by Nick Harlow
“Scott, I—”
“Hey guys! C’mere, quick!”
Kyle’s voice jolted them back to the task at hand. They quickly ran to him in the auxiliary Oval Office and heard a very familiar sound.
Kyle and Vince looked up from the teleprompter computer and smiled. “We got one!”
A dial tone.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Sterling Rusch finished his opening statement, put on his best brave face as he looked around the packed media room, then opened the floor to questions.
The first of which had been planted with his favorite liberal reporter. His usual protocol to start a news conference off on the right foot.
“Mister Speaker, with the President having a gun to his head and the Vice President unconscious from his bypass surgery he had this morning, I would assume that should leave you in charge at the moment according to the Constitution. Am I correct?”
He nodded. “I’m beginning to think so. Technically President Donovan is incapacitated, at least from my point of view. And while I’m told that the Vice President could possibly regain consciousness by tomorrow morning, that doesn’t mean he will be in any shape to make critical decisions. I’m simply hoping this whole situation will be resolved without anyone getting hurt and that those who are involved in this hostile takeover of the White House are brought to justice. However, there is no reason for Americans to panic. This system was put in place long ago to insure the country would not skip a beat.”
“But if there is a decision that needs to be made right now, especially in regard to the red line situation with the Russians, do you believe it is yours to make?”
He nodded. “I believe it is. Let’s face it, if we need a decision right now we can’t get in touch with the President and the Vice President is unconscious, so that task would fall to me. I just got off the phone with one of our Supreme Court Justices and he agreed that things are my responsibility until President Donovan is rescued or the Vice President is recovered enough to make decisions. Whichever happens first.”
“What about the other Justices? Have you consulted the entire Supreme Court?”
“I’ve only talked to one. Obviously we would have to discuss the situation with the other eight and need a quick decision.”
“Wouldn’t this be the decision of the Attorney General?”
“The Attorney General would be able to make an immediate decision until the Supreme Court ruled. However, I have not discussed this with her yet.”
“Do you have any idea why the White House was taken? Or what the terrorists want?”
He shook his head. “No, the FBI has still not gotten the demands from the terrorists and until we do, we’re all in the dark. But let’s be honest, we can probably guess what those demands will be, considering the situation overseas today. The military actions of President Donovan have angered a lot of factions across the globe and this is probably the result. The United States has made more than a few new enemies during his administration. Perhaps if we hadn’t gotten so involved in sensitive foreign affairs we would not be in this predicament.”
“Are you actually blaming the President for this situation?”
“I think he takes a lot of the responsibility. We should have never been in the position we are today, drawing red lines in the sand and daring superpowers to step across them. That’s a dangerous game of poker President Donovan has been playing, with American lives at stake. And in this instance, you can’t bluff.”
PRESIDENT FRANK DONOVAN rolled his eyes as the Speaker wrapped up his news conference and Mayfair muted the sound on the television. He turned to the Secretary of State. “Interesting timing, don’t you think? With the Vice President unconscious in the hospital. They’ve got everything lined up perfectly to put this situation in the hands of the Speaker.”
“Sure seems that way. Love to be a fly on the wall of the Attorney General’s office right now.”
“Considering I just asked for her resignation, she’d probably support Rusch just to get even with me.”
“Well, whoever Mayfair is working for is obviously looking to take power away from you. Either through your actions or by having the Speaker take control. With, they assume, the same result.”
“But I’m not compromised.”
“The problem is, no one in the outside world knows that for sure. If the Supreme Court has to make a decision on that, it might not go in your favor.”
“Maybe the Speaker is their backup plan, in case I don’t agree to their demands. He’s their Plan B.”
“Sounds plausible.”
“That’s not all. With the election coming up, my capitulation to any demands makes me look weak. I think that has to be their long game. Take the White House through force now, then through the voters later. I have to admit, it’s a brilliant plan, whoever came up with it. And perfect timing.”
Donovan was distracted as Mayfair finished a phone conversation and picked up the two-way radio. “Klein, come in. Everything okay down there?”
The response was a combination of words and static. “Okay.... problem... jammer affecting radio... Brooks... under control...”
Mayfair turned to another of his team. “I thought our radios were immune to the jammer?”
“They’re supposed to be. We’re using the best equipment in the world. Must be the lead shielding down in the bunker that protects people from a nuclear blast.”
“Didn’t you test it out?”
“I did. It worked fine before. I really have no idea why there’s a problem now. Maybe the FBI is doing something that’s causing interference.”
Mayfair keyed the mike. “If everything’s okay down there, come back up.”
More static. “Copy...” Mayfair turned to the President. “Okay, time to let the outside world know what we want. Then they can watch you give it to us.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kyle yelled over to Agent Ryan. “I’ve got our phone system ready to go. Who should we try to call first?”
“My boss. I have his private number.” Ryan gave it to him.
Sydney leaned down and looked over Kyle’s shoulder at the computer monitor. “You really think this will work?”
