Jenny Plague-Bringer(81)

His hand couldn’t find the remote, so he turned his head, and then he saw the three men in his room, all of them wearing dark suits and lab coats, but they weren’t any doctors he knew. The one in the lead was the oldest, his sandy-red hair going gray and cropped close. One of the two younger men held Junius’ remote, smirking at him. Without it, Junius couldn’t summon help.

Junius didn’t recognize any of them. He flipped through his mental catalog of enemies, trying to figure out just who would bother having him killed when he was already down for the count. He couldn’t think of anyone. Junius had the sort of enemies who relished the chance to give a speech at his funeral, where they could damn him with faint praise. On reflection, Junius wasn’t sure he deserved much more than faint praise, anyway.

“Senator Mayfield,” the oldest man said. “I’m General Ward Kilpatrick. I’m looking for your niece’s son.”

Junius tried to snarl at them, but he had very little control over his face. So it was about that. Junius had hoped he would die before the Seth ordeal raised its head again. I told Iris not to marry into that Barrett family, he thought. Told her they were trouble.

Junius had known the first Jonathan Seth Barrett briefly, a lifetime ago. The man had a heart like black smoke, and in his prime, they said he could charm the horns off the devil. Barrett had started out as a small-town banker and landowner, but managed to work himself up into a minor player on Wall Street and a titan of Southern industry. Fortunately for the world, the South wasn’t all that industrious, or Jonathan Seth Barrett could have been the next J.P. Morgan. Instead, Barrett had eventually shriveled up and faded away, going crazy inside his big house with all his money.

The sound of Ward’s voice brought Junius’ wandering mind back to the present.

“...can do this quick and easy or quick and painful, Senator,” Ward was saying. “Where are Seth Barrett and Jennifer Morton?”

“Don’t know,” Junius said. Doh nuh.

“I find that hard to believe, Senator,” Ward said. “Did you not help to hide them? Did you not help the White House to bury the entire situation?”

Junius didn’t speak, but he felt relieved. He didn’t personally know where Seth was, that hadn’t been part of the arrangements. Only one or two people inside Hale Security Group knew the answer to that one.

“Senator, I’m afraid we’ll need the answer immediately,” Ward said.

“What do you want with him?” Junius asked, and it sounded like Wah ooh ooh ah wah heh?

“You’re not making much sense, Senator. But that’s all right. Just think about your grandnephew for me.” Ward grabbed Junius’ right hand. Junius tried to pull away, but he had no strength in his arm. All he could do was make his hand tremble like a frightened mouse.

Junius found himself thinking of the arrangements they’d made with Hale. Jenny and Seth would live in a location known to almost nobody, but the family was assured it would be quite pleasant there. A tropical island, maybe.

“You really don’t know.” Ward dropped his hand back onto the bed. “But Hale Security knows, don’t they? And it just happens that Eddie Cordell is a friend of mine, so I’ll go ask him where to find Seth. Good night, Senator.” Ward started for the door.

Junius kept his face as stoic as a poker player’s. He didn’t want to signal that the man was on the right trail, although he was. Junius retreated into silence, usually the best move when you didn’t know the score. He didn’t know who this man was, what agency he represented, or what his intentions might be toward Seth. Junius would need to make some phone calls after Ward left.

Ward halted and turned back to him. “Oh, Senator, there is just one more little problem. Eddie Cordell might continue protecting Seth out of fear of crossing you, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. We’ve been waiting for you to die, Senator, but you’re taking too damned long. Avery?”

One of the younger men, the one not holding Junius’ remote control, drew a small sheath from his inner coat pocket and slid out a syringe filled with clear liquid. He approached the bag of fluids hanging over Junius’ bed, which fed right into Junius’ arm.

Junius squirmed weakly, but he was helpless to stop the man. He tried shouting with as much power as his lungs and vocal cords could manage, but that wasn’t much.

“Please, Senator, consider dying with some dignity,” Ward said, while Avery injected the poison into Junius’ fluid line. “You’ll feel some pain, but if I were you, with your history of sin and corruption, right now I’d mostly be worried about the devil waiting for me on the other side. Good night, Senator.”