Capital Crimes

The two trucks turned left onto Pe

The front passenger door of the first Suburban suddenly opened, and an agent came out, drawing his weapon. Ted floored the Mercedes, striking the agent and taking off the Suburban’s door, then he hung a sharp right, drove across two lanes of traffic, and headed down the street. He knew the driver of the first Suburban would have to check on the state of the second truck before pursuing, so he would have a good head start.

He whipped the car down an alleyway, drove a block, then turned left on Pe

KINNEY HAD BEEN in his office for an hour when the first news came in; typically, it was from CNN.

“There has been a shooting incident in downtown Washington, D.C.,” the a

“Not really,” the chief replied. “We’ve got three men down in a shooting on Pe

“Any ID?”

“I’m waiting for that, now. Hang on a minute.”

Ki

The chief came back on. “It’s bad, Bob,” he said. “Speaker Efton has been shot twice and is being transported to Walter Reed Hospital as we speak. One Secret Service agent is dead and another down.”

“Any suspects?”

“We’re looking for a silver Mercedes that left the scene at high speed,” the chief replied. “That’s all I’ve got at the moment. I’ll get back to you when I have more.”

Ki

Ki

53

KINNEY TOOK A FEW deep breaths while he waited for the president to come on the line.

“Bob?”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“Tell me about your trip to Atlanta.”

“First, Mr. President, I have to tell you that I’ve just learned from the D.C. police chief that the speaker of the House has been shot on Pe

“Good God! Is he dead?”

“He’s on his way to Walter Reed, sir. A Secret Service agent is dead and another wounded.”

“Was it Fay?”

“I have no evidence to that effect yet, sir, but I have no doubt that it is.”

“Was Rawls of any help?”

“Yes, sir. He told us that Fay might be using a hangar at Manassas Regional Airport, south of Washington. I landed there on the way back, and we raided it at the earliest possible moment.”

“And…?”

“The hangar was empty, but my crime scene team found a wristwatch that had apparently been run over by a car or truck. It had stopped four minutes before my SWAT team arrived.”

“And it was Fay’s?”

“I believe so, sir, but he had cleared the hangar of any evidence that he might have been there.”

“What’s your next move?”

“Rawls also told us that he believed Fay had bought a cottage on an island in Maine, Islesboro.”

“I know the place. My wife has spent some time on the island.”

“We’ve checked with the local postmaster and located the house. I have a team on the way to the island as we speak, and I had pla

“All right, keep me posted. I have to call Walter Reed now, and find out how the speaker is doing.”

“I’ll be in touch, sir.” He hung up.

Kerry Smith had come into his office while he was talking. “Are we on for Maine?”

“Yes, but first I want to check out the scene on Pe

“I talked to the ER at Walter Reed. The speaker is hanging on, but he’s gravely wounded. He took two fifty-caliber, armor-piercing slugs.”

“Christ, that’s machine gun ammo.”

“Right. It’s hard to know how Fay could have used such a large weapon in such a confined space as a car.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Ki

TED SAT IN THE garage, in his RV, watching the story unfold on CNN, switching now and then to MSNBC, to see if they had any further information.

“THIS JUST IN,” the CNN reporter said. “Police have found a silver Mercedes answering the description of the car driven by the shooter of Speaker of the House Eft Efton. The car has a damaged left fender bearing traces of black paint. The first Secret Service vehicle was a black GMC Suburban, and the Mercedes collided with it during its escape, striking a Secret Service agent and taking off the right front door. Crime scene investigators from the D.C. Police Department and the FBI are on their way to the scene now.”

The reporter was handed a sheet of paper. “State police units in states along the Eastern seaboard north and south of Washington have been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect, Theodore Fay, who may be driving a recreational vehicle north on I- 95.”

The report made him glad he had decided to sit things out for a day before heading for Maine.

KINNEY STOOD beside the silver Mercedes and looked into it. All the doors, the hood, and the trunk were open, and it was crawling with technicians. “Anybody found a print yet?”

“There aren’t any prints,” a tech replied. “This baby is cleaner than when it left the factory.”

“This is no ordinary Mercedes, either,” another tech, who was looking into the engine bay, said. “Somebody has shoehorned a big, AMG V8 into it, and the suspension has been reworked, too. You can buy one of these off a lot these days. It’s called an E55, but this car was made before they came out with that model. This is a custom job. It must go like a scalded cat.”