Laura 02 The God Code

by Anton Swanepoel

  “You are very confident that he will kill no one until he has spoken with the Pope? What are you not telling us?” Ernest is now sure Phil is hiding something.

  “Few people know this. Victor saved the Pope’s life some time back, and when the Pope asked him how he could repay him, he asked to be forgiven for all his killings. The Pope said that he could not. Now that he has taken a contract to kill the Pope, he will ask forgiveness before killing him.”

  “So who gave the order?” Sergio asks.

  “We do not know. Now, I have to go, Sergio will attend to your sleeping arrangements and wake you early to get in place before the Pope goes for his walk.” Phil can feel Ernest’s eyes burning into him.

  “One last thing, why not use the Italian COMSIBUN? Surely he has no contacts there?” Ernest quickly asks as Phil starts to leave.

  “Because of the possible mole in the Vatican. We cannot risk Victor knowing that we are waiting for him.” Phil walks away as he answers. Ernest is getting suspicious, and Phil cannot keep on lying under pressure, he decides it is best if he leaves. He also has to welcome another guest no one knows about.

  Carolina arrives with their water and Sam starts asking her questions about her job and her life. Clearly the two like each other, so Ernest leaves them alone.

  “What do you think about the plan?” Sergio asks.

  “I think it is stupid, too much hangs on what they think he will do and not what he might do. The Pope and you are too exposed. Phil seems too sure that Victor will not kill you, and also not kill the Pope at a distance, or tonight for that matter. I think there is more going on than he is letting us know.”

  “I feel the same.” Sergio relaxes a bit towards Ernest, trusting him more now that he is also against the plan, but both are now in the service of the Pope and have to do as asked.

  “Let me show you your room,” Sergio says.

  “Thank you.” Ernest walks over to Sam who immediately knows someone is approaching from behind by noting the change in Carolina’s body posture.

  “Sergio is going to show us to our rooms.”

  “I think I will stay a bit longer. Carolina is getting off work in an hour.”

  “Well, see you in the morning.”

  Ernest turns around and follows Sergio. “It’s about time Sam got a girl in his life.” Both men know that it might be their last night alive, and Sam is not going to let an opportunity pass. Ernest pats his pocket with his wallet that contains the picture of Shayna and his kids. He was hoping to be able to return home after saving the women.

  ***

  President Abraham can vaguely hear his name being called, and someone is shaking his shoulder. Slowly he wakes up, looking through tired eyes at his secretary.

  “Mr. President, I have an urgent message for you.” Abraham can see the concern on Dora’s face, and immediately knows that something is wrong. Abraham sits upright on the couch in his office and looks at his wrist watch. Only an hour has passed since he lay down to take a nap.

  “What’s so urgent Dora?”

  “It’s your wife and daughter Sir. They have been in an accident and are in hospital, I am so sorry.”

  Abraham jumps up, now wide awake. “How are they?” he asks as he grabs his coat.

  “Critical, but in a stable condition, your wife is in a coma, and they are operating on your daughter, she has bleeding on the brain and a collapsed lung.”

  Just then the Vice President rushes into the office.

  “I just got the news Mr. President, I am so sorry to hear about your family. I presumed that you would want to see them immediately. I have taken the liberty of arranging a car and security for you to take you to the hospital.”

  “Thank you, Will.” Abraham walks to the door of his office. Two armed men in black suits are already waiting for him outside. Abraham looks them up and down, confusion on his face. These are not my normal escort, who are they? Abraham turns towards William, who has already noted the President’s suspicion of the men.

  “They are new at the White House, the only ones I could find on such short notice, but they are good men and come highly recommended,” William says before the President can speak.

  Abraham nods, and then addresses the men, “Let’s go.”

