What?
“Did he say ‘water’?” Zane’s voice rumbled in her ear.
Tessa twisted her head enough to speak to him. “Are you burning anywhere? How do you feel?”
He stood, then pulled her up beside him. All around them, agents and officers emerged from wherever they’d taken shelter.
“We have six in custody.” The SBI and SWAT teams had taken advantage of the chaos to breach the house. “The UAVs were filled with water and red food coloring. It looks like a bloodbath in here.”
Tessa groaned. They’d just run an entire operation to track down drones armed with water?
Then, “We’ve got bleach and ammonia in bulk. And ten more drones. Looks like they were in the process of filling them. It’s a miracle these idiots didn’t blow themselves up.”
28
“WE HAVE TO GET TOTHE AIRPORT SITE.”Tessa was already moving. “Can you imagine the terror if the other team were to get those drones in the air over the crowds?”
Zane checked his watch. “We’ll have a hard time getting there. There were people lining up along the motorcade route two hours ago. The crowds will be much larger by now.”
Tessa ran straight to the incident commander. “We have to get to the other site.”
“It looks like most of their arsenal is here,” he countered. “And they could dump a vat of bleach on the Beast, and it won’t harm the president.”
“I don’t think they ever planned to hit the president.”
“With all due respect, have you been reading the same reports I’ve been reading this week? Because their threats have specifically been against the president.”
“I’ve memorized every single one. And if you read them carefully, they don’t say they’re going to kill him. Or even harm him. They say they’re going to be sure he can’t be at the fundraiser. They say they’re going to disrupt everything. They say it will bebloody and brutal. We assumed they meant to come after him directly. But I think this was their plan all along.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Explain.”
“It’s bugged me ever since we learned about the drones.” Tessa pointed to the house. “This crowd has a serious beef with the president, but they’ve never shown any indication that they would kill him. Killing him—or anyone—goes against everything they claim to stand for.”
“Okay. I’m following you.”
“We assumed they’d gotten fed up and were prepared to take things to the next level. But what if their ‘next level’ was simply to incite fear and panic, but not to harm anyone?”
“They have bleach and ammonia in there. That would hurt. It could burn. Or explode.”
“Yes. It could. But they also had a lot of water, and the drones that came after us were just water. I’m not so sure they want to hurt anyone. But bleach and ammonia stink to high heaven, and it doesn’t take much to get the odor. You add a little bit of either to that red water, then spray it over a crowd?”
He clearly wasn’t convinced. “You’re making a lot of assumptions.”
“My assumptions are based on spending a week immersed in this crowd’s previous activities. It’s possible they knew that if they picked a location closer to tonight’s event, we would focus there. Which we did. But what if that was their goal all along? To distract us here long enough so they could have the drones ready to go along the motorcade route. The president is still two hours out, but the streets are crowded. They don’t have to attack the president directly. They wait until Air Force One is en route. Maybe even until it’s ready to land. Then they send out the drones and panic everyone in the streets.”
She looked at Zane. “What would happen if the president landed and Raleigh was in chaos?”
Zane took time to think about her question. “It wouldn’t be a given that they’d cancel. He’s highly motivated to attend tonight’s event, but he might turn around and go back.”
Tessa turned back to the incident commander. “And just like that, they would have succeeded.”
“But how could they hope to get away with it?”
Tessa snorted. “They’ve been arrested so many times it’s a wonder they have anyone left in their organization to stage a protest. It’s like a badge of honor with them. The people here probably volunteered, knowing there was a high likelihood they would be caught but believing the disruption would be worth it.”
Zane had to hand it to Tessa. Her theory had merit. In fact, after a week of confusion, it was the only version of events that came close to making sense.
“Sir, we have to get to that site and keep them from deploying those drones.” Tessa wasn’t pleading, but there was a passion in her eyes that couldn’t be denied.
