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6:32 p.m. I derived other times from various medical files (the time of the X-ray in the operating room, for example, is noted in the anesthesia record), Gens notes, and the recollections of other participants. Giordano and Gens believe the belly tap took about thirty minutes, but Gens notes and the anesthesia record indicate the procedure lasted until about 4:30, an hour-long span that may also have included time waiting for lab results and other nonsurgical matters. The anesthesia record, Gens notes, and interviews with Gens and Aaron indicate that chest surgery started at approximately 4:45 p.m.

For several minutes: Allen tapes.

Richard Allen was only half listening: Interview with Allen.

Baker appeared no worse: Allen tapes; interview with Allen; photos of men in Situation Room, RRPL.

At 6:45: OR circulating record.

made only a brief stop: Colombani notes. Tim McCarthy’s surgery went quickly and smoothly. Colombani, the doctor who initially treated him, and Dr. Neofytos Tsangaris opened up the agent’s abdomen, removed collecting blood, and repaired damaged tissue. The bullet had entered just below McCarthy’s right pectoral muscle, then ripped through his lung and diaphragm, pierced the liver, and lodged in his right flank. After stitching up the damaged tissue and cauterized bleeding vessels, Colombani was about to sew up the hole in the diaphragm when he announced that the surgery was nearly over.

“What?” said a Secret Service agent standing behind him. “We need the bullet.”

“Why do you need the bullet?” Colombani asked.

“We need it for ballistics.”

“But you have the guy who shot them.”

The agent explained that Brady’s bullet had fragmented and that Reagan’s appeared to be distorted. Colombani shrugged, probed McCarthy’s flank muscles, retrieved the bullet, and dropped it with a clink into a metal specimen pan.

before being transferred: Tim McCarthy spent the night in the intensive care unit. When McCarthy came out of anesthesia, his friend Trainor, the agent who won the coin flip contest and thus avoided duty at the Hilton, was at his bedside.

“That’s the last time I’ll ever flip with you again,” McCarthy said.

“Yeah, Timmy,” Trainor said, “but you’re a hero.”

Reagan was parked feetfirst: Interview with Denise Sullivan.

At about 7:15, as he began: Interview with Sullivan; progress notes from the recovery room.

“Mr. Reagan,” she said: Interview with Cathy Edmondson.

As Reagan slowly began: Interview with Edmondson and Sullivan.

decided to treat Reagan: Interview with Sullivan.

“I’m going to ask you”: Interview with Sullivan.

He and his wife were eating: Interview with Ron Reagan; “President’s Son May Perform,” AP, March 31, 1981.

“I’m so frightened,” she said: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 9.

“Don’t worry, Mom”: Interview with Ron Reagan.

slipped between the portable screens: Dr. Jack Zimmerman reflection.

“I love you,” she said: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 9.

“I can’t breathe … at all”: Interview with Parr. Jerry Parr put this note in the pocket of his surgical scrubs and found it years later in his attic. He mailed the note to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, but it does not appear to have the note. Nancy Reagan also described the note in My Turn (p. 9).

“He can’t breathe!”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 8.

Ron tried to reassure: Interview with Ron Reagan.

“photography of Soviet”: CIA memorandum, March 30, 1981.

The FBI agents leading: Government psychiatric report; interviews with Colo and George Chmiel. FBI agent Henry Ragle told government psychiatrists that Hinckley was “probably the politest fellow I have ever arrested,” according to the government psychiatric report. Colo and Chmiel agreed with that assessment. Descriptions of Chmiel and Ragle came from former agents in the Washington field office, including Richard Qulia, who also spent time with Hinckley that day. Ragle died in 2003.

The first agent: Interview with Chmiel. Chmiel did not put this exchange in any report. Agents were so worried about accomplices that they succeeded in