Cobalt (20 page)

     ‘Stephanie?’ Madeline addressed the younger woman, quite abruptly, snapping her attention from her own short black hair, to the task at hand. ‘When we get to the target site I want you to do everything I tell you. Exactly as I tell you!’

     ‘You're the boss.’ Stephanie replied, saluting at Madeline, copying the action she had seen Lychart perform moments earlier. Stephanie scowled when her salute failed to draw the same response as Lychart’s had. Her scowl deepened as she then assessed the clothes each of them were wearing, looking from her own night camouflage gear - the black pants, black skivvy and black combat boots - to Madeline's navy skirt suit and matching heels. ‘Is that what you're wearing, Madeline?’ she asked.

     ‘Is there something wrong with it?’ Madeline questioned, looking evenly at the twenty-six year old.

     ‘It's just...we're landing on a sloped roof, and we're supposed to be quiet and well, heels don't seem very appropriate for a task like that.’ Stephanie stated, examining Madeline from the ground up.

     As their eyes met Madeline smiled. ‘We'll see!’ she said as the helicopter silently descended on to the roof. Madeline opened the side, sliding door and surveyed the shadowed  surface that loomed up at them. ‘Ready?’ she threw over her shoulder, to Stephanie, as she exited the chopper and dropped the metre separating them from the roof. Stephanie hurriedly followed. Madeline and Stephanie quickly made their way to the edge of the roof. Following directions from Lychart, Madeline and Stephanie positioned themselves on the roof, two rooms down from where the President and the first family were being held. The communications unit hummed in Madeline's ear as Lychart advised her that Rick and his team were in position, and that team C was five minutes from the rendezvous point outside the Situations room, on the first floor.

Madeline signaled for Stephanie to follow her, and then lay flat on the roof, on her stomach. Edging forward, she grasped the guttering and completed a guttering assisted forward roll, from the roof to land silently on the third floor, guest room balcony.

Stephanie, amazed at the agility of the older woman, followed clumsily. Despite her clothing being more suited to stealth acrobatics, she lacked Madeline's discipline, agility and training. As she landed on the terrace, she turned to find Madeline standing in the bedroom, waiting for her. Stephanie entered the room.

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As the van wound its way through the streets of Washington from Kennedy Airport to the White House, Rick mentally prepared himself for what they were about to face. Truth be told he knew Madeline had the hardest part of the mission- a roof-top landing, break and enter and this was all in the most guarded building in the western world. He wondered how the terrorists had gotten into the building in the first place. He hoped Lychart’s communication equipment would function at one hundred percent. He had no intention of entering the White House blind. Too many lives depended on his teams success. He hoped Madeline’s unit was functional. He didn’t want her unprotected either. God only knew what was waiting for them in the three story building of 1600 Pennsylvania  Avenue.

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            After Rick saw Madeline disappear into the White House, he signalled for his team to close in. Moving in the shadows of the surrounding vegetation, the team of ten operatives advanced on the lower level of the building. At the main door, on the inside, stood the first of Kellerin's men. Rick slid a small ether grenade under the door. Sixty seconds later the terrorists were bound, unconscious to two of the kitchen chairs, and Rick's team was in the building. Making their way along from the East wing of the ground floor Rick's team encountered little resistance. Rick frowned. They had entered there, for security reasons, and after a sweep of the lower level it became apparent that the perpetrators were on the upper floor, in the larger, more well-known offices.  Ordering two of his men to stay in the kitchen, Rick took the other seven to the administration wing of the White House. Rendering the next two terrorists unconscious, the team moved towards the Oval Office, Press Room and the Situations Room.. After eliminating the Oval Office and Press Room as potential hostage holding areas, Rick was forced to re-assess his game plan. In his mind, the terrorists would hold the hostages in one room, and only the Military Strategy Room, or Situation Room remained, as all the other offices were far too small to accommodate the vast number of employees of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Rick moved his team towards the Situations Room, as once he was standing outside its polished doors, he heard Lychart signal team C to enter. The highly trained espionage team burst through the wooden doors of the Situations Room, only eight minutes after entering the White House. Five seconds later the tapestry on the far wall rolled up to reveal a hidden door, and team C, consisting of another five CIA field agents, dressed in black, emerged.

The four terrorists inside, surrendered without a struggle, to the thirteen men with auto-matic weapons that had emerged from all sides of the room. Samuel, relieved to see the team, stood and offered his assistance with the removal of the hostages from the White House Situations Room.

            With the room secure, the secret service agents freed from their restraints and back on active duty – to find and restore to duty the other six agents and then locate the President – eliminating threat as they go, Rick attempted to contact Madeline, and update her on their progress. When she failed to respond, Rick called Lychart, in the van.

     ‘Lychart, what’s your reading on Madeline?’

     ‘I lost contact with her over one minute ago. Her com. unit is down. My last audio reading showed her moving from the third floor to the second floor, and the President’s private lounge. I have a thermal. She’s about to enter. Hurry.’

    ‘I’m on my way.’ Leaving eleven of his men to escort the hostages from the building, Rick and his two remaining operatives raced through the White House, to assist Madeline and Stephanie.

CHAPTER 28

Knowing that Rick and his team were capable of gaining control over the terrorists inhabiting the other areas of the White House, Madeline slowly began to move towards the inner door of the third floor bedroom, they were in. She turned to motion for Stephanie to follow, but seeing the confused and frightened expression on the younger woman's face, Madeline broke her rule of espionage and spoke to her. ‘What is it?’ She questioned, her own features mirroring the worried expression on Stephanie's face. Stephanie hesitated, taking in the appearance of genuine emotion on Madeline's face.

