Return to Wardate

by Bill Cornwell

  ‘Right, the President I suppose!’ Nuttall chuckled.

  ‘Got it in one.’

  Shortly the skyscrapers of Washington DC came into view.

  ‘Zol, what length runway do you need to land this thing?’ asked Madeline.

  ‘For a bet, landed it once in 150 yards!’

  ‘Think you could do it in 115?’

  ‘Where’ve you got in mind?’

  ‘South lawn!’

  ‘Zol! No! Don’t even think about it,’ said Gemma.

  ‘I am thinking about it – I’m always up for a challenge,’ said Zol boldly - then promptly returned to the cockpit.

  ‘What’s all that about - the south lawn,’ asked Adam.

  ‘Kind of… the White House’s front garden,’ explained Madeline.

  Zol circled the plane as low as he dared around the grounds of the White house to make sure that the lawn was clear of people– it was. Only a few hundred feet off the ground, the wail of the two jet engines drowned out everyone’s conversations even thoughts, on the streets below. It was an unusual sight, nothing like this had ever happened such a short distance above the White house before. No one was particularly bothered about it being a terrorist attack – which, indeed, it could have been. Everyone was unknowingly under the influence of the ultrasound signal and hated themselves. Most wouldn’t have cared if the Learjet landed on top of them.

  The verdict was that it was going to be tight. Over the intercom, he told everyone to belt up and then lined the plane up for the approach. The speed and angle were critical, if he got it wrong, at best he could try again, at worst the plane would make a serious mess of the looming large white building. The plane slowed to such an extent that they appeared to be standing still in the air, hovering above the ground. The monument glided slowly past to their right, they were committed. The ground came in close and the South lawn was immediately in front of them. The approach angle had to be unusually steep - consequently the landing was heavy on the wet soft grass. The wing air brakes swung open and the engines screamed and then immediately throttled back, the end of the lawn was insight. Everyone held their breaths – even Poppy in her tank. Fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten yards to go and then the whole plane nose dived with the wheel brakes. Zol had downed the Learjet in a record breaking short distance.

  ‘We’re all going to get arrested now – you do know that, don’t you,’ said Adam.

  ‘That’s the plan,’ said Madeline.

  Sure enough, a dozen or so despondent, moody, irritable President’s special armed police were waiting as they alighted. Madeline wanted to say, take me to your leader - that would have sped things up a little but these special police were in no mood for frivolities. They were taken straight into a holding room in the east wing of the White house ready to be professionally interrogated. It was, after all, a pretty serious act of wilful damage. Not every day did a Learjet land on the President’s front garden and leave ugly ruts in what used to be a perfectly manicure lawn.

  There was now something that Madeline needed to sort out before the interrogations started. For the last few hours, from the body language and misplaced leadership, it was clear that Gemma thought she was the spokes person, the one in charge and the one who would save the world. Gemma was completely unaware of Madeline’s incredible abilities, her weaponry, her feistiness and her success rate in exterminating international bad guys - how could she be? A scantily clad, gorgeous promiscuous seductress, with no bulging muscles to speak of, just a jaw dropping figure and ‘come to bed’ eyes would surely just get in the way. Madeline naturally wanted to avoid making a scene or humiliating her - because of Gemma they were where they were in super quick time. The best way was to just show her.

  ‘Gemma there’s something you need to know about me,’ said Madeline.

  ‘You’re pregnant?!’ said Gemma patronisingly.

  Madeline was taken aback; she didn’t expect her to say that.

  ‘Why would you think that?’ snapped Madeline.

  ‘Ooh… where do I start… the dilated pupils, the heavy breathing, strange eating habits… shall I go on?’

  ‘I’m afraid you’re way off the mark. I can do many things but getting pregnant is one thing I can’t do – unless there’s something my makers haven’t told me.’

  ‘Your makers?’ said Gemma trying not to appear annoyed.

  She clearly was though. They were in this critical situation and this floozy, Madeline, was babbling about ‘makers’.

