“Improvise,” Sachs said. “Find a stretch of highway if you have to. But make sure it’s near a truck stop or some place with food and facilities. If we land in one piece, we’ll need to set up a new command post.”
As she left the cockpit, already she could feel the plane making a sharp descent. She rejoined Koz in the battle staff compartment, where he was poring over an operations manual while battle staffers worked furiously at their consoles.
ed over Koz. “How are you doing?”
“It’s tricky, but I should be able to override the Looking Glass launch procedures without Marshall catching on.” Koz looked up at her. “I just don’t understand why he’d do this. I do but I don’t.”
Sachs said, “Decapitation. By blowing up D.C., Marshall ensures we go to war with China — while we can still win it on our terms.”
“Until you came along,” said Koz, as he started reprogramming the overhead launch console.
Sachs said, “Well, clearly he made contingency plans. You said all Marshall has to do is dial in the eight-digit enabling code.”
“Yep. Once you have the code, it’s simple.”
Sachs asked, “How simple?”
41
Marshall waited until they had descended to 18,000 feet before he removed the key he wore around his neck and inserted it into one of two locks in the red safe next to his desk console in the battle staff compartment. He then removed the second key he had taken from Quinn and opened the second lock.
As soon as he opened the safe, the alarm went off, a clattering sound like a woodpecker. But there was no intelligence officer to stop him now. Nobody.
The launch procedure was so simple, really.
Let Deborah Sachs keep American bombers and subs at bay, he thought. He was going to launch those missiles at China. At least he could be sure they would launch under attack. Then the war would be underway. A war the United States would win.
Yes, American civilization would be renewed for another century.
Marshall waited a full minute before the clattering stopped. He then removed two more keys from inside the safe and tossed one to Banks.
“The keys to the kingdom, Major Tom.”
Marshall cracked open the code card with the eight-digit enabling code. He repeated it out loud:
“Tango, Seven, Bravo, Four…”
Banks keyed it into the overhead launch console. “Tango, Seven, Bravo, Four,” she repeated.
The corresponding beeps locked in the code.
Marshall read the final four digits. “…Alpha, One, Delta, Nine.”
“Alpha, One, Delta, Nine,” echoed Banks, and locked in the code.
Marshall then inserted his key into the overhead console. “On my count.”
Banks inserted the second key and nodded.
“Three…”
“Two…”
“One…”
“Turn.”
Simultaneously they turned their keys.
42
It was a white-knuckle landing onto Interstate 29. Sachs felt Air Force One touch ground only to suddenly lift again and then set down. The pilots immediately threw the thrusters into reverse to try and stop it. But the plane wasn’t slowing down and she couldn’t see outside from the seat with the five-point harness that Captain Li had strapped her into.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice shaking as her seat vibrated like an electric chair.
Captain Li put a finger to her earpiece. “There’s a new overpass across the highway that wasn’t on the maps. We had to jump it and now we’re coming up too fast on another one.”
This might be a real short landing, Sachs thought, but she knew that Marshall might launch missiles at any moment. She unbuckled her harness and stood up, her head immediately hitting an overhead bin she hadn’t noticed before. Captain Li was on her feet and right there behind her.
“What are you doing, Madame President?”
Sachs rubbed her head. “Koz can’t wait for us to stop to override Marshall’s launch authority. He’s got to do it now.”
Li didn’t try to stop her, but instead helped her move through the corridor to the battle staff compartment, where Koz and AF1 battle staffers were locked at their stations.
“Koz! We have to stop Marshall now!”
Koz was reading off his operations manual, punching in new authorization codes into the overhead consoles as the plane began to finally slow enough to make Sachs believe they were going to stop safely. “I think I’ve got it!” Koz shouted above the roar of the engines. “Get off this plane, everybody! You too, Madame President.”
She said, “I’m not leaving this plane without you, Koz.”
“Yes, you are,” he said and motioned to Captain Li and two officers, who grabbed her by the arms and began to drag her away.
43
Jennifer backed away from the window as she watched the two Green Berets walk toward the caddyshack. She ran back to the tiny kitchen that in the summer kept the caddies fed between golf rounds. She opened the pantry next to the refrigerator, which was unplugged. She pulled out the empty, removable stacks and shelves and hid them behind the fridge. Finally, she opened the back door a crack, to make it look like she had escaped. Then she hid herself in the bottom half of the pantry, ignoring the rat droppings. With a shiver she closed the door and held her breath in the dark.
She heard the front door rattle. A second later it was kicked open with a loud crash. She gasped and then clapped her hand over her mouth.
She could hear the soldiers check the sliders of the guns with a couple of loud clicks for effect, to signal they were coming after her, hoping she’d make a sound. She sat stone still.
One of the soldiers whispered, “Look.”
They were at the back door.
Jennifer felt a draft as the back door was fully opened.
“Maybe,” said a second voice. “Check it out.”
Jennifer heard the front door open again, hoping against hope they were leaving, when she heard the floor creak inside the kitchen.
Oh, God, no.
Someone was standing directly on the opposite side of the pantry door. The door began to crack open. She was about to scream when the soldier’s radio popped and the door closed.
She heard his gravelly voice say, “Copy that. We’re out of here.”
She listened to his footsteps walking out of the kitchen. Then she heard the front door open and close shut.
A minute later the heavy thuds of the Suburban’s doors closed. The engine roared to life and then faded in the distance as it drove off.
44
Major Banks looked at him blankly inside the battle staff compartment.
“Turn!” Marshall repeated.
Banks turned her key again. Still nothing. “She’s changed the enabling codes!”
Marshall stared at the two launch keys, both turned in their respective launch locks. “Goddamn that Koz!” he said, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled. “I think it’s time we remove the final layer of federal bureaucracy.”
Banks nodded and moved to the consoles. She booted up yet another sabotage program. “Crash and Burn, sir?”
Marshall nodded. “Bye, bye, Miss American Pie.”
Banks pushed the delete button on her terminal.