My God, it had been so simple. He’d had his own private army, thanks to Edmund Warner, and the Council. Now, he was the only general left standing. Soon to be the Commander-in-Chief.

Without knocking, Young entered the Oval Office.

Carolyn felt a kiss on her neck. She closed her eyes while wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“Now you’re the acting president,” she said.

“Acting president?” he murmur red against her skin. “For the moment. By tomorrow at noon, I’ll be the president.” He kissed her shoulder between sentences. “A written declaration from myself, the Speaker, and the senate leader has already been submitted to Congress.”

“Will the doctors be done testifying?”

“They’ll be done by midnight tonight. No one can realistically expect Warner to recover. Once his condition is confirmed, the vote will be expedited. I expect it at eight tomorrow morning. Plans are underway for my swearing-in at noon.”

“Are you ready for this?”

“Am I ready?” he asked. “Of course I’m ready. I’ve been planning this since Warner took office.”

She stiffened with apprehension. The hair along the back of Carolyn’s neck prickled. She could no longer suppress the suspicions that plagued her since she’d learned of the chemical release. Suspicions that caused Richard’s words to keep replaying in her mind. “It’s time to take care of the problem.” And “Do you trust me?”

Carolyn spun around to face her lover, his breath touching her cheek as she did so. “Constitutionally-”

“The White House lawyers are following the letter of the law. After this hearing it’s up to Congress to decide if the president can perform his duties. The answer is obvious.”

She eyed him thoughtfully. Gauging her words, her questions. Wanting to know the truth, but afraid of the answer. If what she suspected was true, what would she do? What could she do?

“It doesn’t matter to you how you’ve achieved the office?” She knew she was baiting him, but she couldn’t help herself.

He held her gaze. “Why should it? I would have been president if Warner hadn’t caused my son’s accident. I owed him on two accounts. He injured my son and, by doing so, he stole the presidency from me. This was my destiny, not his. Mine.” He lowered his voice. “He got what he deserved.”

As vice president, Richard had possessed the necessary inside information, the kind of access to pull off the murders.

Her worst fears confirmed, Carolyn’s breath caught. “But to kill-”

Richard placed a finger over her lips. “This is a conversation we are not going to have. Not now, not ever.”

Her pulse quickened. Fear, sadness, guilt and a multitude of complex emotions collided within her.

Richard placed his hands on the tops of her arms. A lock of his dark hair fell across his forehead as he glanced down at her cleavage, then at her bare feet. He reached for the button on her shirt. “Looks like you started the job. Let me finish it.”

“Was this the only way? I…” Panic rose in her chest. With her palms, she pushed lightly against him.

He leaned back and gazed into her eyes. “You aren’t new to this game. The greater the prize, the higher the risk. I assure you that Warner understood the rules. Hell, he defined them.”

“I’ve never thought of this as a game,” she said, stalling for time. How could she have thought that she loved this man?

He shook his head as if scolding a wayward child. “You’ll feel better when I nominate you as vice president.”

Shock coursed through her. “What?”

“You’re the most popular political figure in our nation’s history. And Warner’s situation has turned you into an icon. I’ve turned you into an icon. And I can turn you into the first woman vice president of this country. I’ve already mentioned the idea at my earlier press conference.”

My God, was he serious?

“You’ll be able to write your own ticket. Mark my words. By tomorrow when your name is posed for the vice presidency, the country will go wild.”

“I take it that you’re spinning the ‘carrying on my husband’s legacy’ rhetoric?”

“Exactly.” He smiled as if she finally understood.

Kissing him, suddenly seemed abhorrent. He was a murderer. No different from the rest. What did she expect him to do? She let him do this. She encouraged him. But she never dreamt he meant murder, even when he said he was going to ‘take care of the problem.’

Carolyn understood machinations, but not murder. Naive, she was too fucking naive, just like Warner had said.

Richard pulled her close, pressing her cheek to his chest. “We’re a team now.”

She forced herself to relax in his arms, while her mind reeled. What was she going to do?

The Washington Post

May 12,2001

President Warner Hamilton Lane Near

Death!

SAN JOSE – President Lane was critically injured Tuesday morning while touring the Sycon Chemical Repackaging plant. During the visit, toxic vapors were released, causing an exothermic reaction.

Ten others were killed during the accident, including Senior White House Adviser Mark Dailey.

Unofficial sources state that the president has not regained consciousness. Hospital doctors have refused to comment.

Sources have confirmed that the emergency exhaust ventilation system at Sycon responded but that it started seconds too late. Sycon’s emergency response team entered the facility to find an unconscious president and Mr. Dailey wedged in a doorway between the chemical storage room and the reprocessing facility. Rescuers report that it appears that Mr. Dailey pulled the president out of the contaminated area shortly before succumbing to the chemicals himself.

Four Secret Service agents, three corporate executives, and two members of the media collapsed on a catwalk, where they died.

The area where the release occurred is under investigation by Fed OSHA. The cause of the accident is still unknown, but investigators have focused on the valve seals for the process piping. The facility has been closed until the exact cause can be determined. FBI sources said that this investigation will probably take weeks, if not months.

In accordance with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Congress will hear testimony regarding the prognosis of the president. If it is determined that he is unable to execute the duties of his office, then Vice President Richard Young will be sworn in as the 45th President.

While President Lane is comatose, Richard Young is the Acting President in accordance with the constitutional line of succession.

Carolyn closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat of the Secret Service Suburban. The smells of fresh leather and plastic told her that the truck was new.

Lightning lit up the night sky. Thunder cracked.

She shivered.

While watching the testimony to Congress regarding Warner’s condition, she’d suddenly become certain of what she must do. But she had no idea of how it would all come out in the end. She was ready to place her own life on the line, but what concerned her were the other lives she knew she must involve.

As the vehicle turned onto Swann Sheet the LCD display on the dashboard glowed the time: 1:17 A.M. Only street lamps and the Suburban’s headlights lit up the dark neighborhood at this early hour. The driver pulled to the curb in front of a townhouse. Carolyn had called thirty minutes earlier. She hoped they both were there, and that they would help her, for tonight was her only chance to correct the course of history.