“I have a forwarded message from Barnhardt. It’s also distributed to you, too.”
She still had her phone on. The message Bruce was talking about started.
“Here is something for your investigations, Commander Dunn, Lieutenant Connelly.”
Several clicks followed, and then the sound of a number being punched in. When the voices came on, Sarah realized she was listening to a taped conversation between the President and Barnhardt.
She listened to the conversation, hearing the President’s voice as he implicated himself in the hijacking.
Bruce and Sarah looked at each other when the conversation cut short.
“Everything is here,” he said quietly as he glanced at the cop behind the wheel. “Barnhardt was Mako and the other guy spells out his involvement.”
“Yes, but this won’t stand up in court,’” Sarah challenged.
“Maybe it will and maybe it won’t,” he admitted. “But it will definitely start the ball rolling for impeachment.”
She lowered her voice. “The election is tomorrow. A voluntary resignation might be the fastest way to get him out of office.”
“You’d let him walk after all this?” he asked.
“We’d be taking away his power.” She shrugged. “But who knows, maybe the money trail will lead to him, anyway. Or perhaps we can find the man they call Kilo. He seems to be getting his orders right from the top. There’s nothing like first-person testimony.”
“That’s assuming they let him… or any of us… live.”
Chapter 69
“Thanks for the offer, but I really don’t want anything to eat or drink,” Amy told the female officer who had her sit and wait by one of the desks. Suddenly, she was so exhausted that she could hardly think straight. “I do need to use the phone, though.”
“Sorry, ma’am, but I can only let you use it when I get the okay.”
Amy tried to be patient, but she couldn’t, not after all she’d been through today. She wanted to call home and see if Kaitlyn and Zack were all right. She didn’t know who was looking after them. Back at the hospital, when she’d first introduced herself, Lieutenant Connelly had said that they were being cared for. But that was it. No more information.
At this hour, with the rally going after what had to be a law enforcement day from hell, the police station was practically deserted. Darius, Sarah, and Bruce were in one of the offices speaking to whoever was in charge. Everyone figured that Amy had nothing to do with anything.
Then why wouldn’t they let her call her family.
She leaned forward, cradling her head in her hands. Somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten about the headache, but it was back, pounding away with a vengeance.
“I’m making a fresh pot of coffee. If you change your mind, let me know,” the officer said, disappearing inside of what looked to be an employee lounge at the far end of the room.
Amy sat back in the chair, quite aware that she was the only person in the large open area, surrounded by clusters of desks and chairs. There were extra computers on desks in the center of the room. The door to the office where Darius and the others had entered was closed. She heard a noise from the hall. It sounded like someone falling down.
Or maybe… someone getting shot.
Chapter 70
“I don’t care how we do it, but we have to cut our losses,” Hawkins bellowed at Bob Fortier.
“You’re overreacting, Mr. President. This has to be a bluff. Let it ride. We must stay on course.”
“Five phone calls isn’t a bluff, you idiot.” Hawkins held up his spread hand so the other man could count his fingers. “Five of my Cabinet members have called me in the past ten minutes, wondering what the hell is going on. And if I am really tied to the hijacking in some way. The Attorney General hasn’t, yet. But I know what the fuck he’s doing. He’s getting a warrant for my arrest.”
“Mr. President.” Fortier put both hands up in his patronizing style that was really starting to get under Hawkins’s skin. “I think you and everyone else should just relax and get some sleep. There is nothing that can be traced back to you. An investigation like this takes months to conduct. And there are all kinds of legal loopholes. Meanwhile, tomorrow is the election. A lot of people have invested in you, all the way down the ladder to the local level.”
Hawkins barked at him. “You’re not hearing me. I don’t give a fuck about local or party politics.”
“No one — not John Penn or anyone else — can touch you. If this hits the news, we just laugh it off. Call it a slanderous hoax being foisted off on the public by an opponent desperate to win. They can prove anything. You’re going to be reelected, Mr. President, and then you’re—”
“Are you fucking deaf?” Hawkins shouted. “Right now, I don’t care about being reelected. I only care about one thing, and that is keeping my ass out of the fire. Understood?”
Wisely, Fortier didn’t argue.
“We have to turn this thing around tonight, so that we are the good guys,” Hawkins told him. “Blowing up the plane with the hijackers was a positive move. Killing that lunatic, Barnhardt, was another step in the right direction. Now, we have to stop that maniac Kilo before he totally gets out of control.”
“I agree that Nick Harmon can become somewhat overzealous, at times. That’s why he should always be kept on a short leash — the way Captain Barnhardt used him. Specific orders, short duration of time,” Fortier explained.
“Then reel him in. I don’t want him to burn down that whole damn city because of a couple of people who can’t hurt us.”
“I tried to do that. But he’s, well, unavailable.”
“What do you mean, unavailable?” Hawkins roared.
“Our men said Kilo is already inside the police station.”
Chapter 71
Kilo tucked his pistol in his jacket and stepped over the dead body of the policeman. Down the hall, he could see the open space of an office area.
His NCIS badge had once again helped him to gain clearance past the front entrance. The unsuspecting dispatcher had been completely unaware that he’d just sealed his own death warrant.
Several desks filled the large space, but no one seemed to be around. Kilo looked at the three closed doors along the right wall. He wondered which one of those offices his prey were hiding in. As he moved into the room, a noise to his left drew his attention. Beyond a partially open door, he could hear water running. He drew his weapon and silently approached.
A counter with cabinets, a couple of coffee pots. A kitchen table with chairs. With each step, he saw a little more of the employee lounge area. The water in the sink was running, but no one was standing by it.
He shoved the door all the way open. It banged against the wall and bounced back. He looked in. No one was there. He backed out quickly.
“NHPD,” a woman’s voice called out behind him. “Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head. Now!”
He started to turn around.
“Drop your weapon now!” the woman shouted.
He heard a door open across the room. He looked over his shoulder and saw a plainclothes cop rush into the room with his weapon drawn. McCann was right beside him. And there was the EB bitch that had given him so much grief all day.