by Nick Harlow
“We were told not to take any further action on our own.”
“You don’t really expect me to follow that order, do you?”
“Of course not, Syd. Nobody puts the Spitfire in a corner.”
“Very funny.”
“I don’t want to follow the order either. But I’m not sure what else we can do at the moment other than keeping the lines of communication open. They’ve no doubt got the elevator guarded.”
The sound of a phone ringing on the teleprompter computer made them both jump. “Hey, hope it’s the FBI.” The call connected and the FBI agent’s voice filled the room.
This is Jetpack. Message received on Rum Runner. We were able to hear entire conversation you had with Mayfair and have it on tape. Shared it with top brass and currently trying to stop Speaker from taking control. Want to remind you to take no further action. We will advise when we are ready to move. Don’t worry, Miss Donovan, we’ll get your father out of this... and the rest of you. Thanks for taking care of Rum Runner. Jetpack out.
Sydney nodded and smiled. “Guess we should tell our geek squad their crazy method of communication with the outside world actually worked.”
“Yeah, and now they’ve got Mayfair admitting my father is behind all this. Wonder how they’re going to try to stop him?”
“Well, your father said the Chief Justice was behind him, and the Supreme Court is five-to-four in favor of liberals. So that part of the equation would seem to be in his favor.”
“Is something like this a Supreme Court decision?”
“Beats the heck out of me. I’m not up on the legal aspects regarding attempted coups of the Presidency. Nor am I a constitutional scholar.”
“Wouldn’t the Attorney General make the decision since she’s the highest ranking legal authority in the country?”
Sydney shrugged. “No clue. And that’s another problem. She and my dad had a major falling out recently. I mean, a real knock down drag out argument. Their relationship has been deteriorating for a long time. She hasn’t been following the law the way she’s supposed to and is letting her own agenda dictate her decision. I know he recently asked for her resignation. She was stalling and he was about to fire her before the election.”
“So she’s got an ax to grind. That’s not good. If both the Supreme Court and the Attorney General rule that my father is the President, God help us. How would we stop him? Could the FBI simply arrest him based on your conversation with Mayfair?”
“Beats me. I’m not an attorney either.”
Scott sat up straight and pointed at the television. “I think we’re about to get an answer to part of our question.”
They saw the Attorney General, a portly white-haired woman in her fifties, step to a microphone in front of a horde of media people.
“Good afternoon. In light of the current situation I have been asked by the Speaker of the House to render a legal opinion as to whether or not the twenty-fifth amendment applies in regard to the situation at the White House. After a discussion with Speaker Rusch, careful review of the circumstances, along with the evidence provided by the photo of the Commander-in-Chief, I must concur with the opinion of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In my opinion, President Frank Donovan is compromised and currently unable to carry out the duties of the office that he has sworn to uphold. Therefore, until President Donovan is released and medically cleared, or until the Vice President has recovered from surgery and cleared as well, Speaker of the House Rusch will fulfill the duties of the Presidency.
Scott shook his head in disgust. “Well, you were unfortunately right about the Attorney General. She may actually be part of this. Syd, we have to end this situation before he has any chance to do damage. Right now. I know we’re not supposed to take any action, but I may be the only person who can stop this.”
“How in the world can you stop it?”
Suddenly he sat up straight and smiled. “I know. Make another trade with Mayfair.”
Sydney shook her head as she grabbed his arm. “No way. Not after what he did to my father. You can’t give yourself up. You can’t trust him. He could just as easily beat the hell out of you.”
“I don’t intend to give myself up right now. And I’ve got something else he’ll want besides me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I need my cell phone.”
“It’s not gonna work—”
“I don’t need it to make calls... there’s information in it I can use to trade.”
“HEY, MAYFAIR...”
The sound of the two-way radio coming alive distracted Mayfair from the television. He muted the sound as he keyed the microphone, keeping one eye on the news conference with the Attorney General. “Ah, young Mister Rusch. Ready to come upstairs?”
“Not after what you did to the President. That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“It was part of my deal with your father. And if you don’t cooperate, the President might get a little more attention. I can easily finish him off.”
“Then you won’t get what I have to trade.”
“The only thing I’m interested in is you joining me on a little plane trip. And you will be coming along, mark my words.”
“I have something else that you’ll want before we get to that part. And what you’ll have to give me isn’t much. Trust me, Mayfair, this is a deal you can’t pass up.”
“I’m listening.”
“I want two things. First, you will not kill or harm any hostages. And no more attacks on the President. I don’t want him touched. Second, I want the name of the rogue general working with my father.”
“I see. And in return for this I will receive...”
“A trust fund that my father set up for me. Half a million dollars. I’ll give you the account number, where it’s located and the password to access it. You can log on right now and transfer it anywhere. And you don’t have to share it with your cohorts. Half a million, Mayfair. All yours. And all you have to do is not hurt anyone else and give me a name.”
