The President s Assassin

by Brian Haig

  “Yes you—”

  “I did not. Don’t put words into my mouth.”

  “But you—”

  “I merely pointed out that his investigation was sloppy and his conclusions were nonpersuasive. I never said it wasn’t possible.”

  She was splitting hairs and mincing words, and that pissed me off. “Bullshit.”

  “Excuse me.”

  “You tore the guy to pieces. You ripped him and his theory to shreds.”

  “His fault, not mine. He did shoddy work and misrepresented his findings. I did my job.”

  “You steamrolled him.”

  Her eyes turned really cold. “You were right beside me. I don’t remember hearing you object or coming to his defense then. And I don’t appreciate your accusation now.”

  Of course, she was right. More to the point, she knew she was right. After a moment she advised me, “Cool off.”

  But I wasn’t ready to cool off yet. “Doesn’t this bother you in the least, Jennie? Tanner handed it to us, and we ignored him.”

  She touched my arm. “Post facto, Sean, everything always looks clearer. This isn’t a court of law, where everything’s a review of the past. This is police work. It’s happening now. It’s part of our business.”

  Right. I still felt like crap.

  She continued, “Ask yourself—what difference would it have made? Tanner couldn’t identify the culprits. He had no idea of the target. Right? Even if we reacted to his theory, it wouldn’t have saved Joan’s life.”

  I said nothing.

  “So now we both feel guilty. We made a mistake. Let’s not compound that with a bigger mistake.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Don’t exaggerate what we know.”

  “I’m no longer sure we know anything.”

  “Well...focus on what we don’t know. This does not prove the people who stole the munitions are involved in this. But I’ll grant that Barnes—perhaps somebody working with Barnes—might have somehow gotten the munitions from them, either directly or indirectly.”

  “And what won’t you grant?”

  “I don’t see how Jason Barnes knew these people, I don’t see how he convinced them to join him, and I don’t understand why they would escalate from thievery and blackmarketing to murder.”

  Those were all good and pertinent questions and I had a reasonable answer for none of them. On the other hand, having written off Tanner’s theory, we had not pursued the possible leads, which gave me an idea. I excused myself, stepped off to the side, and called Charles Wardell.

  I identified myself and he said, “Jesus...you hear what happened to Townsend’s wife?”

  “I’m staring at the pieces—yeah, awful. Now, quick, I need to know if Barnes ever went near Fort Hood, or Killeen...yeah, Texas.” I punched off and waited for Wardell to call somebody on another line and have them check their travel records. After a while he called back and he gave me the answer. I said, “Uh-huh...right—well, when?”

  I put the phone back into my pocket and approached Jennie. I told her, “Barnes was at Fort Hood. Twice. He was on the security detail for a vice presidential trip...also he was there for three weeks as part of the backup when the President was vacationing at his ranch.”

  “When?”

  “With the Veep, nearly two years ago. The last time was last summer.”

  “It doesn’t fit. Two years ago, even last summer, he had no conception he wanted to do this.”

  “But he was there.”

  “I’m...Look, I’m not ruling it out. Not again.”

  “Then let’s go with that a moment. Could he have learned about the weapons thefts at Hood?”

  “Possibly. In fact, the Secret Service coordinates these visits with the local police. The advance team gets thorough briefings on local threats, nuts, and crime rings.” She looked at me and said, “You’re right.”

  “Could he have been briefed by CID?”

  “I would expect he was briefed by CID. So he knew there was a ring and he may even have known the names of the suspects.” She thought about it a moment then said, “I wish Tanner had been more convincing.”

  After a further moment of contemplation I said, “What else did we miss?”

  She and I mulled that question together for a moment. When you make one big screwup, it’s time to look back over your shoulder to see what else you may have left in your path. So we both sort of mentally ran backward for a moment, the theme of this review being that Jason Barnes was smarter than we assumed, and we were not as smart as we thought. Finally she said, “In retrospect, Jason would assume his disappearance would make him a prime suspect. Right?”

