Winters looked at him, but said nothing.
“Barbara should hear about this from you,” Cronley said. “If she changes her mind about coming here tomorrow, which seems a distinct possibility, we’ll work something out.”
“I don’t have to go up there.”
“Consider it an order, Lieutenant, and say, ‘Yes, sir.’”
Winters shook his head and said, “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Colonel Mortimer Cohen trailed by a full colonel in pinks and greens and two stone-faced CIC agents walked into the room and to the table. The MP captain and Winters stood up. Cronley and Henderson did not.
“When I saw the ambulance, I was afraid it might be one of you,” he said.
“It almost was. My Horch looks like a sieve. A blood-covered sieve.”
“What the hell happened?” the MP colonel asked.
“Before this gets started, Colonel,” Henderson said, and handed him his credentials.
“As the senior DCI officer present, sir, I inform you that this incident involves national security, that the DCI is taking over this investigation, and that all details are classified Top Secret–Presidential. Do you understand that, sir? And you, Captain?”
“Colonel Cohen brought me up to speed on the DCI,” the MP colonel said. “Which then raises the question, why am I here?”
“To bring you up to speed on what happened, to tell you its classification, and to ask you to provide what assistance may be required.?
?
“I understand,” the colonel said.
“Okay, Jim,” Henderson said, “tell everybody what you told me.”
Augie Ziegler hurried into the room.
“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened? Are you all right, boss?”
“I’m doing as well as can be expected for someone who just shot a blond teenaged female in the forehead,” Cronley said. “And shot a guy I’d already put two bullets in once more. This time in the foot.”
“I told you, Jim, those were acts of self-defense,” Winters said. “And I meant it.”
“The guy, sure. The teenaged blonde? Hell, no. All she was doing was driving the Audi.”
“Mr. Cronley,” Henderson said, “I will not ask ‘what Audi?’ and instead ask you to start at the beginning.”
“Winters met me at the airport. We started for the hotel taking a back route that Casey came up with. We were a couple of miles down the road when we came up on a truck. A German truck. Tom couldn’t get around it.
“Then the truck slowed and stopped. We skidded into it.
“I looked over my shoulder and saw an Audi sports car, headlights off, pulling up right behind us. So I bailed out of the Horch as a man got out of the Audi and started shooting at us with a Schmeisser.
“I finally got my .45 out and shot at him. I thought he went down, but I wasn’t sure. I then emptied the .45 at the driver’s windshield, and then reloaded. Then I crawled up near the Audi, saw a boot on the ground, and put a round in it. The guy screamed, so I knew I hit him. I heard the truck drive off, and then I got up and had a look.”
“Where were you, Winters, during all this?” Cohen asked.
“Under the Horch. When Cronley rolled out the right side, I rolled out the left.”
“You didn’t have the opportunity to use your weapon? Super Spook did all the shooting?”
“I didn’t have a weapon, sir.”