Chapter 52

Friday, July 9

Washington

12:16 pm GMT, 8:16 am Local

Logan spent thirteen days being bounced from one law enforcement agency to another, grilled by dozens of special agents, and some who weren’t very special at all. FBI, Homeland, DC Metro Police, the State Department—any and every agency that had even a remote interest in the attempted, but unsuccessful, assassination of President Mitchell—made him swear on a Bible and reveal all he knew.

While all this was going on, Hilton Clark managed to convince his bosses and their bosses that, despite the allegations and the threat of potential federal charges, Logan could be a valuable asset to the paper. He had a unique perspective of an historic incident that no other reporter possessed and, once it finally was determined that he had taken down an assassin who had been paid handsomely to kill the Commander in Chief and disrupt the course of history, he quickly was lauded as a national hero.

Thirteen days after the events unfolded at the Mayflower Hotel, the Post printed two investigative pieces as part of a new contract that brought Logan back to fulltime status. He had to read them on his laptop because his limited finances didn’t permit him to subscribe to the printed version of the Washington Post. Until his first paycheck cleared the bank he still counted every quarter, drank cut-rate cabs, and used the password Hilton Clark had given him to access the newspaper’s online pay wall.

Justice Wheeler’s Death Ruled

Homicide After New Evidence Emerges

By Carter Logan, Washington Post Investigative Reporter

WASHINGTON, DC—July 9: The medical examiner for the District of Columbia yesterday revised the cause of death of Supreme Court Justice Colin Wheeler from accidental asphyxia to homicide, following additional toxicology tests that revealed traces of succinylcholine chloride in the victim’s system.

The substance, also known as Quelicin, is a sterile, nonpyrogenic agent often used in emergency medical situations as a short-acting skeletal muscle relaxant. The district’s chief pathologist, Regina Thorpe, MD, said it is likely Wheeler had been injected with the drug in order to temporarily subdue him prior to his death. The substance was not previously found because routine autopsy procedures do not require the thorough blood analysis that would identify it in a victim’s system, she explained.

Additionally, one hundred twenty-six pornographic files found on a laptop computer belonging to Justice Wheeler were determined to have all been uploaded the night of his death. According to FBI digital forensic specialist Bruce Quinlan, the “create dates” for each of the images had been physically altered to make it appear that Justice Wheeler downloaded and installed them over an eighteen-month period.

The images were traced to several “Dark Web” chatrooms that cater to pedophiles and predators. Those websites have since been shut down, and fourteen individuals connected with them are in custody.

Federal authorities arrested Angela Wilde, previously charged in the attempted assassination of President Mitchell, for first-degree homicide in Justice Wheeler’s death, as well as conspiracy to commit homicide. Surveillance video shot the night of the murder at the Franklin Pierce Hotel shows a woman bearing a strong resemblance to Wilde leaving the hotel around the time of his death. A subsequent examination of Wilde’s apartment, leased on a month-to-month basis, turned up numerous items consistent with both assassination attempts.

Justice Department officials have refused to specify just what those objects might be.

Toxicology Tests Reveal Vice President Crittenden

Died From Novichok Attack; Russians Suspected

By Carter Logan, Washington Post Investigative Reporter

WASHINGTON, DC—July 9: The medical examiner for the District of Columbia confirmed today that Vice President James Crittenden died from coming in contact with Novichok, a highly toxic nerve agent created by the U.S.S.R. at the height of the Cold War.

Crittenden fell ill during the White House Media Dinner June 26, the same event where authorities say Angela Wilde attempted to assassinate President Frank Mitchell with an improvised explosive device.

Homeland Security officials and an FBI task force are investigating whether the two events were connected.

“Novichok is an extremely dangerous and sophisticated nerve agent, much more powerful than sarin or VX,” said Professor Howard Reese, a pharmacology expert at Georgetown University. “It is a highly toxic chemical that prevents the human nervous system from working properly. While known to be produced in different forms, they most often are made as a liquid, which can penetrate the skin easily.”

