The 13: Fall (25 page)

He waited for the agents in the lead and rear cars to step out and do a perimeter sweep. Once they gave the all clear, he opened the door to his vehicle and got out. Looking around for double precaution, he opened the back door and motioned for the president to come out. It was only a short walk to the inside of the building. And once they were inside, the first part of the unknown would be behind them. He motioned for his men to flank the president on all sides, and then he gave the go.

Keene and Boz arrived at the Capitol building ten minutes before the scheduled arrival of the president. When they got there, Taylor was already waiting for them. She handed Keene a picture and then gave one to Boz.

“Here’s our guy!” she said excitedly. “Quinn Harrington, thirty-four years old. Unmarried, no kids. Graduate of University of Texas and then on to seminary. He has a master’s degree in theology.”

Keene took the photo and studied it. It was definitely the guy. He knew, just by the eyes. “Good job, Taylor. How’d you—you know what? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. We need to get this to all the agents.”

“Already done. I handed out hard copies and also made it available for download. Every agent and DC police officer has this on his Metro Link right now,” she said, referring to the recently developed smart phone required by all government agents and local law enforcement. Then, “You don’t think this guy is really gonna show up, do you?”

Keene thought about that for a second. Honestly, he had no idea. He didn’t know what to think. They had been looking for this guy for almost a week now and nothing. Not even a crumb. But there was still the fact that the guy left that note in the warehouse, telling them that it wasn’t time yet for them to find him. So what did that mean? That eventually they’d get lucky? That all of a sudden he would just decide to come in peacefully? No, Keene couldn’t take that chance. This was the perfect place and time to pull something, if someone was so inclined. And his radar was screaming inside him right now. He started to say something when a young, attractive blond woman brushed past him, her head down, looking at her phone.

“Oh, excuse me,” she said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Sure,” Keene said as he watched her continue on. “My fault,” he tried to call after her, but she was already gone.

“Really?” Taylor said.

“What?” He laughed. “I’m not allowed to talk to a pretty woman?”

Taylor remained unmoved.

“Right.” Keene cleared his throat. “I don’t know if he’s gonna be here or not. But something doesn’t feel good. We need to be on our toes.”

“Agreed,” Boz said. “Doesn’t sit well with me either.”

Keene couldn’t believe it. Did Boz actually just take his side on something? “Weren’t you the one who said you thought it was a good idea for the president to do this?”

Boz pursed his lips. “Yeah. I was. And I still think he needs to. But I’m with you. I’m not sure it has anything to do with our Prophet, but I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”

“All right,” Keene said, trying to think. “Here’s what I want us to do. Taylor, you go meet up with outside perimeter detail. Make sure they all have the picture. Boz, you take the outside by the steps. I’ll hang back here and wait for President Grant’s arrival. Once he’s on-site, we’ll decide where to station ourselves. Everyone got a comm?”

Both Boz and Taylor nodded in the affirmative.

“Good. Put them in and let’s check in with the detail.”

All three put their earwigs in and clipped their wrist mics on just in time to hear the head of the advance team speak.

“POTUS has arrived. Heads up, everyone. We’ll move to the building in five, four, three, two …”

   CHAPTER 43   

M
en were so easy, Alex thought. And this guy was supposed to be one of the best? Seriously! He didn’t even bat an eye. Well, that wasn’t true. He did. But not at the fact that she picked his phone and ejected the magazine out of his weapon.
Typical guy
, she thought,
carried it right there on his hip.
She had pocketed both items before they had even separated. And he was too busy trying to get her attention as she ignored him and walked on by. Ever since Joseph had introduced her to this new life, she had always been thankful she was an attractive woman. It just always came in so handy when she was doing a job.

Weaving her way in and out of people, she slipped off to the hallway. She needed to get an idea of the space she was going to be confronted with. As she approached, a guy about her age stood sentry over the doorway. He held his hand up to stop her.

“Sorry, ma’am, this corridor is closed for the evening.”

She smiled and pulled out her false ID. “Brenda Jones, DHS. Agent …?”

Cole, ma’am.

This part was a gamble. One of two things was about to happen. Either this guy was going to shrug it off and let her through or he was going to call her in and clear her ID. She hoped, for his sake, it wouldn’t be the latter. Either way, she was going down this hallway. She looked behind them just to make sure they were out of sight and earshot of everyone else in the building.

“Nice to meet you, Agent Cole,” she said putting away her badge. “I’m here on behalf of the director. I know you guys have been scrambling all day to get this done. Just helping out. I’m just doing a walk-through of the evac route. Director Levy wants to make sure you all have everything you need.”

The agent nodded to her and said, “Yes, ma’am. We were told the director would have a few people on-site. Have a good evening, ma’am.”

She moved past the agent and started down the hall. She had gone about halfway when the agent called to her, “Ms. Jones!”

She turned hesitantly, placing her hand behind her back and resting it on her weapon.

“Yes?” she called back.

“The president is on-site. He’ll be entering the building momentarily. Just wanted to let you know.”

“Thank you, Agent Cole. I’ll finish walking through and then be right out.”

The agent nodded to her and turned back around to face his post.

Keene greeted Agent Greene and the others as they ushered the president into the rotunda. There were some guys there he knew. Many of the Special Ops guys would move on to security detail. And though many of them went into private security because of the money, there were a lot who became Secret Service.

“Good to have you here,” President Grant said.

“Glad to be here, sir,” Keene said. “Mr. President, you sure you want to do this?”

President Grant looked at him with sadness in his eyes. “Have you seen the news this evening?”

“Been kind of busy, sir.”

The president nodded. “The country is in turmoil, Mr. Keene. No one is sure what’s going to happen, including me. I cannot go out there and tell them that everything is going to miraculously change. But I can go out there and tell them what I believe. And right now, this country needs that.”

Keene didn’t bother to say any more. He knew there was no persuading the man to not do this.

“Okay, then. Agent Greene, my other two operatives are outside with your detail. We’re going to be walking around just checking faces. That okay with you?”

“Sure,” Greene said. “You’re all on the comm, so if you see anything, or if we see anything, we can communicate, and we’ll move after that—”

“There won’t be anything to see,” President Grant interrupted. “He won’t be here.”

Keene felt the air go out of him. “How do you know that, Mr. President? Has he contacted you again?”

President Grant looked at him somberly and said, “I just know.”

“Mr. President,” Greene spoke up, “if there’s something you’re not telling us, we need to put the brakes on this thing right now.”

“It’s fine, Brian,” President Grant said. “We will move forward, as planned.”

Keene watched as the president gave Agent Greene the nod. That was it. This speech was happening. No turning back now.

“Keene,” Greene said, grabbing him by the arm, “I want you to stay close.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Keene said. “Let’s go.”

   CHAPTER 44   

S
everal thousand people had gathered in front of the steps of the Capitol. It might have looked like an inauguration, save the grim looks. A podium had been constructed, giving the president a place to speak from. A wire fence had been set up twenty yards away, to keep the mass of people back from the steps. And Secret Service agents surrounded the stage, forming a wall between the people and their leader.