  “Right. And he would probably presume we investigated his background, and eventually, that led us to his mother.”

  Jennie nodded. “He would assume we now have our arms around his motive, and from that we would compile a list of predictable targets. We underestimated him, Sean. Jason may be mentally scrambled, but he is a genius.”

  “So we believed we were getting a step on him, and he knew he was ten yards ahead of us.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t...Yes.” Then her jaw dropped and she suddenly pointed at a lone figure standing off to the side of the investigators. “Oh God...he shouldn’t be here.”

  I followed her finger, and about thirty feet from us stood Mark Townsend wearing the same blue suit, the same ugly paisley tie, hands in his pockets, dumbstruck as he watched his people go about their tasks.

  On instinct, we both walked over to him. His eyes were riveted on the burned, upright corpse in the Crown Vic, and he ignored us. We ended up about two feet from him, and we both stood, very awkwardly, neither of us sure what to say to this poor man silently surveying the wreckage of his car, his wife, and possibly his life. I could not remember feeling worse than I did at that moment. I was at a complete loss for words.

  But somebody had to break the searing silence, and finally I said, “Our deepest condolences, sir.”

  Jennie said, “This was...I mean, this is...it’s terrible.”

  He did not look at us, or even reply for a long time. He mumbled, “Joan was...she had no idea...” Then he sobbed and lost whatever words he had planned to say.

  I put a hand on his arm. “Sir, this is not the right place for you. Please...allow me to escort you back to your car.”

  He still did not look at me. “I...I’ve...” I followed his eyes, and we both watched an agent bent over something on the ground. He picked it up and studied it. I noted it was a woman’s hand, detached cleanly at the wrist. We all three silently watched the agent, oblivious to his audience, drop it into a plastic Baggie.

  I said, “Come with me.” I pulled on Mark Townsend’s arm and guided him toward the crowd of local gawkers and Bureau agents loitering outside the crime scene tape. They saw us and began parting, and we moved through the sea of stricken and mawkish faces. Two TV cameras located us, and I saw the reporters speaking rapidly into their mikes, following our progress, Director Townsend stumbling forward until his legs grew weak and I was holding him up. He was mumbling incoherently, a stream of incomprehensible words intermittently broken up by choked sobs. Mark Townsend was in a state of shock and falling deeper and deeper into that long, dark pit.

  I saw a dark blue sedan, and at nearly the same instant Jennie noticed it and signaled the two bodyguards who loitered beside it to join us. I guided Townsend as quickly as I could to his car. The bodyguards approached, and one immediately grabbed the Director’s other arm. Jennie asked him, very sharply, “What were you thinking? Why did you let him come here?”

  The man answered, “He...I mean, we knew...he ordered us to bring him. We—”

  “You’re idiots. You should never...” She drew a few breaths and got herself under control. “Take him home. Use your radio. Find out which college his daughter’s at, and have the Bureau dispatch a plane to retrieve her. Also, locate the Townsend family priest. Have somebody rush him to Director Townsend’s house. D
on’t let him into the house, and don’t leave him alone till the pastor arrives. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Repeat it back to me.” And he did, almost word for word.

  Regardless, it was too late, the damage was done. No amount of postmortem deftness was going to ameliorate it. Mark Townsend had witnessed what no man or woman should ever see.

  I maneuvered him into the backseat of his sedan, and I bent over and belted him in, a silly gesture, but I felt genuine concern for this man. The crowd and the TV cameras gathered and watched the Director of the vaunted and recently feared FBI being driven away, a man so thoroughly crushed and defeated he could only stare numbly at his shoes.

  I tried to think of a manner in which Jason Barnes could have choreographed this to more theatrical effect. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

  In the porn industry, when the moment of ejaculation is caught on film it’s called the money shot. Jason had just achieved a million-dollar money shot, and it was hard to see how he could possibly outdo this one.

