“I think President Alden had something to do with it.”

Carolyn looked at her. “You what?”

“I overheard him talking with Stephanie Gallo.”

“Elise, your job is not to listen in on the president’s private conversations. Besides, do you think the man would be so dumb as to admit to something like that in front of one of his Secret Service agents?”

“I was in the woods on Gallo’s estate. I don’t think either of them knew I was even there. As far as I could tell, they thought they were completely alone.”

“Wait a second. Why come to me with this?” asked Carolyn.

“Because I don’t know what to do. I need advice.”

Leonard set her wineglass down on the counter. “You want my advice? Forget the entire thing. You heard a snippet of a conversation and have taken it out of context. Your job is to protect the president, period. You start getting distracted, trying to make sense of what you’re hearing, and you’ll not only get the president killed, you’ll get yourself killed as well.”

“But what if he was involved in Nikki Hale’s death somehow?”

“If you think he might have been involved, tell your supervisor at the Service.”

“What if I’m wrong?” asked Campbell.

“Then you won’t have to worry about overhearing any more of the president’s private conversations because you’ll be bounced so hard you’ll need the space shuttle to deliver your final paycheck.”

Campbell was silent for a moment. “What if I told you Gallo knows all about it and she’s blackmailing the president?”

“I’d say that’s his problem.”

Elise shook her head. “You’ve made no secret about not being a fan of President Alden’s.”

“Well that’s the beauty of being a private citizen,” answered Leonard. “I can do that because I no longer work for the Secret Service.”

“Well, I believe in him. I voted for him.”

“You’re behind the curtain now, Elise. Be prepared to be disillusioned. There aren’t many honest men or women in Washington anymore. Politicians get where they are by the sheer force of their egos, not their convictions. And you know what? It’s our fault as voters. We don’t demand better candidates, so we end up getting what we deserve-on both sides of the aisle.”

“I agree with you. The majority of them are crooked and we should consider them all guilty until proven innocent,” said Campbell. “But I thought Alden was different. I still do.”

Leonard poured a little more wine into her glass. “For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right about what you overheard. How can someone blackmail an honest man?”

Campbell didn’t have a response.

“What exactly,” asked Leonard, “did Stephanie Gallo say to the president?”

“She said that if he didn’t give her what she wanted, she was going to expose his involvement in the deaths of four innocent people and his would be one of the shortest administrations in U.S. history.”

“How do you know this had to do with Nikki Hale’s death?”

“Because after that threat,” answered Campbell, “they walked off arguing about the night she died.”

“Did you hear anything more specific?” asked Carolyn.

“Not really. Not from where I was standing.”

“What possible role could the president have had in Hale’s death? Did he get her loaded and hand her a set of car keys?”

“I wasn’t there. I don’t know, but Gallo was very insistent about his complicity and the president was very bothered by the whole thing.”

“So what was it Gallo was pressing him for?” said Leonard, switching to a more jovial tone. “Has she changed her mind about wanting a cabinet position?”

Elise didn’t think now was an appropriate time to be making jokes. “No,” she replied harshly. “Actually, her daughter was just kidnapped in Afghanistan and she wants the president’s help.”

“I’m sorry,” replied Leonard. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

Elise brushed it off. “It’s okay. No one knows. They’re keeping it very quiet. Gallo’s daughter is a doctor who was working for some NGO over there. Apparently, the kidnappers want to trade her for some high-ranking al-Qaeda operative that the Afghans are holding for trial.”

“And Alden is going to arrange the trade?”

“Not exactly,” said Campbell.

“What do you mean, not exactly?”

“He doesn’t think it’s right to force the Afghans to give the AQ operative up. He’s a terrorist who has been involved with the killing of multiple Afghan government officials. President Alden supports the Afghans in establishing the rule of law and thinks they should prosecute the guy in full.”

“And Stephanie Gallo isn’t pleased with that position, is she?”

“You’ve got two children,” replied Campbell. “How would you feel if one of them was being held hostage and the person you’d helped get elected to the most powerful office in the world wouldn’t get your child back for you?”

“I’d be angry, very angry.”

“As is she, apparently.”

“Hence the blackmail,” stated Carolyn.

Campbell nodded.

“Kidnapping a United States citizen is serious business. For all intents and purposes, we own Afghanistan. I’ve got to imagine that we’re throwing everything we have at this. There’s no way we’re leaving any rocks unturned over there. Short of forcing the Afghans to give us the al-Qaeda operative to trade out for Mrs. Gallo’s daughter, I don’t know what more the president could do, which makes me think either he’s prepared to call her bluff or there’s actually nothing there for him to be blackmailed over.”

“There’s something else,” stated Campbell.

Carolyn raised her eyebrows again and waited.

“The trip we just wrapped up was official business-all except for one leg.”

“What was the leg?” asked Carolyn.

“We flew to Maine so the president could see Stephanie Gallo.”

Leonard pursed her lips and exhaled. She had heard that the first lady was no fan of Stephanie Gallo’s. Terry Alden’s contempt for the woman was thinly veiled at best. It made no difference how much Gallo had aided her husband’s campaign. The first lady didn’t see Gallo as an ally, she saw her as a rival for her husband’s time, interest, and affection. In fact, it had been widely rumored that it was because of Mrs. Alden’s strong protestations that Stephanie Gallo did not stay on past the transition period and move into a permanent position within Robert Alden’s administration.

Considering the kidnapping, though, the trip should not have automatically been suspect.

“They met at an estate in Seal Harbor owned by some television personality Mrs. Gallo knows,” continued Campbell.

“I’m not surprised. He’s a hands-on guy. Her daughter was kidnapped and he’s keeping her in the loop. At this point, nothing would surprise me about his meeting with her.”

“I’m not saying the meeting was remarkable, but you might think who they met with was. Are you familiar with a former Secret Service agent named Scot Harvath?”

“Harvath?” Leonard said, somewhat surprised. “What was he doing there? On second thought, don’t tell me. I probably don’t want to know. Are you sure it was him?”

“I asked one of the agents who cleared him. They confirmed it and told me a little about who he was. So you’re familiar with him?”

“Very, but Harvath doesn’t work for the government anymore. Whatever he was doing for the previous administration was shut down. He left for the private sector. In fact, when I announced that I was leaving the Secret Service, he emailed me and put me in touch with the group he’s supposed to start working with.”

“Well, as of that meeting in Maine, he’s now working for President Alden, or more specifically, Stephanie Gallo, as she’s apparently the one who is paying him.”

“Probably a smart move. Harvath is an exceptional operator. He was a SEAL before joining the Secret Service and coming to the White House. He’s a good person to have consulting on this.”

“Based on what I heard, I think he’s doing a lot more than consulting,” replied Elise. “I think the president brought him in to snatch that al-Qaeda operative from prison in Kabul and trade him for Gallo’s daughter.”