And with that Schofield and Book II leapt down from the gaping hole at the rear of the AWACS plane and ran out into the open.
At exactly the same moment, a six-barreled Vulcan minigun popped out from a compartment underneath the nose of Marine One and began spewing out a devastating stream of supermachine-gun fire.
The 7th Squadron men — already scattered everywhere — were dispersed even more. Some dived behind their barricade for cover, others found shelter among the ruins of the AWACS plane and fired up at the President's helicopter.
Gant sat at the controls of Marine One as her enemy's bullets left scratches on the Lexan windshield. And the armor-plated walls of the big Sikorsky were built to withstand missile impacts, so gunfire wasn't a problem.
Beside her, Elvis was yelling, 'Yee-ha!' as he rained hell on the 7th Squadron men with the minigun.
Schofield and Book II ran eastward, sidestepping quickly toward the 7th Squadron men guarding the Football.
They moved in tandem, guns up, firing — bizarrely — at Love Machine's runaway cockroach and up at Marine One.
The fact that they were firing at their own people was probably best explained by the fact that they were dressed in the black fatigues, black body armor and half-face gas masks of the 7th Squadron — slightly damaged uniforms they had pilfered from the dead Air Force commandos in the decompression area down on Level 4.
Schofield and Book danced sideways, edging toward the barricade in front of the Football, firing hard at their own men — but missing woefully.
They reached the barricade, and Schofield immediately saw the Football on the chair.
Then he saw the tether.
'Damn it!'
The presidential briefcase was anchored to a tie-down stud on the floor by a thick metal cord.
It looked like titanium thread.
Watch.
8:28:59.
8:29:00.
'Shit,' Schofield keyed his wrist mike. 'Janson! The Football's tethered to the floor. We can't move it. You're going to have to bring the President out into the open.'
'Okay,' came the reply.
'Fox! Love Machine! I need another thirty seconds of mayhem! Then you know what to do.'
Fox's voice: 'Whatever you say, Scarecrow!'
Love Machine: 'Roger that, Boss!'
And then Schofield saw Janson and the President leap out from the rear section of the AWACS plane — also dressed in full 7th Squadron attire and brandishing pistols, which they fired determinedly at Love Machine's cockroach.
Janson fired her SIG-Sauer with a firm two-handed grip. The President wasn't as fluid, but he did all right for a guy who'd never served in the military.
Marine One banked in a wide circle around the enormous hangar, drawing fire, the roar of its speed-blurred rotor blades thunderous in the enclosed space.
Love Machine's towing vehicle swung past the barricade protecting the Football, then veered left, heading north, smashing through some broken pieces of the AWACS plane and then disappearing behind it.
From the first-floor control room of the internal building, Caesar Russell watched the chaos unfolding below him.
He saw the Presidential helicopter performing death defying passes inside the enclosed hangar. He saw the speeding cockroach blasting through the remains of the AWACS plane on the elevator platform.
And he saw his own men — scattered and dispersed — firing wildly at both of these two crazy threats, as if they had been prepared for any ordered attack but not a totally insane one.
'Goddamn it!' he roared. 'Where is Charlie?'
'Still coming up in the personnel elevator, sir.'
And then, in an instant of total clarity, as he watched his men down on the hangar floor, Caesar saw him, and his jaw dropped.
'No…'
Caesar watched in stunned amazement as one of his own men raced over to the Football — which, of course, was still surrounded by a few men from Bravo Unit, all of them facing outwards — pulled off one of his black leather gloves, and under the watchful eye of three other black-clad impostors, moved his hand toward the palm-print analyzer inside the steel briefcase.
Schofield's watch ticked ever forward.
8:29:31.
8:29:32.
Amid the roar of the rampaging helicopter and the cacophony of gunfire all around him, and guarded by Schofield, Book II and Juliet Janson, the President stepped up to the Football.
He yanked off his glove, took a final look around himself, and then, as he strode past the Football, he inconspicuously placed his hand on the palm-print analyzer, just as the countdown timer on its display hit 0:24.
The briefcase beeped and the timer instantly ticked over from 0:24 to 90:00 and started counting down again.
When Schofield saw that the deed was done, he and Book II fell into step alongside Juliet and the President.
'Remember, guns up and firing,' he said. He held his wrist mike to his lips, 'Fox, Elvis, Love Machine: get out of here. We'll meet you downstairs. Mother, the platform. Now'
Mother stood inside the enormous hangar doorway down on Level 1, looking up into the elevator shaft.
Two hundred feet above her, she could see the underside of the massive aircraft platform, beyond which she could hear the sounds of the battle.
She hit the call button, and immediately the giant elevator platform high above her jolted sharply and slowly began to descend.
Up in the main hangar, the shattered remains of the AWACS plane — and the platform on which they stood — began to disappear into the floor.
The elevator was going down. Schofield, Book II, Juliet and the President charged toward it, firing up at Marine One as they did so — acting like good 7th Squadron soldiers.
In the control room overlooking the hangar, Caesar grabbed a microphone. 'Boa! Logan! The President is there! He walked right in among you and hit the analyzer and now he's heading for the elevator platform. For Christ's sake, he's wearing one of our own goddamn uniforms! In the main hangar, Kurt Logan spun around where he stood, and he saw them — saw four 7th Squadron people leaping down onto the slowly descending elevator platform, now completely ignoring Marine One and the runaway cockroach.
'The platform!' he yelled. 'Bravo Unit! Converge on the platform! Alpha, take out the helicopter and kill that fucking cockroach!'
Marine One was already swooping toward the ground again — her diversionary mission accomplished.
Gant landed the big chopper right where she had found it — over the air vent in the floor on the western side of the elevator shaft — and with Elvis's help, she maneuvered the big bird around so that her floor hatch stopped directly above the ventilation shaft.
Once the helicopter was stopped, she leapt out of the pilot's seat and headed for the floor hatch, while Elvis dashed for the rear left-hand door and threw it open for Love Machine.
