Larison capped each of them in the back of the head, the two shots so rapid it sounded like a double tap. The lobby erupted in screaming and Dox and Manus spun and brought up pistols—Dox, the Wilson; Manus, presumably something he took from the guy he’d killed. They saw it was Larison and checked their flanks.
Dox turned to Manus. “I’ll get the woman. You two git!”
Larison scanned the lobby. Pandemonium. People stampeding toward the exit. “What if there are—”
“I’ll handle it. Just go!”
Dox strode into the restaurant. Larison thought, Fuck that. He caught up to Manus and looked inside. For a second, he thought the place was empty. Then he realized—everyone had taken cover under the tables.
Dox looked back at him. “Get the van!” he said. “I told you, I got this!”
Larison scanned the room. He didn’t see any problems but didn’t want to leave. But Dox was right. More important to have the van running and ready to go.
“Watch his back,” he said to Manus, and he was surprised to realize he trusted Manus to do it. “I’ll be in the van, right outside the entrance.”
chapter
thirty-four
DOX
Dox glanced around the restaurant. There wasn’t a person to be seen. Everyone was sheltering under the tables, even the waitstaff.
He thought about calling Hamilton’s name, but with all the shooting and panic she must have been terrified. What was she going to do? Stand up and say, Oh, here I am!
One of the tables by the windows had a laptop open on it alongside a sheaf of papers. Someone had been working there, obviously. Next to it was a half-eaten salad. Dox thought of the thin woman in the law firm website photo. He hustled over to the table and squatted next to it. There she was, shrunk back against the wall, looking at him fearfully.
“Sharon Hamilton?” he said, extending his hand. “Come with me if you want to live. Hah, I always wanted to say that. I loved it in those Terminator movies.”
She shook her head and pressed herself harder against the wall. Well, so much for breaking the ice with humor.
“My name’s Dox,” he said. “I’m with Alondra Diaz. She’s waiting outside. She was going to come in herself, but there were people here to ambush you and things got a little crazy. Anyway, they can’t harm anyone anymore, but there are others where they came from. You need to trust me, all right?”
She shook her head again.
“Ma’am, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m a friend. And with the people you’ve pissed off with those videos, believe me, you need one.”
She looked at him. He extended his hand further.
This time, she took it.
chapter
thirty-five
HOBBS
I don’t care what the media claims,” Hobbs said, his breath fogging in the cold night air. “And the crazies are going to believe whatever they like, facts be damned. I’m just telling you, I spoke with Judge Ricardo personally. No one presented him with an application for Schrader’s release. He didn’t issue a court order. The courts, and the DOJ, had nothing to do with it. The question is, who did?”
He and Devereaux were strolling on the Mall near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, their security details paralleling them front and back in the dark. The meeting had been Devereaux’s idea—he said he didn’t trust the secure phones, but Hobbs suspected it was because the man had grown so paranoid he was afraid anything said on the phone might be recorded by the other party. Certainly the same thought had crossed Hobbs’s mind, and more than once.