“What if I kill you first?”
“You’re in handcuffs and in an awkward position. I am not. My chances are much better.”
“If you kill her, you’ll die and I’ll still have the Adamas Blueprint. Now put down the damn gun!”
Erica looked at Kevin. Oddly, she didn’t seem as terrified as Kevin was. Instead, she was concentrating on him. Her eyes almost imperceptibly moved towards the water and then back to him. Her legs were bent, ready for action. Kevin understood what she was thinking. But Van Dyke was standing no more than eight feet from her. She’d never be able to dive into the river before he shot her. Kevin shook his head.
“Kevin, we both know how this is going to end…”
The roar of a jet taking off drowned out his words. Erica extended her legs and leaped into the air. Van Dyke fired the SIG. Erica flew backward over the starboard side of the bow. Van Dyke fired twice more within the second it took her to hit the water.
“No!” Kevin shouted. He pulled the Glock’s trigger. A gush of blood and flesh exploded from Van Dyke’s left shoulder, spinning him around to face Kevin. There was no expression on his face. No sadness, no remorse, no anger, no pleasure. Just the determined look of a professional carrying out his duties.
He swung the SIG in Kevin’s direction. Kevin had no choice. Without hesitation, he shifted the Glock slightly and fired. A spray of red flew back from the top of Van Dyke’s head. For a moment, he just stood there, as if nothing had happened. The only change was that he now had an expression.
He was puzzled.
The expression quickly faded. His eyes closed sleepily. Like a puppet dropped by his master, he collapsed in a heap.
Kevin pushed himself to his feet and ran to the bow, expecting to see Erica’s body floating face down in the water. What greeted him was almost worse. All he could see in the placid surface of the Potomac was his horrified reflection.
CHAPTER 37
Afraid that Erica had gotten stuck under the boat, Kevin dropped the Glock and prepared to dive in.
A bubble broke the surface on the starboard side. Then another and another. Erica’s head burst out of the water. She gasped for air and looked up to see Kevin.
“You’re alive!” Kevin said, amazed.
“So are you!”
“Are you injured?” he asked, holding out his still-cuffed hands.
“No, I’m all right.” Erica pulled herself up and over the railing. When she was aboard, he pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely.
“I was afraid you were gone.” Kevin’s hands began to shake and his teeth chattered.
“Are
“Yeah. It’s just beginning to sink in. I had to…” He hesitated.
“Van Dyke?”
Kevin nodded toward the back of the boat. “Dead.” The shivering got worse.
“Are you sure?”
He didn’t answer. She went behind the console and sucked in her breath when she saw the body.
“He’s dead all right.”
“I thought you were, too,” he said. “He shot you. You fell backward…”
“No, I
“Oh, that makes me feel a lot better.”
“Let’s not dwell on it. It happened. Now let’s get you out of those handcuffs.”
They retrieved the keys from Van Dyke’s back pocket, then moved the body away from the console and laid it against the port side. Kevin draped the boat’s rain tarp over the body while Erica washed the bloody deck with a bottle of water. It took five refills from the Potomac to wash it all off.
When they got back to the marina, Erica told the rental agency they would need the boat for another day. After she paid in advance with cash, the clerk promised that it wouldn’t be disturbed.
There had been no discussion about reporting the shooting to the police before their meeting with Congressman Sutter. This was their only chance to get high-level help. Going to the police would just make them stationary targets.
The truck was in the marina’s lot, but they would never find a parking space around the Capitol at this hour. The nearest Metro station was a five minute walk. With only 25 minutes left before the meeting, they jogged.
The white limestone steps of the Rayburn building, one of the three House of Representatives office buildings, gleamed in the morning sun, forcing Kevin to squint until he and Erica were under the shadow of the portico. He glanced at his watch. 7:56. Right on time. The walk from the Capitol South Metro stop had been short. Kevin breathed a literal sigh of relief. The worst was over. Now it was just a matter of getting someone to believe them.
The guard at the door of the Rayburn building had shown them where to find the building’s directory. Sutter’s office was on the second floor of the north wing. They walked briskly but calmly upstairs and found the congressman’s office.
The outer area of the office was somewhat small, to be expected of a congressman who was in only his second term. The larger offices would go to the more senior members. Four chairs lined a wall under pictures showing various scenes from the congressman’s district. A wide-angle shot of downtown Houston, a medical researcher pretending to study a test tube for the camera, an aerial view of South Texas University. The last made Kevin feel a little more confident about doing this. He turned to the desk facing the chairs.
Behind it sat a slightly frumpy woman in her fifties. She gave a smile that showed perfect teeth.
“May I help you?” she said in a pleasant voice.
“Yes. My name’s Kevin Hamilton. I have an appointment with Congressman Sutter.”
“Kevin Hamilton?” The secretary looked at him as if he’d told her his name was Madonna.
“Yes, Kevin Hamilton. This is a friend of mine, Erica Jensen. Our appointment was for 8:00. It’s very urgent that we speak with the congressman.” Kevin tried to see the appointment book. There was none. It must have been on the computer. “It should be down for 8:00 this morning. I called last Wednesday.”
“Yes, Mr. Hamilton. I was the one who spoke to you. Until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t expecting you until 9:30. Now I’m surprised you’re even here.”
What was this woman talking about? Kevin looked at Erica. She seemed just as puzzled as he was.
“I’m sorry,” said Erica to the secretary. “I don’t understand.”
“When I called Friday to tell Mr. Hamilton that the meeting had been delayed until 9:30 this morning, I assumed he had received it.”
“Wait a minute,” said Kevin. “You called my apartment?”
“That’s right. Representative Sutter had a breakfast with Senator Mitchell that was supposed to run late. As it turned out, the breakfast was over early.”
“You mean he’s here?” Thank God. It wasn’t too late. If Kevin’s apartment phone was still tapped, Tarnwell would know they were planning on coming here. Once he found out they’d escaped, he’d send someone down here to intercept them. They had to hurry. He started for the Congressman’s office.
“Mr. Hamilton, the representative is in a meeting. Mr. Tarnwell said you wouldn’t be coming, so I canceled…”
“Tarnwell?” He was right. Tarnwell’s thugs might be here any minute. Despite the secretary’s loud protests, he burst through the door to Congressman Sutter’s office.
The room was about 15 by 15 feet, with a spectacular view of the Capitol through the broad windows at the opposite side of the room. Bookshelves lined one wall, while a couch sat in front of the other. A television was perched on an oak dresser to Kevin’s left. A man occupied one of the two chairs in front of the congressman’s