  Quickly he makes his way to the basement parking where one of his black armored Mercedes is waiting for him. His driver is in the driver’s seat, while four guards are standing guard outside. Abraham looks at the four men standing guard. He does not recognize any of them. Glancing at the driver, Abraham is relieved to see his regular driver Lorance. One of the guards opens the door for Abraham and as he climbs in, the guard walks around and climbs in the front passenger seat. The remaining three guards immediately climb into two separate black armored Ford Explorers that are parked one in front and one behind the President’s car, drivers already waiting in the vehicles.

  “Good day Sir, I am sorry to hear about your family. I will have you at the hospital in no time at all,” Lorance says as Abraham enters the car. Abraham nods, but words fail him. Looking out of the front window, he sees the lead vehicle pull away. Lorance takes his foot off the brake pedal and presses the accelerator. The convoy pulls out of the back of the White House in the hope of avoiding the paparazzi constantly snooping around the White House waiting to get the picture of a lifetime. President Abraham stares out of the thick bulletproof tinted windows.

  He knows the four different routes to the hospital well, as he has been to the hospital many times in the past three years, for personal checkups and visiting family and friends. Ten minutes into the drive the radio suddenly comes alive.

  “Suspicious vehicle up ahead, deviating from current route, taking next left.” The voice over the secure two way radio system brings the President out of his thoughts. Looking past Lorance, he sees a black minivan parked two blocks away, facing them. The hood of the van is open, and it looks like two men are working on the engine.

  “Understood lead, primary copy,” the bodyguard in the passenger’s seat replies over the microphone.

  “Rear copy,” comes the reply from the last vehicle in the convoy.

  Abraham does not like that he is not asked if the deviation is ok with him. He understands that the men need to protect him, but his normal escort would have asked him out of courtesy.

  “Negative, continue on,” Abraham replies.

  “Sir, I highly suggest we-‘

  Abraham cuts the man off, “Continue on. That is an order.”

  “Yes Sir,” responds Lorance, grinning to the bodyguard.

  Suddenly the guard pulls his service pistol while commanding Lorance, “Take the next left.”

  Lorance is a highly skilled driver and reacts on instinct from years of training.

  As the guard brings the gun up to point it at his head, Lorence drops his right hand and unclips the guard’s seatbelt, then slams hard on the brakes. The guard is flung forward, hitting the car’s windscreen with his head. Suddenly Lorance presses the car’s accelerator to its maximum, causing the dazed guard to fall back in his seat. Lorance immediately swings his right hand over, palm open, hitting the guard in the throat, breaking his windpipe. The car is picking up speed fast and as the guard falls forward in his seat, dazed and choking, they pass the van on the opposite side of the road. When Lorance had slammed on the brakes, the two men had run to the back of the van and are now ready for them. As the car passes, they shoot at it with AK47 assault rifles. Lorance knows that it is a futile attempt, and immediately recognizes it as a distraction. Suddenly a man steps out from the sidewalk and fires an RPG at the front of the car. Lorance has just enough time to swerve, allowing the rocket to skim past the car and hit the rear vehicle. The grenade takes the vehicle in the center of the grill and explodes. The explosion causes the vehicle to be lifted 30 feet in the air, before dropping down in a ball of fire while still moving forward. If Lorance had not averted his attention from the men firing, he would not have seen the attacker. The man did
not expect to miss the car, nor did he expect the car to be speeding so fast. He desperately tries to get out of the way, but it is too late. The large Mercedes picks him up like a bull picks up a matador. His legs are crushed and ripped off, while his upper body is flung over the car, making a blood trail over the bonnet and windscreen. As his mangled body lands on the ground, the partially ripped apart vehicle in flames runs over his body, crushing it to a pulp.

  Lorance expertly slows the car at the next intersection, turning hard right with the car sliding through the turn. Smoke comes out of the back wheels as the big supercharged 6 liter V8 engine’s power causes the back wheels to break free when Lorance does a power slide through the turn, and then accelerates at full power down the road.

  “What is going on Lorance?” Abraham asks confused as soon as the car straightens out.

  “Sir, I think they are trying to kidnap you.”

  “But they are the Vice President’s security detail.”

