The Zero Game

“Whatcha need, doll?” Roxanne asked with a warm smile.

“Just here to pick up some briefing books.” When Harris first told Viv about this, she was worried that someone would wonder why a Senate page was making a pickup in the House. Roxanne didn’t even take a second glance. Forget what it says on the nametag – even to receptionists, a page is a page.

“Is Dinah…?”

“Right through the door,” Roxanne said, pointing Viv toward the back.

Viv headed for the door, and Roxanne turned back to the current vote on C-SPAN. Viv couldn’t help but grin. On Capitol Hill, even the support staff were political junkies.

Picking up speed, Viv rushed forward and pushed her way inside.

“… so where are we now?” a male voice asked.

“I told you, we’re working on it,” Dinah replied. “He’s only been gone for two-”

The door swung into the wall, and Dinah cut herself off, abruptly turning toward Viv.

“Sorry,” Viv offered.

“Can I help you?” Dinah barked.

Before Viv could answer, the man in front of Dinah’s desk turned around, following the sound. Viv looked him straight in the eye, but something was off. He stared too high, like he was…

Viv spotted the white cane as the man rubbed his thumb against the handle. That’s why he seemed so familiar… She’d seen him tapping in the hallway, outside the Senate Chamber during votes.

“I said, can I help you?” Dinah repeated.

“Yeah,” Viv stuttered, pretending to study the stuffed ferret in the bookcase. “I was just… that ferret…”

“You here for the briefing books?” Dinah interrupted.

“I’m here for the briefing books.”

“On the chair,” Dinah said, pointing a finger toward the desk across from her own.

As quickly as she could, Viv wove across the carpet and slipped behind the desk, where she saw two enormous three-ring notebooks sitting in the chair. The spine of one was marked A-L; the other was M-Z. Pulling the chair out to lift the books, Viv noticed a pile of three picture frames stacked faceup on the center of the desk. Like someone was packing up… or someone was being packed up. The computer on the desk was off, even though it was the middle of the day. The diplomas that were once on the back wall were now leaning against the floor. Time froze as she bent toward the chair and her ID smacked against the edge of the desk.

She took another glance at the top photo, where a man with sandy-blond hair was standing in front of a sapphire blue lake. He was tall, with a thin neck that made him extra gawky. More noticeably, he stood so far to the left, he was almost out of the frame. As his open hand motioned to the lake, Matthew Mercer made it perfectly clear who he thought was the real star of the show. The smile on his face was pure pride. Viv had never met this man, but once she saw his photo, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Behind her, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. “You okay?” Barry asked. “Need any help?”

Jerking away, Viv yanked the notebooks from the chair and stumbled around the other side of the desk, acting like the weight of the books was keeping her off balance. Within seconds, she steadied herself and took a last look at Matthew’s desk.

“Sorry about your friend,” she said.

“Thanks,” Dinah and Barry said simultaneously.

Forcing an awkward grin, Viv speed-walked to the door. Barry didn’t move, but his cloudy blue eyes followed her movements the entire way.

“Just make sure we get them back,” Dinah called out, readjusting her fanny pack. As Matthew’s office mate, she’d sat next to him for almost two years, but she was still head clerk for the committee. Those books were vital business.

“Will do,” Viv said. “Soon as the Congressman’s done, they’re all yours.”

22

“WHAT ABOUT HIS HOUSE?” Sauls’s voice squawked through the cell phone.

“He’s got a loft on the outskirts of Adams Morgan,” Janos said, keeping his voice down as he turned the corner of the long, pristine marble hallway in the Russell Senate Office Building. He wasn’t running, but his pace was fast. Determined. Just like everyone around him. That was always the best way to disappear. “He doesn’t own the place, though – or much of anything else. No car, no stocks, nothing left in his bank account. I’m guessing he’s still paying off loans. Otherwise, he’s got nothing permanent.”

“Have you been to his place yet?”

“What do you think?” Janos shot back.

“So I take it he wasn’t there?”

Janos didn’t answer. He hated stupid questions. “Anything else you want to know?” he asked.

“Family and friends?”

“The boy’s smart.”

“That we know.”

“I don’t think you do. He’s been in Congress ten years. Know how ruthless that makes you? The boy’s a razor – he’s thought it through. Even though he’s well connected, the game alone keeps him from reaching out to coworkers… and after we tagged his buddy at the U.S. Attorney’s… I don’t think Harris gets fooled twice.”

“Bullshit. Everyone gets fooled twice. That’s why they keep reelecting their Presidents.”

Following the room numbers on the wall, Janos was again silent.

“You think I’m wrong?” Sauls asked.