Mayfair slowly nodded. What the hell, I’m almost done here anyway. May as well sweeten the pot. “Very well. Your terms are acceptable. But I get access to the account first before I give you the name of the general.” He grabbed his computer tablet.
“Fine. You ready?”
“Give me the information.” He followed the kid’s instructions and visited the website of the bank, conveniently located in the Cayman Islands. “My, how patriotic. An offshore account. All right, I’ve accessed the site. What’s the account number to log in?”
“16980056.”
“What’s the password?”
“Sydney#1.”
Mayfair couldn’t help but smile. “How sweet.” He typed in the password and waited a moment. The screen changed showing the account had an even half million dollars. “I’m in.”
“Somewhere on that page you’ll see a button labeled transfer. Hit that and you can send the cash to any account in the world.”
Mayfair pulled out his wallet and removed a card holding the number of his Swiss bank account. He typed the information to initiate the electronic transfer and waited. One minute later the words transfer complete appeared on the screen, which also now showed a zero balance in Scott Rusch’s trust fund. “I just closed your account, kid.”
“Okay, I’ve kept my part of the bargain. So give me the name of the general.”
“It’s General Joe Atkinson.”
SCOTT TYPED OUT A TEXT on the teleprompter computer with the name of the general and sent it to the FBI. “Just in case they didn’t hear that transmission.”
Sydney nodded. “Nicely done. And you didn’t bat an eye losing a half million bucks.”
“Small price to pay for what we got.” He stood up to face her. “Besides, it was dirty money from my father’s campaign slush fund. I was never going to touch a dime of it anyway. I don’t want a penny from him. Why do you think I wait tables for spending money? Between my full s
cholarship and what I make at the restaurant, I never have to take anything from my father.”
“Impressive.”
“Now we just have to hope they can stop that general before he does any damage.”
“Yep.” She folded her arms and flashed a big smile at him while playfully batting her eyes.
“What?”
She shrugged. “Oh, you know, I was just surprised when you gave Mayfair the details of your trust fund.”
“That I had a half million dollars? I’m sure that’s pocket change to my father. And I’m sure the children of other politicians have trust funds.”
“Not that.” She raised her eyebrows. “How to log in to the account. I found that quite revealing.”
“It’s pretty common to have internet access to a bank. What’s the big deal?”
She moved a bit closer. “I was more interested in your... password.”
Scott instantly blushed, turning beet red as his eyes went wide. He looked down at the floor. “I, uh, wanted, you know, something easy to remember.”
“Uh-huh. Why not your cat’s name?”
“She’s the, uh, password on a bunch of other stuff. You don’t ever want to use the same password for everything in case it gets stolen, then someone could access everything—”
“Hey.” She took his chin in her hand and tilted it up until he was looking at her. “I’m flattered. I’m just bustin’ your chops.”
“You’re doing a damn good job of it.”
“So how long have you had that trust fund?”
“Since I was sixteen.”
“And how long have you had that password?”
“You’re not going to let this drop, are you?”
“Nah, it’s too much fun. And right now we could use some.”
“Fine. Your name was the original password.”
“I see. And the number one part after my name?”
“The password required a number and a character.”
“Uh-huh.”
He rolled his eyes. “Can we please get back to fighting terrorists?”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “Sure, Scott. I’ll just tuck that little bit of information in my back pocket for later use.”
“I’m sure you will. Now I know why Ryan left you in charge. You know how to collect information that can be used to blackmail people at a later date. I guess you picked that up being around Washington all your life.”
“One thing you should know about me by now. I’m a girl who takes what I want, and I don’t care how I get it.” She ran one finger down his cheek. “And at this point you should know what I want.”
“When this is all over, Syd... I want the same thing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Brett Lauria looked at the text just as the tape he was playing for the Secretary of Defense was coming to an end. He pumped his fist. “Yes!” The conversation between Mayfair and Sydney came to a close and he pulled the phone back from the speaker. “Did you get all that, Sir?”
“That’s incredible, Agent Lauria.”
“And I just got the name of the General in question. Joe Atkinson.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s a renegade.”
“So what do we do, Sir? Speaker Rusch has the Attorney General and a Supreme Court Justice behind him.”
“I can take care of General Atkinson right now before he has the chance to do anything. Fortunately he’s in a place where there are no media people covering him, so it won’t tip our hand to the Speaker. As for the Speaker and the A-G, I’ll get with your Director and work with the Deputy Attorney General to deal with them. But even though this is high treason, I don’t think we can exactly start arresting people right away. The country is already in a frenzy and our enemies don’t need to see a constitutional crisis with us going down the line of succession even farther. We don’t have any idea how far this conspiracy goes and we don’t want to end up with the Secretary of Agriculture running the country.”
“Agreed.”
“But we’ll move quickly the minute we can. Keep me posted on anything new, Agent Lauria. Excellent work.”
