“What’s going on in there?” the Keep asked, nodding toward the noise coming from the Entrance Hall.
“We’re going to do a group hug,” Moms said, leading the Keep out of the Pantry. “Everyone except you and me and the six agents we’re sure aren’t infected.”
“Intriguing,” was the Keep’s only comment to that course of action.
They were intercepted by Chief of Staff McBride. A sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead. “I say we invite the president-elect here,” he said. “Get her in, have her shake hands with the president, then put both of them in front of the cameras!” It was obvious he thought this was a most brilliant insight. “Then we’ll see through all the bullshit she put out in the debates. I’d put my man against her telling the truth any day.”
Moms halted a safe distance from him. “An intriguing idea.”
One of the uninfected agents hovered behind him. He gave a thumbs-up. Moms and the Keep edged around the crowd. A fight briefly broke out between two staffers, but everyone around them ignored it. Several people were crying. One man was thumping his head, not overly hard, but repeatedly, against the wall.
“I never got that James Bond spy kit I asked for from Santa,” a Secret Service agent was telling a secretary tearfully and she was patting him on the back, consoling him.
Several people stood isolated, making sure they weren’t in contact with those who were obviously infected. Others seemed uncertain if they were infected or not.
Moms climbed up a few steps on the main staircase, the senior uninfected Secret Service agent next to her.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” She had to call out a couple of times to get everyone’s attention. “I have good news!” And bad, she thought, but didn’t say. That assured her she wasn’t infected.
Everyone stared at her expectantly. “What you’ve been infected with, a truth bug, wears out four hours after contact. It has no bad side effects.” A collective sigh of relief rose in the hall. “However,” Moms continued, “we have to get this under control. There is no antidote. And we’re in a circular pattern here, where even if you make it four hours, you’ve likely been reinfected. And on and on. So…” She paused and took a deep breath. “You’re all going to do a group hug at the same time. So everyone’s current infection starts at exactly the same time and will wear off at roughly the same time. We’re going to burn this infection out in the next four hours. Once the hug is over, everyone infected is getting locked in the East Room.”
“Fuck you!” someone in a suit yelled. “Why should—” And an infected Secret Service agent punched the guy in the face with a bit too much satisfaction, spraying blood from a broken nose.
“Anyone who does not participate,” Moms said, “will be locked in the freezer.”
“That’s an order!”
Moms spun about. President Templeton stood at the top of the stairs, his wife on one side, his daughter on the other. “I’ve had enough of everyone whining and complaining.” He looked to the side at his wife, who didn’t meet his gaze. “We have a duty to this country and we need to get back on track.” He strode down the steps, family behind him, and went by Moms and the Keep without even looking at them. He went to the center of the crowd, stretched his hands out and said: “Let’s do this and get it over with.”
And thus the entire White House, minus Moms, the Keep, and six Secret Service agents, were infected or reinfected at exactly the same time. The agents then began herding everyone into the East Room, the president leading the way.
Once everyone was in there, the doors were locked.
The Keep tapped Moms on the shoulder and indicated she should follow. They went up and up, to the very roof of the White House. Because of the restricted airspace, no television helicopters were flitting about, but for the first time in several decades, there weren’t two Secret Service agents armed with surface-to-air missiles on duty here.
“I’m in contact with Hannah,” the Keep said.
“And?” Moms asked.
The Keep pointed to the northwest. “We’ve got help coming.”
A Black Hawk helicopter flared just above the top of the antennas on the roof. A thick Fast Rope tumbled out and a figure slid down, heavy rucksack tilting her almost sideways. The Fast Rope was disconnected, and just as quickly, the Black Hawk raced off into the night.
The Keep stepped between Moms and the newcomer. “Neeley, meet Moms.”
They were at eye level to each other and both were a bit startled to be looking at their own doppelgänger.
“Moms,” Neeley said, with a nod. “Heard of you.”
“I haven’t heard of you.”
Neeley smiled. “That’s good.” The smile was gone. “I hear we’ve got General Riggs in the PEOC with the football. That’s not good.”
“So far he hasn’t—” Moms began, but the Keep held up a hand for silence as she cocked her head to the side. Moms realized she had to have a transmitter/receiver surgically implanted behind her right ear.
The Keep delivered the bad news. “It’s not good. He’s prepared a target package and is getting ready to initiate a countdown using the authorization codes.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a watch and showed them a display: 05:50. “This is synched to the Department of Defense alert system. Someone is firing up the launch computer.”
“Can we get into the PEOC?” Moms asked.
“We can try.” The Keep was already moving, heading for the stairs.
In the PEOC, the red digital clock flashed, and then began its own countdown:
0:05:00
0:04:59
One of Riggs’s staff, a colonel, jumped up. “Sir! You can’t do this.”
Riggs regarded him coldly. “I always knew you were chicken shit. You talked a good line, but the truth outs you after all.”
And then Riggs shot him right through the heart.
Outside the sealed door to the PEOC, Neeley and Moms considered the steel. Neeley shrugged her backpack off, pulling out a shaped charge.
“That won’t work,” the Keep said. She glanced at the watch: 04:10.
“We’ve got to try.” Neeley put the charge on the door.
“Do you have a better idea?” Moms asked. “Is there any way to stop the codes from going out?”
The Keep thought for a second, then sighed. “No. The system was built to prevent anyone from stopping it once the president initiated using the codes.”
“But the president isn’t in there,” Moms said. “Can’t he do something? Issue a command?”
The Keep shook her head. “No.”
“I’m going to blow it,” Neeley said. “Let’s take cover.”
They ran back down the hall and around the corner.
Neeley hit the remote and there was the sharp crack of an explosion.
Inside the PEOC, the detonation sounded distant, an echoing thud.
Riggs laughed. “It’ll take them a year to get in here.”
Then he shot a second officer who was sneaking toward the red lever. The man tumbled to the floor. “Sergeant Major!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take that lever off and bring it to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Inside the Snake’s cargo bay, Nada was going through another checklist. One he hadn’t used in over twenty years.
Eagle had them flying fast and low, skirting around Groom Mountain, over the dry bed of Papoose Lake, and then banking hard into the Nevada Test Range, also known as Yucca Flats.
The terrain changed from desert to disaster. It looked like the surface of the moon. “Doc,” Kirk asked, “how hot is it going to be?”