In Russian, the name “Novichok” translates to “newcomer.” The term applies to a series of highly advanced nerve compounds developed in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and ‘80s, under the code word Foliant. The production of these chemical weapons was revealed in the 1990s by Soviet scientist Vil Mirzayanov, who later defected to the U.S. and published the chemical formula in a report titled State Secrets.

Vice President Crittenden is believed to have come into contact with the nerve agent after repeatedly cleaning his hands with a well-known over-the-counter sanitizing product. A small bottle of the solution was found in the pocket of his tuxedo jacket, and subsequent forensic analysis found it contained a high concentration of the nerve agent. How the substance came to be in the bottle found in Crittenden’s pocket is not known.

Because of Novichok’s Soviet origins, and since it is not known to be produced anywhere except Russia, U.S. officials believe that country likely was involved with the attack on the vice president. President Mitchell is examining several options to redress the situation, including economic sanctions and other political and military measures.

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Noskov said his country had absolutely no involvement in this heinous attack on the American government or its highly respected officials, and was “insulted that anyone would suspect our complicity in any way.” In a strongly worded denial, he insisted that neither Russia, nor the Soviet Union before that, has ever been involved in the development of nerve agents that “in any way resemble the compound the west insists on calling Novichok.”

He went on to say that the nerve agent used in the attack on the vice president could have been manufactured in the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Israel, or even the United States.

Not to be outdone, Hilton Clark weighed in with his own report the same day:

Suspect In President’s Assassination Attempt

Found Dead In Jail Cell In Apparent Suicide

By Hilton Clark, Deputy Managing Editor

WASHINGTON, DC—July 12: Angela Wilde, the suspect in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate President Frank Mitchell seventeen days ago at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, was found dead this morning in her jail cell at the Federal Correctional Facility in Southeast Washington.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson, a corrections officer on a routine prisoner check discovered Wilde unresponsive just after six o’clock, and attempted to resuscitate her. The suspect subsequently was transported to George Washington University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead from cardiac arrest.

An initial investigation revealed the deceased tied a strip of her bedsheet around her neck and threw herself off the top bunk, which was empty at the time.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Grimshaw said he was “appalled” that such a high-profile suspect could possibly have taken her own life while in federal custody. “Not since the Jeffrey Epstein case has such an egregious oversight occurred, resulting in the death of a prisoner,” he said. “The investigation into the suspect’s involvement in a plan to assassinate the President of the United States, as well as the murder of Supreme Court Justice Colin Wheeler, will continue.”

Wilde was observed fleeing the Mayflower Hotel just seconds after a small explosive device was detonated in the Grand Ballroom. The suspect is believed to have planted the IED under the president’s collar earlier in the evening, while she was posing as a media image adviser. Several Secret Service agents have said they saw her in close physical contact with the president in an ad hoc green room prior to the White House Media Dinner, and traces of cyclonite, a component of the powerful explosive C4, were found in her apartment after she was arrested.

Secret Service Director Donald Poole has accepted full responsibility for failing to detect the murder plot, and tendered his resignation the following day. However, according to multiple unnamed White House sources, President Mitchell reportedly has refused to accept it.

Washington Post investigative reporter Carter Logan noticed the suspect fleeing the hotel at the time of the explosion, and followed her on foot. He chased her several blocks north to St. Matthews Court, where he and a pedestrian, Harold Jackson, of New Carrollton, tackled her to the ground.

Initially arrested as a co-conspirator in the assassination attempt, Logan explained to federal authorities that Wilde had tried to kill him the night before after he learned she might have been involved in the death of Justice Wheeler earlier in the week. Surveillance video from the lobby of the Franklin Pierce Hotel confirmed his suspicions, and Wilde was charged with murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder in the Wheeler case.

Justice Department officials believe Wilde was hired by an unknown party to kill both men, but declined to say anything further, pending an ongoing investigation.

Logan was subsequently released from federal custody and allowed to return home. He has since returned to his fulltime job at the Post.