Vince Flynn - Consent To Kill

She brushed her teeth and took a shower. She felt almost normal despite the fact that she was famished. After wrapping herself in one of the plush white robes, Claudia opened the door and immediately registered the unmistakable aromas of sausage and cinnamon. She remembered that Louie had filled out the room service card for breakfast and left it on the door before they went to bed. He was now sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a large glass of orange juice in his hand. Claudia wasted no time parking herself next to him and grabbing the other glass of orange juice. She drank nearly half of it before she set it back down. The relief it brought was nearly instantaneous. She pulled the metal cover off of her breakfast and started slathering butter on her French toast. Next came the warm syrup and she dug in. Her focus on filling her stomach was so thorough she didn't notice that Louie was watching her.

The local NBC morning news was on the TV. Louie was also wearing one of the white robes provided by the hotel. His brown hair had that bed-head look, and the front page of the Washington Post sat folded on his lap. He'd stopped reading the paper and the TV was nothing more than background noise. His undivided and very discerning attention was focused entirely on the object of his affection. Claudia finally noticed that he was watching her. She set her fork down and wiped her mouth. After taking a drink of orange juice she turned and smiled. It seemed a bit forced.

His eyes narrowed and he said, "Are you pregnant?"

Claudia blinked. "What?"

Louie noted that her response was defensive. "It's not a difficult question."

She tugged at the neck of her robe and then crossed her legs, draping her left arm protectively across her abdomen.

He watched her every move, knowing the answer without having to hear it from her lips. Gould reached out and placed a gentle hand on her forearm. He pushed from his mind any thoughts of personal hurt that she hadn't told him and instead said, "If you are, it will make me the happiest man in the world."

Gould tilted his head and watched her intently. Her bottom lip trembled ever so slightly, and then her eyes filled with tears. "That is, if the child is mine," Gould added.

The tears spilled over and fell down the smooth skin of her cheeks. She let out a half laugh, half cry and swatted at him. "Yes…all those other men I sleep with. You'll all have to take blood tests so we can sort the whole mess out. Of course it's yours, you jerk."

Gould laughed and pulled her close. He kissed her forehead and rocked her like a baby. He was smiling from ear to ear. In a soft, almost apologetic voice he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want it to distract you. I want us to get through this and then we are done with this life once and for all." She tugged at the sleeve of her robe and wiped her tears. "How did you figure it out?"

He smiled. "There were a few telltale signs here and there."

"Like what?"

"Well…I noticed when we were having sex last night that your breasts looked…" He gestured with his hands and groped for the right word.

"Bigger," Claudia offered.

"Yes, that would be the right adjective." He smiled and then added, "When I picked you up yesterday at the airport you were literally glowing. I thought it was from your brief stop in the Caribbean, but that didn't make much sense. You weren't there long enough. The giveaway, though, was your dash to the bathroom. I haven't seen you throw up in years. And then you came out here and inhaled half of your breakfast before you even noticed I was sitting next to you."

"You saw all of that," she said in a surprised tone.

"Claudia, darling, that's what I do for a living. I watch people. I study them."

She looked toward the window and nodded. And then you kill them, she thought. She sat in silence for a moment and then turned her attention back to his eyes. How could those caring eyes belong to a man capable of such violence? She needed to purge that part of him. He hadn't always been that way. Surely at some point he had been a carefree sunny little boy. Even as an adult, as a hired assassin, there was a gentle side to him. His father unwittingly pushed him into the arms of the Legion, and they had turned him into a killer. It would be her job to eradicate those instincts, to turn him back into the man he should have been.

She touched his face. "Now do you understand why this must be our last job?"

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes. I do." He held her tight and thought about the very fundamental ways in which his life would soon be changing. Almost immediately, though, his thoughts returned to the here and now. The baby could wait. Would have to wait. They had to keep their focus and see this last job through.

He looked at the clock and asked, "Can you be ready to go in twenty minutes?"

"Why?"

Gould pointed at the TV. "I want to walk over to the White House and get a look at Mrs. Rapp."

She regarded the TV for a moment and then Louie. Part of her simply wanted to take the money and run, but she knew such talk would only upset him. We have the rest of our lives together, she told herself. Just get through this week and everything will be different.

IT WAS A still morning. Not even the slightest breeze. The temperature was in the mid-fifties and rising with the climbing sun. Louie told Claudia to put on the workout clothes he'd purchased for her and he donned his new Nike pants and zippered top. They both wore baseball caps and Oakley sunglasses. They looked like Mr. and Mrs. American fitness. Before picking up Claudia at the airport he'd stopped on the outskirts of Baltimore at a Best Buy superstore and bought a Canon 10D digital camera and a 20 x 140 zoom lens. Louie looped the strap around his neck and brought his left arm up through the opening so that the camera lay snug against the left side of his back. They took the stairs rather than the elevator and exited the lobby onto Farragut Square. There was a Starbucks on K Street near the metro stop and they took their spot in the busy morning queue. Louie got a small black coffee and Claudia ordered some herbal decaffeinated tea.

With warm cups in hand they headed south for the short walk to the White House. It was October in DC, so there were nowhere near as many tourists as there would have been in the summer, though there were still a fair number. They came upon a group of Asians who were being led by a private tour guide. They were headed in the same direction as Louie and Claudia and took up most of the sidewalk. At the corner of 17th and I, they stopped to take photos of some building of interest across the street. Louie took the opportunity to find a way around them and kept moving. He did not want to be late. A block later they reached the northwest corner of Lafayette Square and passed the statue of Baron von Steuben. Steuben was a German officer who fought alongside George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The White House and the impressive neoclassical facade of the Treasury Building were now in full view. Louie checked his watch and slowed his pace.

"When I was a child my father used to bring us here for picnics on Sunday afternoons." Louie kept walking and looked around. "My father was very fond of this park."

Claudia was surprised by the disclosure. Louie rarely spoke of his father. "Why is that?"

"Lafayette…the famous Frenchman who fought with the Americans in their War of Independence. The park is named after him." Louie pointed to the southwest corner. "Over there is General Rochambeau, the French hero of the battle of New Orleans, and in the far corner is General Lafayette himself."

Claudia looked to the center of the park where there was a magnificent statue of a man on horseback. The horse was set atop a large block of granite, frozen in time, rearing back on its hind legs. The rider was holding on to the beast's reins with one hand and waving his hat in the air with the other. The base of the statue was encircled by four cannons. "Don't you mean that statue right there?"