Her clothes were still neatly folded by the wall. Her pocketbook and wallet weren't there, nor was her ID lanyard. But there was one thing Griswold had not yet disposed of or hidden. One thing he hadn't counted on that she would ever need or use again.

With consummate effort, she sat on the edge of the tawdry cot and dressed herself. Then once again she stood. Her legs were stronger this time, more willing. She took a step toward the staircase, then halted. Her smile was vicious. The moment she had stopped believing would ever come was here.

"I'm coming for you, you son of a bitch," she rasped, testing the battery on Griswold's mistake, her two-way radio, then hooking it to her belt. "I'm coming for you."

CHAPTER 58

Three hours to go.

So far so good.

The mantra had started up again of its own accord as Gabe adjusted himself in the saddle of a muscular black stallion named Grendel, opened the trail map that the stable head, Joe Rizzo, had given him, and headed off into the state forest to plan where he and the president might break away from his Secret Service guardians. Gabe had parked the Impala in town and taken a cab to the visitors' entrance to Camp David. Then, cleared for entry by the president, he walked straight through the 125-acre compound and out the guarded north entrance to the nearby stables.

There would probably be three agents accompanying them on their ride, Drew had said—all decent riders and armed with handguns that they knew quite well how to use. If things went as Gabe projected, by the time the agents realized that their mounts were not responding to their commands to speed up and the president and his doctor weren't responding to their commands to slow down, they would be too confused and too far out of range to risk a shot. If he was wrong about that, the first shot one of the agents did take would undoubtedly be at him.

So far so good.

His concern for Alison remained acute, but for the moment there was nothing he could do, and the task ahead was daunting. There were so many variables to consider—so much that could go wrong. In just three hours, if things went as he hoped, he would have become the second most wanted man on the planet.