“You have a very good point,” she admitted.
Frank looked at the three other people in the room, “Let me make a suggestion. How about a weekend at Camp David? From what I understand it has all the communications equipment we need if anything happens. We can relax in the woods and perhaps still get some work done on the kick start of the restructuring and rebuilding of the military, which needed it before we had our recent little fracas in the Middle East. Now after the losses we took on fighter aircraft it is in severe need.”
“Oh, and we can check out the location of our wedding,” said Sandy.
The door to the living room opened with a crash as it hit the wall. Lester Johnson entered quickly with five Secret Service agents, and two members of the Marine Guard, “Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, ladies. We need to get you onto Air Force 1, and Air Force 2 immediately, and get in the air.”
“Les, what happened?”
“Mr. President, they nuked Los Angeles. This isn’t over yet.”
“Get our nuclear weapons ready to fly, and let’s move,” said the President.
Epilogue
Once again, President Scott found himself on Air Force One traveling around the United States to assess the damage done for himself, but to also in an attempt to give assurances and confidence to the people of the United States. He felt this needed to be done face to face, so to speak, as the television did not convey the feelings or emotions. He found out the last time that seeing the damage for yourself gives it a far less abstract meaning.
He looked back at his desk, after staring out the window deciding what needed to be done and when. Seven more stops over the next few days, then back to Washington to outline the overall plan for the future of the United States, and the war effort.
With no warning, the engine pitch changed and Air Force One started to descend in a nice slow controlled fashion suggesting this was expected and not part of some new emergency. Pressing the intercom button, the President called his Chief of staff, “Les, what’s going on, my notes say nothing about landing right now.
Les replied, “Mr. President, the pilots indicated that this is an approved departure of schedule that has a Presidential security priority. He knows nothing more than he is supposed to land at White Sands Missile Base, and keep the plane sealed and prepped for either take off or being moved into a shelter.”
“Ok Les, thanks for the update, please pass to the pilot I would like to speak with him when he gets a free moment” the President said, and let go of the intercom button.
As the plane continued to descend into the desert landscape he continued to ponder what was going on.
The intercom buzzed and the President punched the button to connect the incoming communication. “Mr. President,” the voice said, “about your question of why we are landing here, we don’t necessarily have a standing protocol on how to handle part of current situation, but we have a high priority message indicating a covert trip to White Sands, which is where we are about to land. Mister President, before you ask, I do not know what is here, who or why you are meeting someone here, just that for some classified reason, we are to land and have you considered as being in briefings for the next twenty four hours.”
“Thank you for filling me in, just one question,” the President replied. “How do you keep people from wondering what happened to Air Force One?”
With a slight chuckle, the pilot replied, “That’s the easy part Mister President, we tell them the truth, we are landing for some preventative maintenance of the engines which have gone ever so slightly past their inspection timeframe. While we are on the ground some mechanics will come out and inspect the engines to ensure they are good to go.”
“Good to know that’s all covered. Anything else you can tell me unofficially?” the President queried.
“No Mr. President, sorry but the pilots are usually never allowed to exit the aircraft, for security reasons, when communications like this come through. It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before,” the pilot said with a heavy sigh.
“Ok, Thanks, and if possible I will get your crew off the plane for a bit, but I can’t promise anything until I know what’s going on. Now, I will stop bugging you so you can land this beast,” the President signed off so the pilot could concentrate, and so he could think about what might be going on.
A short time later, after a perfect landing by the pilot, Air Force One rolled to a stop in a fairly well hidden taxi way or perhaps it was reception area, it was tough to tell. This specific one looked like it was designed specifically for Air Force One or other similar aircraft of considerable size. As they came to a stop several things happened at once. A limousine came from an unknown location, heavily armored tanks and infantry vehicles, as well as blast shields appeared as if from nowhere to provide security for the plane. Mechanics and fuel trucks came out to inspect the plane and top off all the massive fuel tanks.
The President stood up, grabbed his jacket, and made for the front of the plane where the boarding stairs were being moved into place. It was at that moment when the floor fell out from under him and he fell from his feet to hit the floor right in front of the now opened door. It was only then that the President noticed that the entire taxi area was slowly descending into a massive cavern under the desert. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a lone figure dressed in a military combat uniform with an assault rifle over his shoulder. He seemed calm to the point of being bored until he saw the President coming towards him. The figure straightened up and saluted his Commander in Chief. As others from the Secret Services start to descend, the figure reached for his rifle and in a loud commanding voice stated, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President and only the President is authorized to leave this aircraft. You should all return to your seats and someone will come by shortly with instructions. This is not negotiable. Please folks, for your safety return to the inside of the aircraft now. The only exceptions to that are the head of his Secret Service detail, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and only those persons.”
The rest of the aircraft’s occupants slowly made their way back up the stairs, while the President and the head of his security detail went the rest of the way down. The lone figure saluted in much the same way as a newly minted West Pointer would when they were still raw. With a jaded eye, the President slowly returned the salute as he was still getting use to the idea of being the Commander and Chief of the United States Military, but his Presidency seemed to consist of nothing but military decisions.
Looking at the military uniforms around him, the President noticed that the typical decorations, rank, and name tags were missing from the uniforms. The President lifted an eyebrow in a silent inquiry as to why they were missing.
With a slight chuckle, the waiting man smiled and replied, “My name is Mr. Smith Mr. President, I have no official name or rank right now, Mister President. What I am now is the head of security for this facility. That is something I take very seriously Mister President, and I will not have any security breaches while I am still in charge. You three were allowed off because we have to brief you on what goes on within this facility. The others are not allowed off that plane because they have no need to know. If anyone else does make an attempt to come down the stairs, or tries to sneak of the plane Mr. President, that person or persons will not see the light of day until such time as I am ordered by higher authority to release them. Mr. President, that is my mandate for being the chief here, I lose my outside life but learn things that are absolutely amazing. In return, I enforce those guidelines with an iron fist. You will learn things that might help you with the challenges being faced today.”