Chapter 20
“Did we get to them all?” Director Brown asked.
“We did, sir. By the grace of God, we did,” Frayer answered. “And we now have evidence. Real evidence.”
“Multiple medications, filled by the Penrods, that either contained the wrong dosage, the wrong medication, or outright poison,” Agent Steele said.
“And the girl thought of it?” the director asked. “Not a single one of our trained agents?”
“She’s faster than we are,” Chen said. “Much faster at linking connections than average or even above-average humans. While this was going on, I had her run through some assessing programs. Software that measures these kinds of cognitive functions. She killed it. Her intuition—that is, her non-conscious pattern recognition skill—is off the charts, as is her conscious skill in the same area. But it doesn’t seem to interfere with her executive functioning the way ADHD might.
In short, she has creativity and hyperfocus without lapses in judgement, and what I am starting to think might be the most phenomenal memory ever tested.
It’s a frankly extraordinary combination. ”
“And she has this because…?”
“Her brain is wired differently. Her neural networks link up in ways most peoples don’t.”
“So, incredibly rare?” Brown asked.
“Like one in eight billion rare. She made an offhand comment to Red and possibly saved twenty-seven lives,” Chen said.
“Well, it’s going to cost us,” Brown said. “Taylor Coors is insisting that she be compensated for her consultation work at a rate that exceeds her protection and housing costs.”
“She’s worried that Cramer will be able to convince the powers that be to hand her over to him,” Agent Carmine said.
“Not happening,” Director Brown said. “I updated the president personally and gave her full props for all of her insights. He’s also heard from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I don’t know exactly what they said, but he seemed a little shaken by it.
My orders, and therefore yours, are to protect her from any and all threats.
She is not to leave this facility without presidential authorization.
If anyone shows up from any source claiming authority to move her, they do not have it. ”
“Presidential authority, sir?” Agent Frayer asked. “I’ve never heard of that for something like this.”
“None of us have. But then, I do not think we’ve ever met a young lady like our Hellcat.”
“I got the backstory on that nickname sir,” Agent Kessler said.
“One of my contacts in the 75th. Apparently, her father asked some Rangers to essentially, ah, rape-proof her at fourteen or fifteen years old. It was a mix of male and female soldiers he chose to work with her on extreme self-defense skills. The final exercise they put her through was realistic… maybe too realistic: two soldiers attempting to abduct her. She fought back so hard, one Ranger lost two teeth and the other had a broken instep. The toothless one swore it was like fighting a hellcat.”
“What did she do? Kick his teeth out?”
“She made herself a belt with a pouch on one end that holds a bunch of coins,” Kessler said. “Swung it like a flail.”
“Hmm, unexpected,” Brown said. “Okay, back to the pharmacists… are they in custody? The White House wants a press conference to break this story, but they want every aspect controlled and locked down.”
“We have the Penrods,” Frayer said. “We also have enough evidence from the rescues that we just made to charge them with multiple counts of attempted murder, but we are rapidly finding evidence to support murder charges for at least six of the people they killed. There should be much, much more as we review autopsies and toxicology reports and interview families of the deceased for any other medications that haven’t been destroyed yet. ”
“Sir, one thing though,” Agent Steele said. “With this level of FBI activity all across the country, the press is sure to get wind of it soon. The president won’t want to wait long.”
“I’m leaving for the White House right after this meeting. Oh, on another note, you may have noticed that AD Shire is missing from this meeting. I’ve reassigned her to other duties. For the time being, I will oversee the Triple Threat Task Force myself.”
His announcement was met with a chorus of affirmatives. “Okay, carry on. There’s much to do,” he said, and the meeting adjourned.