4:15 pm

The lobby of the City Hall was filled with people leaving, the fire alarm ringing out from several locations. Clouds of dust reduced visibility to nil.

"Something went off in the observation deck," shouted a woman in a suit to her colleague.

"Any sign of a fire?" asked Tony. She shook her head.

The blue-shirted security guards were directing people to the exits. Tony ran up to the nearest guard with an earpiece radio.

"The whole top half of the building is falling down. It looks like some sort of high explosive was used. You need to clear the building then get as far away as possible. Put your clipboard away; don't take names. Just get everyone five, ten, as many blocks away as you can."

The security guard moved away speaking into his radio. Tony looked around the lobby. The elevators were automatically shut down, but he needed to get to the twentieth floor in a hurry. But it could be no coincidence that the blast had occurred near there.

"Use all the doors." A member of the cleaning staff was pointing at all the doors and exits. "Some exits behind the stairs," he shouted.

Tony ran up to him. "You there. Is there service elevator? One that might still be working? I need to get to the twentieth floor now. I know people are trapped up there."

The man in his light brown uniform nodded. "Yes. Service elevator at end of corridor. By restrooms." He felt the chain of small keys around his neck. "But wait for Fire Rescue. Too dangerous."

"I have a Federal witness potentially trapped at the top of this building. I need you to show me the elevators. Now. I'll take my own risks."

The cleaner shrugged then unclipped the key. He passed it to Tony then walked two paces to the restroom corridor. "At end," he pointed. "But hurry." He did not move any further, the palm of his hand revealing all that he was prepared to share.

"Thank you," said Tony. "Your country thanks you."

4:20 (7:20 EST)

Lynne Kresge sat in her studio watching the Sun set. She dragged a long brush down the canvas and tried to capture the shade of the trees at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay.

"Wrong again," she sighed. The trees looked perfect, but bore no resemblance to what she was looking at. She turned to the palette propped on the desk beside her. "Less is more."

The phone rang. With her good left hand she picked up the tiny receiver.

"Hello, Miss Kresge? It's Zeke at the White House. We met at the gallery fundraiser last week?"

"Hi Zeke," she said casually. "Thanks for all your help with the charity, but I'm a bit busy right now. Can you call back later?"

"I'm sorry to bother, you this late in the evening, but President Buchanan asked me to call you directly."

Lynne was now a little impatient. "Do you know how many shades of green I've mixed this evening, Zeke? Not enough. It's going to occupy a lot of my time for the near future."

"Green is good, Miss Kresge. I know a lot of good people speak very highly of you. I can see why. Could we send someone to pick you up? Or I could drop in myself? I haven't been out to that part of the Bay in a long time. The President's helicopter is free and I could reach you in fifteen minutes."

Lynne snapped. "No. Don't come here. This is my home." She breathed in and continued quietly, "I'm in charge here; not the White House, not anyone else."

"Of course. Do you have electronic mail? I could send you a briefing. You might find it very interesting."

"Electronic mail?" she snorted. "No, not in the studio. But if you send it to my old NSA address, it still gets forwarded to my Blackberry. I'll pick it up in my study when I get back to the main house."

Lynne hung up the phone. "Shit," she said.

4:25

"You know it's not a crime to come into a casino," said Chloe. "If you don't want people to come in, just hang a sign on the door." She was sitting in an overly comfortable padded sofa in the security control room. Dozens of monitor screens showed real-time images from around the casino. Luis sat beside her trying to be reassuring.

"I agree," he said. "We would like to leave. If you have a legitimate reason to detain us, you should call local law enforcement right now."

"You won't be waiting long, ma'am," replied the security guard. "We're complying with all our legal obligations as we speak, Father." He turned back to his computer terminal and scrolled patiently thru message headers.

"If you're just checking out Craigslist we could leave you alone," Chloe replied sulkily. Luis shook his head to caution her against talking more. But he still smiled.

The door opened and a smartly dressed older woman entered. She wore a visitors pass in the pocket of her jacket.

"Hi there. I'm sure this won't take long." She smiled reassuringly at them. Chloe did not like her teeth. "Could you give us a couple of minutes, Eddie?"

Eddie looked up from his screen, but did not meet her gaze. "I'm sorry, Miss Brown. Mr. Capellini asked me to sit in."

The visitor kept smiling at Chloe and Luis, but directed her voice to the seated man. "Why don't you go for a walk, Eddie? Find Capellini and tell him about your concerns."

Eddie stayed seated in his chair. The fingers of his left hand tapped the mouse-mat nervously. Abruptly, he picked up the telephone receiver beside the monitor. "I just need thirty seconds," he said.

Miss Brown turned her head slightly to him. "We've done this before, Eddie. Put the phone down and leave."

Eddie kept the phone receiver to his ear, but his hand was shaking. He began to speak. "Is Mr. Capellini..?" Then he stopped.

4:30