CHAPTER 81

THE TWO CHOPPERS landed softly.

The president looked out the window and his face flushed. "What the hell is going on here? Who are they?" He was pointing to the HRT squad.

Before anyone could answer, Chuck Waters tapped on the glass. One agent opened the chopper door and put down the staircase.

"Who are they?" the president demanded again.

Waters said, "HRT, sir. They came ahead to secure the area."

"That was not authorized by me."

"No sir, it was okayed by the director of the FBI."

Cox didn't look happy about this, but the FBI director was the one man who did not serve at his pleasure but rather was appointed to a fixed term and remained there regardless of whether there was a change in the White House.

As they watched, the two bomb-sniffing dogs from the other chopper were led by their handlers toward the building. Even though the robot had already made a sweep of the area, when the president's safety was at issue, redundancy was standard procedure. The dogs patrolled the perimeter and then went inside. A few minutes later they came out, with one of the handlers signaling the all-clear.

Back at the chopper Waters continued, "He was advised of the situation by the Secret Service director and concluded that this was the best course of action if you insisted on coming here, sir."

"How very thoughtful. Let's hope that my niece isn't dead because of his little conclusion."

"So that is why we're here?" asked Larry Foster. "Because the kidnappers made some demand?"

Everyone looked over at Jane Cox.

Waters said, "We know the letter that I took from you, Mrs. Cox, was not the real thing. Did the actual letter tell you to come here?"

"No, it gave a phone number to call. I did. On that call I was told to come here with the president, if I wanted to get my niece back alive."

"Did the caller tell you what you had to do once you got here?"

"Go inside a house and see a woman in a bed," she said.

"Well, the HRT found a lady in a bed in that building. She's hooked up to life support systems. Who is she?"

"I don't know," Jane said firmly. "I'm just here to get my niece back."

Waters said skeptically, "You don't know her? You're sure?"

"How am I supposed to know? I haven't even seen who she is!" snapped Jane.

Foster looked confused. "All right, but what exactly are you supposed to do in there? From what the HRT said, the woman is unconscious."

Jane and the president looked at each other. She said, "All I can tell you is that I was told that the president and I were to go inside the house and see the woman. That was it."

The president said, "And we were to go in alone. At least that's what Jane was told," he added hastily.

Waters and Foster exchanged a worried look. Foster said, "Mr. President, I don't like this at all. The only reason for someone to bring you here is to do you harm. Nothing else makes sense. That building might as well have an X painted on the roof. We need to take this chopper back to Huntsville and go home. Right now."

"And then my niece dies!" exclaimed the president. "You really just expect me to fly away and let that happen?"

"Sir, I understand what you must be going through. But you don't have a choice. And neither do I. You are the president of the United States. Your safety cannot be compromised. As far as my duty is concerned no life takes precedence over yours. Not your niece." He glanced at Jane. "Not even your wife's. That's the law. That is my job, and I intend to carry that mission out."

"I don't give a damn about the law. Or your mission, Foster. We're talking about a little girl's life. I will not go back."

"Sir, please don't make me do this the hard way. I told you I had the authority to force you to go back and I am prepared to exercise that authority right now."

"Didn't your people check this place out? Haven't those HRT fellows checked everything out? What danger is there? Is the woman in there going to jump up and kill me?"

"She's on a neck-trach ventilator," answered Foster.

"Then she's no threat to me. You brought the bomb dogs. They found nothing. There's an army of heavily armed men out there. You told me we have aircraft and choppers all over the sky. Only a tank, plane, or mobile or fixed missile launcher could hit that house from long-distance, and I really don't think there are any of those in the great state of Alabama that don't belong to us. We're all alone out here. What could hurt me? What?"

"Sir, if I knew where the danger was, it would cease to be dangerous. It's the unknown that I'm concerned about."

"Unknown!" snapped the president. "Let me tell you about the known, then, Larry. If I turn around and fly back home and let my niece die when I could have saved her and the word gets out, I will lose this election, pure and simple. Do you understand that, my friend?"

Foster, Waters, and the other agents in the chopper all exchanged glances, obviously not quite believing what they had just heard.

"Okay," Foster began slowly. "You'll lose the election."

"That didn't come out in quite the way the president intended," Jane said quickly after noting the men's stunned looks even if her husband hadn't. "The president is very upset about all this, as am I. He is terribly worried about our niece, as am I. But he has worked long and hard for this country. We do not intend to allow some criminal psychopath or terrorist cell to either harm our niece or change the history of this country by denying my husband a second term. My niece's life is of course paramount, but there is a lot at stake here. A lot, gentlemen. Let's not kid ourselves."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cox," said Foster, shaking his head. "Even with all that I'm not going to let either of you go in that building." He spoke into his headset to the pilot. "Jim, let's prepare to go back-"

Foster did not finish what he was going to say because at that moment Dan Cox grabbed the pistol off the agent sitting next to him, smacked off the safety, and leveled the gun's muzzle against his own temple.

"Jesus Christ, sir," cried out Foster.

Waters exclaimed, "Mr. President, don't-"

"Shut up, just both of you shut the hell up!" roared Cox. "Now, anyone attempts to stop us, Larry, you can escort my body back to D.C. and explain to everyone there how you tried to protect me by driving me insane enough to blow my own brains out!"

He motioned to Jane. "Get out, Jane." He looked back at Foster. "I'm going in that building with my wife. We will be in there for no longer than a few minutes. And there will be no electronic surveillance or listening devices on that structure. The kidnapper was very clear on that. When we're done then we will leave, get on this chopper, and fly back. Then my niece will hopefully be released and every single one of you will forget that any of this happened. Am I clear!"

The men didn't speak; they just continued to stare at their president with a pistol against his head.

The silence was finally broken by Waters. "Sir, if you insist on doing this, you have to do one thing."

"I am giving the orders here, not the FBI!"

Waters glanced at Jane. "It was something that Sean King told us, ma'am. Something he found out. You trust him, right?"

She slowly nodded.

"Then you have to do exactly what I'm about to tell you. Will you both do that?"

"If it means we can go in that building over there and get this done, yes!" said the president.

A few minutes later Jane, her long coat drawn around her, and the president climbed out of the chopper. When the HRT squad saw the president with a gun in hand they did something they ordinarily would never do. They froze.

"Mr. President?" said the squad leader with a quizzical look.