forehead.
Pete said, 'Drilled him right between the horns. A young guy, couldn't be more than eighteen or nineteen.'
Mylon Sears tsk-tsked, said, 'I know him, I've seen him around. Lonnie, his name was. Nice kid. He worked here part-time to help pay his way through school. That's why he was working today.'
Jack said, 'Garros was the target. The job was probably done by some members of the same outfit that made the try on Paz. Had to be two of them at least, maybe three or more. They eliminated Topham and Beauclerk first, clearing the way to move on Garros. They might have killed him, but it's more likely they took him alive; otherwise, why not leave his body behind?
'It all went down at the opposite end of the parking garage, way to hell and gone. No shots fired, a pair of quiet kills. Three, if they did in Garros, but again, it looks more like an abduction than a murder. The kid attendant was unaware that anything had happened. His position shows that. He stayed in the booth, doing his job. The crew drives up to the gate, just like any car using the parking lot. They shoot the youngster to eliminate him as a possible witness, then crash the gate and take off.
'That how you see it, Pete?'
Pete nodded. 'I'll notify Center.'
10. THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 2 P.M. AND 3 P.M. CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME
Threat assessment — that's what Mylon Sears was engaged in. Namely, the threat to his career, reputation, and continued economic and social well-being.
Now, as he stood around in the underground garage with Jack Bauer and Pete Malo, waiting for CTU reinforcements and forensics techs to arrive and do their thing, he'd already moved to secure his bread and butter.
His immediate priority was the safety of Susan Keehan. Not his top priority. His top priority was Mylon Sears and the continued care and feeding of same, at the high level to which he'd grown accustomed.
But his first action in the aftermath of discovering the bodies in the basement garage was to protect Susan.
The unknown assailants who'd abducted Raoul Garros and killed three others, including two CTU agents, were obviously no respecters of any kind of social order. He could only thank God that they'd targeted Garros and not Susan herself.
If she had been kidnapped! Well, that would have put him in quite a position in the private security industry. And with Clan Keehan.
Even so, he'd still have to scramble and do some slick damage control to get out of this with his job, reputation, and career intact.
He'd been quick to surround Susan with a hardened security cordon. Easy enough; he was in position to draw on a depth of personnel, EXECPROTEK's New Orleans offices being based right here in the Mega Mart building. He blanketed her with a half-dozen bodyguards, top protectors all, including several ex-Secret Service operatives.
For now, the safest place for her was right here, in the Mega Mart building. Hard as it was to credit, considering the crimes of violence that had already gone down here today. But it was still the safest, best-protected locale available.
It came equipped with its own small, private army of security professionals. The building was privately owned, allowing for maximum control of entrances and exits, as well as any other unorthodox or extraordinary procedures necessary to protect the heiress to the Keehan fortune.
Caution dictated that she be secured here, rather than moved to some other location, exposing her to increased risk.
The building was a self-contained, potential fortress. It was also ready to ride out the coming storm, no matter how bad it got. It had its own private generator, fuel supply, stocks of food and fresh water. It was easiest to guard Susan here, on-site. The Mart could survive any tempest, and Susan could always be airlifted out by helicopter later when the storm force had broken.
Susan was not his boss, although as a matter of form he deferred to her in all matters not directly connected with the operation and running of the Security Division.
His boss was Brinsley S. Wolters, head of EXECPROTEK; Wolters's boss was Wilmont Keehan, who owned the company.
That Keehan's daughter's fiance had been abducted and three persons killed in the building where EXECPROTEK's New Orleans branch was based was a public relations nightmare and worse; as the man in charge on the spot (he was on the spot, all right), Sears knew that one false step could put him on the chopping block.
He was a born competitor and a winner and hadn't reached his current position by folding when disaster struck; his nature was to keep fighting until the last dog died.
Some powerful cards remained on the table for him to play when it came to keeping his job and reputation intact.
Chief among these was the fact that it had been Susan's decision to obstruct, stall, and mislead CTU agents Bauer and Malo to keep them from confronting Raoul Garros.
What would have been a minor peccadillo, one that in ordinary circumstances would never have had any official comeback, had taken on a deadly seriousness due to the violence that had resulted.
In fact, it was not stretching a point to note that her delaying tactics were indirectly responsible for the deaths of Topham and Beauclerk. Not to mention the parking lot attendant. His family might have the makings of a multimillion-dollar negligence lawsuit.
Susan Keehan was vulnerable; by association, so was her father, Wilmont; and her uncle, Senator Burl Keehan. The Senator especially was the public face of the oil-for-the-poor Hearthstone Initiative; his close dealings with Venezuela's Chavez regime were already controversial in some quarters. This debacle would be red meat to his political foes, who were legion.
Three principal Keehans, Wilmont, Susan, and the Senator, were mired deep in the mess if they didn't play their cards right. The dynasts were sacrosanct; they'd be looking for someone, anyone else to be the fall guy and take the heat for the disaster. A role Sears was determined to avoid.
He had plenty of incriminating evidence on the family, not just in this matter but in countless other Keehan dirty deals; he could and would use the threat of revealing it to get himself off the hook.
Who to hang it on? That was a toughie. It might even be necessary to put the blame where it belonged, on the homicidal abductors who'd grabbed Garros.
If only he knew who they were.
Acting on Sears's orders, bodyguards literally surrounded Susan Keehan, screening her behind a wall of solid, well-armed flesh. They escorted her to the KHF offices on top of the building.
With her went Hal Dendron and Alma Butterworth. There wasn't much either could do down here in the basement garage, where the situation required Sears's adroit interfacing with the authorities.
Besides, he didn't want them looking over his shoulder and getting too clear an idea of what he was up to. What they didn't know couldn't be used against him later.
He put Gene Jasper in charge of the squad guarding Susan. He knew Jasper would like that; he was always trying to get close to her, to make a personal connection with the heiress and develop his own direct line of communication to her instead of having to go through his boss, Sears. Yes, Jasper would welcome the chance to make himself useful and do some politicking with the boss's daughter.
That suited Sears fine; he didn't want Jasper watching him too closely, either; not at this critical time.
In addition to Susan's immediate circle of personal protectors, security was beefed up on her floor, with a troop of heavily armed trigger pullers guarding the fire doors, stairs, and elevators.
Not only would they guard her from those who might do her violence, they would also shield her from any law
