Read Online High Treason by John Gilstrap - Free Book Online Page A

various periodicals.
    “Last night’s outing to the Wild Times was far from Mrs. Darmond’s first extracurricular nighttime adventure.” She clicked through the headlines.

    First Lady Startles Crowd at Georgetown
Nightclub
    Anna Darmond Steps Out
    Is The First Lady Really the First Liability?
    Arguments Rock White House Residence
    Rumors of Darmond Divorce Cast Pall
Over State Dinner
    POTUS Said to Be Distracted By Marital
Stress
    First Step Supports Mom in Divorce
Rumors

    They went on and on.
    “This is all background,” Venice explained. “I don’t know how relevant it is, but Anna Darmond is no Pat Nixon. Apparently, the public eye is not something she relishes.”
    “What’s a ‘First Step’?” Boxers asked.
    “The stepson,” Venice explained. “The son born before she was married. Remember when he made a point of telling the press that he voted for the other candidate?” It was big news at the time, capturing the imagination of every television comic on the planet. “And these only scratch the surface. The Darmonds make the Clintons look like lifelong lovers.”
    “Among all the pundits, are there theories as to why there’s so much discord?” Jonathan asked.
    Venice gave him an annoying smirk. “You really are not dialed into pop culture at all, are you?”
    Jonathan smirked back. “We’ve met, right?”
    “She doesn’t like his politics. She says he’s wandered from the principles he held when he first ran for Congress. She’s been very vocal. She’s even done talk shows dissing her husband. How can you not know this?”
    “I stopped watching television when the morning news shows stopped doing news and started hawking movie stars. Newspapers are only half a step better.”
    “I say the prez off’d her to shut her up,” Boxers said.
    Jonathan shot him a look. “Are you serious?”
    Big Guy shrugged with one shoulder. “Half serious, anyway.”
    Venice made a puffing sound, her ultimate dismissal.
    The theory actually rang as not outrageous with Jonathan. If there was one lesson he’d learned over all those years serving as Uncle Sam’s muscle—and the additional years serving as an anonymous watchdog—it was that there was no limit to the degree to which power corrupts. If the president of the United States—particularly this president of the United States, whose own cabinet had already proven itself to be murderous—needed only to kill someone to gain reelection, Jonathan could imagine that being an easy decision.
    “Let’s table that theory for a while,” Jonathan said. “Any others?”
    “Maybe she just wanted to get away,” Venice offered. “Having everybody assuming that she was kidnapped is way better than having the country hate her for walking away from her husband.”
    “You know that would make her a murderer, right?” Jonathan asked. “People were killed in that shoot-out. If it turns out to be some kind of tantrum-inspired ruse, that would spell really bad things for her.”
    “You asked for other theories,” Venice said. “That was the first one that popped into my head.”
    Jonathan’s gaze narrowed. “You’ve got some back-pocket research.”
    Venice smiled. “I confess that I accessed some files that Wolverine might not want to know I know about.”
    Time after time, Venice proved herself to be the mistress of electrons. As an analog guy trapped in a digital world, Jonathan had no idea how she worked the magic she did, but he’d come to think of her abilities as a force of nature.
    “Anna Nazarov emigrated to the United States from Russia in 1986, the year before her future—and much older—second husband first ran for Congress. She had her only child, Nicholas, eighteen months later, courtesy of Pavel Mishin, an electrician whom she never married.”
    “How old was she when she arrived?” Jonathan asked.
    “Sixteen, and not by much.”
    “Nothing wrong with her youthful libido,” Boxers said.
    “It’s that clean American water,”