Chapter 8

Acknowledging the applause that greeted him, President Ruskin walked to the podium in the House of Representatives, shook the Vice President's hand, then that of the Speaker and then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. He turned to his audience, and held up his hand for silence.

"Thank you," he began. "Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Senators, Members of Congress, Justices of the Supreme Court, and honored guests. Today we live in a very dangerous world. We have built up our national defenses to deal with that fact. We have done so that we may negotiate from a position of strength in order that we may deter aggression against us as well as any aggression that may be committed against our allies."

"That policy is about to pay off. We have recently been making a great deal of progress in our negotiations with President Alexandrov of Russia, and we are hopeful that we may be able to conclude an agreement by the end of the year that will drastically reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world."

A loud, thundering applause erupted among those who were gathered in the House and lasted for nearly five minutes.

Ali Katal had a small radio turned on in the cockpit of the plane, listening to the introduction of the President. The Capitol building had just come into view and he expected to be there within five minutes. He continued to listen to the radio as the plane of death approached the seat of the legislative branch of the United States government. He was flying at 15,000 feet, and started slowly descending, not wanting to alert the air traffic controllers or air defense units of what he was really about to do.

He was now within ten miles of the Capitol when the applause erupted. The voice of an air traffic controller came over his radio, warning him that he was flying below his designated altitude. He ignored it. The voice became more and more frantic. Katal continued to ignore it.

Five more miles and the Great Satan would be beheaded. Three miles to go. Two miles to go. One mile to go. He put down his flaps and aimed his jet right at the spot where he knew he would cause the greatest damage. His adrenaline was pumping through his entire body. The moment toward which he had been building his entire life had arrived. He was about to become a martyr for Allah's cause and ascend directly to heaven. He was filled with joy.

One half mile to go. Ali Katal switched open his microphone. "Die infidel! Die Satan! Allah Akhbar! Long live the Holy Islamic Revolution!"

And the whole world was totally transformed as millions watched in horror the results of Katal's actions.

By 9:13, the applause died down, and the President was able to continue.

"As a sign of goodwill, the United States and Russia have agreed to a mutually verifiable halt to all nuclear weapons tests and a mutually verifiable freeze on the deployment of all nuclear..."

They were the last words that President Ruskin would ever say as he was interrupted by a deafening crash, followed by huge explosions and a fireball as the Boeing 707 filled with tons of explosives smashed into the Capitol. The television pictures from the Capitol went dead.

A sense of bewilderment swept those who were watching the address on television. The network anchors at first thought that there had just been technical problems with the feed, until they were able to talk to the technicians working in the vans outside of the Capitol. Then they realized that there had been a huge explosion inside the Capitol building and that damage was very extensive. The conditions of those who had been inside were unknown, but it was very improbable that anyone could have survived the cataclysm that had just occurred.

Kathleen Lehrer and her daughter Sara Johnston had been sitting in their living room as the speech began. Three Secret Service agents and several Arlington police officers were on duty outside of their home. Within seconds of the explosion, which shook their house and rattled all of their windows, the Secret Service agents rushed into the room, telling the Secretary of Education and her daughter to quickly grab their coats, so that they could go to the White House, where their security could be more easily arranged.

Within five minutes, they were being whisked to what would be their home for the next few years. After they had gotten underway, Agent Michael Bridges, the head of her Secret Service detail who had positioned himself beside her in case he had to cover her with his body to protect her from harm, asked the Secretary, "where is your son?"

"Marty is in Philadelphia visiting his father."

"Do you have his address and phone number?"

"Yes, right here," she replied, fumbling through her purse. "Why do you need it?"

"Just as a precautionary measure. I want to notify the Secret Service in Philadelphia to pick him up and bring him to Washington, just in case the situation at the Capitol is as bad as it sounds."

"What have you heard?"

"The preliminary reports I just heard have said that the Capitol is almost totally engulfed in flames and most of it collapsed in the explosion. If that is the case Madame Secretary, you may be President."

The blood rushed from her face as she gasped in disbelief, her recent nightmare coming immediately to her mind. "My God, you can't be serious! Surely they all couldn't have been killed! There must be fifteen people ahead of me on the succession list!"

"I am aware of that, Madame Secretary, but it is my job to be prepared for a worst case scenario and to make sure that you are protected from harm so that there is someone who can take power. Just in case..."

"Oh," she replied, stunned into a momentary silence while she looked for her ex-husband's address and phone number. She found her address book, took out a piece of paper and a pen, copied the address and phone number down, and handed the paper to the agent. She turned away from the agent, reached for her daughter's hand, squeezed it tightly, and stared out the window of the limousine, looking in the direction of Capitol Hill, where the sky was all aglow from the flames of the inferno there. She heard the agent calling the information to Secret Service headquarters.

She picked up the telephone that was in the limousine and called the White House switchboard. "This is the Secretary of Education. I am enroute to the White House. Put me through to the Pentagon and to S.A.C ... I also want you to contact the ranking members of the State Department, Defense Department, C.I.A., National Security Agency, top military officers, and the Justice Department and have them come to the White House as soon as possible."

Within seconds she was connected to the Pentagon and to the Strategic Air Command. "Until we hear that the President and others above me in the line of succession are alive, I am taking control as acting President. I need to know who the highest ranking military official not attending the State of the Union is."

Upon being told that it was General Robert Allen, she told the White House switchboard to put her through to him.

Within two minutes, she had General Allen on the line.

"Until we hear that the President and others above me in the line of succession are alive, I am taking control as acting President. I want all U.S. military forces around the world put on the highest state of alert, short of a full fledged war footing, and I want them to standby to await further instructions from me or, from someone ahead of me in the line of succession, should they have survived tonight's catastrophe. Under no circumstances is anyone to launch an attack unless it is cleared through me or through someone of higher rank than me. I will be at the White House within the next few minutes and I will be able to get more information at that time. If you are in need of further instructions, I want it cleared through me until we have more information. I want you to come to the White House and meet me there as soon as possible."