Dead Watch

the block. Joshua was guarding the cars like a hawk. “I’ll tell you, Jake. I’ve never worried too much about procedure. I’ve always been a substance guy. So’s my whole office.”
    “You’re speaking for the office? For Mavis?”
    “I am.”
    “Substance is good. This new thing that’s coming, it has everybody so scared that we’ve literally been hiding out,” Jake said. “I’m afraid to let Madison out of my sight. I’m afraid somebody’s going to kill her, like those people in Wisconsin.”
    “Ah, shit. The new stuff has to do with that?”
    “It might. I’m not sure. You’ll know soon enough.”

    They finished their walk and Novatny said, “Do what you can, man.” He collected Madison and Black and disappeared into the building, Madison turning to give Jake a finger wave before she went in. Novatny walked beside her, awkwardly straightening and restraightening his tie. If you didn’t know better, Jake thought, you might have thought Novatny was the one being investigated.

    Jake got on his cell phone, called Gina in Danzig’s office.
    “I need to talk to the man.”
    “Things are intense right now,” Gina said. “Let me see if I can find him. I’ll call you back.”
    “Tell him it’s critical. He has a real need to know this.”
    “I’ll tell him,” she said. Her voice was absolutely neutral.
    Fifty-fifty, Jake thought when she’d hung up. Fifty-fifty that they’d call. If they didn’t, he’d really been cut loose.
    But Danzig got back in five minutes. “What’s going on?”
    “Things are moving. There may soon be a settlement in the FBI/Madison Bowe/guy-thrown-out-the-window situation. My guy Novatny says he’s not interested in procedural matters. Only in substance.”
    “You think that’ll hold?”
    Jake nodded at his phone. “I do. It’s in everybody’s interest.” The Rule: Who benefits?
    “You better get over here. I’ll have Gina put you on the log.”

    Gina was five degrees on the warm side of neutral when Jake got to Danzig’s office. She shipped him straight through: “He’s tired. Take it easy.”

    Danzig was wary: “There are rumors that you’ve gotten close to Madison Bowe.”
    “They’re true,” Jake said. “But I’m still working for you—my loyalty runs to you. You don’t want to know everything that’s happened, but I think we’re in a place where everybody can be accommodated.”
    Danzig nodded, and waited. He wasn’t giving anything away.
    Jake said, “We need to get the package to the FBI. To Novatny, specifically. Novatny is willing to argue a particular view: that they should stick to the substance of the package, and not nitpick the procedure that got the package to them. So the question is, Where are you with the vice president?”
    Danzig exhaled, relief showing on his face. “If they’ll do that . . .”
    “We’re in a position to insist on it. I’ve already had a preliminary talk with Novatny, and he agreed; he said he was talking for Mavis Sanders, his boss. They have no idea of what’s coming and we’re delivering it to them. We had an absolutely solid reason for holding it for a few days, to check and make sure that it wasn’t a complete election-year fraud. When we realized it wasn’t, we acted as swiftly as anyone could expect . . . as long as we get it to them soon.”
    Danzig nodded. “The vice president will resign tomorrow night. At one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, he’s going to call a press conference for seven o’clock, and he’ll announce that he’s leaving immediately. He wanted time to consult with his brother, which he’s done. If you were in a . . . condition . . . to take the package to the FBI, we thought you should do it, accompanied by the president’s counselor.”
    “When?”
    “Well, I think before the one-o’clock announcement. Word will start leaking about that time.”
    Jake nodded. “I’ll need the originals.”

    Using Danzig’s telephone, Jake called Madison on her cell phone. “Are you still talking to Novatny?”
    “He’s here. We’re just finishing. And we’re not talking. We’ve offered to talk to a grand jury, if there is one, if we get immunity.”
    “Are they going to go for it?”
    “Nobody knows yet,” she said. She was crisp, controlled.
    “Let me talk to him.”
    He could hear Novatny fumble the phone: “Yeah?”
    “Tell Mavis that we have a hot political package coming to you tomorrow, just after noon. She should alert the