David Baldacci - First Family

"That's no doubt why no one ever put the two of you together. But you did have contact with her. Something that even surprised me. I found you two together in our hotel room. She was screaming for you to get off her, but it was too late. You'd already finished. It took me hours to calm her down while you were lying in a corner passed out from too much gin and not enough tonic."

"Why didn't the police come, then? Are you sure it wasn't consensual?"

"She didn't phone the police because I finally convinced her what a mess it would be if the incident became public. That it was only her word against yours, she was in our hotel room, and that I couldn't testify against my own husband. You were on your way to the Senate and possibly the presidency. She was a young woman with her whole future ahead of her. A future that could be ruined if something like this came out. If people thought she had instigated the sex. Tried to take advantage of your position. Tried to trap you somehow. I was very persuasive. I even told her that it was a disease you had. I painted a very sympathetic picture."

"Thank you, Jane. You saved me. Again."

She said coldly, "I hated you back then. I hated you for what you did to her. And to me."

"Like you said, it was a sickness. I've changed. I worked through it. You know that. It never happened again, did it?"

"It happened one more time."

"But I didn't force myself on that woman. And after that, there was no more. I worked hard at it, Jane. I cleaned up my act."

"Your act? Dan, this wasn't a case of leaving your underwear on the floor. You forced yourself on that poor woman."

"But I never did it again. That's my point. I changed. I moved on."

"Well, she sure as hell didn't have the chance to move on."

The president suddenly thought of something. He looked wildly around the small room. "You don't suppose there are any recording devices in here, do you?"

"I think the man has all he needs. Even without this poor woman."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Willa."

"What about her?"

"She's your daughter. And he knows it."

The president, his face pale, slowly turned to look at his wife. "Willa is my daughter?"

"Don't be stupid, Dan. What, did you think that Diane Wright was just going to go away when she got pregnant?"

Cox put an arm against the wall to steady himself. "Why the hell didn't you tell me this before?"

"What would you have done if I had?"

"I… well-I-"

"Right. Nothing, as usual. So I came in and cleaned up yet another mess."

"Why didn't she just have an abortion?"

"And end up like her?" said Jane, motioning to Tippi. "And it's not quite as easy as you think, Danny. I contacted her. Told her that it would be okay. That I understood what had happened and didn't hold it against her."

"How did it happen?"

"Apparently you picked her up, I believe in a bar. You must have been extremely charming to convince her to have sex that quickly. Or perhaps it speaks to the class of woman you were attracted to."

He put a hand to his forehead. "I don't remember any of it. I swear."

"So you don't remember Sean King bringing you home?"

"King? Sean King? He knows?"

"He found you in the car with her. And he's never said a word about it to anyone."

"So that's why you befriended him?"

"That was one reason, yes."

He looked sharply at her. "Were there other reasons?"

"Don't you even dare ask me that."

"I'm sorry, Jane. I'm sorry."

"Wright called me back about a month later. She'd missed her period. Then she'd found out for sure that she was pregnant. She was certain you were the father. She hadn't had sex with anyone else. In fact, you were her first, she said. I believed her. She didn't want any money or anything. She was just scared, didn't know what to do. Much like Tippi Quarry. Tuck and Pam were living in Italy at the time. She had gotten pregnant, but had miscarried. She didn't tell anyone other than me and Tuck. And the fact was that the baby was yours, even if you had it by a woman other than your wife. I couldn't just let it go to a stranger, because I knew Wright wasn't going to keep it. It was still your blood. I made an arrangement with Wright, and eight months later she traveled to Italy. I met her there. When the baby was delivered I took it to Pam and Tuck. When Pam came home later everyone just assumed the little girl was hers."

"You kept all that from me?"

"Considering what you've tried to keep from me over the years, I'd say I have a lot of ground to make up."

"But why all this for-"

"For a baby you got by screwing another woman? Like I said, she's your blood. She's your child, Dan. One of us had to take responsibility for it. And that one was me. It's always been me!"

"You never told them? Tuck and Pam? That Willa was mine?"

"How could I? Go up to him and say 'Oh, by the way, dear brother, this is Dan's bastard child. Would you like her?' And Diane Wright never met Pam or Tuck. She just assumed I'd lined up someone to take the baby. I never wanted her to know Willa's new identity for obvious reasons. But Sean King found out that Pam only gave birth to two children. That's why I had to keep the kidnapper's letters from everyone and try to cover things up."

"I don't understand."

"If they found out Willa was adopted, people might start digging, Dan. Like your political enemies. They could locate Diane Wright, maybe figure it out. Tie you to having sex with her and me arranging her baby, your baby, to go to my brother. There is no spin you can put on all that. Your career would've been over."

"I see. I am very fond of Willa," said the president. "I always have been. Maybe I sensed a connection with her."

"She's smart and good and sweet. And I would do anything to get her back safely."

The president looked at Tippi. "But we had nothing to do with her ending up like this."

Jane wiped her eyes with a tissue. "I did. She called me in a panic when she found out she was pregnant. She couldn't tell her parents, she said. They wouldn't understand. She also didn't want to carry it to term. I couldn't blame her since you forced yourself on her. Abortion was the only option. I couldn't have her go to a hospital or a real physician. Something might have come out. Her parents might have been contacted. It had to be done quickly and quietly. I knew of someone who could do it. I even drove her there and dropped her off. I paid for the procedure and gave her money for a cab home. The idiot obviously botched it. I… I never knew that this had happened, though. I never followed up. I guess I never wanted to follow up. I just wanted to forget all about it."

"A tragedy all around," the president said numbly, still looking down at Tippi.

"We should do this," Jane said. "And then get out of here. And get Willa back."

"Honey, if Waters is right about what he told us in the chopper, then we won't be getting Willa back."

"What do you mean?"

"He wants to kill us. This Quarry fellow. He may try to do so when we leave here."

"How can he? We're surrounded by an army. We're always surrounded by an army."

"I don't know, but if that was his intent all along? He'll certainly try."

"So what are you saying?"

"That we need to focus on us surviving this. If there is an assassination attempt and it fails he'll know about it. He'll kill Willa, if she's not already dead. But then he'll also try to reveal what happened. We have to be prepared for that. We have to concoct an alternative. Whatever proofs he might think he has, I know my people can counter them. He's just one man. I have an army of spin masters."

"He may be only one man, but look what he's done so far."

"That doesn't matter. It only matters how it ends. Now let's do what Quarry asked us to do and get out of here."