"We're in!" Nancy sounded excited. "Her passcode was a random string of digits two-hundred symbols long. Their beacons are quantum connected to this pad. I'm setting up a site-to-site algorithm from out there to here to Earth."
"We're gonna need HE, sir. Do you three have any grenades in those suits?" Jack asked.
"If we don't have enough, the Blair can drop us down more."
"Well, we need a pretty good charge for the pad. It is several meters thick. The control panels are just in here and is all soft circuitry, which shouldn't require a lot of HE. Ten grenades at once should do it for sure."
"We have enough then," Sehera added and started pulling out grenades from her suit's forearm launcher. She counted out ten and dropped them at her feet.
"I'll set them, ma'am," Michael offered.
"No thanks, Koodie. I've set a few grenades in my day," Sehera said. Everybody but Alexander raised an eyebrow at that. Sehera knelt down and put a fifteen-second timer on each of them. As soon as an electronic signal was sent from her launcher, the clock would start on them.
"Nancy, put this on." Jack handed her the wristwatch snap-back device he had intended to give Dee. "Dee won't need it. Maybe one day you can come back for your tank and any other planes and goodies you have squirreled away here."
"I won't miss them, Boland." Nancy laughed. "Okay, we're ready to trigger this thing whenever you are, Mr. President."
"The grenades are set. I say that Michael and I will pump a few extras into the walls and around here before we go. I've also sent a message to the Blair to blast this building off the face of this planet immediately upon my signal. She's waiting on ready with the crosshairs on us."
"Well, then, here we go. Is everybody ready?" Nancy looked at everyone to make certain they were. All responded with an affirmative nod.
"Everybody make certain your helmets are on, visors in place. Trust me, just do it," Alexander said. After everyone complied, he nodded to Nancy and raised his grenade launcher. His bodyguard followed suit.
"Triggering the snap-back in three, two, one, go!" Nancy said.
There was a flash of light as usual, and for a brief instant they could see Ahmi, Fink, and Dee standing surprised on the pad in front of them. Then they disappeared again. Hopefully, they had reappeared in Washington, D.C.
"That's it. Let's go!" Nancy said.
"Admiral Walker, this is Moore."
"Yes, sir?"
"Count to ten and then rain hell on my current coordinates and don't stop till there is nothing left but a crater."
"What about you and the First Lady?"
"We're snapping back to the Oval Office. Dee is already there."
"That's good news, sir. Sir, we just had multiple Seppy ships QMT into the system. We are outnumbered here now!"
"Get a courier to Wally to get over here and help you. Now start blasting!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Go, go!" Moore said. Sehera vanished. Nancy and DeathRay flashed out. Moore and Koodie pumped a bunch of grenades through the walls, computers, down the hallway, and into the ceiling.
"Let's go, Michael."
"Yes, Mr. President."
They vanished. Seconds later the room erupted into a ball of high-energy plasma and debris. Fire spread and engulfed the floor. Then the building began to shake and shudder as DEG and missiles rained down from above. The Capitol Building of the United Separatist Republic, the house of terrorist leader Elle Ahmi, was being razed to the ground.
Chapter 33
July 1, 2394 AD
Sol System, Washington, D.C.
Friday, 4:15 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time
Moore appeared in the Oval Office just behind the Resolute desk. His HVAR was at the hip, and he was flashing crosshairs for Ahmi. Thomas had done his job. The office was cleared, and as soon as all of them reappeared, there was a SIF field put in place around the room. Nobody was getting in or out.
Unfortunately, Ahmi and Fink were still on their feet. Fink was now wearing his helmet, and while Ahmi seemed a bit unsteady, she was somehow still standing—probably immunoboost and stims.
"Don't fucking do it, Alexander!" Ahmi screamed at him almost in a pitch too high for dogs to hear. She had an unconscious Dee by the neck and a railpistol to her head. Fink was on her left with his HVAR leveled on them. He had his back to the window facing the White House lawn and waved the weapon back and forth cautiously.
"Let her go, Elle!" Moore shouted at her. He shifted the weight of his feet and readied himself. For what, he wasn't sure, since he didn't have a plan of action yet.
"Let her go," Sehera said. Sehera was near Thomas at the entrance to the office, and both of them were pointing their rifles at Ahmi, trying to get a line of sight where Dee wasn't in the way. Koodie, Nancy, and DeathRay were on the other side of the couch.
"You shoot me, and my AIC will fire this pistol. Dee will die," Ahmi said. "Now drop the SIF and let us go."
"Dee stays here," Alexander growled.
"Very well, Moore. You win, this time." Ahmi tightened her grip on Dee. Dee started to regain consciousness—they must've given her something as well.
"Don't move, Dee. It'll be all right," Sehera warned her.
"Ma'am, if we're gonna go, let's go," Fink said.
Dee was quickly regaining her feet. "Fuck you, Fink. I am so gonna hunt you down and rip your goddamned head off," Dee shouted.
"Easy, dear," Ahmi said.
Abigail! Ask Nancy's AIC if they can QMT Dee out.
No, sir, they cannot.
Can we track them?
Yes, sir. That was all part of Nancy's plan. Allison, her AIC, is quite brilliant, sir.
Then if we let her go, I can go right to her?
Yes, sir.
Now we're talking.
Yes, sir.
"Go, Ahmi, and don't come back. Your Separatist movement is over," Moore told her.
"We shall see, Alexander. We shall see. Now drop your SIF."
"Drop the SIF, Thomas." The Secret Service bodyguard triggered the SIF generator off.
"Done, sir."
"Let her go. I gave her my word." Moore motioned to the rest of them.
"Yes, you did. You are such an honorable marine, Alexander. I should have killed you long ago!" Ahmi pushed Dee forward and fired three rounds of the railpistol into Moore's chest as spheres of crackling light flashed around her and Fink. Dee dove for the ground, and DeathRay, Nancy, and Sehera pumped railgun rounds through the balls of light to no avail. Thomas and Koodie dove for the President. They covered him until the firing stopped.
"This is Thomas Washington. We have an emergency. The president is critically injured with three rounds to the chest. I repeat. The president has been shot."
"Daddy!" Dee rushed to his side. There was no blood, as his suit and organogel had sealed it off. Immunoboost had been administered, but the rounds were completely through him in three places.