Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit

Kane stared at him with uncertainty, digesting the admission. "I should have known."

"I'm telling you this for three reasons. First, I know you're not going to tell anyone. Second, you need to understand who you are dealing with. And third, I know you want to be president. The experts say you have a reasonable shot. The party supports you, your poll numbers are excellent, the competition is unimpressive. You have the contacts and the means to raise contributions. I'm told that, privately, you have an assurance of thirty million dollars as seed money from a variety of donors."

"You've been busy," Kane said with an air of pained politeness.

"You're reasonably young, in good health, your wife supports you in every way. Your children adore you. All in all, you'd make quite the candidate."

"Except that I screwed a staffer three years ago, she got pregnant, aborted the baby, and then decided she loved me."

"Something like that. Unfortunately, for her, she fell victim to a mass murderer, one who, in the throes of insanity, took his own life. Thankfully, he left quite a bit of evidence behind that linked him to all of the crimes, hers included, so a potential disaster for you turned into a plus."

And Ramsey had wisely hedged his bets by obtaining the abortion records from the South Texas clinic and a copy of the videotaped mandatory counseling session Texas law required before any abortion could be performed. The staffer, though using false identification, had broken down and told the counselor, without naming names, of an affair with her employer. Not a lot of details, but enough to play well on Inside Edition, Extra, or The Maury Show-and utterly ruin Aatos Kane's chances for the White House.

The operative from the map store had done well, making clear to Kane's chief of staff that she was that counselor. She wanted to speak with the senator or she planned on calling Fox News, which never seemed to have anything good to say about Kane. Reputations. More fragile than fine crystal.

"You killed Sylvian?" Kane asked.

"What do you think?"

Kane was studying him with an undisguised contempt. But he was so anxious, so willing, so pathetic, that his resistance immediately eroded. "Okay, I think I can make the appointment happen. Daniels needs me."

Ramsey's face relaxed into a reassuring smile. "I knew that to be the case. Now let's discuss the other thing."

No wit, humor, sympathy invaded his eyes.

"What other thing?"

"I will be your running mate."

Kane laughed. "You're insane."

"Actually, I'm not. The next presidential race is not going to be difficult to predict. Three candidates, maybe four, none in your league. There'll be some primary fights, but you have too many resources, and too much firepower, for anyone to go the distance. Now, you might try to heal the party divide by selecting the strongest loser, or one who does no harm, but neither choice would make sense. The former comes with bitterness and the latter is useless in a fight. You could try to find someone who brings a particular slice of the electorate your way, but that would assume voters favor the top of the ticket because of the bottom, which history shows to be nonsense. More realistically, you could select someone from a state where a running mate could deliver electoral votes. Again, that's nonsense. John Kerry chose John Edwards in 2004 but lost North Carolina. He even lost Edwards' home precinct."

Kane smirked.

"Your biggest weakness is inexperience in foreign affairs. Senators just don't get many chances there, unless they interject themselves in the process, which you've wisely not done over the years. I can bolster you there. That's my strong point. While you have no military service, I have forty years."

"And you're black."

He smiled. "You noticed? Can't slip anything past you."

Kane appraised him. "Vice President Langford Ramsey, one heartbeat away from-"

He held up a halting hand. "Let's not think about that. I simply want eight years as vice president."

Kane smiled. "Both terms?"

"Of course."

"You've done all this to secure a job?"

"What's wrong with that? Isn't that your goal? You, of all people, can understand what that means. I could never be elected president. I'm an admiral, with no political base. But I have a shot at the number two seat. All I have to do is impress one person. You."

He let his words take hold.

"Surely, Aatos, you see the benefits of this arrangement. I can be a valuable ally. Or, if you choose not to honor our deal, I can become a formidable opponent."

He watched as Kane assessed the situation. He knew this man well. He was a heartless, amoral hypocrite who'd spent a lifetime in public office assembling a reputation that he now planned to use to vault himself to the presidency.

Nothing seemed to be in the way.

And nothing would be, provided.

"All right, Langford, I'll give you your place in history."

Finally, a first name. They may be getting somewhere.

"I can also offer something else," Ramsey said. "Call it a gesture of good faith to demonstrate that I'm not the devil you think me to be."

He spied mistrust in Kane's observant eyes.

"I'm told that your chief opponent, especially in the early primaries, will be the governor of South Carolina. You and he don't get along, so the fight could quickly become personal. He's a potential problem, particularly in the South. Let's face it, no one can win the White House without the South. Too many electoral votes to ignore."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I can eliminate his candidacy."

Kane held up his hands in a halting gesture. "I don't need anybody else to die."

"You think me that stupid? No, I have information that would end his chance before it even starts."

He noticed an amused flicker sweep over Kane's face. His listener was a fast learner, already enjoying the arrangement. No surprise. If nothing else, Kane was adaptable. "Him out of the way now would make fund-raising much easier."

"Then call it a gift from a new ally. He'll be gone," he paused, "as soon as I'm sworn in on the Joint Chiefs."

RAMSEY WAS THRILLED. EVERYTHING HAD PLAYED OUT PRECISELY as he'd predicted. Aatos Kane might or might not be the next president but, if he managed the feat, Ramsey's legacy was assured. If Kane could not be elected, then at least he'd retire from the navy as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Definitely a win-win.

He switched off the lights and headed upstairs. A few hours of sleep would be good, as tomorrow would be a critical day. Once Kane made contact with the White House the rumor mill would crank up. He had to be ready to fend off the press, neither denying nor confirming anything. This was a White House appointment and he must appear awed simply by the consideration. By the end of the day, spin doctors would leak news of his possible appointment to test reactions and, barring any great upheaval, by the following day rumor would become fact.

The phone in his robe's pocket rang. Odd at this hour.

He removed the unit and spotted no displayed identification.

Curiosity overtook him. He stopped on the staircase and answered the call.

"Admiral Ramsey, this is Isabel Oberhauser."

He was rarely surprised, but the pronouncement genuinely startled him. He caught the aged, gravelly voice, the English tinged with a German accent.

"You're quite resourceful, Frau Oberhauser. For some time now, you've tried to obtain information from the navy, and now you managed a direct call to me."

"It wasn't all that difficult. Colonel Wilkerson gave me the number. With a loaded weapon pointed at his skull, he was most cooperative."

His trouble had just multiplied.

"He told me a great many things, Admiral. He so wanted to live and he thought that by answering my questions he might have the chance. Alas, it was not to be."