Part 2: Chapters 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 Summary

Alex is disturbed by the rumor that FBI Director Burns has been shot dead but no one can confirm anything. He's relieved to get a call to go to the second floor, where he's led by guards to holding cells he didn't know existed to interview two prisoners. Alex sees two frightened black men in cammies who stink and need haircuts and shaves. He makes it clear to them this is a homicide investigation; he is their lifeline and they'd better tell him every detail.

Alex learns that they are drifters, Army veterans who live near Union Station. They had been hired by someone with an English accent who paid them $200 to do what they'd done. Alex reports this to two senior agents and asks them if Ron Burns had been killed. They tell him that the murder victim...