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• 10:44 P.M.
We've got direct overhead satellite coverage now, sir." A young Secret Service tech specialist was looking over his computer screen at Bill Strait. "Very clear thermal picture of our movements aboveground, sir. So far there is nothing else."
"Bill," Strait looked up as Jim Marshall suddenly came into the command post, pulling the hood back from his parka. He was soaked through and pale as death.
"What is it?" Strait said.
"Jake and I were out on a trail in the dark. We were talking. He was still upset. He lost his footing and slipped. I tried to grab him but it was too late. I heard him land. He fell a long way. My God, he's got to be dead!"
"Oh good Lord!"
"Bill, you've got to get some people down there fast. Alive or dead we have to get him out. We can't have people asking what he was doing up here. The accident will have to have happened somewhere else, probably the location where we're supposed to have the president. He was out walking alone after a meeting and slipped and fell."
"I understand, sir. I'll take care of it."
"I want to inform the vice president right away. I'll want a secure phone," he glanced around at the closeness of the others, "and privacy."
"Yes, sir. Of course, sir."
124
• 10:49 P.M.
The monorail track followed a long bend in the tu
"How much farther can this thing go?" he said as he caught up to the president.
"It doesn't," President Harris was staring straight ahead. Fifty yards in front of them the tu
"Now what?" Marten said.
"Don't know."
They covered the distance to the door quickly and in silence. The monorail track passed through it at ground level, a cutout precisely machined to accommodate it. The door itself was fitted to geared, machined rails on either side, making it obvious that the door opened by rising straight up.
"It's got to weigh five tons," the president said. "There's no way we're going to open it by hand."
"There," Marten said and indicated a small red light mounted in the door itself just above eye level. "It's an infrared sensor, like the remote on a TV. Suddenly he pulled Foxx's BlackBerry-like device from his jacket, then stepped in front of the sensor and pressed what appeared to be the POWER key. A light came on. He looked at the panel. Among its array of buttons was one marked SEND. He pointed it at the sensor and pressed it. Nothing happened.
• 10:54 P.M.
"There's got to be an entry code of some kind," Marten said, working one combination of the number/letter keys and then another. Finally he tried devising patterns using a grouping of nine keys with raised symbol-like figures that were mounted on the gadget's lower half. Still nothing happened.
"We have to go back down the tu
"To where?"
"Foxx was a military man. He wouldn't have built something like this without giving himself a way out if things went wrong. Somewhere along the way he would have created an emergency exit, probably more than one."
"We saw nothing."
"Then we missed it, Mr. Marten. We simply missed it."
• 10:57 P.M.
The president and Marten rounded the long turn in the tu
Then Marten saw it. Maybe a half mile down in the dark of the tu
"They're coming!" he said quickly.
Both men froze, staring down the shaft in front of them. A split second later they heard the distant sound of men ru
"The vents!" the president said suddenly. "The way we came down. They'll get us back up into the other tu
• 10:58 P.M.
They reached the bend in the tu
"I don't see them," Marten cried out.
"They've got to be here. We've seen them the whole way alo-" The president's words were cut off by a loud splintering crack in the tu
"What the hell!" Marten yelled.
• 10:59 P.M.
Hector was picking himself up as they reached him.
"Don't think he's a cop," Marten said quickly and glanced down the tu
"He's not American either!" The president looked up at the shattered dark hole in the tu
"Cousins!" Miguel's joyous face suddenly appeared in the hole.
"Miguel!" The president was incredulous.
"Miguel," Marten jumped on it, "there are fifty guys right behind us!"
"Tell Hector to boost them up," a second voice barked from the darkness, then Hap Daniels moved into view. He wasn't looking at Marten or the president, he was staring at Miguel. "Now! Dammit! Fast!"
• 11:00 P.M.
The president came up first, then Marten, then Hector.
• 11:01 P.M.
They could hear the men coming.
"They'll see the hole," Miguel spat.
"They know we're here somewhere," the president said. "We had to burn Marten's undershirt for light. They'll have found it."
"Where?" Hap said.
"In the upper tu
Abruptly Hap handed the president his flashlight. "You and Marten, get up the chimney and fast. It's steep and full of tight spots but you can make it. We're right behind you."
The president hesitated.
"Now!" Hap commanded, and president and Marten started up.
Immediately Hap looked to Miguel. "We're going to have to give them the boys."
"What?"
"Amado and Hector. They were exploring the tu
Miguel hesitated. This was crazy. Amado was his nephew. He couldn't do it.
"Miguel, tell them now! And tell them to delay whoever gets them for as long as they can. Cry. Beg. Scream with relief. Be afraid their mothers will kill them if they find out. Anything. We've got to have time to get the president away from here."