The Serpent's Kiss

48

Agent Roger Kandling stood outside the McNamara Federal Building. Off to one side was a hideous piece of sculpture made out of junked cars. He had carefully set up the location for the press statement so the sculpture wasn’t in the background. There were about a dozen reporters and TV cameras present, all trained on him. Kandling liked that he was going to be seen on TV. He thought it was possible the publicity might help his career. He only wished that the information he was going to give wasn’t so dicey. He wished that he didn’t have the feeling that Matt Gray was covering his own ass and tossing him a political anchor to try and swim with.

Kandling held up his hands. “I’m Special Agent Roger Kandling, with the Detroit field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have a statement to make regarding the sarin gas attacks, the pursuit of the terrorist calling himself The Serpent, and the shooting at the Medical Center earlier. Then we’ll have time for questions.”

The reporters focused on him. He cleared his throat. “As you know, a terrorist calling himself The Serpent has conducted two separate attacks on civilians using sarin gas. The first was at 8:00 A.M. at the Boulevard Café on West Grand Boulevard. There was no warning or provocation. At 10:30 A.M. The Serpent contacted a producer with WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, who was onsite at the Boulevard Café. Using an electronic device to modify his voice, The Serpent demanded that three million dollars be wired into a Bermuda bank account by 11:45 A.M. or he would set off another gas attack at noon.”

“Has the Bureau contacted the Bank of Bermuda Limited and discovered anything about who opened the account?” shouted a reporter with NBC. A clamor of questions from everybody else followed.

Kandling held up his hands for quiet. “As I said earlier, I will make a statement—“

”Was Agent Frank McMillan The Serpent?” shouted a CNN reporter.

More shouts. Kandling felt like things were getting out of hand. A tiny claw of panic gripped his heart and squeezed. He had to get this back under control. Somebody else shouted, “Does the Bureau have any other suspects beside Frank McMillan?”

He seized on the question, pointing to the reporter, a blonde woman with FOX. “The Bureau has a number of ‘people of interest,’ that it is investigating. One of those is…” He hesitated. This was bad. He’d known it before and he knew it now. But they were all watching him so closely. “One of those is Agent Derek Stillwater with the Department of Homeland Security. As some of you may know, Agent Stillwater was involved in the White House attack last month and in the U.S. Immunological attacks. He is currently under investigation by the Bureau and the Justice Department for questionable behavior during those events. Stillwater is an expert in biological and chemical warfare and terrorism and is considered by many in these areas of expertise to be a loose cannon.”

They began to shout, but everybody suddenly looked skyward as helicopters swooped overhead. In the near distance, sirens grew louder. The cameramen lost their interest in Kandling and focused on the helicopters, which were circling the area.

Then a dozen squad cars appeared from every direction, lights flashing, sirens blaring, screeching to a halt in a wide perimeter around that part of the downtown area. Cops began to flood the streets, shouting into walkie-talkies.

“Agent Kandling,” shouted Steve Shay, with WXYZ. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Kandling could only stare dumfounded, unsure how to react as a SWAT cop in full combat gear carrying an assault rifle raced toward them.