Title by CobraDeathGrip,
Story by matahari2
Summary/Disclaimers, Etc.: See Part 1
Chapter 9
Wednesday Morning
At about 9:00 a.m., Lee casually strolled past the entrance to the bookstore at the Lincoln Memorial. He caught sight of Otto Bauer, making eye contact for a brief instant and moving on. He waited for Otto's sole customer to come out, then went in and started browsing. After a few minutes, he took one of the small books on Lincoln's early life and took it to the counter. With a friendly smile, he said, almost under his breath, "I'm just a customer. We've never met. Now. . .when I hand you the money for this book, I'll also hand you a miniaturized two-way radio. If you see Heller, or any of the others you recognize, just depress the red button to talk into it. If they come too close, press the button and hold it down, and we'll pick up the signal."
Otto nodded, saying, "That'll be $7.50, sir," and accepting Lee's twenty-dollar bill and the small device. As he counted back the change into Lee's palm, he asked quietly, "You have more people here?" At Lee's almost imperceptible nod, he smiled, and said, full voice, "Thank you very much, sir! Have a good day!"
Lee walked out of the bookstore and scanned the faces of several visitors to the central Memorial chamber as he pretended to read the engraved quotations on either side of the imposing statue of Mr. Lincoln. Twenty minutes later, when he turned to exit the Memorial, he narrowed his eyes as he saw Dieter and Amanda holding hands and walking up the steps, apparently enjoying each other's company, going by the smiles on their faces. His fists clenched at his sides involuntarily, but he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, quickly assuming a practiced air of indifference as he passed by them on his way down to the Reflecting Pool.
By 10:00 a.m., the visitors coming for the Family Values rally had begun to congregate near the Reflecting Pool and at the base of the steps. In amongst the many family groups were numerous federal agents, clad for the most part in khaki pants and golf shirts, and fitting in seamlessly. Several of them carried soft-sided backpacks, presumably for the purpose of carrying sandwiches and soft drinks for an impromptu lunch later. The rally was scheduled to kick off at 10:30, with a speech by a well-known minister. A large lectern stood outside the Memorial chamber, centered in front of the Abraham Lincoln statue, and technicians were just finishing the sound check. Lee walked past Francine Desmond without looking at her but saying, "Anything?"
"No, no transmissions. Otto hasn't seen them yet," she answered, smiling at Frank Duffy and offering him a can of soda from her backpack as she continued to talk to Lee. "We've been watching the front and all the way along the south side, in and out of all the columns, but so far, nothing."
"Just keep your eyes and ears open, and watch your backs," Lee said as he meandered through the crowd toward the right side of the Memorial. When he'd moved far enough around to be able to see between the columns, the muscle in his jaw began to twitch. "Giesele," he whispered to himself, then pulled the small walkie-talkie from inside his jacket. "Amanda? Dieter? You two still inside?"
"Lee?," Amanda whispered into the low-tech communicator.
"Yeah, it's me, Amanda," he responded. "Look, I just saw Giesele going down the steps on the north side. It looked to me like she'd just laid something down. Take a look over there, but be careful, okay?"
"Okay, we're on it," she answered, clicking off and sliding the walkie-talkie into her purse. As nonchalantly as possible, she and Dieter slipped across behind the speaker and walked hand-in-hand to the north side of the Memorial. About halfway back, sitting at the base of one of the marble columns, they spotted it. . .a small black backpack with a lightning-bolt patch.
Amanda leaned against the column and shielded Dieter from view as he began a slow, careful inspection of the backpack. He tugged lightly at the velcro that held the flap in place, then lifted it open gingerly. He held his hand up to Amanda and asked for the walkie-talkie. Pressing the button, he called, "Scarecrow?"
"Yeah," Lee replied, "What've you got?"
"It looks to be a bottle of clear liquid, with a fuse, connected to a timer."
"How much time?"
"If I'm reading this correctly, we have about 15 minutes," Dieter answered, folding the flap down and sealing the velcro closure. As he stood up back-to-back with Amanda he asked, "Now. . .what do you want us to do?"
"Switch that backpack for the one Amanda brought, then take that one to the back side of the Memorial, and hand it off to one of the bomb squad guys. Their truck is back there, marked DC Plumbing Supply. And be careful!"
Immediately, Lee checked in with Francine and found that Otto had radioed her about Giesele, and that he'd also spotted Gunther Heller going out the other side. Francine dispatched several agents to find the remaining bomb-laden backpacks. They found ten in all, and the bomb squad had managed to defuse them before the crowd was any the wiser. Fred Fielder caught the 'iron maiden' as she was trying to hail a cab on 23rd street. Agents rounded up seven others of the group as they'd tried to mix into the crowd after leaving their deadly packages.
While all of this was happening, Lee made a run for the 'Vette, which he'd parked at the back of the circular drive that encompassed the Memorial. When he passed Amanda, she started to follow after him. He turned back, pointing a finger at her and ordering, "You stay here! I'm gonna try and catch up to Heller. I'll meet you back at the Agency!" he called out, then folded his tall frame into the 'Vette and drove off.
Before she'd had time to protest, Amanda saw Billy Melrose pulling up in a brown sedan, with Erich Bauer in tow. "Sir!" she called out, running out to meet him.
Amanda looked to the young man and then to Billy. At her questioning look, Billy said, "We found Erich, here, bound to a chair at the motel. He filled us in on what he knew about the plan, and he's coming in to make a formal statement. Now. . .where's Scarecrow?" he asked.
"He just took off that way, sir," Amanda replied, extending her arm and pointing to her left. "He said he was after Gunther Heller."
Francine came down the steps then, and filled Billy in on the rest of the suspects and how the agents had apprehended each of them. "All right then," Billy said, "Lets get back to the office, and. . ."
Amanda cut in, "But sir. . .what about Lee?"
"Look, Amanda, he's a trained agent. He'll call for backup if he needs it--just trust him, all right?"
"But. . ." she started to say. At Billy's no-nonsense look, she caved in and said, "Okay. I'll see you back at the Agency."
Lee's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Gunther Heller on his motorcycle, about a hundred yards ahead of him on Independence Avenue. He thumped the steering wheel in frustration at the unusually heavy mid-morning traffic, as he watched Heller cutting between two cars and making a sharp left turn. "Come on, come on!" Lee shouted to the driver in front of him as the slow moving vehicle finally moved out of his way. He gunned the 'Vette's accelerator and wheeled around the corner, tires squealing, as he raced ahead, switching lanes to take advantage of every chance to catch up to the runaway terrorist. He barely missed hitting a tour bus at Constitution Avenue as he sped through the intersection, finally overtaking Heller and cutting him off in front of Union Station. Lee gasped as he looked back to see Heller spinning out of control and falling to the ground. He pulled the 'Vette over to the curb, running to kneel beside Gunther's broken body. He pressed his finger to Heller's neck and felt for a pulse. Discovering a weak one at best, he sprinted back to his car and grabbed the cell phone, quickly punching in the number for Billy Melrose.
Billy had just opened the door to his office as the phone rang. "Melrose."
"Billy, Scarecrow. I've got Heller, but he's in pretty bad shape. Call an ambulance and have 'em come to the corner of Independence Avenue and First Street, okay?"
"Consider it done," Billy replied. "As soon as they get there, come on in, and we'll tie up all the loose ends."
"You've got it, Billy," Lee said before hanging up the phone. A sad expression came over his face as he looked down at the fallen terrorist. He shook his head, wondering how someone so young could have built up so much hate.
TO BE CONTINUED
(conclusion)