He shrugged. “Pretty sure our call will go through. Whether they can hear us is another story. We’ll know in a minute. Cross your fingers.”
“No way this will reach over to Agent Ryan so he can talk?”
“Don’t have enough of the right kind of wire to connect it that far. And our connections are basically very delicate and could easily fall apart. So don’t touch anything.” He tapped out the phone number on the computer’s keypad and heard the corresponding tones.
They heard it ring.
“Yes!” Scott shook his fist.
“We’re not there yet,” said Kyle. “Still don’t know if our outgoing audio will work. And that’s a big if with a computer this old. I’m confident we’ll be able to hear them but they might not be able to hear us.” The ringing stopped and they heard a click. “Here we go.”
The call connected. “This is the Director.”
Sydney leaned closer to the dead agent’s microphone that was rigged up to the computer. “Director Rollins, this is Sydney Donovan calling you from the White House bunker. I’m with Agent Jim Ryan who has been wounded. Can you hear me?”
“Hello?”
“Can you hear me, Director Rollins?”
“Hello?”
She raised her voice. “Director Rollins!”
He hung up.
“Damn.” She shook her head as she stood up straight. “Guess we’ve only got a one way conversation.”
“Hey, at least we can hear. That’s something we might be able to use later if they can figure out how to contact us.” Kyle started typing on the computer. “I knew that was a longshot, Sydney. Now don’t get discouraged, we can still send emails. I’ve accessed Agent Ryan’s account. It’ll be slow as hell, but they’ll get there.” He turned back to Ryan. “Give me your director’s em
ail address and that of anyone else you can think of who can help. We can’t assume people will look at their email immediately during a crisis, so the more, the better.”
“I’ll give you some names. Their email addresses are in the contacts list.” Ryan wrote down a batch on the back of an envelope, then handed it to Sydney, who added a few email addresses of her own.
She turned to Ryan. “What do we want to say?”
“Just brief them on the situation. And add my personnel number right up front so they’ll know it’s really from me and not think my account has been hacked. Along with anything else you can think of.”
Kyle slid his chair over to make room for Sydney as she walked back to him and sat down to type.
This is Sydney Donovan writing to you from the White House bunker. I was leading a tour this morning and we were briefly taken hostage by Secret Service Agent Ed Brooks at the same time my father was taken hostage. Agent Ryan has killed him, along with Agent Klein who came down to check on us. But Agent Ryan is badly wounded as he was shot in the leg and needs medical attention very soon. The rest of us are unharmed.
We have a few guns and other things we can use as weapons but have locked out the elevator so no one can get down here.
The captors have set up a video link between us and the Cabinet Room upstairs using the closed circuit system. My father is under the impression I am still a hostage and I believe they are using that as leverage against him. It did not look like any of the hostages that are with him had been harmed at the time we saw them.
All other means of communications in the bunker have been destroyed or are being jammed. We are communicating with you via the teleprompter computer in the mock Oval Office. We have tried making phone calls through the computer but have no outgoing audio. However, we can hear the person on the other end of the call. If we knew the telephone number of the line we are using you would be able to talk to us and we could respond via email.
She added Ryan’s personnel number to the subject line. “Okay, MacGyver, send it.”
Kyle clicked on the send tab and waited, drumming his fingers on the desk.
Everyone went silent as they watched the monitor.
A little hourglass appeared in the middle of the screen, turning upside down every few seconds.
Sydney drummed her fingers on the table. “C’mon, c’mon...”
One minute went by.
Two minutes.
“It’s taking too long. Maybe you need to hit the send button again,” said Scott.
Kyle shook his head. “Then it will just start over. Be patient. This is a very old computer sending a large batch of emails. It’s like a turtle. It’s slow, but it will get there.”
Three minutes.
Four.
Messages sent.
“Finally! I was beginning to worry it wasn’t going to work.” Scott patted Kyle on the back. “Great job. You too, Vince.”
Kyle slowly nodded. “Now we just pray that someone reads it. With all that’s going on, I would imagine not many people are going to be checking their email right now.”
Suddenly Vince sat up straight. “Hey, I just thought of something else we can try that’s more immediate than email and more likely to be noticed right away.”
“What’s that?” asked Sydney.
“We might be able to send a text.”
“Uh, you forgot that our cell phones are jammed and still don’t work.”
“No, listen. We don’t need a phone. There was an old system back when texting was just becoming popular that let you send a text without a cell phone.”
“Huh? How can you send a text without a cell phone?”
Kyle’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah, Vince is right. I forgot about that. The old texting website for people without cell phones.”
“Right.” Vince sat down next to Kyle, slid the keyboard in front of him and started typing. “Years ago when texting was still new, newsrooms had to send texts to the photographers from their computers because photogs were the only ones with cell phones. I remember my dad showing me how it worked when I was little. There was a special website that allowed you to do it. If it still exists—”
“Hey guys...”
Sydney turned to Agent Ryan. “Yeah?”