  ‘Yes, my makers. I want you all to stay here, keep your ear devices in, only I can do this now.’

  ‘Do what!?’ said Gemma, aghast.

  Madeline rubbed her thumb and forefinger together.

  ‘This…’

  A powerful blazing blue green light fired out of Madeline laser finger towards the door lock. This time the laser was on full power, not stun and the effects were dramatic. The singed door gently opened of its own accord and then Grayling fainted of his own accord. Gemma and Zol held each other tightly.

  ‘Won’t be long,’ said Madeline calmly. ‘Adam, sweetheart, explain it to them while I’m gone.’

  Chapter 27: Finding the President

  This was probably going to be the most confrontational thing she had ever done. She knew that you can’t just walk into the White house and ask to see the President. Normally she would have tried this simple approach but the officious security staff were wallowing in so much dejection and misery that they were utterly unhelpful. Clearly she would have to do it the hard and painful way. Getting in was easy; the lower floor area was open to the public. However with the security breach – private jet on the lawn – five suspected terrorists and so on, everyone was overly frisked.

  Many times before, Madeline had been frisked and the effect was always predictable, however this time it was done by a moody despairing post menopausal… woman. Madeline had previously turned her app off, moody despairing people may be easier to handle, she thought. The moody woman naturally failed to get aroused, she just dribbled a little. Madeline was eventually let in after her vital charging lead had been thoroughly examined and sniffed by an explosive sensitive dog. The miserable guide babbled to the miserable tourists and eventually told them what she wanted to know.

  ‘The upper floors are known as ‘the residence’. This is where the President and his family live…’

  ‘Excuse me, how do you access the upper floors… up these stairs?’ asked Madeline coyly.

  ‘No! They use the lifts for security reasons,’ the guide bawled back.

  Madeline waited for the guide and tourists to move on and then approached the foot of the lavishly wide and grand stairway – not too dissimilar to the one in Zol’s entrance hall in his mock Baroque seventeenth century chateaux. As the stairs were only guarded by a mere four security staff, a touch of sleeping gas should handle the situation nicely but she had to get close to them. They were surprisingly alert and instantly four hand guns were menacingly pointing at her. She knew her flirting and seduction skills were not going to work this time.

  ‘Stand back madam of we will fire,’ said an especially grouchy security guard.

  She didn’t.

  ‘Last chance madam, stand back of we will fire.’

  She continued to move still closer. A bullet bounced off her leg. A few seconds passed and then another bullet bounced off her other leg.

  ‘Boys, boys, control yourselves… oops… pardon me!’

  Madeline had farted, resulting in the four security men in a heap at the foot of the stairs, sleeping like babies. She had to be quick - she dashed up the flight of stairs. Meanwhile the gun fire had alerted the other security men and to make matters worse, the tourist party were flooding back into the room. Mayhem then ensued which was exactly what Madeline wanted.

  The President was somewhere on the upper floor, that much she knew but exactly where was unclear. She had no hope of accidentally stumbling upon where he was in such an enormous building but she was i
n a hurry. A plan formed in her head. Let the security guards take me to the President, she thought. Obviously that’s where the security guards would think she was heading, so she would follow them. Unfortunately for this plan to work she had to hide and let them get in front. She had demonstrated previously that she could squeeze her amazingly flexible and pliant body into the smallest of places. Then it was a washroom locker but unfortunately there was a severe lack of such a thing amid the luxurious and splendorous décor of the White House. Finally she found an unlocked door - she darted in hoping that the guards would pass by. Two of them did, but clearly they had all split up and gone in various directions - back to the drawing board. No matter, the room she was in just happened to be the security room with all the CCTV monitors. It was a stroke of luck especially as the room was unoccupied during a breach of security! None of the cameras appeared to be watching the President and his family, that would of course be immoral but they were focused on every other part of the huge building. On many of the monitors, the guards were seen feverishly dashing about. Despite the imposed gloom with the ultrasound conditioning they were still loyal to the leader of their country. Madeline happened to notice monitor 74, showing a rather elaborately garnished open doorway, a guard could be seen talking to someone inside the room. The guard then saluted and closed the door.

