The White House: A Flynn Carroll Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page B

wunderkind called Al Doxy.”
    â€œThe Doxys of Plainview?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œWhere do I come in, Cissy?”
    â€œHe was beheaded.”
    â€œAnd this brings me in how?”
    â€œFlynn, I overheard my father on the phone with the Secret Service. They told him that the head had been severed with something that left a wound under a centimeter wide.”
    Flynn was not often shocked, not given what he’d seen in this life and what he knew, but he felt shock now, an unfamiliar coldness creeping over him, accompanied by ultraheightened awareness of his surroundings. He noted the whisper of the bartender’s cloth as he polished a glass, the faint drone of traffic on the street outside, a faraway clink and clatter coming from the kitchen as the evening service got under way.
    He said, “Are you back in the White House?”
    â€œMom insisted.”
    Lorna Greene had been student body president at UT when he was a junior, a classic example of the steel magnolia. “Sounds like her.”
    â€œShould we have gone back?”
    â€œI’m going to need to go over there. I’m going to need to look into this.”
    â€œMom and Dad are out of the loop, you know that. They have no idea about you.”
    â€œCissy, the entire government’s out of the loop.”
    â€œAll I know is you’re weird and scary and I can’t talk about what I saw.”
    He reached toward her, then stopped. But she slid her hand into his. She wanted to be reassured, but he couldn’t tell her not to be afraid. He was no liar, and she had good reason to be afraid.
    â€œI thought of trying to get them to go up to Camp David.”
    â€œNo!”
    She blinked, startled. He realized that he shouldn’t have been so intense, but going to an isolated place like that would be incredibly dangerous, far more so than Cissy could possibly know.
    He didn’t think that they should stay in the White House, either, but he could see the political storm that would erupt if they left. “The murder’s a secret, I assume?”
    â€œAl Doxy was an NSC aide. So it’s all classified. National security. The press will be told it was a freak accident.”
    â€œWhat kind of an accident?”
    â€œDon’t know. Deflated, maybe.”
    â€œDeflated?”
    â€œHe was a roly-poly. I knew him in college. Math genius, very overweight, incredibly boring.”
    â€œWhat was he working on in the West Wing?”
    She shook her head. “No idea.”
    He made a decision. “I’ll stick close,” he said. “I’ll be in the Residence tonight.”
    â€œHow? Do you need my help?”
    He considered. Could he penetrate the White House? He called its security precautions to mind. He considered his skills, and Diana’s skills. He said, “I’ll be OK.”
    â€œThe place is a prison. You can’t exactly ring the doorbell.”
    â€œI’ll look over the West Wing, then spend the night in the Closet Hall.”
    She was frowning. He thought she was probably trying to understand how he’d get past the many layers of defense that protected the president.
    â€œI’ll be in the Secret Service contingent,” he said.
    She nodded. “Can you tell me anything more?”
    He considered the horror that had descended on his unit since the revolution on Aeon. The brutal battles with marauding alien bands had not only continued, but without the support of police from Aeon, the situation had deteriorated. And now there was the constant threat of state-sponsored escalation, which this could be. “You don’t want to know anything more.”
    â€œAre they demons?”
    â€œThey might as well be, but this isn’t supernatural.”
    â€œThen it’s aliens.”
    â€œMaybe. Maybe something a whole lot stranger.”
    â€œWhat could be stranger, Flynn?”
    â€œIt’s a big universe. It’s very, very old.