“There’s someone you definitely need to call.”
Kyle shook his head. “The outgoing audio isn’t working, Agent Ryan.”
“Won’t matter. You need to place a call to this number. 202-555-1899.”
“Who’s that?” asked Scott.
“Our resident computer genius at the Secret Service. It’s her private number.”
Sydney furrowed her brow. “How is that going to help us?”
“Caller ID. The number will show up on her phone. I really don’t think it’s going to say White House bunker but it will come up as a White House number. She’ll try to call back and trust me, when no one answers she’ll trace the call to an exact extension. Once she realizes it’s from a line in the bunker, then our people will know what the number is to the line you’re using and can call us with instructions and information that we can hear.”
“Sounds good.” Kyle placed the call. It rang two times and then they heard a young woman’s voice.
“Hello? Hello? Who’s calling? Hello?”
The call ended.
Two minutes later, the teleprompter computer came alive. “We’ve got an incoming call,” said Kyle.
“It’s her calling back,” said Ryan. “Now let the call connect but do not hang up so she has time to trace it.”
Kyle hit a button to connect the call. “As soon as she hangs up, I’ll look for that texting website.”
MAYFAIR PULLED UP A chair in front of President Donovan, took a seat, sat up straight and locked eyes with the Commander-in-Chief. He folded his hands and opened up a computer tablet. “Mister President, it’s time to get things moving. Now what I am going to ask you to do is very simple. As long as you comply, no one gets hurt. Do exactly what I say and you’ll all be sleeping in your own beds tonight.”
“Not sure I believe you, but I’m listening. So what do you want?”
“All you have to do is order your Secretary of Defense to withdraw the troops from the red line. And then have all American military personnel vacate the province completely within the next ten hours, which is the amount of time it will take the Russians to go through the demilitarized zone to get there. If everything goes smoothly, you might even be having a late dinner with your daughter. Of course if you don’t comply, you’ll never see Sydney again. All it takes is one call and this whole situation goes away.”
Donovan glanced at the Secretary of State for a moment, then turned back to Mayfair. “Wow, what a surprise. I never would have guessed that’s what you wanted. But you’re wrong about one thing... this situation doesn’t go away. If I remove those troops it will it leave a huge void overseas and a much bigger problem than the one you have created in this building. Too many people would die and the countries on the border of the province will be in danger of invasion. So why in the world would I ever do that and hand such an important strategic stronghold over to the Russians, in effect, giving the people who we have been protecting a death sentence?”
“In case you missed what I just said, if you don’t give the order then you’re going to kiss your precious daughter goodbye.”
Donovan’s jaw instantly tightened as he narrowed his eyes at Mayfair. “This is between you and me. Or between me and whoever the hell you’re working for. My daughter has absolutely nothing to do with this. You leave her alone.”
“Sorry, that’s not how it works. And she has everything to do with this, since she’s the most valuable bargaining chip I have. We’re playing by my rules, Mister President, not yours, and in this game I just moved the goalposts.” Mayfair leaned back and flashed a sleazy grin. “Isn’t it amazing... I have the President of the United States in custody and you’re not even the most valuable hostage I’ve got. I know you don
’t give a damn about your own life, so I control the one thing you do care about, your daughter. Now... are you ready to make the call, or do have my guy turn on the camera in the bunker so you can watch America’s first daughter die in high definition?”
“You’re bluffing. You may be a traitor, Mayfair, but I find it hard to believe you’d kill a child.”
“Just following orders, Sir. Like all the soldiers you would be sending to their death if you left them at the red line. How is that any different?”
“Because they signed up like I did to protect our country against all enemies. Obviously you forgot the oath you took when you enlisted in the service. You were in the Army, right?”
“Yes, and I remember the oath. Biggest mistake I ever made was enlisting. And then I found out what that oath meant after a tour in Afghanistan. I just don’t think my life is worth throwing away for a bunch of strangers five thousand miles away who don’t give a damn about me and don’t even want me in their country, all to appease a politician back here. Or keep the price of oil at a reasonable level. All wars are fought for political and financial reasons.”
“Many are about doing the right thing. As is the case with this one. We’re trying to hold back the forces of evil. But that won’t happen if I recall those troops.”
“Sorry, I don’t agree. Wars are fought for political gain. Anyway, as for your daughter, her life is now on the table and her fate is up to you. The clock is ticking.” Mayfair scratched his chin and looked at the ceiling. “Hmmm... I believe her death will fall under the heading collateral damage when this is all over.” He looked back at the President. “It will be something that was, shall we say, unavoidable. She was simply caught in the crossfire. So unfortunate to outlive your own child. And leaving you alive to deal with that loss will truly be a fate worse than death. Your wife and daughter both taken from you before their time, your whole family wiped out. So, what’s it gonna be? Your daughter or your political reputation? Sydney or a bunch of strangers overseas? And just think of all the American soldiers you’ll be saving by pulling them out of there. Should be a very easy choice for you.”