‘So how does it help to be outdoors?’
qhere’s a side yard. We’ll put the serving tables in a long
line at right angles to the wall of the building. Pass stuff out
through the kitchen window. Behind the serving table is the
wall of the yard. We’ll put Armstrong and his wife and four
agents in a line behind the servingtable, backs to the wall. We’ll
have the guests approach from the left, single file through
a screen of more agents. They’ll get their food and walk on
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inside to sit down and eat it. The television people will like it
better, too. Outside is always better for them. And there’ll be
orderly movement. Left to right along the table. Turkey from
Armstrong, stuffing from Mrs Armstrong. Move along, sit down
to eat. Easier to portray, visually.’
‘Upside?’ Stuyvesant asked.
‘Extensive,’ Froelich said. ‘Much better crowd security.
Nobody can pull a weapon before they get near Armstrong,
because they’re filtering through an agent screen the whole
time until they’re right across the table from him. Whereupon if
they wait to do it at that point, he’s got four agents right
alongside him.’
‘Downside?’
‘Limited. We’ll be screened on three sides by walls. But the
yard is open at the front. There’s a block of five-storey buildings
directly across the street. Old warehousing. The windows are
boarded, which is a huge bonus. But we’ll need to put an agent
on every roof. So we’ll have to forget the budget.’
Stuyvesant nodded. ‘We can do that. Good plan.’
Fhe weather helped us for once,’ Froelich said.
‘Is this basically a conventional plan?’ Bannon asked. ‘Like
normal Secret Service thinking?’
‘I don’t really want to comment on that,’ Froelich said. ‘Secret
Service doesn’t discuss procedure.’
‘Work with me, ma’am,’ Bannon said. ‘We’re all on the same
side here.’
‘You can tell him,’ Stuyvesant said. ‘We’re already in hip
deep.’
Froelich shrugged. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I guess it’s a conventional
plan. Place like that, we’re pretty limited for options. Why are
you asking?’
‘Because we’ve done a lot of work on this,’ Bannon said. ‘A lot
of thinking.’
‘And?’ Stuyvesant said.
‘We’re looking at four specific factors here. First, this all
started seventeen days ago, correct?’
Stuyvesant nodded.
‘And who’s hurting?’ Bannon asked, ffnat’s the first
question. Second, think about the demonstration homicides out
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in Minnesota and Colorado. How were you alerted? That’s the
second question. Third, what were the weapons used out there?
And fourth, how did the last message end up on Ms Froelich’s
hallway floor?’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying all four factors point in one single direction.’
‘What direction?’
‘what’s the purpose behind the messages?’
°They’re threats,’ Froelich said.
‘Who are they threatening?’
‘Armstrong, of course.’
‘Are they? Some were addressed to you, and some were
addressed to him. But has he seen any of them? Even the ones
addressed directly to him? Does he even know anything about
them?’
‘We never tell our protectees. That’s policy, always has been.’
‘So Armstrong’s not sweating, is he? Who’s sweating?’
‘We are.’
‘So are the messages really aimed at Armstrong, or are they
really aimed at the United States Secret Service? In a real-world
sense?’
Froelich said nothing.
‘OK,’ Bannon said. ‘Now think about Minnesota and
Colorado. Hell of a demonstration. Not easy to stage. Whoever
you are, shooting people down takes nerve and skill and care
and thought and preparation. Not easy. Not something you
undertake lightly. But they undertook it, because they had
some kind of point to make. Then what did they do? How did
they tip you off? How did they tell you where to look?’
¢I’hey didn’t.’
‘Exactly,’ Bannon said. ‘They went to all that trouble, took all
that risk, and then they sat back and did nothing at all. They
just waited. And sure enough, the NCIC reports were filed by
the local police departments, and the FBI computers scanned
through NCIC like they’re programmed to do, and they spotted
the word Armstrong like they’re programmed to do, and we
called you with the good news.’
‘So?’
‘So tell me, how many Joe Publics would know all that would
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happen? How many Joe Publics would sit back and take the risk