“I wish I was, baby, but my only job is to keep you two out of trouble.” Brian looked down and shook his head. Shelly went to her dad and hugged him.
“Will the army get Mom back?” Brian asked.
“It’s not that easy, they’re in Russia and an operation by us would technically be an act of war.”
“But kidnapping the President must be an act of war also,” Brian said.
“Oh, I agree with that but it wasn’t the Russian government that took her but a band of fanatics.”
“The Stalinists?” Shelly asked.
“That’s right and they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way.”
“Including mom?” Brian asked.
“Yes, Brian, including your mom.” They just sat silent after that.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Sir, we have a situation in Russia,” Deke Winters said as he approached General Zumwalt in the situation room at NORAD.
“What?”
“The President has been kidnapped.”
“How?”
“The tour bus that was going over the bridge was taken by a band of hooligans.”
“Hooligans nothing, they were Stalinists. That group is just crazy enough to do something like that.”
“We don’t know any more than that right now.”
“Alright, keep digging.”
“Yes, sir,” Deke said and went back to his console.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Alton said standing in front of Zumwalt’s desk.
“Yes.”
“There’s been an incident at Kapustin Yar.”
“What?”
“The site is compromised. We’re picking up conversations from our satellites that suggest the site has been taken over by a Stalinist.”
“Great, that’s all we need. Anything else?”
“Yes, sir… he’s armed the missiles.” Walt stood up and let out a big sigh.
“Take us to DEFCON FOUR and get me Alaskan Air Command on the line.
“Yes, sir.” The light overhead changed from DEFCON FIVE to DEFCON FOUR. A man handed a phone to General Zumwalt.
“Hello, Tommy, this is Zumwalt at NORAD. The President’s been kidnapped in Russia… Well, they were taking that idiotic bridge tour when a group of renegades took her… yeah, I agree. That’s all we know but we also found out that Kapustin Yar is compromised. Yeah, it’s been taken over by a Stalinist and he’s locked the doors. Of course, they can’t breach or the computer will launch the missiles automatically… yes, they’re armed. Probably the guy who took over and locked the door. Yes, I know and I’ve moved to DEFCON FOUR. Yeah, scramble the bombers. What? Yeah, I know that they’ll interpret our bombers in the air as a start of an attack, Tommy, but I don’t want to be caught with our planes on the ground. Okay, I’ll stay in touch.” Walt handed the phone to an assistant and stared at the board showing an enormous map of the world. All was calm and normal at this point though Russian submarine activity was conspicuous.
“Calm down, I can’t hear anyone!” Wendy Lewis said as she had arms in the air trying to quiet everyone in the Whitehouse press room. It was full of reporters and everyone knew now that the President had been taken.
“Wendy!” A reporter shouted and almost instinctively everyone quieted to listen to the question.
“Yes, Dan.” Wendy was the assistant press secretary and with Kent in Russia it fell on her to conduct any press briefings. None had been planned. Kent made that clear before he left. No one spoke to the press except Kent. Those were Kent’s rules. But obviously things had changed.
“Wendy, where is the President.”
“We don’t know, somewhere in Russia.”
“How did this happen?” John continued.
“We don’t know that either, details are sketchy.”
“Have there been ransom demands?” Another reporter asked.
“No.”
“What is being done to get her back?”
“It’s early, Stephanie, I’m sure plans are being made as we speak.”
“You mean you don’t know?” Another reporter asked.
“In case you are unaware Miles, the Whitehouse assistant press secretary is not usually involved in tactical planning of military operations.” There was laughter.
“Where is the Speaker of the House?”
“I can’t disclose that.”
“Do you know?”
“I can’t disclose that.”
“Where is the Secretary of State?”
“I can’t disclose that.”
“Is this going to be your response to everything?”
“If you expect me to reveal information about the location of key members of the government then yes. You look smarter than that, Adam.” There was more laughter.
“With the President abducted and the Speaker’s whereabouts unknown then the President Pro Tem of the Senate is in charge, right?”
“That would be right Megan,” and there was light laughter.
“Where is he?”
“You can’t disclose that,” a reporter spoke up quickly and there was more laughter.
“You’re catching on fast,” Miles.” The press conference ended and Wendy went up to Cheryl Wallach in the hall. “Where’s Benton?”
“We’re headed to his residence right now.” Perry Benton was the oldest serving Senator of the majority party and the line of succession goes: President… vice President… Speaker of the House… President Pro Tem… Secretary of State, etc. In nearly all cases the President Pro Tem is a very old person. Not that elderly people are mentally incapable of being President but the strains are considerable, and in the past the Pro Tem position has been held by people who were physically infirm as they hung onto power. It is certainly a weak point in the American political system. Senator Benton was in his seventh term at the age of eighty-four. The people of Wyoming liked Perry and returned him to the Senate every time he asked.
“We need to speak to the Senator immediately,” a secret service man said as seven of them were on the porch and around the house of Perry Benton.
“The Senator is resting,” a man said but before he could finish the agents pushed their way into the house.
“This is an emergency and we have to see the Senator now!” The agent said firmly.
“Paul, what is it?” A man said as he came into the room and when he saw the men in suits his shoulders slumped. “I saw the press conference and I guess you’re here for me.”
“Yes, Senator, we need to take you to the Whitehouse right now.” Perry nodded.
“Paul, would you get my cane, please.”
“Here, you are, Senator.”
“Let’s go, sir.” They ushered Perry to a car and sped rapidly to the Whitehouse complete with flashing lights and sirens as they pulled into the rear exit and led Perry upstairs to the situation room.
“Here’s a place for you, Senator,” an agent said as he stood behind a chair he pulled out. It was a large oval table used for meetings like this. Men and women were already there and all rose for the President Pro Tem. Pro Tem is short for Pro Tempore, which is Latin for “In place of.” The President pro Tem is a placeholder for the President of the United States Senate who is the vice-President. Perry never wanted the job. He liked being a senator but he didn’t like being in the line of succession. Normally, with three people ahead of you the chances of being thrust into the Presidency are remote even close to non-existent. But, remember there was no vice-President, the President’s whereabouts was unknown and the Speaker was also out of touch. So, Perry Benton was in the hot seat whether he liked it or not.
“Thank you,” Perry said as he sat. “Well, I see the gangs all here.” There was laughter despite the situation. “Secretary of State, Marty Ingersoll, Secretary of Defense, Susan Rojas, Secretary of the Treasury, Louise Chen, Attorney General Haakon Meisner, CIA Director, Rita Fitzgerald, FBI Director Marcus Washington, Secretary of Homeland Security, Rajesh Sanghvi, Secretary of the Interior, Cian Minh, Secretary of Commerce Mohammed Aziz and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Jonathan Red Cloud. You know, I hope things work out here for the best today but whatever happens I like the look of this room. I’ve been around a long, long time, some of you could be my children and a couple my grandchildren. I remember when this room was filled with all white men. They were good men for the most part but that was wrong. This is what we should strive for; I don’t know if this room looks like America but it’s what it should look like if it’s going to represent America. There, my speech is over. Now, what is going on with the President and where is the Speaker?”