“I would be thrilled to be wrong. And it terrifies me to think I might be right. And I know it scares you too.”
Jack took her hand and started rubbing it again, avoiding her eyes. “You have to decide whether you want to do this. You are very high profile. You are a trusted public figure. You have to watch your behavior, particularly as it pertains to anything that might cause someone to question your loyalty to the United States and its current leadership.” His gaze met hers. “And if you are right, you are extremely dangerous to anyone who might want to undermine the stability of this nation’s government. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
His implication was clear as crystal. “You believe me,” she said. “You know I’m right. I know you don’t want to believe it, Jack.”
“I don’t. But I’ve been hearing things…probably very similar to what you have. God help us if what you’re saying is true. But you have no proof, sweetheart. And you have to decide whether it’s worth the cost to try to figure it out.”
“What are you saying? We sit back and do nothing because we’re fortunate enough to have a certain amount of authority ourselves? That’s really selfish.”
Jack pulled his hand back. “You think I feel this way because I’m being selfish?”
Caroline winced. One of his greatest insecurities and she’d gone for it right away. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Yes, you did.”
He sounded incredibly hurt. She’d taken all the doubts creeping up on her over the past several weeks and thrown them in his face. She knew better. “I didn’t. I know that’s a sore point for you and I hit it. Please don’t take it that way.” Caroline leaned into his shoulder, and Jack slowly brought his arms around her. It took a hell of a lot longer than it should have.
“Okay,” he said. “I won’t.”
“We have power,” she said. “Money. Privilege. And we have very loud, influential voices. If this is truly happening we can’t let it go.”
“I don’t want you to put yourself at risk, sweetheart. That’s all I meant. So help me if that makes me a selfish man. I don’t want you to fight this battle. Why can’t someone else do it?” He squeezed her tighter. “Never mind. I know the answer to that question.”
Caroline smiled shyly. “Am I that predictable?”
Jack started stroking her hair. “I don’t want you to be right about this,” he whispered. “I really don’t.”
“I don’t want to be right either. But I can’t let this go. Not yet. And I need to know that even if you don’t want to hear about it, you aren’t resenting me for it.”
“I’ll try harder. All right?” He tipped her chin up and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You want to call it a night?”
A tempting idea. She could take a hint. “Sure.”
But as they made their way upstairs to their bedroom, the cloud still hung over them. Caroline knew it wouldn’t dissipate for a very, very long time.
Chapter Thirty-One
The Fed
Jen screamed all night in her cell. Maybe she didn’t realize that they weren’t soundproofed. Or that she was right next to Caroline. The guards had unquestionably concocted that living arrangement on purpose, since they’d gotten so much traction out of doing the same thing with Ellen.
But they’d had time together. Precious little time, but time nonetheless. And Caroline would whisper in her ear, and Jen would whisper back. All the things they never said to each other. Soft, meaningful words. Words of determination, of cheap attempts at strength without any hope behind them. Maybe that was how people made peace with the universe. Caroline didn’t know.
Her two favorite guards came in the next morning with Murdock trailing behind. Powell put two metal chairs in the center of her cell about ten feet apart, facing each other. Such a furniture arrangement could mean nothing good. Fischer dragged Jen in from her own cell and shoved her into it. She looked rougher than she had the day before. The guards hadn’t gone easy on her. She had fresh blood on her shirt, and they’d split her lip and broken her nose.
Powell shoved Caroline into the other chair, cuffing her hands behind her through the slats in the chair. No way to escape, no ability to fight