The Detachment

we couldn’t see from our current position, but Dox had the window down now, the Wilson Combat just below it, and if Horton’s hands went anywhere we couldn’t see them, he’d have to be able to draw faster than Dox could shoot, which was another way of saying he’d be dead right there.
    We pulled up next to him and I indicated he should get in the front passenger seat. He nodded, but first courteously hiked up his pants to expose his ankles, then turned around so we could confirm he wasn’t carrying in the small of his back, either. He got in and I did a quick K-turn that would be the first of the maneuvers I would make to ensure we weren’t being followed. The bug detector was still.
    “I appreciate the two of you taking the time,” Horton said. “And let me say, nice work in Las Vegas. We’ll never know how many lives you saved and how many grievous injuries you prevented, but from what Shorrock was planning, probably it was thousands.”
    “Don’t thank me,” Dox said. “I’m just here to shoot you if something goes wrong.”
    Horton was smart enough not to mistake Dox’s genial tone for a lack of serious purpose. He said, “Well, then, let’s make sure nothing goes wrong.”
    I headed south on La Cienega, then kept us on neighborhood streets to weed out traffic. I judged it unlikely Horton would risk having us followed—he would have known that as our passenger he would literally have a gun to his head. Still, I stopped several times to make sure no one was behind us and did a few strategic U-turns, too. With Horton’s reach, of course, I couldn’t rule out satellite surveillance in addition to the more common vehicular variety, but that wasn’t an immediate threat and Dox and I could deal with the possibility later. I knew Horton might have seen and memorized the plates as we approached to pick him up, too, but I’d rented the car under an identity that wouldn’t lead back to me. As long as we were careful, we’d be all right.
    When I was satisfied no one was trying to tail us, I said, “If we’ve already saved all these lives, why do you need the other two plotters taken out, too?”
    Horton nodded as though expecting the question. “Shorrock was the tip of the spear, so he was the most important immediate target. But while the spear still exists, its tip can be relatively easily replaced. There are two more key players, the loss of whom will completely end anybody’s hopes of using false flag attacks as the basis for a power grab.”
    “Who?”
    “Are you interested?”
    “I can’t answer that if I don’t know who.”
    He paused, then said, “Have you heard of Jack Finch?”
    “No.”
    “He keeps a low profile for a man in a powerful position.”
    “Which is?”
    “The president’s counterterrorism advisor.”
    Dox laughed. “You sure do pick some hard targets. I’m afraid to ask who the third one might be.”
    Horton said, “Let’s just keep talking about them one at a time for now.”
    “What’s Finch’s role in the plot?” I asked.
    “Finch,” Horton said, “is what you might think of as an information broker.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning he is the modern incarnation of the illustrious J. Edgar Hoover, who as you might know maintained his position as head of the FBI for nearly half a century by amassing incriminating files on all the important players in Washington, including every president he served under.”
    Dox laughed again. “Sounds like old Murdoch and Fox News.”
    “In a sense,” Horton said, “it is. But more focused. And more extensive.”
    “What does any of that have to do with the coup?” I said.
    “The first step is the provocation, which was Shorrock’s department. After the provocation, though, the plotters need to ensure that certain key players in the government—the president, highly placed military and law enforcement personnel, and the judiciary, if there’s a challenge—support the president’s assumption of emergency powers in response to the crisis. You can see why this is critical. America is a big, fractious place. There are a number of people who want things to be run more efficiently, as they might put it. But not enough of them to guarantee success in the face of opposition.”
    “He’s got dirt on the president?” Dox said.
    Horton chuckled. “He has dirt on everybody. I told you, like Hoover. But Hoover didn’t have much more than phone taps and surveillance photos. Finch has intercepted email, Internet