Outside of the Hoover building, the gray street was hot and pale in the noon sun, the sidewalk baking. From the various federal government buildings, workers on their lunch break were pouring out onto the hot concrete like ants from a burning nest.
“C’mon, Kit. Let’s get something to eat,” Ferguson said as he was about to climb back into the SUV on 10th Street.
“I can’t,” Kit said as she went to the rear door and grabbed her carry-on. “I need to... I need to take a walk or something.”
“I get it, Kit. Call me if you need anything, okay? I’m sorry. I know this hurts like hell but this is the battle, not the war. Okay? We’re going to rebound,” he said.
“Okay, Bill,” she said, unable to look him in the eye.
The Suburban had pulled out and Kit made it as far as the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue before she stopped and covered her mouth with her hands as she started crying.
She shook her head and bit at her lip as she looked out at the rush of the traffic, the flow of the people.
Weber really had won. He’d killed Dennis, shot her. And he was really going to get clean away with it. Instead of being cuffed he was probably at the Capitol Building right now being greeted like a rock star, getting seated by some name Congressman while some intern asked him if he’d like a cup of coffee or some water.
Justice was dead, she thought, stunned, as she looked back at the Hoover building. It was official now. After that meeting, it was official. She lived in a country where there were two tiers of justice. One for the rich and connected and one for everybody else.
Which made the purpose of her being in law enforcement what now? she wondered. To arrest only the little people? Round up the dissidents?
What the hell was she going to do? she wondered as she wiped at her eyes. What the hell was anyone supposed to do?
She’d managed to compose herself as she grabbed the handle of her rolling carry-on and was just about to head across the street when the Range Rover pulled up. She saw that its rear passenger window was already in the process of zipping downward.
When she saw who was inside of it, Kit’s eyes shot wide-open and something in her stomach dropped like a cable-snapped elevator.
Her breath caught as she stood there rooted to the concrete, thinking she was about to see the barrel of a pistol.
“Life’s just full of surprises, isn’t it, Kit?” Dawn Warner said.