Chapter 45

"Mr. President, we have a crisis!"

You could say that again.

Even knowing what was coming, it hurt to think that someone would hate me enough to kill hundreds of innocent, hard-working people, just to get me.

Shane, Rick, and Jack accompanied me to the Conference Room aboard the seven-forty-seven. On the video board were Hawk Dryden and Anderson Little. What was the head of the Federal Marshall's Service doing at the Pentagon with the Secretary of Defense?

"Mr. President," Hawk said solemnly. "Approximately seven minutes ago, at three-twenty-four P.M., Air Force Two exploded and broke up in flight. The air escorts have it on film, and there is zero possibility that the plane was hit by a missile. Our immediate analysis indicates that Air Force Two was blown up using an unknown explosive device that had to have been planted in, or adjacent to the fuel tanks.

"Mr. President. There is no chance what-so-ever, anyone survived. Our fighter escorts say, and the film confirms, that the explosion ripped the plane to pieces. It was flying at five hundred and forty miles per hour, at thirty-two thousand feet.

"You have to face it, Sir. The Vice President and his entire staff are dead.

"We'll have assets on the ground shortly, but the debris field will spread out for miles, and the bodies will be little more than scraps that might be impossible to locate and recover. I'm sorry, Mr. President.

"What are you orders, Sir?"

"You'll have to give me a moment, gentlemen. I need to process what you just said and wrap my head around what that really means. In the meantime, move all rescue and recovery assets as quickly as possible to the crash site, and call up the local Guard to assist. Get someone on the phone with local LE and EMS, get them moving to help.

"Secretary Dryden, take us to Def Con Two until further notice.

"Call FEMA and HHS. On my order call out our Emergency Management Rapid Response Team out to set up field units to feed and house the rescue personnel; and give me a few minutes to think, so I can figure out to handle the media. The crash scene is expected to be enormous, and it will take days, if not weeks to secure it. Let's try to get some comforts set up for our people."

I turned to Rick and said, "Get Sarah on the phone and have her start work on a news release. In the meantime, arrange for a quiet leak to get them all into a feeding frenzy. By the time we confirm the explosion, everyone will have heard about it, and we can then start to send out details that the public has a right to know.

"But – before you begin that – get the Vice President's pastor moving to make next of kin notifications. As far as I am aware, his family is still at the residence. Get someone over there to help them deal with what's coming down on their shoulders. Beef up security at the Residence.

People are naturally going to want to build a memorial outside the fence. If it seems like a good idea, move the Vice President's family to Blair House, and get their house staff moving over to take care of them." They did nothing wrong, and I needed to be sensitive to them instead of taking Ken's treason out on them.

I was already tired of thinking about what just happened. We excused ourselves and went back to my office. Ken really did try to kill me, and blew himself up, along with pretty much his entire committee of co-conspirators, on what would have been my plane.

I wondered if they had any idea they were flying my bird, and not the regular Air Force Two, or if the explosion was a total shock. Obviously when the birds were switched, someone had already planted the devices and snuck out with no idea they'd just signed their boss's death warrant.

And they never knew we'd switched my bird for one that was retired and going to be used for parts before long, so it was not a huge financial cost to the government.

Oh, well...

If you insist on playing the big boys' game, sometimes you get hurt.

I could see it happening in my mind's eye. The supervisor of the ground crew decided to pull Air Force One into the big hangar for an engine inspection. At the same time, another supervisor did the same on Air Force Two. When both planes were rolled out, they were switched and the "extra" Seven-Forty-Seven sitting conveniently nearby was pulled into my parking place to take us to Branson. When Ken showed up he was fully aware that a massive load of explosives were hidden in Air Force One, to take me out and make him President.

"Ok. Rick. I've had a chance to think. Have the pilots turn us around. We need to go back to D.C. to deal with this. Have everyone meet me at Camp David. It's going to be a long night. Call in the Cabinet, except for Defense. Dryden is pretty busy right now.

"Tell everyone to meet me at the White House. Even if I can't sleep there, we can use the Situation room and get our heads around the next few days. Marine One will take me, Rick, Steve, and Shane. Rick, let Marine One know we will have additional passengers for the decoys, and have whichever General is on duty at Andrews arrange choppers for the cabinet. We'll treat this as a Situation Alpha for security's sake."

The team split up to do their thing, and allow me to think in peace for a minute.

I called home and Rebecca answered. "I heard, baby. Are you Ok?" Her voice sounded so loving, gentle, and sweet right then. I wanted to reach through the phone lines and hold her.

"Yeah. I'm good. I can't believe he intended to kill me and everyone else on board. It is so unbelievable..." Rebecca spoke words of comfort to me, as Air Force One turned toward D.C. so that I could be the face of America while the country buries its Vice President and his entire staff.

Upon landing, Air Force One was surrounded with hundreds and hundreds of armed soldiers, tanks, police cars, and over-flying choppers. The outpouring of military might was overwhelming, and I asked the Judge, "What's all this?"

He gave me his version of, 'the look.' "Mr. President. The Vice President was assassinated a few hours ago. The President and his family were murdered inside the White House, and we have no on in custody for that attack. The Secretaries of Defense and Treasury are concerned about your safety. This is going to be your new normal while this is all sorted out, so get used to it."

Air Force One taxied to the big hangar, and was safely behind special blast doors before I was allowed to deplane. Even then there were soldiers stationed on each step of the flight stairs and surrounding me all the way to Marine One for the flight to sixteen-hundred.

As we boarded, I had a thought and said to the pilot, "Take me to the pentagon and notify Secretary Dryden I am on my way in."