Darkness had fallen by the time Christine O’Connor’s SUV, with two Protective Agents in the front, sped south on the George Washington Parkway en route to her home in the Clarendon district of Arlington. In a scenic outlook on the northbound side of the parkway, several cars were parked, with most of their former occupants clustered near the edge of the outlook taking in the picturesque view: the Potomac Heritage Trail winding along the near bank of the Potomac River, the Washington, D.C. skyline in the distance, and the black water in between, reflecting the yellow lights illuminating the river’s opposite bank.
Leaning against one of the parked cars was a man who noted the passing of a black Lincoln Navigator on the south side of the Parkway, which sent his thoughts into the past. Two months ago, he had crawled from the Potomac River onto the shore of Fort Foote Park in Fort Washington, Maryland, a heavily wooded area containing a neglected Civil War–era earthwork originally armed with twenty-five-ton cannons protecting the nation’s capital from ironclad ships sailing up the Potomac.
As he lay on the shore in the darkness, evaluating his condition—Jake Harrison had shot him three times and he’d lost a significant amount of blood during his mostly underwater swim across the river—he couldn’t get rid of the image seared into his mind: Trish Kendall’s body on the floor near Harrison’s feet, a bullet hole in her forehead and her eyes frozen open.
He knew the bullet came from his own pistol and that he had pulled the trigger, but neither of those details registered. The only thing that mattered was that Trish’s death was Harrison’s fault.
Several years ago, when Mixell had been released from prison, Harrison had been on his list of people and institutions upon which to take his revenge. In light of recent events, Harrison had moved to the top and there was a new name on the list: Christine O’Connor, who had convinced Harrison to help track him down.
It left a sour taste in his mouth—that his two best childhood friends were working against him. However, the revenge would be sweet.
Mixell smiled at the thought.