Power and Treachery by Rachel McLean, book 3 in the McBride & Tanner series - Chapter 1

Davina Wilson jogged along the lochside; the ground soft beneath her feet. The sun had only just risen, and the air was fresh and clean. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the scent of pine trees and water.

She was staying at a luxury hotel just half a mile up the loch, where the President of the United States, her boss, was holed up for the G7 summit. The President hated Scotland – the weather, the food, the people, the goddamn kilts. He’d only come because the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had begged him to. And the President had a soft spot for the PM.

Davina had no such soft spot. She was one of the President’s many aides, and it was her job to make sure he didn’t fuck up. And that job was getting harder by the day.

She rounded a bend in the path, running towards the water. The low sun skimmed it like the finest of pebbles. It was stunning in the early morning light. The water was still, the only ripples coming from a family of ducks swimming along the shoreline. Across the loch, the mountains were shrouded in mist. The only sound was the lapping of water against the shore.

Davina wasn’t the only person out this morning. Up ahead, she could see a couple walking arm in arm. Behind her, a man was jogging. They were all guests at the hotel, all delegates at the summit, and they all knew who she was. They’d given her the usual nods of respect as she’d passed them.

Davina wasn’t sure she liked being treated with respect. She’d worked hard to get where she was, and she didn’t want to be put on a pedestal just because her boss happened to be the most powerful man in the world.

Her phone rang. She frowned and pulled it out of her pocket. It wasn’t even 6:30am yet. Who the hell was calling her at this time?

She answered without breaking her stride. “Wilson.”

“Ms Wilson, this is Agent Johnson.”

Secret Service. Davina’s heart sank.

“What’s happened?”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news, Ma’am. Mr Peters was found dead in his bed this morning.”

Davina stopped running. “Brendan? What happened?”

“Looks like a stroke, Ma’am. The medic’s already taken a look and confirmed it. It’s… it’s not pretty.”

She closed her eyes. Brendan Peters was the President’s Chief of Staff, which made him Davina’s direct boss. Or at least he had been, until this morning.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”