  That was it! All she had to do was find where camera 74 was situated and Bob’s your uncle. Now though, she had to hide, several guards could be heard racing down the corridor. No time to squeeze herself into something so she hid as best as she could behind a filing cabinet. Two security men entered the room and sat down in front of the monitors. There names happened to be Huchen and Haddock.

  ‘She has to be somewhere. A camera is bound to pick her up,’ said Haddock.

  ‘She doesn’t stand a chance – we’ll get her!’ said Huchen.

  Madeline had already activated the app on her super watch. A couple of minutes later…

  ‘You know, there’s something that’s suddenly really bothering me... there’s an invasion force on its way,’ said Huchen.

  ‘Holly shit, there is! Why hasn’t it bothered me too, before now?’ said Haddock.

  ‘Do you think the President’s got it in hand?’

  ‘Damn well hope so!’

  ‘Actually, no he hasn’t,’ interrupted Madeline.

  ‘What the…!?’ said Haddock as he scrambled to reach his hand gun.

  ‘You’re the woman they’re after!’ said Huchenn.

  ‘Give the man a liquorice stick. Actually I’m Madeline Bull - British agent, MI7.

  ‘Stay there lady! Huchen, sound the alarm,’ Haddock bawled.

  ‘Please don’t do that or I’ll have to zap you,’ said Madeline.

  ‘Oh yes, where’s your gun?’ Haddock continued to bawl.

  ‘Right here…’

  The green beam fizzed out of Madeline’s finger and lit up Huchen’s rather large torso. He fell forward indiscriminately in to the monitors leaving Haddock aghast and trembling.

  ‘Don’t worry, It’s only on stun,’ said Madeline.

  ‘Who… what the fuck are you?’ said Haddock.

  ‘I’ve told you, Madeline Bull. Now think carefully, have you noticed anything odd that’s happened in the last few minutes – not counting me?’

  ‘You won’t get away with this!’

  ‘Okay, I’ll answer the question. You weren’t bothered about the invasion but now you are. You despised your country, now you don’t.’

  Haddock thought about it for a few seconds and realised she was right.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’

  ‘The whole of the USA… whole of the world is being conditioned - conditioned to hate the USA. There’s an ultrasound signal that’s brainwashing everyone. There’s an app running on this watch is blocking the signal – making you think normally.’ explained Madeline.

  ‘That’s bollocks!’ said Haddock possibly in denial.

  ‘Look, you have two choices, either I blast you and do it on my own or you listen and help me. The President is also under the influence of this conditioning – brainwashing. That’s why he isn’t doing anything about the invasion. The British have sent me to try and break you all out of this spell.’

  ‘You need serious help lady,’ said Haddock.

  ‘Have it you own way… just tell me how to get to camera 74 then… please?’

  ‘Go to hell!’

  You had to admire Haddock - sceptical and brave to the end. No doubt his training had paid off. He swiftly joined Huchen slumped in front of the monitors

  Before she ventured outside the room she wondered, on the off chance, if any data base would give away the CCTV camera locations in the White house. Obviously not, but remarkably she did find a detailed floor plan – how unexpected, she thought.

  The floor plan helped slightly but it still took twenty minutes before she was standing outside the lavish heavy oak panelled door – she tentatively knocked on it.

  Chapter 28: Meeting the President

  ‘Hello Mr President, I’m Madeline Bull, British agent. Please could you give me three minutes before you press the panic button?’

  She walked hesitantly into what she realised was the Oval Office. The President was clearly tired and had teary eyes - a battle was going on within. His logic was fortunately still working. If an apparently unarmed, strikingly attractive female had got this far despite the stringent security, CCTV and countless armed guards, she was worth listening to for three minutes. Three minutes was enough for the app running on her super watch to take effect and bring the President to his senses. Unlike Security guard Haddock, he accepted every aspect of her story. He knew all about the HDU 4’s, the American’s version of Madeline Bull. He also knew that a certain android from England was instrumental in destroying the army of evil robots. When he realised it was the very same android now standing before him he was momentarily stunned with such technological perfection. He deeply thanked her and shook her hand firmly. Madeline responded by giving him a pair of slightly manky ear devices to wear.

