Swimming with Sharks (74 page)

Nick didn’t get a wink of sleep all night. Shortly before one thirty in the morning, he had left the US Attorney’s Office and walked the two blocks to city hall as it began to snow. He could no longer stand to just sit there and wait. And he could hardly bear how Jenkins and Engels talked about Alex. She was nothing more than just a witness to them. They didn’t care that she was a human being. They were completely indifferent to whether she was innocent or guilty. They’d certainly solve the corruption case without Alex. Nick had a feeling that Vitali would manage once again to squirm free. His high-powered lawyers would squash every allegation, and he’d probably intimidate anyone who considered revealing anything to use against him. But Nick didn’t really care about Vitali. His thoughts revolved around Alex. Where was she? What had they done to her? Was she still alive?

Nick knew that he wouldn’t be able to cope if something happened to her. His intense feelings were completely different than the love he had felt for Mary. He couldn’t quite explain it to himself either. But his attraction toward Alex was far more than the desire of a man over fifty trying to regain his youth.

He entered city hall through the back door and walked to his office. The security guards greeted him respectfully. No one asked him what he was doing here at this time. He strode into his office and switched on the small lamp that drew a warm yellow circle of light on his desk. Nick sat down in his wet coat. His gaze wandered over the spacious office and landed on the framed portraits of his predecessors. This office was the place he had wanted to be ever since he was a little boy. It was his dream, and he had achieved it. He had spent so many nights working, neglecting
his family. Nick was used to fighting, but now he was tired. There was a different life out there, one without politics, outside the public eye. He intensely longed for this life more than ever before. He sighed despondently. He had achieved so much, but he’d lost even more. He hadn’t watched his son grow up because he had no time. He knew the New York TV stations better than his own home, and some reporters were more familiar to him than his own son. His days were ordered by his schedule, from early morning until late at night.

And then Alex appeared in his life, and she succeeded in doing what Mary had tried in vain for so many years: Nick started to take a hard look at himself. Suddenly, he no longer understood the driving force behind his crazy ambition—what his enemies had labeled his “obsession.” Why had he been so unwilling to compromise? It was Alex who had made him take a critical look at himself. And when he did this, he realized that, during all those years of fighting, he had completely forgotten to live.

No, Alex couldn’t be dead! It simply couldn’t happen. Nick wrapped his arms around his chest, doubling up.

“Dear Lord,” he whispered in desperation. “Please, don’t let her die…”

Travis Stewart cursed. On the short path from the car to the docks, the wet snow had soaked through his jacket and the wind was icy cold. To make matters worse, he had overslept. Dawn would break in about a half hour, and cops would be teeming everywhere. He needed to hurry. He cursed as he climbed down the quay wall’s rusty ladder and jumped into the small motorboat. He pulled out a metal briefcase from beneath the oiled tarpaulin, and he was about to climb up the ladder again when he heard engine noise above him.

“Shit,” he whispered. If that was the cops and they caught him with a briefcase filled with drugs, then he’d go back to the slammer. Travis stuffed
the briefcase under the tarp and cowered in the boat. Car doors slammed, and he heard male voices. Suddenly, silhouettes appeared farther down the quay wall. Travis saw them razor-sharp against the brightening night sky. They carried a heavy bundle that they dragged to the edge of the old pier. People often threw garbage in the river here because the current was strong. But that wasn’t garbage! For a split second, Travis could see a person’s body being dumped into the water. He ducked down automatically. If those guys saw him, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him as well.

But they didn’t see him. They disappeared immediately. Travis stared at the dark-gray water and saw wildly flailing arms in the current. There was no doubt that this was not a dead body drifting in the ice-cold water, but a living human being! He really shouldn’t care. Helping people only caused trouble. He strained to stare into the water. A head suddenly emerged just six feet from his boat’s bow. Travis threw himself forward with such force that the boat nearly capsized. Now he was completely soaked, but his fingers closed around a handful of wet hair. Then a hand grabbed for his. A woman’s face appeared. She coughed and spat water. Her eyes were wide open. The woman was more dead than alive, and she lost consciousness as Travis pulled her into the boat—but she was alive! He stared at her in surprise. She was completely naked. He took off his army jacket and placed it over the woman’s shivering body, which was covered with cuts and bruises.

