Free Prey by William W. Johnstone Page A

meeting, he appeared to be badly shaken.
    Dick was now certain that the “rumor” about a contract on Congressman Madison’s life was no rumor. And he felt sure he knew why Senator Holden had been killed.
    Dick pulled out a drawer of his desk and paused for a moment before using his private line to place a call. Meeting secretly with Speaker Madison would be chancy, but his Secret Service people could work it out. They’d have to work it out. And they wouldn’t have much time in which to do it. The call concluded, Dick summoned the head of the White House Secret Service detail. Moments later, the man was standing in front of the president’s desk.
    â€œLet’s do it, Walt,” the president of the United States said.

Eight
    â€œJohn Ravenna is not here to relax and fish,” Barry told Stormy and Ki, after the sheriff and his wife had left. “Ravenna has been a hired assassin for nearly a thousand years. And he despises me.”
    â€œWhen did you last see him?” Ki asked.
    â€œ1944. In France. I was with the OSS, working with the French Resistance.”
    Stormy and Ki knew all about the man who was christened Vlad Dumitru Radu. They were the first mortals Barry had leveled with in more than half a century.
    â€œYou think Robert Roche hired him?” Stormy asked.
    â€œI don’t know. But I suspect not. That would not be Ravenna’s first choice of assignment. He’s a hunter, a torturer, a killer. He lives to kill. He talks of us fighting, but for obvious reasons, it would be a useless physical confrontation. No, John is here for someone other than me.”
    â€œPete and Repeat?” Ki asked, looking at the huge hybrids, sprawled in sleep on the floor of the living room.
    Barry shook his head. “No. John knows I would track him until the end of time if he harmed something I loved. I would never let him rest; I would expose him wherever he went. So that means he isn’t after either of you.” Barry went into the kitchen, poured a mug of coffee, sugared it, and returned to the living room. “So that leaves only one other possibility as John’s target.”
    â€œWho?” Both women asked.
    Barry told them.
    * * *
    It was possible for the president of the United States to slip out of the White House undetected by the press. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible. Over the years, sitting presidents had used doubles, disguises, secret passageways, tunnels running under the White House, and other techniques of evading the press and the public. Usually they didn’t work. This night, the president was successful.
    The president’s wife was back at their home in Ohio, where they had planned to spend a few days of their upcoming two-week vacation. Both their children were in college. Dick had canceled all White House functions. So on this night, Dick Hutton slipped out the back way, got into a nondescript Secret Service vehicle, and left the grounds undetected, even though actions such as these made the Secret Service awfully nervous.
    At the same time, Speaker of the House Cliff Madison was being picked up by another unmarked government vehicle. The president and the Speaker met in the underground parking area of a government office building. Present at the meeting were selected agents of the Secret Service, U.S. Marshals, and the FBI.
    Dick Hutton pointed a finger at the FBI. “Just listen, don’t talk. Not yet. I want your best people working on the death of Senator Holden. It was not a suicide. I strongly suspect it was a contract killing.” The president told the gathering who he suspected was behind the killing, and that shook the men and women right down to the soles of their shoes. Dick looked at Cliff Madison. “I believe there is an assassin already in place in Arkansas waiting to kill you, Cliff. I believe an accident has been planned for you while boating.” He looked at the gathering of federal law