him and ran her fingers through his hair as she kissed him until her lips were numb, all the while wishing they were at home in their own bed rather than locked up in this underground bunker. She wanted to stay wrapped up in this moment with him so she wouldn’t have to face whatever had put them in this place to begin with.
“Tell me,” she whispered when their breathing had returned to normal.
“It’s bad.”
“I’d already reached that conclusion all on my own.”
He withdrew from her, moved onto his back and reached for her hand. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”
Sam’s stomach began to hurt, and her recently relaxed body was once again filled with tension.
“Early this morning, my office received a letter. It was typed on plain white paper with no other identifying marks, and it spelled out in very specific detail that the vice president’s family had better be on guard because people were watching and waiting for their chance to teach us a lesson in humility.”
Sam’s mind raced with questions and scenarios. “Did your staff save the envelope?”
“They saved everything, and the FBI has it for further analysis. The postmark was smudged, so they couldn’t see where it originated. I was made aware of it twenty minutes after it happened and began making arrangements to come home right away. Due to some things that were going on there, it didn’t happen as quickly as I wanted it to, which made for some significant tension with my detail. I wanted out of there, but they needed time to put things together.”
“You said they spelled out in very specific detail what would happen. What kind of detail?”
“That’s the part I don’t want to tell you.”
“You have to. I need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Come closer to me. Let me hold you.”
She rolled into his arms, her head on his chest where the strong beat of his heart soothed her. “Just tell me. The not knowing is the worst.”
He held her close, his lips sliding over her hair. “They said they would take someone who matters greatly to us and make them sorry they were ever born before returning them to us in pieces. They included photos of each of the kids that were taken in public places. Scotty at camp, Brooke at work, the others at the playground or pool. They wanted us to know they knew where to find them.”
Sam gasped and her stomach turned from the horror he described. The thought of such a thing happening to anyone they loved was unfathomable. “Did they say why?”
“No.”
“Does the threat meet the MO of a group already on the Secret Service’s radar?”
“Not completely. Parts of it are familiar to them, but other parts, like the mention of humility, were new. They’re thinking homegrown versus foreign.” Nick ran his fingers through her hair, the gesture so familiar that it was soothing even as she churned with thoughts and fears. “You’re shaking, Samantha.”
“Did they specify that our immediate family was in danger?”
“No, they only said someone who matters to us.”
“There’re a lot of people who matter greatly to us who aren’t in this bunker or whatever you want to call it. Freddie, Elin, Gonzo, Christina, Jeannie, Terry, Lindsey... To name a few. What about them?”
“We talked about that, and the decision was made to limit it to family members for the time being.”
Pulling free of his embrace, Sam sat up. “The others need to be notified! If they want to get to me and everyone here is unavailable, they’d know to go after Freddie next. He at least needs to be warned!”
“He and all the others you named, as well as some others you didn’t mention, are being warned as we speak.”
“God, Nick, what the hell are we going to do? Stay here until we find whoever sent this letter? What if that takes months?”
“I don’t know. All I knew for certain when I was told about the letter while half a world away from everyone I love was that I wanted you and Scotty somewhere safe. I wanted the other people we love to be safe. When the Secret Service offered this solution, I jumped at it. I didn’t know what else to do.”
With the bedside light still on, she could see the toll the situation had taken on him in the exhaustion she saw in his eyes and in the grim set of his jaw. “Did you know this place existed before now?”
“I’d been briefed about emergency operations, including this place, on the outside chance they were needed. I never expected we’d actually need it, and I’m sorry they let you think for even a second that something had happened to me. I didn’t authorize that part of it.”
“The last time I was that scared was when you had the flu and wouldn’t wake up. You’ve got to stop doing this to me.”
“I will. As soon as you stop doing it to me every time you walk out the door.”
Sam forced a smile for his sake, sensing he needed it.
“I hate that I’ve done this to us,” he said on a long sigh.
“What do you mean? You didn’t—”
“I took this fucking job and plunged us into a nightmare.”
“You can’t take responsibility for this. You agreed to serve your country. None of the rest is your fault. If anything, it’s probably mine.”
“How do you figure?”
“If they’re dinging us for a lack of humility, they’re probably not talking about you.”
“Stop. You’re nothing if not humble.”
“I am not. I’m a mouthy gasbag who goes through life doing what I want when I want. The citizens who love you probably hate your wife.”
“The whole world could hate my wife, and it wouldn’t matter in the least to me. I love her, and I wouldn’t want any other gasbag but her to be my wife.”
Sam settled herself back in his arms, the only place she really wanted to be anyway. “Good answer, Mr. Vice President. Very politically correct.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Trying to understand or rationalize madness is a pointless exercise. It won’t get us anywhere but frustrated.”
“I suppose, but I still wish I’d never taken this job and made us targets for shit like this.”
“I want to say something you’re not going to want to hear.”
“What else is new?”
Sam tugged on a tuft of his chest hair, making him gasp and then laugh.
“What’s the thing I’m not going to want to hear?”
“Let’s
