Mark Spaid - Falcon Down

“I thought you were an agnostic?” Mohammed Aziz asked with a grin.

“I am but today I think we could use some help from a higher power.”

“Let’s go,” Kulagin said and he and seven men got off the elevator on the sixtieth floor and found the door to the maintenance room.

“This is it,” a man said and moved quickly with another to try and force the door.

“No!” Kulagin yelled but it was too late. Both men were lit up by high voltage electricity and began smoking. It was a dreadful sight and they dropped to the floor dead. The lights flickered in the hallway and went out. Power all over the floor was gone. Warren had wired the door from the direct line with about a thousand volts and two hundred amps. To put it simply; that is a death sentence.

“Comrade,” Kolchevsky said as he watched and smelled two men smoldering on the floor.

“Stand back,” Kulagin said as he shot off the knob and lock with his weapon. Everyone had hit the floor upon Trent’s orders because he knew when Kulagin’s men died and the power went out he’d react forcefully and with anger. The emergency lights came on finally and lit up the room and the hallway. As they all lay on the floor, men came in the room, seven of them followed by Kulagin who stood in the middle looking around. “Get up, all of you,” and everyone got to their feet. Kulagin nodded with his head and two of his men went back into the hall and closed the door.

“I’ll have to check the panel to get power so we can broadcast, Comrade,” Kolchevsky said and Kulagin nodded. There was silence as the work continued on the electrical panel then after five minutes power was restored and the room lit up brightly. Kulagin looked all around and spotted Ellen and Deniken. Trent was in front of Ellen and Deniken’s men guarded him as well. Bonnie was right next to Ellen and Clarise was on the other side. If Ellen had been aware of this, she would’ve chased them away but she was intent on Kulagin.

“We should be ready to broadcast shortly,” Manatov said.

“Good,” Kulagin said.

“What do you want?” Sergei asked.

“Why, Mister President, you must know what I want… an end to cowering to the West, especially the United States. An end to Russia giving away lands that are rightfully hers and an end to the vilification of Comrade Stalin, the only true Russian patriot ever!” Kulagin’s voice filled the room and more than one person cringed. He was a scary person and the anger and hate in his voice was not lost on anyone.

“We’re ready, Comrade,” Manatov said and Kulagin nodded. A monitor lit up and it was an American news channel.

“Observe, Madam President, and see how your people have abandoned you,” Kulagin said with a smirk on his face.

“Here we see Acting President Valerie Jensen who we assume still carries the title of Speaker of the house,” A newsman said as he sat at the anchor desk with a female reporter.

“Yes, Lyle, there is no word of her stepping down temporarily from the Speaker’s post. The House is not in session right now. They’ll be off for another two weeks so the question is moot and of course, there is no precedent for this since this is the first time that the cabinet has placed someone in charge as acting president.”

“That’s right, Maryann, and since we have no word as to the fate of President Lexington, Acting President Jensen is the commander in chief of the armed forces. So, the question arises, will she use the military to try and rescue the President?”

“To give us his perspective on that question is retired Army General Leonard Wilcox. General what options does Acting President Jensen have?” Maryann Brownlee asked.

“Very few military options if any. It seems clear that President Lexington and President Deniken and their staff are being held in Russia. Any operation would involve, in short, an invasion of Russia… an act of war.”

“But these are renegades or at least it appears that way?” Maryann noted.

“That makes it even worse because an attack or an operation of any kind would be directed at who? The Stalinists, the Russian government, the Crimean government if it is indeed independent as Russia says they are?”

“Then what do we do?” Lyle asked.

“Until the situation clears and we know just exactly what happened, there’s not much we can do without making things worse.”

“Are diplomatic avenues open?” Maryann asked.

“Diplomacy with who? The Stalinists? Deniken’s government? We don’t even know who to talk to at this point.”

“Well, that’s not very encouraging I would say,” Lyle remarked.

“Thank you, General,” Maryann said and the station went to a commercial break.

“So, you see the problem you have, Mister President and Madam President. One of you has lost control of your own country and the other has a pretender on the throne. I should also add that we are in control of Kapustin Yar and the missiles are armed and ready for launch.” Sergei looked at Ellen and they were both shocked and frightened at the possibilities.

“What do you want, Kulagin?” Sergei asked.

“Justice for Russia and her people.”

“By turning back, the clock?”

“Yes, to the glorious days of the Soviet Union!”

“Stalin was a psychopath,” Sergei said.

“I should kill you for that but I need you… at least for a time.”

“Go ahead just don’t hurt anyone else,” Sergei said defiantly.

“Alright for starters who killed my men on the lower floors?”

“I did,” Trent said.

“I did also,” Tatiana said

“And me,” Vladimir added.

“Who wired the door?”

“I did,” Warren said as he stood with the other three. Ariel put her hands to her face and trembled.

“You shall all die,” Kulagin said. Tatiana pulled the gun from her back and aimed at Kulagin but one of his men shot her in the arm, she dropped the gun and it slid to Ellen’s feet and she picked it up. At the same time, a shot rang out and Warren was struck on the side of his head and fell to the floor.

“Warren!” Ariel yelled and knelt beside her unconscious husband. Then a man aimed his gun at Ellen and Trent reacted instinctively and moved to shield Ellen but so did Bonnie and Clarise, who only had a wounded arm, also ran in front of Ellen. Lexington and Deniken were pure gold to Kulagin. He needed them as leverage to get what he wanted. He would’ve never harmed them but his henchmen were just that… thugs with no concept of the larger picture. The man began firing and hit Trent in the left shoulder; he stayed in front of Ellen but fell to one knee. Vladimir who moved to protect Sergei was struck in the right side and fell to the floor. The man kept firing and shot Clarise in the chest… she fell on the floor followed by Bonnie who took a bullet in the neck. “Stop!” Kulagin said as he looked around. The shooting ended. Kulagin went to the two men who did the firing and shot them both in the head. “No more!” He yelled and his men got the message.

“Clarice,” Ellen said and knelt by her friend and advisor.

“I guess I blew it this time,” Clarice said with a chuckle but she was hurt very badly

“Lie still, Clarice, you’ll be okay.”

“It doesn’t feel okay. No matter what happens I’m proud to have served you.” She was fading fast and Ellen held her friend’s hand.

“Don’t talk, just take it easy.”

“Too late for that, Madam President.” Clarice slowly closed her eyes and took her last breath. Ellen looked up with tears in her eyes then noticed Bonnie.

“Bonnie,” she said as she crawled to her other best friend. Bonnie tried to talk but the wound and the shock of being struck by a bullet in the neck rendered her unable to speak. The bullet entered the neck to the left of center. “Don’t move, we’ll get help. Bonnie squeezed her hand and smiled.