Chapter 10

"It is now 11:10 P.M. on the East coast," said the most trusted news broadcaster in America. "Just less than two hours ago a devastating explosion occurred in the Capitol and appears to have wiped out most of the upper levels of the United States government. The entire line of succession to the presidency, with the exception of the new Secretary of Education, Kathleen Lehrer, who had only taken office a month ago, was inside the Capitol at the time of the explosion, and it is feared that they had all been killed in the firestorm that erupted."

"Reports that the explosion was the result of an airliner crashing into the Capitol have been confirmed. We have received unconfirmed reports that the airline crash was a deliberate attack on the U.S. government, although the reasons for such an attack and the perpetrators of it are still unknown at this time."

"Two hours after the explosion and there is still no word about the fate of the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, or any of the others who are farther down the line of succession. The only survivors so far who were actually inside the chamber are two Congressmen and one Senator, who had been in the rear part of the House chamber and who had been blown out of it by the force of the explosion. All three are reported to be in extremely critical condition. There is no word about casualties because fire and rescue workers have been unable to enter the House chamber because of the extreme heat from the fire."

"Despite the fact that almost the entire upper echelon of the United States government was inside the House chamber for the State of the Union, the government still has a leader. Contingency plans have long been in effect that cause one member in the line of succession, usually the head of one of the more junior Cabinet departments, to be absent from any public gathering such as this, just in case something like this were to occur. The person who was absent from the State of the Union this evening was the new Secretary of Education, Kathleen Lehrer, who took office just five weeks ago. For more about who is now running the United States government, I would like to switch to our White House correspondent."

"About one and one half hours ago," began the White House correspondent from the White House Press Room, "Secretary Lehrer arrived here and took control of the government until there is more information about the fate of those ahead of her in the line of succession. She has summoned the ranking survivors of the various departments to the White House and is now consulting with them in the Situation Room. We have been told that Secretary Lehrer will meet with the press at midnight to update us on what has been happening. We have been told that there appears to be no sign of Russian involvement in this, and that the Russian government was one of the first to express its sorrow about tonight's events."

"Is there any word there about whether it was a deliberate attack and if it was, who may have been responsible?" asked the most trusted news anchor in America.

"There have been rumors, none of which have been confirmed, that it may have been a plot by the Ayatollah Makhtol in Iran to neutralize the U.S. government for some reason or other. But, at this point, all we have is conjecture, and nothing like that has been confirmed."

The White House correspondent was interrupted again by the anchor, who said, "We have just received word from the Capitol that information has been received about several of the top leaders. We will go there to hear the announcement."

"Here at the Capitol, the head of the rescue teams trying to fight the fire and attend to any survivors is about to make an announcement."

"Within the past twenty minutes, we have been able to enter the House chamber. The death toll so far is fifty five. The number of injured so far is forty three, most of whom are very gravely injured. The only people known to have survived that had actually been inside the chamber so far are the two Congressmen and the Senator that you know about. Among the dead who have been identified and whose families have been notified are the First Lady, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, The Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Commerce. We are still searching for the President, Vice President, Speaker, and the rest of the line of succession."

"What are the chances of finding someone who is still alive?"

"It doesn't look good. We haven't found anyone still alive in over an hour. The only thing we can do is try to find them as quickly as possible and to pray that they were able to survive the fire and the tons of debris that fell on top of them."

"Have you heard anything about the airliner deliberately crashing into the Capitol?"

"The F.B.I., the F.A.A. and other agencies are investigating that right now, but we can not be certain of anything until we have more information. That's all I have for you right now. Once I have more news for you, I will pass it on to you."

"We have just heard from William Rusterman, who is the head of the rescue team which is working desperately to try to find any one who might have miraculously survived this catastrophe."