Merrill Graves drove straight through from Frisco to L.A. in about 8 hours with the rest of the crew sleeping most of the way. They arrived in L.A. County on the 5 freeway a day after Childs had made his great escape, he felt a little guilty about not having been there but he knew there was nothing he could have done if he had been.
In another hour he was getting off the 405 at Wilshire to go to the Federal building to see the chief again. He was road weary and hungry but he figured he had better check in and try to get some back up. He knew it would be fruitless but he didn't know what else to try, he was sure he would dismiss him as mad, especially since Cathy and the kids but he was going to give it his best shot. Also he knew that the chief would have the bigger picture of what was going on as far as the actual occurrences and information that Graves himself had been disconnected from.
He pulled off the freeway and went around the corner to the Federal building, as he pulled up in front he saw immediately that there was trouble, and it must have just happened because he hadn't heard anything on the radio about it as he drove.
Just as he pulled up to the front of the building it came.
"We have to interrupt your programming for a special report. The Federal building at 14,000 Wilshire Blvd. which houses the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been severely damaged by a helicopter that evidently was trying to make an emergency landing at the nearby lawn adjacent to the building.
No word as yet to the extent of the damage, but we have been able to confirm that a large percentage of the offices that house the F.B.I. have been destroyed.
No report has been given as to yet of the injured or fatalities but the estimate we have guessed to be in excess of 50, there is no official word as yet. I repeat, there is no official word as to the extent of the damage or the injured or fatalities, we will break back in to your programming as soon as we learn anymore, we now return you to your normal programming" and the radio cut back to the middle of a song in progress...
"Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind"
Merrill just sat and stared at the busted corridor hanging halfway out of the medium high skyscraper right where the chief's office was. He knew, instinctively that the chief was one of the unconfirmed fatalities.