Chapter 16: Redemption

Monday

PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER ESCAPES ATTACK
Washington, DC, October 29
By Deidre Holland, The Washington Post

The president’s elder daughter narrowly escaped serious injury or death on Sunday at National Cathedral when a gunman fired at her twice from an apartment window across Wisconsin Avenue before he was fatally shot by members of the Secret Service counter assault team. A second gunman in the crowd fired once before he was shot dead by the president’s backup detail and Metropolitan Police Detective Suzanne Fredericks.

The wife of the late Senate minority leader suffered serious but not life-threatening wounds when she moved in front of the president’s daughter after the nearest Secret Service agent slipped and fell. One Secret Service agent was also wounded, apparently by the second gunman.

The president and his family, along with leaders of the House and Senate and some members of the cabinet, were attending a memorial service at National Cathedral for the late Senate minority leader. As is common when the president’s daily schedule is announced, members of the news media as well as the public were gathered to observe the president’s arrival. Those who arrived too late to find seats inside gathered outside at the base of the cathedral steps.

Metropolitan Police and the Secret Service declined to identify either gunman pending further investigation, but police spokesman Angela Waters said both appeared to be members of Southern Tradition, an organization identified as a hate group by federal authorities and civil rights organizations. It appears the president’s daughter may have been the principal target of the assassination attempt rather than the president himself, but the motive for targeting the daughter is not yet known.

Documents found on the second gunman’s body led police and the Secret Service to an empty middle school classroom used by Southern Tradition, where materials indicated a carefully planned attempt to endanger the president and his family. In addition, police sources say there is evidence members of the group were responsible for the killing of the Senate minority leader and his companion on October 24. It is not known whether members of the group were linked to other organizations or individuals as well.

Waters announced an update on the investigation would be held on October 29 at 5:00 pm.

RAPTOR FINISHED READING THE ACCOUNT and put the paper on the bed in front of her. Echo Three had already visited her to tell her Echo One, wounded by the third shot, had been released from the hospital. According to Echo Three, even as the president’s protective detail hustled the president and his family into the sanctuary, the EMTs were treating Raptor and Echo One while the backup detail cleared the steps. Echo Three told her the second team and MPD Detective Suzanne Fredericks had shot the second gunman dead, and the counter assault team had neutralized the first gunman across Wisconsin Avenue.

Raptor didn’t really understand what made her move to protect Sunshine, only that she’d acted without thought when she saw Echo Three slip. A sudden image of the daughter she’d given up for adoption so many years ago came into her thoughts, and in that moment of recall and clarity Raptor came to see how her husband’s death had freed her from a race she hadn’t realized she was tired of running. At the same time she remembered her own childhood and adolescence and the slights she had endured. In the end she could not explain her action to protect the girl, but she knew it somehow was right.

Raptor scratched around her chest tube. The bullet had penetrated her right lung, but quick action by the EMTs had minimized further immediate damage. Raptor’s surgeon told her he would remove the chest tube as soon as he could, perhaps in the next couple of days. She would be out of the hospital in a week or so if everything went well.

The day before Raptor was to be discharged from the hospital, she had visitors.

“Patty, we cannot thank you enough. There are no words.”

Her name in Chinese, her real name, was Pei-Chang, but everyone outside her family had called her Patty since kindergarten.

The president stepped close to Raptor and hugged her. His wife was next, followed by their younger daughter. Sunshine stood back. When her turn came Sunshine trembled, but her hug was stronger and longer than the others.

“Thank you. I’m sorry you were hurt.”

Her bandage itched and pulled at her skin, but Raptor ignored it. She looked at Sunshine and smiled. Once more her thoughts turned to her own daughter, now a teenager like Sunshine. She felt tears start and squeezed her eyes shut to slow them, but they came anyway.

“It’s nothing. I’m glad to see you safe.”