William Bernhardt - Capitol Betrayal

The elevator doors opened. Ben stepped inside.

“Thanks,” Ben said breathlessly.

“Godspeed,” Zimmer said quietly as the doors closed between them.

Ben stood outside the Lincoln Memorial, desperate to get inside. The authorities had cordoned off the building. Sirens were wailing. Any nonessential personnel were being hurriedly whisked away. Ben wasn’t sure who was in charge-the CIA, the FBI, the local police-and he didn’t really care. All he knew for certain was that he wanted in. And he also knew why he couldn’t get in.

He’d had enough experience to know what this was. A hostage scenario.

Christina was in there. He was certain of it.

“Mr. Kincaid?”

Ben turned and saw a tall, strong-looking middle-aged man with sun-baked skin and a turnip of a nose. He was wearing a padded flak jacket. The strap of a holster on his shoulder told Ben he was armed.

“Mr. Kincaid, I’m Seamus McKay. I’m with the CIA.”

“I know,” Ben said, taking his hand. “We’ve met. When I was a senator.”

“That’s right,” McKay said, arching one eyebrow. “I wasn’t sure you would remember.”

“The president mentioned you earlier today. Spurred my memory. I’m glad you’re involved. Looks like your people have responded quickly.”

“They’re trained to do just that. Ever since September eleventh. No choice, really. As soon as I notified my people of the target, they set up this containment operation.”

And that was enough of the pleasantries and small talk. “Is my wife in there?”

Seamus’s shoulders heaved. “Yes. I’m afraid she is. How did you know?”

“An educated hunch. Rybicki mentioned Lincoln twice today. He even quoted from the inscription above the statue of Lincoln. ‘In this temple as in the hearts of the people.’ It’s obvious the monument was weighing on his mind. He probably planned on using this as a backup target all along, in the event he couldn’t get the suitcase out of the country. No doubt he sees some vast symbolic reason for the selection-freeing Americans from the slavery of crude oil, or some such insane rationale.”

“But why take your wife?”

“That,” Ben said grimly, “was probably done out of revenge.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. We’ve got Rybicki in custody. Caught him leaving the building. The president called in an arrest order. Unfortunately, he had already triggered the countdown on the bomb. With your wife attached to it.”

“Can you get her out?”

“No. There’s a problem.”

“The nuclear suitcase.”

Seamus nodded grimly. “It’s set to explode in less than nineteen minutes. She’s handcuffed to it, and to the base of the statue.”

Ben’s lips parted. No. No!

“Can’t you get her out of there?”

“They tried without success. Then they were ordered out, along with everyone else. We have a bomb squad on the way. They haven’t arrived yet.”

“But can’t you cut her loose in the meantime?”

“No. Rybicki says the cuffs are made of titanium alloy.”

Ben’s brow creased. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re not going to cut through them with a blowtorch. And you’re not going to pick the lock with a paper clip. And to make matters worse, Rybicki says that if we detach her from the laptop control device, the bomb goes off immediately.”

“And you believe him?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ve seen this type of trigger mechanism before.”

“There must be something we can do.”

“We’ve been in contact with bomb squads across the country, but so far no one knows how to stop it from detonating. Apparently Rybicki rigged it so the countdown could be stopped by typing in a password-presumably as a safeguard in the event of premature detonation or his failure to escape. But no one knows the password.”

“And Rybicki isn’t talking.”

“He’s pretty damn stubborn. I tried some serious interrogation techniques.”

Ben didn’t ask what they were. He didn’t want to know.

“But he didn’t talk. And I didn’t have enough time with him.”

“Can’t you just type some stuff in?”

“We had some people trying that. They did all the obvious ones. Happily, there’s no penalty for a wrong guess. The countdown just continues. We’ve tried all his children’s names, his wife, his dog, his favorite college professor. So far we haven’t hit the right code word.”

“There must be something you can do.”

“Yes, but…” Seamus’s voice trailed off. “Not in nineteen minutes.” He glanced at his watch. “Seventeen now.”

“You have to try!”

“We’ve already begun emergency evacuation procedures. Happily, the Mall was cleared this morning. But this bomb has a much wider range. Radiation fallout could affect people for miles around.”

“You have to stop that bomb from exploding!”

“Believe me, Mr. Kincaid, I’m as frustrated as you. I’ve been chasing this suitcase all day. The good news is, in the process, I managed to stumble onto Colonel Zuko’s satellite control station and booted him out of our computer system.”

“You’re the reason the missiles didn’t launch!”

“Well, I had help. But the bad news is, I never found the suitcase. The operative I’ve been chasing since early morning left it at a predetermined location for Rybicki to pick up.”

Ben looked at the monument. “I want to go in there.”

“I can’t allow that. Not even for a little while. It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t care. That’s my wife in there. I have the right.”

“I’m sorry, Ben. No. We have interrogation specialists working on Rybicki. Maybe they’ll be successful.”

Ben clenched his hands into fists. “Can you at least take me in there? So I can hear what’s going on?”

“That much I can do. Follow me, please.”

Seamus winced as he took the first step. He inhaled deeply, then started over again, clutching his right side. “Sorry. It’s been a hell of a day. And I still haven’t had much time with the medics.”

Ben followed as Seamus led him through the cordon and into a makeshift headquarters at the base of the tall marble steps leading to the memorial. The interrogation area was just a concrete barricade and an impressive array of communications equipment. One agent was talking into a telephone. Two were huddled around what appeared to be a blueprint of the memorial and the surrounding areas. A video monitor showed the scene inside-Christina chained to the base of the statue of Lincoln.

“Christina,” he said breathlessly.

“I’m sorry,” Seamus said. “If I could do-”

“Can I talk to her?”

An African American woman dressed in a jacket like Seamus’s answered. “I’m sorry. Not at this time. We don’t have a communications device down there.”

Seamus explained. “This is Special Agent Beldon of the FBI. She’s the tactical commander for this operation.”

Ben shook her hand. “Good to meet you.”

“We have someone working on Rybicki. We’re optimistic.”

Ben pursed his lips. “I’ve heard the man rant. I’m not.”

“Well, give it a chance.”

Ben glanced at a nearby blackboard. “I see you’re still employing the same four steps for hostile negotiation. Trust, contain, reconcile, resolve.”

“We’re treating this like a hostage negotiation-even though technically the hostage is not currently within his control. He knows the password that can save her and everyone else in the area, so it amounts to the same thing. You’ve been involved with prior scenarios?”