“Open sesame.”
Aziz stepped forward and pushed on the steel door. It swung inward, revealing a room and a shiny vaultlike door at the other end. A rush of emotion swept over him as he thought of the president and his bodyguards sitting on the other side of the door, thinking they were safe. Aziz walked slowly across the concrete floor and stopped just in front of the vault door. Extending his hand, he placed his palm flat on the smooth surface. Clenching his fist, Aziz hammered on the door twice. No sound reverberated. Spinning away from the door, Aziz looked at the last minute addition to his cause.
The frumpy man before him was a gift from Aziz’s newest benefactor. A man who had a very personal stake in how Aziz’s mission turned out. The slovenly safecracker standing in the doorway had come complete with his own look and unique talent. As it was explained to Aziz, the door that was installed on the president’s bunker was of the same type that the U.S. military used for all of their command-and-control bunkers, and was designed to withstand large blasts, not drills and acetylene blowtorches.
Aziz looked at the man and asked, “How long will this door take?”
The safecracker exhaled a cloud of smoke and said, “If I push it and risk burning out one of the drills, I could probably have it open in thirty hours.”
“What happens if you lose one of the drills?”
“Then we are in trouble.” The little thief shrugged.
“It could end up taking three to four days.”
“And if you play it safe?”
“I can have it open in forty-eight hours.”
Aziz put his hands in a prayerful grip and bounced them off his chin twice.
“Forty-eight hours will suffice.” And with a wave of his finger, he cautioned, “But no longer than that.”
Aziz walked past him and slapped him on the shoulder.
“Good work, Mustafa.” Aziz left the room, leaving his little thief to retrieve the crown jewel. As he walked down the hallway, he thought. All I have to do is keep them at bay for two more days.
THE LIGHTS WERE off in the bunker, and everyone was trying to get some sleep. Warch was lying on the bunk closest to the door. The Secret Service agent was wide-awake. He could hear President Hayes snoring at the far end of the room, and every minute or so squeaking springs could be heard as someone turned on the narrow beds.
Warch wondered how his wife and children were doing.
His family would be afraid, but that couldn’t be helped. Being married to someone who was trained to throw himself in front of an oncoming bullet was a little nerve-racking, but Sara was strong. She would have the kids to keep her busy, and her parents were in Baltimore. The Service would tell her and the kids that he was all right. Warch’s thoughts turned to the other wives and husbands that weren’t as fortunate. Over and over again, Wirch had replayed the frantic radio traffic that had barked out over his earpiece while they rushed the president to the bunker.
“Agents down! Agents down!
“And then there was the explosion and the machine gun fire. And now, over twelve hours later-nothing.
Everything added up to one conclusion: Aziz and his terrorists were in control of the White House. Warch ran down a list of the faces and names of his agents who were on the day shift. He couldn’t help but wonder which ones had made it out alive and which ones were dead.
Still, despite what was undoubtedly the worst day in the history of the Secret Service, they had at least saved the president from the talons of Aziz. Warch savored that one accomplishment as he felt sleep coming on.
He rolled toward the wall and let out a yawn When most of the air was expelled from his lungs, he froze.
Warch had not heard the noise before; he was sure of that.
Craning his neck toward the door, he tried to listen. It was a clanging noise, metal on metal. There were several more clanging noises and then a low whine, almost like an electric razor.
Warch listened for another moment and then sprang out of bed, throwing his blankets to the side. The concrete floor felt cold to his feet. In his white T-shirt and boxers he knelt on the floor and pressed his left ear to the door, and then it hit him. It was a drill. They were drilling through the vault door, which meant they had already broken through the outer door.
Warch’s palms became sweaty on the cool metallic surface, and he swore out loud. Standing, he turned on the light and said to the room at large, “Wake up, people. We have trouble.”
A FAINT METHODICAL beep could be heard in the distance.
Rapp felt as if he were swimming upward for it, out of a deep black hole. The noise became more pronounced with each kick and downward stroke. It was getting lighter; he was nearing the surface.
Suddenly, Rapp sat up in bed, his thick black hair sticking out in Medusa-like fashion. It took him a second to realize he’d been dreaming.
It was the same damn dream he’d been having for as long as he could remember. Drowning, it was always drowning. He was always swimming for the surface, gasping for air.
Several shakes of the head later, Rapp realized where he was. The faint gray light of early morning was spilling through his bedroom windows. He turned to make out the red digital numerals of his alarm clock. There was a four followed by another and then a five.
God, it was nice to be home, Rapp thought. Without looking, he reached over and swatted the snooze button. Then he flopped backward onto the crisp white sheets and stretched out, kicking the blanket to the side.
Not quite ready to get out of bed, he allowed his mind to drift. Outside the bedroom window, he could hear the gentle waves of the Chesapeake lapping against the rocky shore. They were calling his name, tugging at him to get out of bed. Rapp turned diagonally across the queen-size bed and stretched his arms way above his head, letting out a drawn-out yawn.
He had forced himself to go home and sleep after a meeting at Director Tracy’s house. There was nothing else to do. Dr. Hornig had promised a full report on the results of her interrogation with Fara Harut in the morning, and until then it was a waiting game-something Rapp wasn’t very good at.
Now, as he rolled onto his side, he suddenly remembered the events of the day before and of the little crisis that was taking place thirty-some miles to the west. A small voice in the back of his head screamed something, and Rapp was on his feet instantly. Naked, he walked across the hardwood floor of his bedroom and stopped in front of a set of French doors.
They were open, and through the screens he could now hear bird songs filling the still morning air. Across the bay, on the tree lined horizon, the sky was brightening. The sun was coming up over the Atlantic, and a memorable day was about to begin, whether he liked it or not.
The lapping water continued to call his name, and with more enthusiasm than any sane person would have had, Rapp turned and headed across the worn and creaky wood floor of his beach house. Once he’d finished negotiating the precipitous staircase that led down to the main floor, he walked to the kitchen and then the mud room. Hanging on a brass hook by the back door was a faded, salt-stained blue swimsuit that looked as old as its owner.
Rapp put the worn trunks on, grabbed his goggles and a towel, and headed out the back door. The thermometer on the deck railing told him it was a comfortable sixty-two degrees.
Just cool enough to wake him up, but not so cold as to dash his enthusiasm. With several shakes of his arms, he continued across the brand-new deck to the stairs that led down to the water. Rapp had bought the house the previous year, and his only home improvement to date was to tear down the rotted wood deck and stairs and replace them. After a thirty-foot descent, he put on his goggles and picked up the pace. Rapp ran across the long, flat section of dock that jutted out into the water. On the right was a twenty-four-foot Boston Whaler, and at the end of the dock was a bench that sat atop an eight foot section that turned at a ninety-degree angle to the left. By the time Rapp reached the bench, he was at a full jog without breaking stride, he tossed the towel onto the bench and dove into the salty water.
