Diana nodded solemnly. “His horse is responsible for capturing this guy. I couldn’t have done it without Red.”
She turned around and caught the tail end of a policeman carefully reading Albadian his rights off an index card. Good. These guys were going by the book every step of the way on this arrest. She watched the mob of armed policemen finish trussing up Albadian until he could barely move. They taped plastic bags over his hands so they could be swabbed for exposure to explosives later, then they handcuffed his wrists and shackled his ankles. Finally, they tucked Albadian carefully into the back seat of a squad car.
“We’re going to need a statement from you, ma’am.”
Diana turned to the policeman and laughed. “You, and the FBI, and the Secret Service, and every television network in creation. No problem.”
She started as her cell phone rang again and fumbled for it in her pocket with frozen fingers. She pulled it out hastily and flipped open the phone.
A male voice spoke urgently in her ear without preamble. “Diana? Are you all right?”
“Gabe? Is that you? Are you okay?”
Gabe’s rich voice replied urgently, “I’m fine. Are you all right? Tell me you weren’t hurt in that blast.”
“No, no, I’m fine. I just got knocked down. No injuries. And you? You didn’t get hurt at all?”
He laughed, sounding vastly relieved. “I was sitting in an armored car. It didn’t mess up a single hair on my head. I think the only injuries I sustained were when a three-hundred-pound Secret Service agent landed on top of me and wouldn’t get off me for about a week.”
Diana laughed aloud in her relief. “He was just doing his job.”
Gabe groused lightly, “Well, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as having you plastered all over me.”
Diana blinked, startled. She replied soberly, “Well, I’m just glad you’re safe.”
He replied equally seriously, “And I’m glad that you’re safe. I’ve had the White House operator trying to call your cell phone for the last half hour, and when you didn’t answer, I was really worried.”
“Uh, well, I was a little busy. I just chased down the guy who lobbed the satchel charge at you. With the help of a dozen D.C. police officers, we just arrested him.”
“I’ll tell Owen.”
She heard Gabe’s voice faintly over the open phone line as he told his security chief the news. She heard exclamations in the background from several people.
Gabe came back on the line. “Owen wants to talk to you. Right away. He wants to know everything you know about what just happened and who did it.”
That was understandable. “I’m with the Metro police right now. They want me to go down to the station and make a full statement to them. I expect it’ll take a couple of hours.”
She waited while Gabe relayed that information to Owen Haas.
Gabe came on the line again. “Owen doesn’t want to wait that long. I’ve still got to get inaugurated today, and he wants a complete threat assessment ASAP so he can take whatever precautions are necessary.” Murmured voices in the background interrupted him, and then he said, “Owen will take care of it. He’s going to call the cops and explain to them that they’re going to have to wait for their statement.”
“I’m at Owen’s disposal. I’ll do whatever I can to help protect you.”
Gabe answered quietly, “Thanks. I wish I had more friends like you.”
Abashed, she changed the subject. “Is Wolfe there with you?”
“Lord, no. In a crisis like this, they separate us so at least one of us will survive whatever attack comes.”
Of course. She asked, “So how am I supposed to link up with Owen to brief him?”
“Just a sec.” Gabe went off-line again and came back. “He says to have the police drive you to your home. Owen will have one of his guys pick you up there in two hours. He’s got some security arrangements to finish up for…later, and then he’ll have time to talk.”
“Does he know where I live?” she asked in surprise.
Gabe answered dryly, “If he doesn’t, he will soon.”
She laughed. “Big Brother’s watching me, huh?”
Gabe laughed back. “Something like that. These Secret Service guys have nutty access to information when it pertains to a threat against the Presidency.”
Gee, sort of like Oracle.
“Speaking of information, Owen says he wants to know if you had anything to do with a set of pictures he was faxed a few minutes ago of a bunch of guys.”
“What sort of pictures?” she asked cautiously.
“He says they’re computer printouts of fourteen guys, all in the twenty-five to forty or so age range. Some of the pictures look like they came off driver’s licenses. One is marked as a student ID. A couple are immigration photos.”
The sheaf of pictures she’d dropped in front of the Chaosium Cafe. Her hacker buddies had come through for her. They’d figured out who Owen Haas was and sent the pictures to him.
“That’s the Q-group cell, or most of it I think, that attacked you today.”
Gabe swore quietly and relayed the information to Owen, but came back on the line quickly. “Owen says he’ll have a guy at your house in one hour. Can you be there that soon?”
She looked at the policemen milling around her. “The trick is going to be getting the cops I’m with now to release me.”
Gabe retorted, “Owen will take care of that. You just be home in an hour.”
She replied lightly, “For you Gabe, I’ll move Heaven and Earth to be there.”
Silence greeted that remark. Oops. Had she overstepped her bounds? Her and her irreverent mouth. “I’m sorry. That was a joke. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, sir. I’ll be ready in an hour.”
Gabe retorted quickly, “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. And for God’s sake, please don’t start calling me sir. I like Gabe a whole lot better coming from you. And Diana?”
“Yes?”
“I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”
Well, okay then. It was her turn to stammer and stutter into a loaded silence. Finally, she managed to choke out, “I’d better get going if I’m going to be home in time to meet Owen’s man.”
She hung up reluctantly and stared at the phone for a moment after its glowing face went dark. She shook herself out of her reverie and looked up at the nearest police officer. “Who’s in charge around here?”
The cop pointed to a man in a suit and she strode over to the detective in charge. “Hi, my name’s Diana Lockworth. I wanted to give you a heads-up that within the next couple minutes, a Secret Service agent named Owen Haas is going to get in touch with you or your superiors. He’s in charge of Gabe Monihan’s security detail, and he needs to speak to me right away. I realize you guys need a complete statement from me, but Haas is going to pull rank and declare some sort of Presidential Security necessity to talk to me first.”
The detective sighed in resignation. “I probably should’ve expected that. But I’ve got to have a statement out of you in the next twenty-four hours so I can charge Albadian. If Monihan’s people screw that up…” He scowled in frustration and didn’t finish the remark.
She felt sorry for the guy. He was just trying to do his job and handle this case perfectly so there’d be no chance of Albadian slipping through the justice system’s fingers. She asked, “Would a tape-recorded statement from me work for you guys?”
“As a preliminary statement, yeah, it would.”
“How about this, then?” she proposed. “You guys can give me a ride back to my house where I’m supposed to meet Haas’s men, and I’ll tape a verbal statement in the car on the way there.”
The detective nodded. “That would work. Hey, Frankie!”
Another policeman walked up to them. “Yeah?”
“This lady’s going to need a ride to her house, and I need you to go with her and take a taped statement from her en route.”
The cop frowned at the highly irregular procedure.
The detective’s cell phone rang, and he pulled it out. He glanced up at Diana. “Right on cue. It’s the Chief of Police.”
She listened to the detective’s end of the short call, and sure enough, he was given orders to delay interviewing