     ‘Have you got a plan? Or are we just going to walk in there?’ she asked.

     ‘I'm just going to walk in there. You're going to wait in the hall until you hear the code 'My Friend'.’

     ‘Are you crazy? They'll kill you!’ Stephanie shrieked. Although whispering, Madeline understood the tone intended in Stephanie's voice. She smiled.

     ‘No man in their right mind would shoot a woman..,’ she said as she undressed. Standing in nothing more than her matching pale blue, lace underwear, and her smile, Madeline winked, ‘Especially a half-naked one.’ She turned to leave, beckoning

Stephanie to follow. Stephanie muffled a laugh.

    ‘Particularly a half-naked woman packing a nine-millimetre. Hey Madeline?’

As they approached the door to the President's lounge, Lychart's voice echoed softly in Madeline's ear. Doing as he said, she held the heat-detecting, infer-red device to the door. Lychart’s voice sounded once more. ‘Target confirmed. Seven life signs. All strong.

Removing the device Madeline turned and mouthed to Stephanie ‘Target Confirmed. I’m going in. Wait for 'My Friend.’ She dropped her suit onto the ground by the door. Madeline knocked on the door, softly. After a few seconds she turned the knob and entered. As she stepped through the open doorway, her com. unit failed.

Acknowledging the mechanical problem, Madeline continued her advance. She had gone  too far to turn back. 

Quickly assessing the room, Madeline smiled seductively and addressed the President, who sat, opened mouthed, in the centre of the group. Madeline noted that the faces of two of the three terrorists, the First Lady and the Vice- President Ackerly mirrored the President's own confused expression. Only Ted Randal and Dominic Kellerin seemed to comprehend what was going on. She crossed to stand in the middle of the room. Kellerin seemed to sit back in his chair, content, wanting to watch the scene play out.

     ‘Mr. President,’ Madeline stated smoothly in her even alto voice, ‘It's Tuesday night. Ready for our session?’ She winked at him.

The First Lady's expression changed from shock to anger as she assessed the beautiful half-naked woman seducing her husband. She had suspected her husband once before, but this, Madeline, was the last straw. She frowned, distastefully at her husband, who remained thoroughly confused by the situation.

Two of the terrorists didn't know what to do or say. They were fighting, as peacefully as possible, for freedom, respect, and money, and killing a half-naked, seemingly un-armed woman went against that plan. Kellerin smiled. ‘The rest of our party was able to come after all.’

Madeline continued,  ‘Oh, I thought you'd be here, Mr. Ackerly, so I brought My Friend with me.’ On hearing the code Stephanie entered, still wearing her espionage gear. As she drew close, Madeline seductively ran her hands through her mahogany tresses and down her neck. As her fingers found the butt of the weapon, gaff taped to her shoulder, she said, ‘Now!’ Madeline, yanked the nine millimetre pistol free, and shot the two terrorists either side of the desk in the upper arm – to wound, not kill -  while Stephanie stood motionless, beside her. As his two assistants fell, writhing in agony,  Kellerin shot Madeline in the chest. She didn't even flinch. Madeline trained her gun on his head, her eyes meeting his. She was slightly surprised to see the cool, indifferent expression reflect in his bright green eyes, but she didn’t show it. He looked as though he knew her, and anticipated her lack of response at being shot. She returned the expression, oblivious to the blood that had begun to trickle from the bullet wound in her chest. She motioned for Stephanie to secure his weapon.

Stephanie instead, turned her weapon on Madeline, and stated triumphantly, ‘Drop the gun. Resistance is futile!’ While she had every intention of killing the older woman, Stephanie apologised for her feeble attempt at humour, when she noticed the look Madeline directed at her. Stephanie motioned for Madeline to hand over her gun. Madeline let the weapon roll across her fingers, as she turned to butt to Stephanie.

‘Very good, Stephanie. I was beginning to wonder about you, you know. I didn’t think that any one could be as stupid as you have pretended to be.’

    ‘Shut up!’ Stephanie screeched as she cocked the weapon and pushed it against the side of Madeline’s head. Madeline just kept talking.

    ‘And framing Agent Stolts was just pure genius.’

    ‘Shut up!’

    ‘Now, I just have to ask you. What did Mr. Randal promise you, when you finished this job?’

     Ted Randal stood and stared directly at her. ‘She’s out of her mind, Mr. President. I mean look at her. Waltzes in here, in her underwear. All that’s missing is the ‘mission impossible’ theme.’

    ‘I’ve been on to you for quite a while, Sir. What gave it a way was the fact the Kellerin walked in through the front door. You knew we were investigating a terrorist threat, which under normal circumstances would have resulted in the tightening of security. But when the National Security adviser is one of the bad guys…’ Madeline turned her attention back to Stephanie, who still stood with the gun held against her temple.

    ‘You do realise that he is not going to give you what he promised. Money? Asylum? It’s all lies. You were just his informant in the CIA. He doesn’t care what happens to you after this, and neither does Mr Kellerin’

     Stephanie moved to stand directly in front of Madeline. ‘You have never shown me any respect. At least I’ll get the satisfaction of knowing I killed the ice-maiden. I killed Madeline.’ Stephanie taunted. She looked directly into her eyes, pushing the gun harder into her temple.