  But perhaps I was underestimating him again. I reminded myself to stop doing that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - TWO

  JENNIE AND I WALKED TOGETHER OVER TO GEORGE MEANY, WHO HAD budged not an inch from the spot where we first observed him. Clearly his mind was going through some kind of self-reflection, and his body was in a frozen trance. He looked at us, blinked a few times, and asked Jennie, “Was that Townsend?”

  “Yeah. Not in good shape.”

  “He’s going to need a long vacation,” I added. “You should call headquarters and tell the Deputy Director it’s his turn at bat.”

  George looked like he’d rather have the long vacation, but he nodded.

  I pointed at the TV crews and said, “In a few minutes, this is going to be a camera farm. Appoint somebody like Butterman to speak to them and spin it as best he can.”

  The enormity of this thing was finally piercing the density of George’s self-pity. “I...good idea. Maybe I’ll—”

  I said, “By the way, we have a lead.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I proceeded to give George a quick rundown about the range thefts at Fort Hood, and he listened intently, with no change in facial expression, and initially, at least, without comment.

  When I finished, he rolled it around his brain for a moment. He looked at Jennie and observed, “You accompanied Drummond to the CID headquarters?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you heard about this theft?”

  “I did.”

  “Why didn’t you report this lead to me?”

  “Because I felt it lacked plausibility.”

  George stared at her a moment. “That was your professional judgment?”

  Before George made a big case out of this, I interrupted to say, “It was a reasonable assessment at that moment. CID’s case had big holes and wasn’t fleshed out. Had we known Barnes possessed C4 and blasting caps, we obviously would’ve thought differently.”

  George looked at me and replied, “By the same token, had we known about this group, we would’ve known they had C4, and we would’ve instituted proper precautions. However...you two blinded us to the possibility.”

  “Joan Townsend was never on our protection list,” I pointed out.

  “She would’ve been, had we known.”

  “Ridiculous.”

  George ignored me, looked at Jennie, and said, “By noon, I want a statement on my desk. I’m referring this to the review board to decide if you executed your duties competently. Understood?”

  Needless to say, what was going on here wasn’t hard to figure out. George needed to throw somebody to the wolves and I had just shoved Jennie in the path.

  Jennie informed him, very coolly, “I’m formally requesting an extension until five o’clock. It would be poor judgment to interrupt the flow of this investigation over paperwork.”

  “Fine.” Apparently the twofer of sidestepping the blame and burning Jennie put George in a more magnanimous frame of mind.

  I said to Jennie, a bit tersely, “Excuse us a moment.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I can handle this myself.”

  To my surprise, George ordered, “Leave us alone.”

  She looked a little pissed, but George was her superior, as he had just reminded her. We said nothing as she walked off.

  George turned to me, shaking his head and smiling. “Looks like you picked the losing team, Drummond. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “This is not working for me, George. If you want my ass, go for it. She stays out of it.”

  “You’re asking for favors now? Well...you’re not groveling hard enough.”

  “George, people are dying. She’s trying her best. This is not helping the process.”

  This seemed to amuse George. He said, “Let me be frank, Drummond. You’re making my day. I don’t like you, and the thought of getting rid of her and pissing you off...that’s sort of irresistible, isn’t it?”

  “You’re a small-minded prick, George.”

  “And you’re out of your league, Drummond. You always were, you just didn’t realize it. So let me close with this thought—fuck you.” He looked off in the direction of the TV vans and said whimsically, “You know, I’d better go issue a statement myself. You can’t trust anybody these days.”

  I said, “Break a leg...a neck, whatever,” and I really meant it. He smiled, and off he went, a little too much bounce in his step, and I gave serious thought to whooping his ass in front of all those cameras.

  I found Jennie studying the front of Gold’s Gym. At first she was lost in thought, but finally she said, “What a guy.”

