Fifteen seconds later, when he’d moved far enough to see a clear path to an exit, he reached up to the hearing aid and pressed the on button three times.
Twelve seconds after that, the lights in the arena wavered, dimmed, and then died.
Chapter 57
“Alex!”
Nana Mama screamed so loud I heard her in my basement office. I had been unable to get hold of Mahoney, so I decided not to cancel my office hours.
“Alex, come up here now!”
I was between patients and heard the horror in her voice. I bolted up the stairs into the kitchen.
My grandmother was standing by the kitchen table, her mouth open, tears streaming down her cheeks. “They just interrupted my Rachael Ray, ” she said. “They think the president’s been shot.”
“What?” I said, my stomach plunging as I moved around to see the television. “Where? When?”
“The DC arena,” she said. “Some youth congress. Maybe ten minutes ago.”
Nana had the screen tuned to CNN, which was in full alert mode. Wolf Blitzer was talking nonstop over looping video that showed President Hobbs entering the arena and working the rope line, upright and smiling, before the camera went dark.
“Every network feed was hacked and cut just a few moments before the president collapsed,” Blitzer said. “Witnesses said Hobbs appeared to jerk as if shot before falling back against his Secret Service agents. There have been no reports of guns seen or fired inside the arena, which has lost power and is under lockdown.
“We have confirmed reports that President Hobbs is being rushed to Walter Reed. We also have confirmed that Secretary of Defense Harold Murphy, widely considered the top candidate to be named Hobbs’s vice president, was also wounded and en route to... hold on.”
The feed cut to Blitzer, who was listening to his earbud, his expression turning graver and graver before he looked up into the camera and said, “We have just confirmed that U.S. treasury secretary Abigail Bowman has been shot and killed near the New York Stock Exchange along with two of her bodyguards.”
“Jesus,” I said, shocked, even though I’d suspected something terrible was in the works. “The president? Treasury? Defense?”
“It’s a plot, a conspiracy!” Nana Mama said. “Just like JFK! Someone’s trying to overthrow the government!”
Before I could agree, Blitzer announced that trading at all U.S. financial markets had been suspended, and the U.S. Capitol Building, the U.S. Supreme Court Building, and all federal buildings in the District of Columbia were being locked down.
My cell phone rang. Bree.
“Are you seeing this?” she said, sounding unnerved.
“I’m watching with Nana,” I said.
“I should have listened to you.”
“Doesn’t matter, and I’m not happy about being right. What’s going on there?”
“It’s chaos. We’re deploying around the DC arena. I’m heading there now.”
“Keep me posted. I’ll try Ned again.”
I hung up and hit Mahoney’s number on speed dial even as I watched the feed jump to Walter Reed and footage of an ambulance racing through the gates.
Blitzer said, “That was the scene two minutes ago as the president’s medical team tried to keep him alive and get him to an operating room. We’re awaiting a statement on President Hobbs’s condition, but early reports indicate he was badly wounded.”
The screen jumped to the scene outside the DC arena, where FBI SWAT officers were piling out of vans armed with automatic weapons.
Blitzer said, “No one is being allowed in or out of what has become without a doubt the biggest crime scene in the world. CNN will be focused exclusively on this fast-breaking story and—”
Mahoney’s work cell rang and didn’t go to that robotic voice. I went into the other room, listening to the ringing. He never answered. I left a message, went back to the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
Nana Mama said, “Capitol Hill Police are ordering congressmen and senators to stay in their offices while dogs are searching all federal buildings.”
On the screen, Blitzer sent coverage live to the White House, where the press corps was in pandemonium, shouting questions at Dolores St. Mary, President Hobbs’s shocked and rattled press secretary.
“What’s the president’s condition?” one yelled.
“Who’s in charge, Dolores?” shouted another.
“Who’s running the country?” a third demanded.
Chapter 58
The press secretary held up her hands, said, “Please, we are going to handle your questions as best we can, but today’s events are unprecedented and evolving at a rapid pace. We don’t yet know the president’s condition other than he is alive, as is the secretary of defense. We’re waiting and praying for them just like everyone else.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m going to introduce U.S. attorney general Samuel Larkin, FBI director Derek Sanford, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Alan Hayes.”
The three men looked like they’d been through a firefight when they climbed onto the dais. Attorney General Larkin went to the lectern.
Larkin, a powerfully built man in his fifties, was no stranger to controversy or conflict. He’d had a reputation as a crusader and social climber when he was U.S. attorney for Lower Manhattan, and he often was accused of grandstanding in events. The late president, Catherine Grant, had named him to the post, and he’d had to survive a difficult nomination and confirmation process.
Since then he’d been an attorney general with remarkably good approval ratings, so good that James Hobbs had kept him on after taking the oath of office.
But that day Larkin was profoundly somber as he put on reading glasses and glanced at a prepared statement before looking straight at the cameras.
“President James B. Hobbs was shot by an unknown assailant this morning. Seconds before that attack, treasury secretary Abigail Bowman was shot and killed in cold blood in New York. Seconds after the president was shot, Secretary of Defense Harold Murphy was also severely wounded.”
He paused, looked down as if he could not believe what he was about to say, and then raised his head up and went on in a commanding voice. “Under the Twentieth and Twenty-Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and by the Succession Act of 1947, with the president incapacitated and the office of vice president vacant, power passes to the Speaker of the House, and if that office is vacant, to the Senate president pro tempore, and if that office is vacant, to the secretary of state. If that office is vacant, the secretary of the treasury assumes power. If that office is vacant, the secretary of defense is president.”
Larkin swallowed hard then firmed the set of his jaw. “It is my miserable task to inform the nation that West Virginia senator Arthur Jones, the Senate president pro tempore, died of a heart attack at GW Medical Center earlier this morning.”
He held up his hands, shouted, “Let me speak!”
The rabble quieted.
Larkin said, “I must also inform the nation that about an hour ago, at a quail-hunting ranch in West Texas, Speaker of the House Matthew Guilford and Secretary of State Aaron Deeds were assassinated by long-range snipers. We’ve only just gotten word.”
Gasps went up from a shocked press corps.
“It’s a coup,” I said in shock and awe. “A coup attempt in the United...”
“What does this mean?” a reporter shouted. “So who takes office?”