The following morning, at Rodgers's suggestion, he met Kat and Orr for breakfast in the senator's suite. There was a knock on the door, and Kat went to answer.
'I'm starving,' she said with a big smile.
The smile crashed when she opened the door. Detective Robert Howell was standing there with a detective and six officers from the San Diego Police Department. He was holding two manila envelopes. The local detective stepped forward. She was a young woman with steely eyes and a gentle but insistent voice. She was also holding a pair of envelopes.
'Ms. Kat Lockley?'
'Yes.'
'I am Detective Lynn Mastio. We have a warrant issued by Judge Andrew Zucker this morning in the county of San Diego ordering your detention on the suspicion of planning and abetting two acts of homicide.'
Senator Orr stepped forward. He looked from Detective Mastio to Detective Howell. 'Bob, does this young lady know who I am?'
'I do, sir,' Detective Mastio replied. 'You are Senator Donald Orr. I have a warrant for your detention as well, Senator.'
'Detention?' Orr snapped. 'Are you saying we are under arrest?'
'No, Senator. Formal charges will not be filed until we have had a chance to further review the evidence that has been presented, Senator,' Mastio replied.
'We have a convention to run!' Kat said. 'You have no right to walk in with accusations based on hearsay and interfere with our work.'
'I'm sorry,' Mastio told her. 'We do have that right.'
Orr turned back to Howell. 'What the hell are you doing here?'
'I have extradition papers,' Howell said. He raised the envelopes. 'If you are arrested for crimes that may have been committed in our jurisdiction, we will be bringing you to D.C. for arraignment.'
'This is the most outlandish and offensive thing I have ever heard!' the senator barked. 'I am the one who was assaulted here! Link and his accomplices are the ones you should be talking to!'
Orr seemed anxious to turn away, to throw his position and reputation against the problem and make it go away. Howell seemed equally determined to prevent that. When Rodgers had called McCaskey to suggest the detective fly out, Op-Center's top law officer seemed eager to make that happen.
'I find it odd that neither of you asked who was murdered,' Rodgers said, stepping forward.
'I assume this has to do with that idiot Englishman,' Orr said.
'What this has to do with are the rights of a murder victim,' Rodgers said.
'How dare you lecture this man about rights!' Kat yelled. 'He defended his nation in Vietnam and has spent a lifetime legislating on behalf of citizens like us, improving the standard of living for all Americans and for women in particular.'
'The senator's patriotism is not at issue,' Rodgers said. 'Robert Lawless was an American,' Rodgers remarked. 'What happened to his rights? Lucy O'Connor is an American woman. Did she have any idea what she was getting into?'
Kat turned on Rodgers. 'You are the worst of them all.
We took you in when you had nothing. I was responsible for Lawless and for Lucy. The senator had nothing to do with this.'
'Admiral Link tells a different version of the story,' Rodgers said.
'Ms. Lockley,' Mastio said, 'would you please turn around?'
Kat glared at her. 'What? Why?'
Mastio removed handcuffs from her belt.