  “Give me your Glock. I’m going to blow his brains out.”

  “He doesn’t have brains.”

  “Then I’ll blow out my brains.”

  She resisted the urge to tell me I don’t have brains either, but only because her cell phone suddenly went crazy.

  I moved away from her and watched George gather the cameras around for an impromptu press conference. Despite my feelings toward this guy, he was no idiot, and I was sure he would do a terrifically creative job of putting this incident, and himself, in the best light. Actually George was a pretty good agent—smart, diligent, and even resourceful. His problem was that he always put himself first.

  I felt really lousy. I had developed great respect, even affection, for Mark Townsend. I had let him down. As a criminal lawyer I made my living tying pieces of crimes together, but this time I had failed. Failed when it most counted, failed when the stakes weren’t guilt or innocence, but survival.

  “Sean?”

  I turned, and Jennie had walked over and was about a foot away. She lowered her voice and confided, “This is...really strange. The Bureau hotline just got a call.”

  “About what?”

  “They—listen to this—they want a deal.”

  “They?”

  She pointed at the still smoking Crown Vic. “Them.”

  I pointed at the TV vans. “Word’s out, Jennie. A lot of people and groups will be lining up to claim credit.”

  “Tell me about it. The hotline’s logged hundreds of calls.” After a moment she added, “But the caller said that June Lacy got a bullet in the throat. Also that Merrill Benedict was wearing a brown checked suit when the rocket tore through his car.”

  That detail about Lacy had not been released to the press, nor, for that matter, had Benedict’s sartorial selection as he was blown in half been regarded as news fit to print. But tapes of Merrill Benedict’s final press conference were being replayed constantly on the tube—a befitting testimonial to a world-class bullshitter—so what he wore that day was public knowledge. And certainly enough people were in the know about what happened in the Hawk’s house that it would be foolish to rule out a leak, or even an insider trying to exploit a bad situation. I commented, “Not strong enough.”

  “No? Well, how about this? The cal
ler also mentioned he was willing to forgo the chance for a hundred million in exchange for a sure fifty million. Sean, this is a very interesting development. The caller said he would call back in one hour.”

  “Don’t expect it to pan out.”

  “Well, here’s another thing I should mention. The caller insisted he would only deal with you, or with me. He knew our names. The ops officer thought it sounded legitimate and gave him our cell numbers.”

  I sort of stared at her a moment.

  She said, “I know, I know. It could imply an inside source.” She quickly added, “But more likely Barnes had his mother’s house watched, or she somehow found a way to communicate with her son after we left.”

  I shook my head. “One hour.”

  “He’s running us silly.”

  She was right. Jason Barnes was so far ahead of us he knew where we were going before we knew where we’d been.

  But this development was a bit beyond our pay grade, and where we needed to be at that moment was no longer here but with the rest of the task force. We walked back to Jennie’s car and departed.

  As we were driving a fresh thought hit me, and I used my cell to call General Tingle’s office. His secretary answered, I identified myself and told her to break into whatever meeting he was in.

  Twenty seconds later, Tingle’s voice said, “Jesus, I hope you’re not calling to inform me Joan Townsend was blown up with C4.”

  Apparently his TV was on. I tried to think up a good zinger, but I wasn’t really in the mood, nor would he be in another moment. I said, “It was. Though the FBI lab hasn’t yet discovered its provenance.”

  I heard a quiet curse on the other end. Eventually, he concluded the obvious. “Tanner was right.”

  “Probably. About the source of the munitions anyway. The rest remains speculative.”

  But it didn’t need to stay speculative, and I quickly went over what Tingle and his command needed to accomplish. Basically, the plan was to screen Tanner’s list of insider suspects, and the question was: Where were those five employees at that moment? Tingle heard me out and mumbled, “Outside shot.”

  “And do you have an inside shot to offer? You need to do this, General. You left toys in the sandbox, and it’s time to get them back.”