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“Where did you shoot him?”
“Once in each knee.”
“That’s only twice. You said you shot him four times.”
“And then in each hand.”
“So you crucified him.”
“No. If I’d shot him in the feet I would have crucified him.”
Kennedy was starting to figure out how bad this would look. “Don’t you think you might have gone a bit overboard?”
“Irene, I’m going to say this one more time. I’m the one out here risking my ass to hunt this guy down. I’d just seen him kill two men in the span of about ten minutes and neither of them had a chance. This guy is good. I was the one on-site. I was the one who had to make the decision, and anyone who wants to second-guess me can go fuck themselves.”
“Including me?”
“Yes, including you, and President Hayes and President–Elect Alexander and anyone else who wants to armchair quarterback me. In fact, I’ll tell you what. The next time this shit happens you can all get off your bureaucratic asses, pick up a gun, and head out into the real world and see how you fare. You try taking a guy like Gazich, and he’ll put a bullet in your head before you finish uttering freeze.”
Kennedy clutched the phone in one hand and had the other one on her hip. She was staring straight ahead at the wood paneled wall and asked, “Are you done?”
“Yeah…I’m done. In fact as soon as I land, I’m on the next plane out.”
“What do you mean the next plane out?”
“The next plane out. The first plane I can get on that will get me as far away from Washington as possible.”
“You can’t do that, Mitch. You need to be debriefed by us, and then the FBI is going to want to talk to you.”
“Well, tough shit. I did the hard part. The rest of you can figure out how you’re going to run your circus because I’m not going to be a part of it.”
“You can’t do…” The line clicked and then went dead. Kennedy stared at the white handset for a second and shook her head. In all her years she had never known anyone who could so thoroughly annoy her as Mitch Rapp.
The main door to the conference room opened and the president entered with Alexander.
Hayes saw Kennedy holding the phone and asked, “Is that Mitch? Let me talk to him. I’d like to pass along my thanks, and I’m sure Josh would as well.”
Kennedy shook her head. “We’re having some technical problems.”
“Well let’s get them fixed. These guys down here are whizzes when it comes to that.”
“Maybe we should wait awhile. It sounded like he had his hands full.”
Hayes looked at Alexander and then back to Kennedy. “Fine. Maybe Mitch can stop by this week, and we can thank him personally.”
Kennedy looked the president in the eye, and uttered a polite but untruthful reply. “I’m sure he’d appreciate that, sir.”
20
41,000 FEET, NORTH ATLANTIC
R app was leaning forward, both hands placed flat against the bulkhead as if he was trying to push the plane through the air. His eyes were shut. His head down. Coleman and Stroble were up, standing in their stocking feet in the galley. They had been awakened by Rapp’s heated conversation with Kennedy. With sleep still in their eyes they looked at Rapp tentatively, unsure of what had him so pissed off. Brooks was standing in the aisle next to her seat, a look of deep concern on her face.
Coleman looked at Brooks for a clue. She shrugged and shook her head.
“Mitch,” Coleman asked, “what happened?”
Rapp didn’t bother to open his eyes or raise his head. “The politicians are involved.”
