I see the cop touching the rear hatch of the car. He’s leaving his prints just in case our interaction turns violent.

“Garrett, stop! Sit up and put your hands on the dashboard!” The last thing we need is for the cop to think that he’s reaching for a weapon.

Keep cool, I think. Keep cool.

The cop raps his knuckles on my window.

I move my hand slowly to the button and lower it.

He peers into the car. “License and registration, please.”

The police officer stands at an angle to the car. Bladed, they call it. To present a smaller target. His right hand rests on the butt of his pistol. A nine-millimeter Glock.

I give him my driver’s license, then return my hands to the steering wheel. I’m working hard to keep it all under control.

Garrett reaches over me. “Here is the registration, Officer. It was under the owner’s manual.”

The officer looks at it and grunts. “You Garrett Wilson?”

“I am.” Garrett passes over his own driver’s license.

“Don’t move,” says the cop. He takes our IDs and heads back to his car. I close my eyes, trying to manage my breathing.

I open my eyes. The cop comes back and hands over our licenses and Garrett’s registration. And a citation.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“You failed to come to a complete stop when you exited the highway.”

I give him a polite smile. “I don’t think that’s correct.”

“Then I guess it’s your thoughts against my dashcam,” the cop says, and he leans down and smiles. “You two have a good night.”

I watch him leave in my rearview mirror. I take a deep breath.

Still not a statistic.

CHAPTER
13

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

President Madeline Wright is in a private elevator at Walter Reed in Bethesda, Maryland.

She’s riding up to the highly secure seventh floor of the hospital. With her are two Secret Service agents and the ever-present military officer—today it’s a young navy lieutenant—carrying the nuclear football.

Maddy had quietly left the White House in a black Suburban, discreetly followed by another Suburban. She could feel the tension among her Secret Service detail. They much preferred the protection of the heavily armored Beast, but she wasn’t going to make a goddamn parade out of this. She was heading for a private meeting. And a personal one.

The elevator stops; the doors slide open. The staff at the nurses’ station spring to their feet when they spot the president. Maddy nods and makes her way down the hall to the presidential suite. One of the agents pushes the door open, and Maddy walks in, unescorted.

Lying in the hospital bed is Ransom Faulkner, former US senator from Pennsylvania and now Maddy’s vice president. The room is filled with flowers, balloons, and dozens of get-well cards for the colon cancer patient.