Dead Watch Read Online Free PDF

watched on her farm near Lexington, and had been threatened by Watchmen. She has a videotape to prove it. The intimidation part. If the tape isn’t a complete fake, I’d say she had reason to be frightened. The guy, the Watchman, acted like he was in the SS or something . . . and that’s about it. I mean, there are more details . . .”
    “Fucking media,” Danzig said. He picked up a yellow pencil and began drumming it on his desktop. “Fucking little right-wing Virginia Law assholes, fucking horse-farm owners. This is the biggest circus since Bill Clinton’s blow job.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “She’s good-looking, too. Madison Bowe. Blond. Good tits, great ass. The media like that.”
    Jake said, “Yes, sir, I’ve seen her on TV.”
    “Lincoln Bowe did not give a quote moderately hot-tempered speech,” Danzig said. He paused, watching Jake’s face from under his hooded eyes. “If you actually heard it, it was borderline nuts. He sounded like he might be drunk. He essentially said that the president and the Senate minority leader are criminals. It was completely out of control.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Danzig flashed a thin-lipped fat-lizard’s smile: “I should ask, Jake—have any questions occurred to you?”
    “The obvious one. Did the Watchmen take him?”
    Danzig spun in his leather chair, a complete turn, caught himself before going around a second time: “That’s the question. And the answer is We don’t know. It’s possible, I suppose. God only knows what Goodman is cooking up down there.”
    “So what’s our problem?” Jake asked.
    “Embarrassment. Goodman is one of us, we can’t deny it. We loved that whole Watchman idea, the idea of volunteering for America—it was like the Peace Corps, but for us. Like something John Kennedy might have thought of. Best of all, it didn’t cost anything. Now people are starting to say that they’re a bunch of Nazis. We wanted to get rid of Lincoln Bowe, we wanted to get him out of the Senate, and we gave Goodman everything he needed to do the job. Then Bowe disappears, and it all comes back to bite us in the ass.”
    Jake nodded. There wasn’t much to say. The Democrats, with the president leading the way, had poured seventy million dollars into the Virginia election, had used Goodman as their point man.
    “So. Find out what happened to Bowe,” Danzig said. “Legal as you can. Use the FBI for the technicalities. But find him and give me updates through Gina.”
    Jake said, “What’s the FBI doing? I’m not sure I could help.”
    Danzig was irritated: “The FBI—they’re doing a tap dance, is what they’re doing. They know a dead skunk when they see one. They’re out looking around, but I’ve been talking to the director, and I know goddamned well that they don’t have their hearts in it. They’re saying that there’s no evidence of a kidnapping, no evidence of force, no evidence of anything. They just stand around and cluck.”
    “So, what do I do?”
    “Kick some ass. Turn over some rocks. Go threaten somebody,” Danzig said. “Do what you do. We need to get this thing out of the way. We can’t carry this through the summer, into the election, for Christ’s sake.”
    “How much time?”
    Danzig shook his head. “No way to tell. It’s already a mess. Right now, we’re sitting tight, going back-door to all the media, talking about how it’s a Virginia problem, not a White House problem. They’ve bought it so far. But you know how that works: one thing changes, and they’ll turn on you like a pack of rats.”
    “What’s my authority?” Jake asked. Sometimes Danzig didn’t want anyone to know who was interested.
    “I am,” Danzig said. “You can use my name. Gina will back you up.”
    “Okay.” Jake slapped his thighs. “I’ll move on it.”
    As he got up and turned to go, Danzig asked, “Kill any turkeys?”
    “Nope. Interrupted by a phone call.”
    “Life in the big city, son,” Danzig grunted, already flipping