Sabotage by C. G. Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

few miles and some sweat will get that damn bastard out of my head .
     
    It worked. Less than an hour later he was back in his hotel room showering and refocused. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a muddled day. It was no way to start off a morning. He was always looking forward, facing down the path instead of behind, but as he combed his hair he couldn't help but wonder what other surprises the day might hold.
     
     
     
    The thirty-minute breakfast with the wine baron transformed into a five-minute ride to the next event. The donor didn't seem to mind. He was more concerned with getting a selfie with the congressman to send his daughter proof that his money had bought time with the future president. McKnight took it all in stride, knowing that if the Chinese didn't come through soon he'd need as many donors as he could get.
     
    Just before lunch, after he had delivered a steaming pile of pizzas to one of his local campaign offices, a message came through. It was his moneyman. The first couple sentences did not put McKnight at ease. The Chinese were still dragging their feet. The American operatives had yet to be found. As a result, the deal was incomplete. That was the bad news, but as he scrolled through the moneyman's explanation, the next part came into stark focus—the good news.
     
    The Chinese were offering him an olive branch, a token of goodwill to the future president of the United States. Those were the moneyman's exact words. A bit too melodramatic for McKnight, but hell, he needed some good news. He scrolled down further. A brief explanation and then a series of pictures and then, wide-eyed with sudden excitement, there was a video. There was a goddamned video . "Yes," McKnight muttered under his breath.
     
    One of his staffers asked, "Did you say something, Congressman?"
     
    McKnight shook his head, "No, I'm fine. Thank you, just some good news."
     
    "Are we almost there?" the staffer asked the driver.
     
    The driver looked back over his shoulder and announced, "Fifteen minutes, Congressman."
     
    McKnight didn’t even hear it.
     
    Perfect. Just perfect . He replied to the moneyman's message and instructed him to disseminate the information in any way he saw fit, but to wait until McKnight had a chance to make his own public statement. He wanted to light the fire and then watch it rage. He tapped send. Off skittered the message, blazing through encrypted protocols in a twisted path much like McKnight's own.
     
    Maybe that dream had just been an omen that his father was watching and obviously jealous. Yes, that had to be it. Well, McKnight would show his father. He would show that piece of crap despite everything he'd said and put young Antonio through, that young boy was now a man, and that man was reaching for the stars. Soon he would control the stars and then forever he would stamp out his father's memory.
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
     
    Karl insisted he was fine, but Vince knew otherwise. At first he thought it was just fatigue, but he knew there was something really wrong as they made their way across the lake. Its choppy surface cast them this way and that, and if not for Christian’s catlike quick reflexes, Karl would have gone overboard. Karl normally would have been concerned by the near miss. Instead, he shrugged it off and became gruff to the point of being abrasive.
     
    But even in the dim light, Vince could see that his friend's eyes were unfocused; he looked half drunk. And when he coughed it sounded wet, like a career smoker. Vince had seen Karl smoke plenty of cigarettes over the years. Hell, they all had. It was a perfect cover, but he didn't remember the cough, so it had to be something new.
     
    When Vince asked his friend again if he was okay, Karl pushed him away, and this time sat deeper in the oversized canoe. The steady drone of the outboard engine continued as the hull slapped against the waves, one after another in a steady rhythm. Maybe he had been hurt in the