Heroes Never Die (35 page)

Andrea looked at the screen.  “It’s not working,” she cried, her nerves frayed.

“Steady,” Robert bolstered.  “Let’s try 360 Joules.”  Andrea grabbed the paddles to jumpstart the President’s heart.  Then Robert pressed his fingers into the President’s neck to find a pulse.  “Shit!  Shoot some Lidocaine.”

“C’mon, Mr. President,” Andrea begged.  She used the paddles two more times.  “Don’t die on me,” she frantically ordered.

Brian looked at the clock.  Twenty minutes had already elapsed.

“Shoot Bretylium,” Robert ordered.  They had to give it one more try.  “Defibrillate,” he shouted with urgency.

Andrea picked up the paddles one last time.  “Clear!”  The President’s body bounced on the table.  Then Brian watched as all eyes concentrated on the President’s chest, hoping to see any signs of movement.  “There has to be something else we can do,” she cried.

Robert shook his head.  “We’ve lost him.”

The room filled with bleak silence.  They stared at the President’s lifeless body.  He was dead.

Andrea hung her head.  “I lost him,” she sobbed.

Robert was firm.  “You did everything humanly possible to save him, Andrea.  There wasn’t anything you could have done differently.  You did your absolute best,” he encouraged her.  “Everyone did.  We gave it all we had, and I’m proud of all of you.”  They slowly raised their heads.  Tears streaked their faces.  It was difficult enough to handle losing a patient, but this patient was the President of the United States of America.

“I can’t face the First Lady alone,” Andrea said.

“You won’t have to,” he said to support her.  “I’ll face her with you.”

Andrea rested her head against Robert’s chest while he held her in his arms.  “Start the cleanup,” Robert ordered.  He lifted Andrea’s face with his hand.  “Let’s go get this over with.”

Brian watched as Robert and Andrea headed toward the door.  Robert glanced at him, and even though Brian kept a straight face, he knew that Robert had it all figured out.

***

Brian stood at the nurse’s station charting new orders for a patient, trying to make everything appear normal, but it was impossible to forget that he had just murdered the President.  A million thoughts raced through his mind.  If convicted, he would be sentenced to death.  The thought was overwhelming.  Suddenly, he understood how Stephanie must have felt.  He looked up and saw the General aggressively approaching him.  “Let’s take a walk,” he growled.  Without saying a word, Brian took his place beside him, and both men walked outside through the tree-lined grounds.

They kept walking until they were out of hearing range, and then their pounding footsteps came to a halt.  Robert turned to face Brian.  “I know why you did it.  I just want to know how you did it.”

Brian wasn’t proud of what he had done, but he felt no regret, either.  “Embolism,” he admitted in a solemn tone.  “I inserted air into his IV.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

Brian dug in his heels.  “He was going to kill Stephanie.  I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“And just how the hell do you think you’re going to prove that now?”

“I couldn’t prove it when he was alive.  No one, but no one, is going to hurt my family.”

“Protecting your family didn’t give you the right to murder the President.  There had to be another way.”

“What – equal justice for all?  The President never fought fair a day in his life.  He lived by his own set of rules, and his position entitled him to every legal advantage.  But this never would have reached a court, and you know it.  All of us would have died first.  I knew exactly what I was doing when I took McCarthy’s life, and I’m sorry a man had to die.  But I’m not sorry that it was him.”

Brian knew he faced a serious charge with deadly consequences.  He could almost hear the iron bars slamming behind him.  “If you have to turn me in, do it.  But you need to know that Stephanie’s life is still in danger.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been working with Kyle Robertson.  Kyle never set Stephanie up
.  The President did.  And he still wanted her dead.  Kyle also believes that Tareef is planning to send a hit man.  My job was to take care of the President.  Kyle will take care of the hit man.”

Robert exploded.  “Are you trying to tell me there’s a damned hit man after my daughter?”

