Ackerman didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger and fired two shots in Michaels’ center mass. Ackerman turned to take aim at Hawk before collapsing to the ground. Hawk and Big Earv each put a couple of bullets in Ackerman. He was dead before he hit the dirt.
“What’s going on over there?” called another Secret Service agent through the woods.
“The president has been hit,” Big Earv said into his com. “I repeat, the president has been hit. I’m on site and handling it.”
He turned to Hawk. “You better get lost—and fast. You don’t need to answer for any of this or find yourself in the middle of any congressional hearings.”
“Thanks, Big Earv. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t. Now get lost before you’ll need more than a favor to escape prison.”
Hawk nodded and hustled up the hill, disappearing deep into the forest enveloping Camp David. He ran until his sides hurt before falling to his knees in exhaustion. After all that had just transpired, he needed some kind of emotional release, but he dared not scream in case he drew the attention of some other Secret Service agents. And Hawk couldn’t conjure up a tear if his life depended upon it. He refused to shed anything for Michaels.
I can’t believe he’s gone.
Hawk snapped to his feet when he heard helicopters hovering overhead. After racing a few meters through the woods, he stopped when he noticed that the helicopter was setting down in a clearing less than a hundred meters away.
Checking over his shoulder once more, he dashed in the opposite direction of his car. He glanced at the field and watched as a dozen soldiers stormed from the chopper and fanned out.
Hawk scrambled up a short hill before he skidded to a stop and struggled to maintain his balance. He’d nearly plummeted into a rocky ravine some fifty meters below. After he regained his composure, he looked back at the clearing where the soldiers had come from. Two men dressed in Army combat fatigues hustled toward Hawk, both guns trained on him.
“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” one of the soldiers said.
Hawk raised his hands in surrender.
“Someone wants to speak with you,” the other soldier said.
He took Hawk’s hands and zip tied them behind his back.
CHAPTER 30
Washington, D.C.
HAWK CLIMBED ABOARD the troop transport helicopter and sat down against the wall. He buckled in and took the headset offered to him by one of the soldiers who apprehended him. Adjusting the earpiece, Hawk looked up and stared directly across the chopper at a man dressed in a suit and tie.
“Mr. Vice President,” Hawk said.
A smile spread across Noah Young’s face. “I heard you were in the neighborhood and thought I’d give you a lift,” he said into the microphone on his headset.
“Next time, can you tell your men to give me a heads up?” Hawk said. “I was plotting how I could jump out of this bird without breaking my ankles so I could escape.”
Young chuckled. “We haven’t lifted off yet, so there’s still time if you want to test your theory.”
Hawk shook his head. “So, what’s this all about, really?”
“Well, I’m headed back to Washington now to be installed as the new president.”
“Why not take Air Force One instead of this old clunker?”
“Too soon and too raw, though I did consider it.”
“You moved really quickly on this,” Hawk said.
“The plan for me to take over was already in motion. Thomas Preston was satisfied that he had enough on Michaels to put him away for life for committing treason along with a hefty list of other crimes. But now that he’s dead, I don’t have to waste this last month on trying to extricate myself from a needless trial.”
“Who else knows about this?” Hawk asked.
“Just a handful of the cabinet—and we intend to keep it that way.”
Hawk scowled. “You’re not going to tell the truth about what Michaels was doing?”
“Maybe someday, but not today. A scandal like this will just tear the country apart even more than it already is. It’s just not necessary.”
“So, what’s the official narrative going to be?”
“One of Michaels’ ex-military pals had a long-standing grudge with the president. Ackerman snuck onto the Camp David property using his army training and shot Michaels, who lied to a Secret Service agent to meet the friend. The Secret Service agent gunned down the killer before he shot anyone else.”
“So, Big Earv is a hero?”
“He soon will be.”
“Good. If anyone deserves it, he does. But he won’t like having to cop to that story.”
“He doesn’t have a choice, thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?” Hawk asked.
“He knew you might be sneaking onto the property and told no one. But one of the other agents picked up his phone call and told us about it. We held that card up our sleeve in the event that something like this happened.”
“You’re blackmailing him to make him the hero?”
“That’s one way of looking at it. I’d rather just say it’s how we’re ensuring that he sticks to the story. It’ll be much less of a headache if he repeats the rehearsed version of the events we’re going to give him.”
“Fair enough.”
“But you didn’t pick me up and take me back to Washington just to discuss all this, now did you?”
Young shook his head. “I want to talk about your future and the future of Firestorm.”
“No disrespect, sir, but how can you be doing that when you’re only going to be in power for the next few weeks?”
“I have plans of sticking around much longer.”
“You’re going to be on the ticket next month?”
“That’s the plan. The party will hold an emergency meeting tonight to decide who will replace Michaels in the general election next month. And I have an overwhelming amount of support.”
“And you think you’ll be able to forge a new identity apart from Michaels’ coattails in that short amount of time?” Hawk asked.
“I’ll have some of the best political strategists in the
