Smooth Operator (Teddy Fay) Read Online Free

votes?”
    “Probably. There’s one hard-line conservative who might block me.”
    “How?”
    “Debate it to death, kill the bill. If he doesn’t get his way, he’ll filibuster until my daughter’s dead.”
    “Who is that?”
    “Congressman Marvin Drexel.”
    “He was at your table, Stone,” Kate said. “Did you get a read on him?”
    “Oh, yes. Congressmen Blaine’s assessment seems accurate.”
    Blaine raised his eyes to Stone. “What do I do?”
    “Have they offered proof of life?”
    “No.”
    “Next time they contact you, demand proof of life. Tell them if you get it, you’ll swing the vote.”
    “Demand? I can’t make demands.”
    “You can and you must. They’re not going to kill her just because you ask. If they do, they lose their leverage. Just let them know you’re ready to give them what they want. They’ll be eager to make that happen.”
    “If you think so.”
    “Let’s be brutally honest. Either your daughter is alive or she’s dead. If she’s dead, nothing you do can change that. If she’s alive, we want to keep her that way. We have to sell the idea that her kidnappers get nothing if they don’t.”
    “What do I say?”
    “Say you’re too upset to continue if you don’t know she’s alive. Don’t rehearse it too much. Just start talking and it’ll all come pouring out.”
    “Go home and do as Stone advises,” Kate said. “We’ll take it from here.”
    As soon as the congressman left, Stone turned to Kate. “How much of that is true?”
    She looked surprised. “You think he made it up?”
    “Not for a minute. I mean what you told him, that you haven’t contacted anyone but me.”
    “That’s the truth. If I do something and his daughter dies, I’d never forgive myself.”
    “That’s what I figured. Who knows about this?”
    “No one, not even Will.”
    “That doesn’t add up.”
    “Why not?”
    “Someone took a shot at me on my way here.”
    “What!”
    “I was followed when I left the tailor shop. They fired shots, and tried to force my limo off the road. That’s why I was late. Expect an extra charge for the tux.”
    “So what can you do?”
    “What do you expect me to do? You want me to find his daughter, but no one can know I’m looking for her. But someone obviously does. The question is how. What about the aide who brought me in here? What does he know?”
    “Just to tell you you had a phone call and leave you in the antechamber.”
    “That’s all?”
    “That’s all.”
    “And who gave him those instructions? Clearly you didn’t.”
    “Ann did, and she didn’t blab to anyone. She wasn’t even here.”
    “You didn’t talk to anyone at the CIA? Holly Barker, for instance. Maybe not about the kidnapping, but to mention I’d be in town?”
    “Are you accusing me of being indiscreet?”
    “No, Madam President, just human. The point is, someone knows I’m here, and they’ll be keeping tabs on me. I can ditch a shadow, but not long enough to investigate. I may have to get outside help.”
    “You’d bring in Dino?”
    “In a heartbeat, if I could think of a cover story. But I have someone better in mind.”
    “Who?”
    “That’s on a need-to-know basis. At this point, I think you need some plausible deniability.”

8
    T he woman slid into the driver’s seat of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, started the engine, and switched on the lights.
    A man rose up in the shadows of the backseat and held a straight razor to her throat. “Hello, Pamela,” he said.
    “Cut,” cried Peter Barrington. “Good for camera? Good for sound? Print it, new setup, let’s come in for the close-up from the killer’s POV.”
    Peter pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. It had vibrated during the take, and now it read Missed Call . He hit the callback button and stepped away from the street set where he was filming on the back lot of Centurion Studios.
    “Hi, Dad. What’s up?”
    “You got time to talk?”
    “A little. We’re in between