office. A television had been wheeled in. Mac quickly hooked up the DVD player and started the video. The chief, Captain Peters, Riley, Rockford, Lich, a few other high-ranking officers, and Helen Anderson quietly watched as Daniels’ bedroom came into focus.
The room was dead quiet as they watched the senator getting dressed. “Look at the time in the upper right hand corner.” Mac said. It showed 1:16 a.m.
At 1:31 the senator kisses Daniels and leaves the bedroom. She rolls over and starts to fall asleep.
At 1:37 Alt attacks. Not a sound is made in the room as he strangles Daniels. Once she’s dead, the killer rolls off the bed and pulls off his mask.
“Look familiar, Pat?”
Riles snorted. “Amazing,” was all he could say.
“This is unbelievable,” croaked Helen Anderson.
“It is at that, but I’ll be damned, Mac, you were right all along,” Flanagan said.
“So, what are we going to do about it?” Mac asked.
“Get me warrants for Ted Lindsay and Webb Alt for starters,” the chief ordered. “Helen and Sally, help them out on that.”
“We’re on it,” Anderson said.
“Are we going to take them at the PTA building?” Riley asked.
“Yes. These guys could run at the drop of a hat. We need to move quickly. Marion, get the Critical Incident Response Team ready,” the chief commanded. “These guys are pros. We want some heat of our own.”
Alt rushed back up stairs to Lindsay’s office. They may not have much time to move. The call from Hansen had been unnerving to say the least.
“What’s going on?” Lindsay asked urgently as Bouchard also walked in.
“Cops are all over Daniels’ place. We don’t know if there was a breakin or what. But there are four or five squad cars. A couple of unmarked squads and Crime Scene is there. The scene’s tight and secure, and cops ain’t talking. Hansen and Hennessey are there monitoring.”
Lindsay nodded and went to his desk and took out a cell phone. “Let’s see if I can find out what’s going on.”
The chief led the meeting. A C.I.R.T. commander was present. Mac, Lich, Riles, and Rock had all put on vests and wind breakers that said police on the back, their badges now hanging around their necks. Weapons bristled. A crude drawing of the PTA building lay in the middle of the conference table.
The plan was to secure the parking garage and the private elevator, as well as the front entrance. Officers would cover all four sides of the building. Alt and Lindsay would be pinned inside and have no choice. Mac wasn’t sure whether they’d throw down, but he didn’t want to take any chances. At this point, all they needed was the warrants to be finished, and they were ready to go. Besides everyone around the table, there were numerous other people in the room, talking on cell phones, getting things arranged.
Just then Sally came back into the room with the warrants and handed them to Mac, whispering softly in his ear, “Be careful.”
Mac nodded. Anderson came back in the room, a cell phone to her ear, followed by Sylvia Miller and Captain Peters, both hanging up their cell phones.
The chief spoke. “Mac, you and the boys will go in the front. You get to put the cuffs on Lindsay and Alt. C.I.R.T. Team 1 goes up with you guys. Team 2 will work to secure the garage. Everyone understand?” Everyone nodded. “Let’s roll.”
Lindsay flipped his cell phone shut.
“Where’s the chopper at?”
“Took two VPs up to Duluth,” Alt answered. “Why?”
“We need to get the hell out of here.”
“What’s going on?”
“They’re coming for us right now. They have the Cross documents, and they have you killing Daniels on video.”
Alt, stunned, was slow to follow Lindsay, who came back to grab his arm. “Let’s go.”
They got into the elevator and headed to the basement. Lindsay spoke, “Apparently Daniels liked to video herself having sex. There was a hidden camera in the room, and it was running the night you took her out. Think back. After you killed her, did you take your mask off?”
Alt nodded.
“Well, they have it on video. Plus they have the documents, which hangs all of us.”
“How did they find it?”
“McRyan found it. I don’t know how, but he did.”
Alt recovering now, thinking about getting away. “McRyan. I should have known.”
“I underestimated him, Webb. You didn’t, but I did. He’s coming for us.”
They hustled off the elevator. “Sir, we aren’t caught yet.”
Skogman and Thompson were waiting for them. They had a minivan running. Automatic weapons and rounds were loaded inside. They all jumped into the van, and Bouchard got behind the wheel.
They pulled up to the exit and took a left onto East Sixth Street, a oneway.
Mac, Riley, Lich, and Rock climbed into Mac’s Explorer and the two C.I.R.T. Teams followed. Mac was going to pull up in front of the main entrance to PTA, which was on the west side of the building along St. Peter Street. Team 1 would follow them. It would take Team 2 a few minutes to get to the garage as they had to drive all the way around the building on the one-way streets.
Mac crossed East Sixth and pulled in front of the building, his front left tire up on the curb. Team 1 was a half block behind, caught at a stoplight. “We should have had them running with lights,” Riles muttered. The police radio blurted that Team 2 was still three blocks away, caught up in traffic on Cedar Street.
“We’ll have to wait a minute,” Mac said.
Alt made the call immediately when they had turned left out of the parking garage. A C.I.R.T. truck was at the stoplight, and it was clear that the driver and man in the passenger seat had seen them come out of the garage. They had no choice. Alt let his window down. Skogman behind him opened the sliding door. Thompson was doing the same, looking to the south.
Chapter Forty
The sound was unmistakable-automatic weapons fire. Mac saw it first, the black minivan, coming to the corner to the north on East Sixth. The side door was coming open, and he saw the barrel, “DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!”
Mac hit the pavement and rolled to the entryway of the PTA building. Shots flew over his head, causing glass to rain down over him. People were screaming. He looked quickly back to the Explorer. Lich was down low, hiding behind a cement holder for a garbage can. Riley had rolled to the front of the truck and had cover. Rock was down on the sidewalk, hit in the thigh, exposed.