“Thank you, Mister Secretary. Just doing my job.”
“Well, you may have just saved the country from a disaster. Oh, I just got a great idea.”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Your, uh, media contact there.”
“Yes?”
“I think she needs to get another exclusive that will help our cause. Time to throw a curve ball at the Speaker of the House.” Lauria smiled as the Secretary of Defense told him what needed to happen.
“Excellent idea, Sir. And I know just the person to take care of that from this end.”
“EXCUSE ME, MISS COLLINS?”
Gina Collins turned and found a tall, slender man around thirty dressed in the FBI traditional fall collection of a dark suit and tie. “May I help you?”
“Agent Lauria sent me. I’m Devon Gardner, the Bureau’s digital forensic expert.”
“And you were sent to me here because...”
“I have determined that the photo of the President was a fake.”
“Seriously?”
He didn’t respond, simply locked eyes with her.
Gina nodded. “Obviously the FBI would have the country’s most advanced systems to detect such a thing. And you being the Bureau’s expert, you’d be able to spot a fake very quickly.”
“Obviously you’re a very perceptive reporter. My expertise and our technology are beyond reproach.”
“So I assume you’re brought some, you know, documentation?”
“We’re the FBI. I think people would listen to our opinion over that of a politician, don’t you?”
“If they don’t they will by the time I get through interviewing you. Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Speaker of the House Sterling Rusch smiled as he watched the network showing a platoon of soldiers enter the transport as they prepared to leave the province. “Looks like we’re just about done. That’s the last plane.” He muted the television, pulled the burner phone from his pocket and called Mayfair. It answered on the first ring.
“If you’re seeing what I’m seeing, I think it’s time for us to get out of here.”
“Yes, I agree. Your work at the White House is done. You may proceed with the final stage and get your team to the extraction point.”
“By the way, I want to remind you that since we lost several people—”
“I will divide their shares accordingly. When you get to the plane let me know how many members of your team are left. The funds will be waiting for you when you arrive at your final destination.”
“Excellent. Pleasure working with you, Sir.”
Rusch did his best not to laugh. “Same here. While there were a few speed bumps along the way, you achieved the main goal. Bottom line, despite the losses, the mission was a success. Once you reach your destination and the final transfer of funds is complete, our communication ends.”
“Understood.”
“Safe travels.” He ended the call, leaned back in his chair and smiled.
MAYFAIR GATHERED WHAT was left of his troops just outside the room with the hostages. “Okay guys, we’re all done here. Almost time to start heading on out. But I’ve got one more thing to do before we can leave.” He looked around at who was left, then decided his best remaining soldier was a fearless thirtyish Capitol Police officer. He patted the lean, dark-haired man on the shoulder. “Briggs, you’re with me.” He pointed at another. “Wilson, I need about twenty minutes. When I call you, let the hostages go. Then head for the extraction point. Remember, anyone not there by the designated time will be left behind.”
“How can we go anywhere? We don’t have Scott Rusch yet.”
“We will shortly. That’s the last loose end I’m about to tie up.”
“Why are we waiting twenty minutes?”
“Because Briggs and I are heading downstairs to get Rusch and
that’s how much time I need.”
“We still can’t get down there. They’ve got the elevator locked out.”
“True, but thanks to our clever friends in the bunker, I found another access point. Once I secure our insurance policy to get us out of the country I’ll be on my way. Again, wait for my call, let the hostages go as planned, then head out. I’ll meet you at the plane.”
“Suppose you can’t get him?”
“Then we’ll never take off. And we’re all dead. But don’t worry, I’ll get the kid.”
Mayfair led Briggs to the Oval Office, then crouched behind the desk and pulled open the trap door.
Briggs jaw dropped a bit as he looked over Mayfair’s shoulder. “Seriously? I had no idea this was here.”
“Not many people know about it. Probably because it was never finished.”
Briggs leaned toward it and looked down. “That’s a long drop. So... how are we going to get down there?”
Mayfair pulled a length of rope from the side of the desk. “The old fashioned way.”
SCOTT RUSCH SAT IN the Situation Room, monitoring the networks while Sydney was checking on Agent Ryan. Suddenly Kyle ran into the room, eyes wild. “What’s wrong, Kyle?”
“That little trip wire I set up as an alarm under the trap door just moved. Someone’s coming.”
Scott grabbed his gun and immediately headed in the direction. “Go tell Syd. She’s in with Ryan.”
“On my way.”
“And tell her to bring her gun. You grab a weapon and protect Ryan.”
BRIGGS QUIETLY LANDED on the floor of the bunker. He looked up and held the rope as Mayfair started to slide down, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Wish we’d known about this earlier.”
Mayfair chuckled as he reached the floor a few seconds later. “I did. I was saving it just in case we didn’t have the kid by now. If this access wasn’t available, we’d be stuck.”