Spitfire and the Troubleshooters (1986 series) #6

At a rural farm outside Boston, the terrorist Arun Bahkti — code name Steel Hawk — tests his recovered leg by running a brutal obstacle course. An observer from The Club, the shadowy organization that employs him, watches approvingly and briefs him on his next assignment: the assassination of the visiting British Prime Minister, whose death is to be blamed on Middle Eastern extremists.

At the Massachusetts Commonwealth Courthouse, the murder case against Jennifer Swensen is dismissed when the District Attorney, under pressure from a mystery witness threatening to testify for the defense, drops all charges. Outside, the Troubleshooters — Terry Roberts, Eduardo Ghiotti, Andy Straczynski, Chin, and Ferris — celebrate Jenny's freedom. The reunion turns bittersweet when Eduardo lashes out at Terry for the feelings she admitted during the trial, and Terry runs off in tears, overwhelmed by emotions she cannot control.

Jenny encounters Senator Hurt in the street, who makes clear he still considers her guilty but has dropped charges for political reasons. She dismisses him coldly. Nearby, The Club's representative observes the scene from a van, pleased that Jenny confronted the Senator publicly — and noting coldly that she will soon have to die.

Jenny rides with her lawyer Bernie and reflects on how the destruction of the Spitfire armor has meant the betrayal of her father's dream. Their car is stopped briefly by a meter maid; the driver — Steel Hawk — snaps the officer's hand and flees. Back at the M.I.T. dorm, the Troubleshooters regroup and agree to take covert action. They plan to use Teresa's M.A.X. suit's Think-Tank to tap into the police computer system and find the killer who attacked Jenny and murdered Fritz Krotze.

That night at Boston Common, Steel Hawk disguises himself as an electrician and rigs a bomb to the Christmas tree display. The British Prime Minister is scheduled to light the tree the following evening. Meanwhile, Teresa jacks into the police database and navigates the data-stream as an electronic hallucination. She stumbles across the meter maid's incident report — the broken hand, the van — and cross-references it with the description Jenny gave police of her own attacker. The van had a partial bumper sticker reading "TAREYTOWN," which the Think-Tank uses to pinpoint Steel Hawk's location: a farm in Tareytown Heights.

Ignoring Jenny's warning to stay out of trouble, Terry and Giotti drive to Tareytown Heights. The rest of the team follows in their M.A.X. suits. Steel Hawk's farm turns out to be a fully automated killing ground, and Giotti is hit by an electrical booby trap. The others arrive in time, and Andrew fires his new Beam-Splitter weapon, destroying the barn's grenade magazine in a massive explosion. The team enters the farmhouse and discovers blood on the wall and a steel bat — almost certainly the murder weapon used on Krotze.

Unable to reach Detective Sloan by phone, the Troubleshooters discover schematics and news clippings about the Prime Minister's visit in Steel Hawk's files: he has rigged a bomb to go off when she lights the Christmas tree. With twenty-nine minutes before the ceremony, Terry puts aside her anger and calls Jenny. Jenny agrees to keep their secret and pass the information to Sloan, while the Troubleshooters race to Boston Common. As the clock strikes 5:59 P.M., the Prime Minister steps forward to throw the switch — and Steel Hawk watches with a cold smile.