JК
The Third Option :: Flynn Vince
Страница: 197 из 267Just trust me on this one. Your wife and the woman I'm going to marry are best friends. I like you, I like Liz, there is no reason in the world for me to do anything that would harm you or your family.»
He took another drink of beer and seemed to think long and hard about what Rapp had said. «You know, I like you, too, Mitch, but I'll be honest. If you're involved in the type of stuff that I think you might be, I'm not exactly crazy about having you around my family.»
The words hurt. Rapp didn't let it show, but they hurt. He didn't want this life anymore. He wanted out. He wanted a normal life with a wife and some kids. «I respect that, and if you don't want me around, I'll do my best to stay away. Just know that your secret will always be safe with me.»
«If you really mean that, then tell me who you work for.»
«Michael, you are a congressman. There are certain things you don't want to know.»
«Try me.» O'Rourke folded his arms across his chest. «I did a little digging into your past. There is no record of you serving in the armed forces, yet something tells me you have formal paramilitary training.»
«How is this information going to help you?»
«I want to know who I'm dealing with. Don't worry about the committee. I'd just as soon stick a hot poker up my ass than tell Rudin something like this.»
The comment brought a smile to Rapp's face. «All right, Michael, I'll tell you what I do, but it goes no further. Not even Liz. I've known about your grandfather and Scott for some time, and I've never breathed a word of it to Anna.»
«Whatever you say is between us and no one else.»
Rapp tried to think of the best way to say it, and in the process he was reminded of something he said to the previous attorney general. It was at a meeting during the White House hostage crisis. Rapp had overstepped his bounds and allowed his temper to get the best of him. But it was worth it. In the end, he got his way, and a terrorist he had hunted for the better part of a decade was dead. Rapp looked at Coleman briefly and then said, «I work for no government agency. I want to be very clear about that. I'm what you might call a counterterrorism specialist.»
«Okay… and what, may I ask, does a counterterrorism specialist do?»
Rapp was not well versed in trying to spin what he did, so he just blurted out the hard, cold truth. «I kill terrorists.»
«Say again?»
«I hunt them down, and I kill them.»
The congressman set his beer down.
He took another drink of beer and seemed to think long and hard about what Rapp had said. «You know, I like you, too, Mitch, but I'll be honest. If you're involved in the type of stuff that I think you might be, I'm not exactly crazy about having you around my family.»
The words hurt. Rapp didn't let it show, but they hurt. He didn't want this life anymore. He wanted out. He wanted a normal life with a wife and some kids. «I respect that, and if you don't want me around, I'll do my best to stay away. Just know that your secret will always be safe with me.»
«If you really mean that, then tell me who you work for.»
«Michael, you are a congressman. There are certain things you don't want to know.»
«Try me.» O'Rourke folded his arms across his chest. «I did a little digging into your past. There is no record of you serving in the armed forces, yet something tells me you have formal paramilitary training.»
«How is this information going to help you?»
«I want to know who I'm dealing with. Don't worry about the committee. I'd just as soon stick a hot poker up my ass than tell Rudin something like this.»
The comment brought a smile to Rapp's face. «All right, Michael, I'll tell you what I do, but it goes no further. Not even Liz. I've known about your grandfather and Scott for some time, and I've never breathed a word of it to Anna.»
«Whatever you say is between us and no one else.»
Rapp tried to think of the best way to say it, and in the process he was reminded of something he said to the previous attorney general. It was at a meeting during the White House hostage crisis. Rapp had overstepped his bounds and allowed his temper to get the best of him. But it was worth it. In the end, he got his way, and a terrorist he had hunted for the better part of a decade was dead. Rapp looked at Coleman briefly and then said, «I work for no government agency. I want to be very clear about that. I'm what you might call a counterterrorism specialist.»
«Okay… and what, may I ask, does a counterterrorism specialist do?»
Rapp was not well versed in trying to spin what he did, so he just blurted out the hard, cold truth. «I kill terrorists.»
«Say again?»
«I hunt them down, and I kill them.»
The congressman set his beer down.