  Lorance is about to reply when suddenly multiple large caliber armor piercing bullets rip into the bonnet, causing it to fling open, blocking the view. Smoke and steam pours from the engine bay. Lorance tries to keep the car under control and bring it safely to a halt, but his view is obscured and the car veers into an oncoming FedEx delivery van. The Mercedes’ weight is far more than the delivery van and pushes the van backwards over sixty feet. The safety features in the Mercedes protect Lorance and Abraham, but the driver of the delivery van is crushed to death.

  Abraham hits the airbag deploying out of the rear of the front seat and is half dazed, sustaining a light concussion. Lorance pushes his airbag away and to his horror sees a helicopter through the right side window, hovering close by. The sliding door on the side of the helicopter is open, and a man is stationed at a minigun bolted in the doorway.

  “We have to go Mr. President!” Lorance quickly opens his door, while pulling his service pistol.

  Keeping as low as possible, he opens the President’s door. Just as he helps Abraham out of the car, the lead convoy vehicle pulls up, tires screeching. Three men jump out and Lorance immediately shoots at them, killing one before they return fire and take cover behind their vehicle. Abraham ducks down behind the Mercedes at the rear, taking cover.

  “We can escape down the alley, this way Mr P-” Lorance’s words are cut short as the gunner in the helicopter opens up. Multiple .50 caliber armor piercing rounds slam into Lorance, causing his body to explode into a mangled heap of flesh.

  Within seconds the two remaining men of the escort are at Abraham’s side, dragging him to the waiting helicopter that has landed. Abraham resists and tries to punch the men, but they pistol whip him behind the head. Abraham almost loses consciousness, and faintly sees a police cruiser approaching with lights flashing and sirens on. Before the cruiser can get within 100 yards of the scene, the specially designed minigun opens up again, cutting the cruiser apart. Suddenly everything goes black for the President as a bag is pulled over his head. His arms are roughly pulled in front of him, and he can hear and feel the cable ties tightening around his wrists. He is then roughly picked up and thrown on the floor of the helicopter, where his feet are bound while the helicopter lifts off. Down below he can hear more police sirens, now getting fainter and fainter. The wind blowing through the helicopter stops as someone closes the side door.

  “This is the Police, land immediately!” sounds over the loudspeaker of the approaching police helicopter.

  Abraham’s heart sinks, the police do not stand a chance. Cold air rushes into the helicopter as the side door is opened again. Suddenly the sickening sound of the minigun spewing its hot lead towards the unsuspecting police helicopter mixes with the helicopter’s engine noise. The machine gun suddenly stops and for a second only the engine noise enters the open door, then suddenly an explosion comes from below as the police helicopter crashes into the ground. The door is closed a last time, and then Abraham passes out.

  Half an hour later, Vice President Wilburn stands smiling in the Situation Room while watching CCN on the main display, breaking the news that President Abraham has been kidnapped by unknown attackers. The room is quickly filling up with high ranking officials as they take their seats, including cabinet members. They are all there to confirm Wilburn temporarily becoming acting President. Exactly, as he planned.

  ***

  At the back entrance of the Vatican, Bartolomeo looks on as a black Ford Explorer with tinted windows pulls up to the gates Bartolomeo is guarding. The gate is only used by delivery vehicles, and he has no scheduled delivery. He also doubts that this is a delivery. Signaling with his right arm, he shows the driver that he needs to go around to the main entrance. Possibly a confused and lost driver, get a few of them a month.

  Slowly the back door opens and a man dressed in a black suit with a white tie steps out.

  “You are at the wrong gate.”

  “We are additional security for tomorrow’s event on the Pope’s orders.” Without waiting for a reply, the man walks to the rear of the vehicle, opens the tailgate and pulls out two gear bags.

  “I have no such information or orders,” Bartolomeo replies, looking at his schedule book.

  “It is okay, I will take them in.” Phil’s voice behind Bartolomeo startles him.

