New Career on the Hill For Survivor of Killings

"I think the experience in Guyana just made me more fearless, because I believe that once you have looked death in the eye you're just not nearly as afraid," she said. "So there's a real sense that, once I survived, I didn't want grass to grow under my feet. And I didn't want to ever forget the lessons learned in that experience: You're just not guaranteed a tomorrow."

Ryan, whose constituents included members of the People's Temple, began investigating the cult after complaints from family members. The visiting delegation's suspicions were confirmed when a member slipped a note that read "help me get out" to an NBC reporter.

When Ryan tried to take some defectors with him, Jones ordered an attack at the airstrip that killed the congressman, an NBC cameraman, a San Francisco Examiner photographer and two others. Speier was shot five times on her right side.

While Speier and a couple of reporters who survived the attack awaited rescue, Jones launched the mass suicide at the compound.

Speier was flown to Andrews Air Force Base, where she underwent four hours of emergency surgery. Then came a grueling recovery period that included treatment for gas gangrene and about 10 more surgeries, including skin grafts.

She eventually recovered and, at 29, ran for Ryan's seat but lost to a Republican in a special election. Lantos claimed the seat in 1980 and held it until his death this year, making Washington the last place Speier thought she would end up.

"It's also very humbling, because it makes me realize, you know, that there's a plan out there, there's a plan for each of us. You're not always privy to it," Speier said.

But just before the Memorial Day recess, Speier learned the reality of life in the Capitol: No matter how well-known you may be at home, you're still just one of 435 in the House. Hoping to win a seat on the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, with its oversight of the technology and biotech issues important to her district, Speier instead was given a seat on the Financial Services panel.

Despite not getting her first choice, Speier said she is happy to have been assigned a committee after five weeks of waiting. "I kept telling people, 'come and visit me -- I have nothing to do,' " she said.