minister, when the DSS agents assigned to each man came crashing onto the stage, following the lead of Storey and his detail.
The reporters and photographers on the gangplank were in a frenzy at the scene, cameras flashing everywhere as the people in the press pool tried to make sense of the situation. Their screamed questions went unanswered as a line of agents formed to block the president’s predetermined escape route, but the metal barriers came crashing down as the media let go of the last shreds of decorum. The thin line of agents was quickly overrun by the huge crowd of reporters and cameramen.
Rivers couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This was exactly why McCabe had ordered Storey not to do anything rash. “What the hell is he DOING!” she screamed, before realizing that the two junior agents standing next to her had even less of a clue than she did.
Back in the CT watch center, McCabe, Susskind, Landrieu, and Harper were also staring in horrified disbelief at the scene that was playing out live on MSNBC.
McCabe was the first to lose it, his face flushing a very deep red. “This is exactly why I told him to sit tight!” he shouted, unconsciously giving voice to the thoughts of Jodie Rivers. “We need to cut that feed right now!”
Harper’s face was pale, and he was shaking his head. “It’s too late. If Vanderveen saw that, he has nothing to lose by blowing it.”
“Fuck!” McCabe slammed a closed fist down onto the table in front of him. A moment of clarity cut through the reactionary anger, and he suddenly realized that his career with the Service was almost certainly over, not to mention the fact that a lot of people were probably about to lose their lives. “FUCK!”
Ryan crossed the street when he reached the Pavilion at the Old Post Office, cutting under the arches of the Ariel Rios Federal Building and breaking into a wide open space less than 100 meters away from the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. He ran north as 13th Street loomed ahead, and then found himself facing the pink-gray granite expanse of Freedom Plaza. He was breathing hard and there was a painful stitch in his side, but he kept his head up as his eyes scoured the line of cars in front of the National Theatre.
There. He knew immediately that it was the right one, even though the vehicle didn’t have a ladder rack and he couldn’t tell for sure if it was a Ford from the side. He knew because the van was sitting low to the ground, much lower than it should have been. Whatever that vehicle was carrying, it definitely wasn’t light.
Then he was running again, despite the fact that Vanderveen was probably just waiting for him to get closer to the van before blowing it. Something inside Ryan’s head told him that he should be feeling fear, that there was definite cause for it, but he couldn’t lock on to any single emotion. He only knew that he had to get to that van as soon as possible.
Although he didn’t make a conscious effort to do so, his right hand went back to the holster and came up with the pistol. It turned out to be a bad move; Vanderveen wasn’t anywhere in sight, but there were a lot of people walking around, and a lot of people eating lunch on the benches around the fountain. One woman saw the gun in his hand and began to scream, and then there were a lot of screams…
Trooper 1st Class Jared Howson couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was about 50 meters east of the Ford on Pennsylvania when he saw a distant figure with what looked like a gun in his hand, racing through a crowd of cowering pedestrians.
Howson just stared for about ten seconds before he remembered that he was a police officer, and had a gun of his own. He pulled the standard-issue Glock 17 out of its holster and sprinted back down the street toward the van, not once taking his eyes off the other man or the weapon he was holding.
Although Jeff Storey had undeniably broken standing orders, he was still a Secret Service agent with sixteen years of experience, and knew that, given the current situation, he would be a lot better off on the water than he would on the streets. Still surrounded by the members of his detail, he dragged President Brenneman, who was still too shocked to be angry, down the dock as a number of agents peeled off to cover their movements.
The AIC grabbed a UHF radio from one of his men. It was already set to Channel 4, their dedicated maritime link. “Storey to Coast Guard cutter Alder, Storey to Alder. I need immediate escort for Boater at LZ number 3. Do you copy?”
Coming back a split second later: “Storey, this is Alder. Roger that, we’re two minutes out, over.”
“Two fuckin’ minutes,” Storey mumbled. “Unbelievable.” He put in a second hurried call for transport at the designated landing zone, which was on the southern tip of the East Potomac Golf Club, as well as asking for additional helicopter support, never breaking stride as he pulled the president toward a turbocharged motorboat manned by USSS personnel less than 50 feet away. Behind them, the chaos continued to build as some of the reporters, finally realizing that they might actually be in danger themselves, began to trample each other in their rush to get away from the waterfront.
The DS agents for the French and Italian delegations, unaware of the specific threat, bundled their respective principals into armor-plated limousines and screamed at the drivers to move. The heavy vehicles pulled away from the curb at a surprising rate of speed, minus motorcycle outriders, following Maine onto 12th Street, and then heading north toward Pennsylvania Avenue and the safety of the White House.
Ryan was amazed when he reached the van and it was still intact. He didn’t know where Vanderveen was, but knew the man was definitely somewhere in the area, and had to be watching him at that very moment. He arrived at a dead sprint, pulling up short and slamming his left elbow into the glass on the passenger side.
A wave of pain shot up his arm, but the safety glass gave way immediately. Another three judicious blows pushed the crumpled sheet of glass onto the passenger seat. He was reaching to unlock the door from the inside when a voice yelled, “HOLD IT!”
He whipped his head around to see a young police officer pointing a heavy black pistol at his chest. The adrenaline coursing through his body, Ryan’s mind took in the scene at the speed of light: Metro PD uniform, two chevrons on the sleeve, young kid, scared eyes, and shaky hands on the gun. It all combined to give him a very bad feeling.
“DROP THE GUN!” the officer screamed.
“I’m a Federal officer,” Ryan snarled. “I have to get into this vehicle right-”
“SHUT UP! DROP IT!”
“Ah, fuck. Fuck!” Ryan could see he wasn’t going to win, and he was out of time. “Okay, I’m dropping it. Don’t shoot me, for Christ’s sake.” His right hand left the gun on top of the shattered pane of glass, and slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled his hands out of the interior and held them out by his sides. “Listen to me-”
The policeman was coming down a little bit now. “Keep your hands where I can see them! Turn around and-”
“Shut up! You listen to me. I’m a Federal officer. The person who owns this van is the same man who killed Senator Levy and blew up the Kennedy-Warren.” Ryan watched a look of disbelief spread over the young man’s face. “There is a bomb in this vehicle. I’m stepping back… Take the gun off the passenger seat and let me get in there, okay? I need to get in there.”
“I saw him…”
Ryan latched on to it, talking fast: “Black hair, brown eyes? About my height, heavy?” The officer nodded, the confusion spreading to his eyes. “He’s a terrorist, and there is a bomb in this van. Take the gun, man. Take the fucking gun.”
More wavering. Without taking his gaze or his weapon off the man standing before him, Jared Howson reached in through the door frame and lifted the Beretta off the seat.
Will Vanderveen was absorbed by the live footage on MSNBC. He had known, or felt, rather, that something was wrong when the conference was still going on ten minutes after it was scheduled to end.
Although it didn’t seem like much to get excited about, Vanderveen knew that every second of the president’s schedule was accounted for by the agents comprising his protective detail, and the unusual length of the Q amp;A session following the return of the Sequoia was definitely out of the ordinary. Then, in that shocking moment when the president had been grabbed from behind by one of his agents and dragged away from the podium, his single violent expletive could have been clearly heard by the guests in the next room. His anger had been made worse by the fact that the agents were taking the president farther down the dock, which meant he was moving away from 12th Street.
Still, he hadn’t given up hope. He was still watching intently, trying to see if the DS agents who arrived on the podium a split second later were pulling their principals back toward the motorcade. It was hard to see, because the cameraman had removed the camera from its stable platform, and judging from the jerky image, was having a