  ‘It’s good to meet you in the flesh as it were, Miss Bull. Once again you’ve done your job admirably. It’s down to me now how I take this forward. I will arrange a safe exit from the building for you,’ said the President.

  ‘I think it would be wise to let me stay. In no way am I discrediting you own security but until everyone is clear of this ultrasound conditioning, you are all in extreme danger.’

  The President nodded, he knew she was right.

  ‘The people of the world are not behaving as they should. Not only that, it appears the name Mark Titoo has been implanted in everyone’s mind,’ said Madeline.

  ‘Mark Titoo? … No sorry, never heard of him,’ said the President.

  Madeline was considerably thrown by the President’s unawareness of Titoo. On the surface this was a trivial oversight but the implications of such ignorance was monumental. She would put thought into this matter too, at a later date.

  ‘Incidentally I had help in getting here: A retired CIA agent, Gemma Bream, Zol Pidem, the multi billionaire, his Butler and Adam, my boyfriend. They’re in your security holding room.’

  ‘Boyfriend eh? You really do have advanced programming.’

  Madeline was proud of herself in how she had delivered her dialogue to the most powerful man in the world. Clearly this was down to her experience as a news correspondent. The President immediately came across as an extraordinarily decent man. He was a red blooded male but he clearly had no designs on her whatsoever despite her being probably the prettiest, sexiest, most provocative woman ever to step foot in the White house. His priorities were fixed, his wife and family, his country and its people; clearly, this was why he was President of the USA.

  He sat at his desk and made many phone calls and then they silently waited. Madeline watched the Learjet being carefully towed off the lawn through one of the full length windows. She watched Adam, Gemma, Zol and Grayling l
eaving in a yellow taxi and then, moments later, many top officials arriving in countless big shiny black limousines.

  Madeline linked the President’s arm and together they made their way to the Briefing room. – An extraordinary sight and one for certain gossip in time to come. One by one the President welcomed in the miserable, depressed and solemn dignitaries. Even though a gorgeous minx was standing next to him, the gloom continued to flood into the briefing room. The secretary of state, vice president, defence secretary, several decorated generals and their sidekicks gathered around a highly polished oval table in the conference room.

  By now, Madeline had had her app running for at least four minutes…

  ‘Gentlemen, you should all know by now why we are here. A mind altering signal is being blocked, you are now, I hope, all thinking rationally,’ said a very serious President.

  ‘I can’t believe we’ve all being sitting back and doing nothing,’ said the defence secretary.

  ‘Nor can I, we have to go to DEFCON 2 immediately,’ said a general.

  ‘That is the last option. We have a few days yet until the flotilla can do us any harm,’ said the President.

  ‘So exactly what are the options,’ asked the vice President.

  It was time for Madeline to intervene - after all, she knew what was going on more than most.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt, I’m Madeline Bull, I’ve been enlisted by the British government.’

  ‘Hah! That’s who you bloody are… Preposterous!’ said another general. ‘You’re a bloody robot, what the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘Calm yourself General Elver. It worries me slightly how you come to know this fact but needless to say, if it wasn’t for Miss Bull, the USA would be a sitting duck,’ said the President.

  It was a fact that certain dignitaries knew all about Madeline the feisty android – clearly General Elver was one of them. The four brilliant scientists who built Madeline had been offered a great deal of money by some obscure American department to make another Madeline Bull android for their own purposes. Naturally the scientists couldn’t deliver because Madeline carried a secret - she was remotely controlled by Poppy. Very few people knew this. Ron Poultney, however offered himself as a Poppy replacement but Alexander put a stop to that! (Yes, it’s complicated. You’ll just have to read the first book, Author)