“Kyle said that he can eliminate the threat long before Stephanie is in any danger.  He’s also providing medical examiners for the autopsy.  I just need to give him the cause of death.”

“And you believed him?” he yelled.  “Kyle could seize this opportunity to destroy you.”

“If I have to go to prison, I will.  I hope to God that doesn’t happen, but if it does, you have to get Stephanie and Bobby out of here.”

“Good God Almighty,” he puffed.  “How do you know Kyle wasn’t just speculating about all of this?”

“The Saudis paid Lukens two million dollars.  And the President had already proved that he’s capable of murder.”  Brian hesitated.  He didn’t want to grieve Robert, but he had to know the truth.  “Do you remember telling me about the affair Susannah had with some senator?  That senator later became the President.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, General.”

“You’re sorry.  What the hell are you talking about?”

It wasn’t easy knowing that he was going to break his heart.  “He was originally a senator from Virginia.  He’s the one.”

“The President?  It was the President?”  He turned away from Brian.

“There’s more, General.”  Robert waved his hand at Brian to hush him.  Brian stepped up behind him.  “It’s not easy for me to tell you this, but you need to know.  You’re not the one who sent Susannah to her death.  The President did.  He ordered Barry Braxton to cut her brake line.  She was going to die the next time she got into the car, but she would have had Stephanie with her, just as the President had planned.”  Brian couldn’t see Robert’s face.  He didn’t have to.

“You’ve been blaming yourself all of these years for something that was never your fault.  Susannah is dead.  Let her go.  I know a woman who loves you with all
of her heart, and you refuse to let her get close because you’ve been too damn busy punishing yourself.  Give Jamie a call, General.  She would love the chance to make you happy.”

“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head.

Brian knew he needed help letting Susannah go.  “Then I’ll call her for you, and not just for you, but for Stephanie, too.  You don’t know this, General, but Stephanie cries for you.  She doesn’t want you to be alone.  I’ll never get her out of here without your help.  She loves you.  We both do.  And we both want your happiness.  So who’s going to call – you or me?”

Robert forced a broken smile.  “Jamie is pretty special, isn’t she?”

“She’s special, all right,” Brian agreed.  “And when I set up practice, nothing would please me more than to have you and Jamie as partners, because if you don’t come with me,” Brian said to cheer him, “Stephanie will have my hide.”

“I’m afraid for her, Brian.  How immediate is the threat?”

“Kyle said he would let me know the minute the hit man enters this country.  But I’m not taking any chances.  Stephanie is packing as we speak.”

“You can’t leave, Brian.  All of us are under investigation – you, Andrea, me, the entire staff.  Stephanie needs to lie low until this blows over.  I don’t want reporters following her, and I sure as hell don’t want her picture on TV.”

“I’ll lock her down tight,” Brian replied, afraid that he had just put Stephanie in more danger.  And then there was the staff.  “I didn’t mean to jeopardize you or the staff.”

“We’ll try to squeak by with the embolism.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.  I have a few things to sort out.”

Brian wanted some privacy, too, someplace far removed from the rest of the world where he could put his head down and cry.  But that place didn’t exist, so he retreated to the private chamber in his heart, knowing he had to be stronger than ever before and wondering whether he was capable of holding up under all of the pressure.  “You know where to find me if you need me.”  Brian swung around to head back to the hospital.

“Brian?” Robert called after him.  Then he turned and stared Brian in the eyes.  “If I had known the President murdered my wife, I would have killed the bastard myself.”

Brian only nodded.  The demon that had tortured Robert all of these years was finally gone.

Chapter Forty:

Stephanie lay in bed and opened her groggy eyes.  Bobby was cuddled in her arms snuggled up to his teddy bear.  She looked up and saw Brian smiling down at her.  “I thought I heard you come in.”