  “Evening Sir, I did not expect to see you here. I was not told about any people arriving tonight.” Bartolomeo is unsure why Sergio is not there to escort the people in, as he is the head of security not Phil.

  “It is special precautions for a threat on the Pope’s life, very few people know,” Phil replies, hoping Bartolomeo buys it.

  “Understood, but I still need authorization from Sergio, I will call him.” Bartolomeo pulls the two way radio from his belt and presses the button to talk.

  Bartolomeo’s face changes to confusion as he sees blood dripping on the radio. Slowly he looks up and is just in time to see a woman standing next to the vehicle with a Ruger 22 pistol in her hands. Andrea fires again, hitting Bartolomeo in the head, the shot silenced. As his body drops to the ground, Andrea walks forward until she is at the gate.

  “You Phil?”

  “Yyyess,” Phil stutters, looking at Bartolomeo’s body.

  “Open the gate then,” Andrea replies in a commanding tone.

  The first man brings the two gear bags to the gate and is joined by a second man in a black suit.

  Together they pick up Bartolomeo’s body and take it to the SUV. Phil follows their every move, unable to look away.

  “Hey you, moron, open the gate or you get the same!” Andrea is getting restless, they are too exposed.

  “The key, I need the key, on the guard’s body!”

  Andrea walks over to the SUV and searches Bartolomeo’s body, while the men quickly clean up the blood on the ground with water bottles. After finding the keys, Andrea walks over and opens the gate, then waits for the men to join her, bringing the gear. As she locks the gate again, Phil comments, “The security will know something is wrong in 20 minutes when he does not check in.”

  “Just blame it on Victor, say that the assassin must be here already.” Andrea picks up her bag as she speaks.

  “No, if Sergio hears that one of his guards has been killed, he will not allow us to proceed with our plans. They will cancel tomorrow’s service and the whole place will be crawling with guards.”

  Thinking for a second, Andrea signals the driver of the SUV to climb out, then waits until he reaches the gate before speaking.

  “Change of plan, park the vehicle down the road and then change into the guard’s uniform. You will have to fool the security so that they are not alarmed.” The man only nods, then leaves to follow his orders.

  “Sorted, let’s go,” Andrea commands.

  “You can stay in my room, you will not be disturbed. Tomorrow you can sneak into the garden,” Phil comments, and starts to lead the way to his private room.

  “No, take us into the garden. There is too much risk of being spotte
d in the day.”

  “Okay, this way. Stay with me, I will show you where there are no security cameras, and of the ones there are, which ones are normally ignored by the Monitor Room.”

  Phil leads Andrea and her two assistants through a maze of buildings and dark passages, until they come to the garden.

  “Where will the Pope be exposed?” Andrea asks.

  “The Pope is brought into the garden by armored car, up to this point where he will then get out and briefly pray at the altar. From there he normally makes a short walk in the garden with two armed guards while the car follows close by. When the Pope is done, the car will pick him up on signal from the guards and take him back for him to prepare for the service. This is where we think Victor will approach him, your opportunity to kill them both.”

  “We will kill the Pope, Victor, the guards, and the American team. We will not leave any survivors to tell what really happened,” Andrea replies coldly.

  Phil freezes for a moment, then replies, “Just make it look like Victor killed the Pope and the guards.”

  “I know my job, now leave, or I add you to the list,” Andrea replies angrily.

  Phil suddenly feels a cold chill running up his spine and hastily leaves the garden for the safety of his room. As he walks down the last corridor to his room, Sergio comes up behind him.

  “Phil, a word with you.” Sergio suddenly talking behind Phil almost makes him jump, but he holds his composure.

  “Yes, what is it?” Phil is tired and irritated; so much depends on everything running smoothly.

  “We are the Papal Swiss Guard. We have been protecting the Pope for hundreds of years, and will continue to do so for eternity. We should be protecting the Pope, not outside people.” Sergio is fuming. He wants to punch Phil if only he could.