As soon as the whirling began to diminish, the doors opened and the suits were waiting. A tall man with short gray hair followed her as she brushed past them, his long legs allowing him to keep up with her brisk pace.

“Where exactly did it happen?” she demanded.

“On the east side, on a service ramp, I’m told. Luckily no one heard or saw it.”

“No one heard a car crash and an agent get shot outside a federal building?”

“I asked the same question. It’s Sunday. If anyone is in downtown Memphis on the weekend, it’s on Beale Street. There’s also the distraction of a motel on fire at this moment.”

“Director Wolve, I cannot imagine how this could have been handled worse,” she said, walking into the building, the door held open for her by the accompanying agents. “And all I want to know is the location of my nephew.”

“Agent Hallow knows to give us a full briefing.”

“And my mother? Is she safe?”

“She’s been brought in. On her way to Washington now. She was not pleased. And as you anticipated, she was not alone. The woman…”

“Roxy Garth.”

“She had to be taken in as well. She threatened to put it all on social media.”

“And she would have. As I stated before: They are to both be treated with extreme care. Anything they need, they get. They’ll be furious that they are under constant watch, but as soon as I’ve addressed the mess you’ve made here, and made sure my nephew is safe, I’ll go to them.”

“That is the deal, Senator.”

“This way, ma’am,” one of the agents said, directing her to the elevator.

“And trust me on this,” Kate held up her finger as she stepped in. “My family will not stand for this. My sister is a well-connected journalist. My brother-in-law is a hell of a lawyer. We’re in for a battle on this one once they figure out my mother has been taken in. And just exactly how am I to explain this to them? That my nearly eighty-year-old mother is a potential deadly threat to all those around her?”

“You know what you’ve seen, Senator. We just have to determine why she hasn’t been activated like the others.”

The doors opened, and the agents led them down another empty hallway. At the end, they reached another office, where a man with an earpiece stood.

“Director, Mr. Hallow would like to see you for a moment—”

“He can see us both,” Kate said, striding over to the only other door in the room. “I assume he’s in there?”

“Ma’am—”

She opened the door to what had clearly become a war room in the last six hours. Along with multiple white Styrofoam coffee cups, laptops beside large monitors littered the room. Agents clustered around the screens.