Mark Spaid - Falcon Down

“Sir, Andrew Bellingham just called me and the President has been taken.”

“What do you mean taken?”

“The bus she was on along with her staff and the Russian President and his staff was hijacked.”

“By who?”

“We don’t know for sure but I suspect it was a Stalinist element.”

“Oh, boy, they’re fanatics.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do we know where they are?”

“No, sir.”

“I assume the reason had something to do with the treaty that the Stalinists and many in Russia oppose.”

“Seems likely,” Cheryl said.

“What happens now?” Don asked.

“You tell your children and of course you can’t leave the Whitehouse.”

“Understood but what about the government?”

“We’re working on it, sir.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Shelly asked. They were watching television together like they did nearly every evening. Brian was under house arrest as he called it and Shelly didn’t want to cause any extra trouble for her dad so she’d been staying home every night as well. Don walked slowly up to his kids grim faced. He said nothing for a moment and Shelly and Brian became concerned.

“What is it, Dad?” Brian asked.

“Something’s happened,” Don said as she sat down on the edge of a chair facing his children.

“What?” Shelly asked as her countenance had moved from interest to fear.

“The bus your mom was on has been hijacked.”

“What? How is that possible?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know but everyone on the bus is missing. That’s all I know.”

“What will they do to get Mom back?” Shelly asked.

“I don’t know that either.”

“They must have some plan in mind,” Brian said.

“Maybe they do.”

“Shouldn’t they tell you,” Brian said.

“Yeah, you’re the President’s husband,” Shelly added.

“Look, kids, I have no role in the government whatsoever, I’m just a glorified babysitter.”

“You’re more than that, Dad,” Shelly said.

“I wish I was, baby, but my only job is to keep you two out of trouble.” Brian looked down and shook his head. Shelly went to her dad and hugged him.

“Will the army get Mom back?” Brian asked.

“It’s not that easy, they’re in Russia and an operation by us would technically be an act of war.”

“But kidnapping the President must be an act of war also,” Brian said.

“Oh, I agree with that but it wasn’t the Russian government that took her but a band of fanatics.”

“The Stalinists?” Shelly asked.

“That’s right and they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way.”

“Including mom?” Brian asked.

“Yes, Brian, including your mom.” They just sat silent after that.

“Sir, we have a situation in Russia,” Deke Winters said as he approached General Zumwalt in the situation room at NORAD.

“What?”

“The President has been kidnapped.”

“How?”

“The tour bus that was going over the bridge was taken by a band of hooligans.”

“Hooligans nothing, they were Stalinists. That group is just crazy enough to do something like that.”

“We don’t know any more than that right now.”

“Alright, keep digging.”

“Yes, sir,” Deke said and went back to his console.

“Sir,” Lieutenant Alton said standing in front of Zumwalt’s desk.

“Yes.”

“There’s been an incident at Kapustin Yar.”

“What?”

“The site is compromised. We’re picking up conversations from our satellites that suggest the site has been taken over by a Stalinist.”

“Great, that’s all we need. Anything else?”

“Yes, sir… he’s armed the missiles.” Walt stood up and let out a big sigh.

“Take us to DEFCON FOUR and get me Alaskan Air Command on the line.

“Yes, sir.” The light overhead changed from DEFCON FIVE to DEFCON FOUR. A man handed a phone to General Zumwalt.

“Hello, Tommy, this is Zumwalt at NORAD. The President’s been kidnapped in Russia… Well, they were taking that idiotic bridge tour when a group of renegades took her… yeah, I agree. That’s all we know but we also found out that Kapustin Yar is compromised. Yeah, it’s been taken over by a Stalinist and he’s locked the doors. Of course, they can’t breach or the computer will launch the missiles automatically… yes, they’re armed. Probably the guy who took over and locked the door. Yes, I know and I’ve moved to DEFCON FOUR. Yeah, scramble the bombers. What? Yeah, I know that they’ll interpret our bombers in the air as a start of an attack, Tommy, but I don’t want to be caught with our planes on the ground. Okay, I’ll stay in touch.” Walt handed the phone to an assistant and stared at the board showing an enormous map of the world. All was calm and normal at this point though Russian submarine activity was conspicuous.

“Calm down, I can’t hear anyone!” Wendy Lewis said as she had arms in the air trying to quiet everyone in the Whitehouse press room. It was full of reporters and everyone knew now that the President had been taken.

“Wendy!” A reporter shouted and almost instinctively everyone quieted to listen to the question.

“Yes, Dan.” Wendy was the assistant press secretary and with Kent in Russia it fell on her to conduct any press briefings. None had been planned. Kent made that clear before he left. No one spoke to the press except Kent. Those were Kent’s rules. But obviously things had changed.

“Wendy, where is the President.”

“We don’t know, somewhere in Russia.”

“How did this happen?” John continued.

“We don’t know that either, details are sketchy.”

“Have there been ransom demands?” Another reporter asked.

“No.”

“What is being done to get her back?”

“It’s early, Stephanie, I’m sure plans are being made as we speak.”

“You mean you don’t know?” Another reporter asked.

“In case you are unaware Miles, the Whitehouse assistant press secretary is not usually involved in tactical planning of military operations.” There was laughter.

“Where is the Speaker of the House?”

“I can’t disclose that.”

“Do you know?”

“I can’t disclose that.”

“Where is the Secretary of State?”

“I can’t disclose that.”

“Is this going to be your response to everything?”

“If you expect me to reveal information about the location of key members of the government then yes. You look smarter than that, Adam.” There was more laughter.

“With the President abducted and the Speaker’s whereabouts unknown then the President Pro Tem of the Senate is in charge, right?”

“That would be right Megan,” and there was light laughter.

“Where is he?”

“You can’t disclose that,” a reporter spoke up quickly and there was more laughter.

“You’re catching on fast,” Miles.” The press conference ended and Wendy went up to Cheryl Wallach in the hall. “Where’s Benton?”

“We’re headed to his residence right now.” Perry Benton was the oldest serving Senator of the majority party and the line of succession goes: President… vice President… Speaker of the House… President Pro Tem… Secretary of State, etc. In nearly all cases the President Pro Tem is a very old person. Not that elderly people are mentally incapable of being President but the strains are considerable, and in the past the Pro Tem position has been held by people who were physically infirm as they hung onto power. It is certainly a weak point in the American political system. Senator Benton was in his seventh term at the age of eighty-four. The people of Wyoming liked Perry and returned him to the Senate every time he asked.