Chapter 15: National Cathedral

Sunday

THE OLD COUPLE HAD NO chance.

As soon as he heard them remove the chain, he’d shoved his way inside their apartment across Wisconsin Avenue from National Cathedral. When they saw his black mask and the knife in his hand they folded. Duct tape would keep them immobile and quiet on the sofa while he did his work.

It was going to be a bitch of a shot, at least two hundred yards with a slight elevation. He’d made a shot from this distance more than once, but each time was a challenge. No thermal drift today, not cold enough, thank god.

He kept well back from the window while he surveyed the crowd and the Secret Service and MPD teams. This time of year an open window would attract attention, so he’d have to open it slow and careful at the very last minute to avoid attention from the Secret Service spotters on the counter assault team.

The Senate minority leader’s memorial service at National Cathedral was by invitation, but those without an invitation knew to arrive early and the unreserved pews were full more than an hour before the service was to begin. The crowd beyond the police lines was a large one, mostly quiet. This was a memorial service, not a campaign event.

No one paid attention to the skinny white guy moving quietly on the edge of the crowd as he worked his way slowly toward the rope line. A couple of people felt something hard when the guy passed them, but that wasn’t unusual enough for them to take notice or tell anyone what they felt.

The president and his family were the last to arrive, moments after Raptor and her Secret Service escort moved up the cathedral steps. Their daughters in front of them, the president and his wife followed Raptor up to the cathedral entrance, where the girls stood to the side and the president and his wife greeted Raptor with gentle hugs. They talked quietly for a few moments, long enough for the press mob to photograph and video them. Raptor turned to the girls and greeted the younger daughter first. When Raptor moved to greet the older girl Echo One and Echo Three stepped away to avoid getting tangled up with the president’s detail.

In the apartment, the gunman knew the Secret Service agents would be distracted, if only for a moment, when the president and his family arrived the crowd surged. He opened the window slowly. The daughter, almost as tall as her dad, was an easy target, seemingly only a few feet away in his scope. Fuck that Vladimir guy and fuck Ed and his orders. Fuck the president, too. He’d go for the daughter and show her dad who was really in charge in this country.

Just as he began a smooth pull on the trigger the old bag behind him threw herself off the sofa, and the sound of her fall distracted him enough to send the shot high. He re-centered on the girl and fired again. In that same second the Secret Service assault team’s counterfire shredded the window and the gunman’s head and he never saw where his second shot went.

At the Cathedral entrance, the first gunshot galvanized the president’s protective detail. They swarmed the president while Echo Three, closest to Raptor and Sunshine, moved to cover Raptor. She didn’t make it. Her foot slipped on a piece of broken slate and she lost her balance. The second shot took Raptor in the chest when she stepped in front of Sunshine. Before she lost consciousness Raptor heard the explosion of automatic weapons fire, followed by screams.