiral. What if Hughes was already one step ahead of them? What if Cara had been taken in broad daylight right from the sidewalk. What if—

  The doorbell chimed and she walked through the door. Her face was flushed. She made a beeline for Bear’s table and slid into the seat next to him.

  “Hey,” he said, by way of keeping up appearances.

  “Hi!” She overdid it on the cheer. Then, under her breath, “You walk so fast.”

  He refused to admit to her that she’d had him worried for a second. Better not let it go to her head. Instead, he slipped her a ten and had her order them a coffee and a couple muffins. He unwrapped the computer, but let her set it up. He wanted to focus on everything around them.

  The café was quiet for being a morning in the middle of the week. Only a couple other patrons sat there sipping their coffee or eating their breakfast. One young woman had a book balanced precariously on her lap while she tried to eat a doughnut. There was powdered sugar all over her pants.

  An older man sat reading a newspaper, sipping slowly but steadily from his mug. He looked like he could be a professor. Next to him was a young man with headphones in. He was tapping away at his computer with the kind of fervor Bear imagined only belonged to a college student on a deadline.

  Outside the window, people passed to and fro. Once in a while, someone would stop in, order a coffee, and then leave.

  “Got it,” Cara said. She slid the computer over so they could both see the screen.

  “Now what?”

  “Now we get the ball rolling.”

  It was interesting to see the transformation in the young reporter. Bear had seen a confidence and resolve from her since the beginning, but now Cara was in her element. She typed in a website from memory and entered a username and password. It required a second and third form of verification, but her fingers danced over the keyboard so quickly, Bear wouldn’t have been able to see what she was doing if he tried.

  After a couple minutes, Cara sat back with a sigh of relief and gestured toward the computer. “There you go.”

  Bear leaned forward. “It’s a blank page. With a blinking cursor.”

  “It’s a very important blank page,” Cara corrected, “with a very important blinking cursor.”

  “What do we do next?”

  “We wait.” Cara took a sip from her coffee. “He’ll have gotten a notification I logged on. He’ll get on as soon as he can so we can figure out where to go from here, but it could take some time. He’ll need to find somewhere secure where no one will be able to see what he’s doing.”

  “Makes you wonder if the Capitol is the worst place for that sort of thing—or the best.”

  Cara nodded and bit into her muffin. “My guess is the best. If you-know-who got as far as he did, then we should be just fine.”

  “Famous last words,” Bear said.

  27

  Turned out Bear wasn’t too far off from the truth.

  It had been a solid two hours before something happened, but it wasn’t exactly what Cara had been expecting. While the page had remained blank, the sidewalk outside the café picked up in activity.

  To the average person, nothing would have seemed out of the ordinary. Just like two hours prior, people were walking up and down the sidewalk, sometimes coming in for a cup of coffee, sometimes sitting on the bench outside to talk with their friends.

  Bear, however, caught two different people walk by twice, looking into the café and then moving on. If it were a college student or even someone who looked like the old professor who’d left an hour ago, he wouldn’t have paid much mind. Despite their innocuous outside appearances, Bear could tell they were military men. Someone had hired them to keep an eye on him and Cara.

  The final straw came when a middle-aged man entered the café and ordered a small cup of coffee. He took it and sat down a couple tables away. He wasn’t nervous, but he was stiff and practiced in his movements. He never touched his coffee. He had his phone out, but he clearly wasn’t reading whatever article he had pulled up to make himself look busy.

  Bear leaned close to Cara under the premise of getting a better look at the screen. “We’ve got company.”

  She froze. She had clearly picked up enough from Bear because she didn’t bother looking over to see what was going on beyond the scope of their own little table. “Who is it?”

  “Not sure. Probably Hughes’ men, but that’s just a guess.”

  “A good guess.”

  “We need to leave everything and run.”

  Cara’s fingers gripped the edges of the computer. “We can’t. This is our chance, Bear. We can’t risk losing it. It could be days before we get a setup like this again.”

  Bear knew she was right, but he still didn’t like the idea of lugging around a computer connected to a private server that linked them to the Vice President of the United States. There were a lot of ways this could go wrong. And it looked like it already had.

  “Pack up your bag, leave the computer.” Bear held up a hand when Cara started to protest. “Ask where the bathroom is. Don’t be quiet about it. There should be a side door that leads to the alley. Meet me out there. I’ll follow you in a minute. I’ll bring the computer.”

  Cara looked from the computer to Bear as if she didn’t trust him to follow through on his word, but what other choice did they have? She threw the remnants of the computer’s packaging into the bag and slid out from behind the table.

  Bear noticed the man two tables down had stopped scrolling on his phone.

  Cara loudly asked where the bathroom was and headed to the back of the café without hesitation. Bear didn’t like having her out of sight, but they didn’t have much choice. He needed to keep an eye on their new friend and anyone else at the front of the café who might cause trouble.

  The man two tables down started typing on his phone. That was Bear’s cue. Whoever this guy was with, he was alerting them to Cara’s movements. If they had any suspicion that the two of them would make a break for it, that meant someone would be waiting for them out back.

  But taking on one or two people in an alleyway was much smarter than taking on several more along Main Street.

  Bear snapped the computer shut, tucked it under his arm, and made a beeline for the bathrooms. The door to the alley was marked as an exit. He didn’t bother being quiet about opening it. The man in the café would know they were plotting their escape either way.

  As soon as Bear had one foot out the door, he could feel the tension in the air. Another step put him out into the alley. A third and final step allowed the door to swing shut behind him.

  A man with a gun had his sights set on Cara, who was on her knees with her hands behind her head. Even from his vantage point, Bear could see her shaking. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

  As soon as Bear emerged from the café, the man switched his attention to the bigger threat.

  Bear got a good look at the man behind the gun. His hair was sandy and he had the slightest emergence of a blond mustache growing above his lip. He looked a little squirrely, a little jittery. He also looked young. Bear tried to weigh whether that would be to his advantage or not. On the one hand, it could make the man an easier target. On the other, it could make him extra jumpy. If it was the latter, he was bound to do something stupid.

  “On the ground!”

  Bear held up his hands, the one still carrying the laptop. He saw the man’s eyes flick to it for the briefest of seconds. Bear took a single step forward.

  “I said on the ground!”

  “Okay, pal. Calm down.” Bear took another step forward. He saw the man’s finger twitch. “I just want to make sure the girl is okay.”

  “She’s fine,” he spat out. “On the ground. Now.”

  “Sure thing.” Bear risked taking one more step forward. He was now lined up with Cara and only about a foot and a half away from the man who held them at gunpoint. The rookie was too close, and Bear was more than ready to use that to their advantage.

  Bear started to kneel, putting one knee on the asphalt but leaving the other one under him. He flipped the computer so the screen was facing down and gripped it with both hands. “I’m just going to lay this on the ground first, okay?”