Brian gently lifted Stephanie’s arm off of Bobby and picked him up in his arms.  “Did I say you could have Daddy’s spot?” he whispered.  He kissed Bobby’s head and carried him to his own room.  He returned a moment later and lay down next to Stephanie.

“Did you put him in his crib?” Stephanie asked as she felt Brian’s strong arm around her.

“I told him I’d give him fifty bucks if he left us alone for a while.  We need to talk.”

“Now what?” she asked, suddenly seeing the tension in his face.

“You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” she asked, sensing catastrophe.

“President McCarthy is dead.”

“He’s dead?”  It was the last thing she expected to hear.  She was shocked, but she also felt as though she had just been handed a stay of execution.  “What happened?”

“He was rushed in today with a perforated ulcer.  He died on the table from an embolism before your dad and Andrea had a chance to operate.  They tried to revive him, but he didn’t respond.”

Stephanie suddenly felt as though her dad had let her down.  “McCarthy wanted me dead, and Dad tried to save him?  I feel special.”

“Your dad was trying to protect all of us when he walked into that operating room today.  And now that McCarthy is dead, your dad is under investigation.  So is Andrea, and so am I.”

“But why?” she questioned.  “It’s not like it was anyone’s fault.”

“It’s standard procedure.  But if the investigators discover that the President made death threats and then died under our care, there’s a real potential for disaster.  I’m hoping it will blow over, but if it doesn’t, all of us will have hell to pay.”

“Are you telling me that you and Dad could go to prison?”

“It’s a possibility we have to be prepared for.”

How am I supposed to prepare for that? she thought.  “I can’t even deal with this,” she whimpered, her brow twisted with agitation.  “Why can’t McCarthy just leave us alone?”

“Calm down, Stephanie.  This isn’t going to go away for a while, and I need you to be strong for Bobby and me.  Also, some reporters followed me home, hounding me for a statement.”

Stephanie’s eyes filled with alarm.  “Reporters – here?”

Brian nodded.  “The entire world is watching right now, and the last thing we need is to have your picture taken.”

She was quick to pick up on the danger.  “You’re afraid that Tareef will see me.”

He gave her a stern warning.  “Don’t even go near the windows.  Will you promise?”

Stephanie’s
eyes began to swell with tears.  “I’m scared, Brian.”

Brian held her so tightly that she could barely breathe.  “Me too.”

Chapter Forty
-One:

Stephanie was up early with the baby.  The movers were
coming the very next day and she had a to-do list a mile long.  She put Bobby into his high chair and fastened his bib, and then she sat down next to him to feed him his breakfast.  “Do you want some Cream of Wheat?” she asked, making the mistake of putting the bowl on his tray.  “It’s packed with iron.”  She tried to slip the spoon in his mouth, but Bobby was reluctant to take a bite.  “It will make you big and strong like Daddy,” she sweetly coaxed.

Bobby pounded the cereal with his fist, splashing a glob-full in Stephanie’s face.  He giggled, delighted by the new game he had accidentally discovered.

“Very funny, Bobby,” she said as she wiped the cereal off of her face with her hand.  “The cereal is for you, not Mommy.  Stay put while I go wash my face.”  She hurried over to the kitchen sink and splashed some water on her face, afraid to turn her back on her rambunctious son for a single second.  She pat her face dry with a towel and turned just in time to see Bobby flip the bowl of cereal upside-down over his head.  His entire body was dripping in Cream of Wheat.  “Oh, Bobby,” she finally said when she recovered from the shock.  “What a mess.”

Bobby giggled and slapped at the pool of cereal on his tray, making an even bigger mess.  Stephanie just stood there and shook her head at him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.  She finally smiled.  He was just too adorable to resist.  “Don’t move, Bobby.  I have to get the camera.  Your dad will never believe me if he doesn’t see this for himself.”

She ran for the camera and snapped his picture.  Bobby wasn’t quite sure what he had done that was so special, but he loved being at the center of attention, and he looked just like his dad when he grinned for the picture.