Primary Valor by Jack Mars (booksvooks TXT) 📗

a debt,and not his debt. He had nothing to do with it. Tell him so, if you think thatwill help him any.”

It was a kind thing to say, Darwinthought. It made him seem like a reasonable man. But the truth was this littlemove was doing double duty. It was absolutely delicious that the theft of 21hurt Miles Richmond. Delicious wasn’t even the right word. Euphoria-inducing…was that a word?

God, when he was finished withher… When he was finished…

“It’s too late,” Ryan said. “Igranted him the favor he asked of me, and now people are coming for you. Theyare people you do not want to meet. I have no idea how long it will take themto find you, but I imagine not terribly long. In a very real sense, they arealready on their way. I did this to you. Yes. It was me. I want you to knowthat.”

…he would leave her somewhere forRichmond to find her.

Darwin took a deep breath. “Youhave no idea how many times I’ve been threatened like this.”

“You have never beenthreatened like this.”

“What do you want, Bill? Please. I’mabout to hang up.”

“Well,” Ryan said. “The way I seeit, there are only two ways you can get out of this. One is to give the girlback, immediately and unharmed. Just drop her off somewhere. In front of apolice precinct somewhere anonymous, in Florida or Texas, say, and direct herto walk inside and introduce herself. Easy enough.”

“Impossible,” Darwin said. Hecaught an image in his mind of the girl he had just sent back to her dungeon. Shewas too perfect to ever surrender to anyone. If it came down to it, if it everhappened that he couldn’t have her, he would see to it that no one could haveher.

“I’ve already grown attached toher. She’s quite precious to me. Like a diamond.”

“I imagined you would say that. Sohere’s your second option. You give me two people that I want. You probablyknow who they are without my having to say their names. One is a senator frommy home state, a good friend of yours, but not one of mine.”

“You have no friends,” Darwinsaid.

Ryan ignored the comment. “Thisman is the wrong party, of course, but everything about him is wrong, and I’mtrying to cleanse my state of vermin like this. His weaknesses are a disgrace. Ascandal would clear the way for someone better, younger, more in touch with theconstituents.”

“Someone you control,” Darwinsaid.

This was Bill Ryan in a nutshell. Hewanted power. It was all he seemed to want. Power for power’s sake, as an endin itself. His lust for it was single-minded and all-encompassing. Darwinsupposed he could respect that. Himself, he wanted more than that, much more,but Darwin King was well-rounded, much more so than your typical politician. Stripaway the veneer, the pomp and circumstance, and Congress was a long line of one-trickponies.

“The second person I want is theerstwhile former governor of Pennsylvania,” Ryan said. “Another good friend ofyours, and a frequent party guest at your apartment up in Manhattan, as Iunderstand it.”

Darwin smiled, in spite ofhimself. The vodka had settled into his system, and he was finally beginning toenjoy this conversation. Bill Ryan wanted dirt on Thomas Hayes, the VicePresident of the United States.

“Not that frequent a guest,”Darwin said. “It was quite some time ago, and it happened less than youprobably think. I suspect he was just tasting the forbidden fruit, as so manydo. He moved on pretty quickly.”

There was silence over the line.

“He has higher ambitions, doesn’the?” Darwin said. The governor of Pennsylvania had stumbled into the vicepresidency. There were only a handful of offices higher than the ones he hadalready held, and only one that the man in question would even want.

“Most people do,” Bill Ryan said.

Darwin nearly clapped his hands. “That’sit, isn’t it? My, my, my. I told him that would be a terrible mistake. I toldhim the best thing for him was to stay in his lane.”

Hayes should have declined thevice presidency, not because of the office itself, but because being that closeto the throne would be such an irresistible temptation. Clement Dixon was old. Hehad just survived the hijacking of Air Force One. He probably wouldn’t run fora second term. Hayes could probably just walk in the door, especially if the crusty,popular, straight-talking and tough-minded outgoing President endorsed him.

“I’m not the only skeleton in hiscloset,” Darwin said. “But you must know that already.”

“You have the goods on him though,don’t you?”

Darwin’s shoulders slumped a bit.“The goods?”

If photo and video evidence, aswell as sensual love letters the man had exchanged with underage girls, werethe so-called goods, then he did indeed have them.

“Yes,” Ryan said. “The goods.”

“Of course I have them. But I don’tsell my friends out quite that easily. What am I supposed to get out of thisarrangement?”

“Well, it’s too late to call thedogs off,” Ryan said. “If you won’t give the girl back, then they’re coming foryou. Even I can’t stop that now. Too many forces are in motion. But I can letyou know when and how they’re coming, so you can be ready.”

Darwin didn’t like this. He didn’tlike Bill Ryan. Who were these fearsome dogs that supposedly couldn’t be calledoff?

It wasn’t as if Darwin King didn’thave resources he could draw on. It wasn’t as if Darwin didn’t have friends inhigh places. Darwin King had his own attack dogs. He had his own spies, andthey were everywhere.

In the end, a dog was just a dog. Thehelp was the help. And a hired killer was a hired killer. In Darwin’s experience,they were all more or less the same. They canceled each other out. Ten elitekillers on each side was a wash. They’d be lucky if any of them survived.

“I’ll look into the situation andget back to you,” he said.

“That’s fine,” Bill Ryan said inhis insipid drawl. “But don’t take too long now. My philosophy is it’s betterto be weeks too early than a second too late.”

* * *

She wasback in her room.

Herroom.

It wasdreary and dark, though now she knew that a bright, hot sun was shining rightoutside. Everything about this room was