It wasn’t easy to climb up the slippery rungs of the rusty ladder with her weight on his back. The snow was falling heavier around him as he stumbled to his car, which was parked a few hundred yards away at an abandoned storage shed. Then he opened the door and placed the lifeless woman on the passenger seat. He grabbed an old wool blanket from the trunk and wrapped it around her. The last thing that he needed now was for her to kick the bucket in his car. He put the car in reverse, turning it around.

“Nick?”

Nick jerked up, dazed and confused. He needed a moment to realize where he was. He remembered that he had gone to his office last night, and apparently he’d fallen asleep at his desk. Then he remembered Alex.

“Hello, Frank,” he said. “What time is it?”

“Almost six.” Frank stood in front of the desk.

Nick sat up straight.

“Do you know if they found Alex?”

“I don’t think so.” Frank shook his head. “I heard an announcement on the radio that she was missing just before I got here.”

He noticed his boss’s reddened eyes, his tormented face, and wondered why this woman affected Nick so deeply.

“I need to call Connors,” Nick mumbled.

“You should get some sleep,” Frank said. “You look terrible. Have you been sitting at your desk all night?”

“I came here at one thirty. I was with Connors until then.”

“Do you think Sontheim is still alive?” Frank asked.

“I don’t know,” Nick whispered.

“That would be bad. Without her testimony—”

“Damn it!” Nick cut him off harshly. “I don’t give a shit whether or not she testifies! I just pray to God that she’s still alive!”

Frank stared at his boss in concern. He slowly began to understand that this was no longer about Vitali or uncovering this whole scandal. At this point, Nick only cared about this woman’s life.

Nick’s face looked desperate. He turned away from the lamplight and stroked his forehead.

“Frank…I…” His voice was hardly more than a whisper. His dark eyes were black with despair. “I…I fell in love with her, when she came to me at the cemetery and listened to me. She…she was understanding and compassionate, and suddenly I could bear everything that had happened to me. She gave me the courage to keep living; she even saved my life.”

He took a sobbing breath, and Frank understood at once that Nick wasn’t just feeling wretched about Alex’s disappearance; he was also tormented by feelings of guilt about Mary. He watched a tear flow down Nick’s cheek.

“I couldn’t bear to lose Alex now as well.”

Frank had never seen Nick Kostidis cry before, and to see this man whom he admired and truly liked in such pain hurt him to the depths of his soul.

Sergio sat in his office at the VITAL Building and watched a photo of Alex flash on the news. They could keep frantically searching for her all they wanted, because they’d never find her. The telephone rang. Sergio looked up. It was his private, tap-proof line that he used only for special calls.

“It’s me,” a male voice said on the other end of the line. “What about the woman?”

“She won’t talk again,” Sergio replied.

“Good. I have my hands full putting the brakes on the deputy US attorney and the mayor. It’s inevitable that some people will have to be sacrificed.”

“It’s all right,” Sergio replied calmly. “De Lancie wasn’t that valuable anyway, and Whitewater was about to retire.”

“Connors arrested Harding. I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Harding was arrested?” Sergio froze.

“Yes, but that won’t be a problem either. He won’t utter a word—he’s too smart for that.”

“And too greedy.” Sergio relaxed a bit.

“Maybe,” the man laughed.

“The important thing is that you keep me out of this mess.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Once enough heads have rolled, the president and the public will be satisfied. There will be heated discussions,
some people will pack their bags, and then everything will be business as usual again.”

“What about Kostidis?” Sergio asked.

“What about him?”

“Don’t underestimate him.”

“Kostidis isn’t involved in the investigation, and the deputy US attorney does as I say.”

Sergio nodded. “What should I do?”

“Just act normal. If the woman doesn’t reappear, then the US Attorney’s Office has nothing concrete but the statements. And as long as no one spills the beans, there’s no trail leading to you.”

“How sure can I be about that?” Sergio furrowed his brow. “They’ll pressure people.”

“No, I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen,” the man said with a quiet laugh. “We’ve fixed bigger things than this before. Just think of the Iran-Contra affair, or Kennedy, or Watergate.”

Sergio laughed too.

“All right,” he said, “everything else should be as we discussed. Once this unpleasantness is water under the bridge, then we’ll take on Ortega and you’ll be a hero.”

“Very nice. I’ll call you when I hear something new.”

“Thanks,” Sergio said, “I’ll see you soon.”

He hung up, grinning in satisfaction. That pathetic idiot from the US Attorney’s Office and this bastard of a mayor should just try to keep on him! Neither of them would even get close.