John sat in the makeshift viewing room inside the Pentagon. He was impressed with how quickly the staff had been able to set up a room so similar to the one he had at the White House. On the screen he was watching the feed coming in from a camera that had been placed on one of the Code Blue soldiers. Whenever viewing became too choppy they were able to toggle to one of the other soldiers to get a better view.

The system was very nice and crisp. John was able to see in vivid detail what the soldiers were seeing, it was almost like being there with them.

"Did you manage to warn Russia through the back channels?" John asked.

"Yes sir." General Howard replied.

"Any word on letting us bomb the area?"

"Yes sir, they said negative, they can handle it on their own."

Handle it on their own? What a cute thought. These guys really had no idea what was coming to them. John thought to himself.

"I suppose they simply increased the security forces?" John asked.

"Yes sir, there is a much larger security presence."

"I hope they realize just how dangerous these terrorists are!"

"Sir I don't think they have a clue." General Howard responded.

"Damn it, we can't even bomb the bastards. They are going to waltz right in and get access to more nuclear weapons. This is a disaster."

"Do you want Code Blue to stop them?" General Howard asked.

"Have the reinforcements arrived?"

"Not yet sir."

"ETA?" John asked.

"About half an hour sir."

"Hmm, you sure Code Blue is up to the task? I don't want to lose more men senselessly."

"Yes sir, they at the very least should be able to delay until the second wave of Code Blue arrives."

"OK General. Give the orders, if the terrorists move in and it becomes clear they will topple the Russian security forces, then Code Blue is a go."

"Yes sir."

General Howard grabbed a secure line which was set up in the room. He had direct access to the Code Blue soldiers with it. John heard the General give the order.

"Look at this General, I think they are getting prepared to make their move. They seem to be positioning themselves around the building. Are the Code Blue soldiers hidden? I don't want them to be spotted by the Russian security forces. I can't tell from the camera view.

"Yes sir, they are well hidden. No need to worry about that sir."

"Good. How are we on overriding the football?"

"Well that is going to take time sir. Unfortunately this was not a scenario we had ever imagined happening. It was a terrible oversight on our part." General Howard replied.

"Yes it was but why can't we simply override it, I don't quite understand."

"Sir we were worried that someone else might try to override it. So it had the best security AI ever built put onto it to avoid this scenario. The problem is that many of the people who were involved in building the AI were killed in the attack on the NSA. We have all of the remaining people here working on it as we speak."

"So is the football secure from them hacking it?" John asked in a worried manner.

"That is the one bright spot sir, we think that they are unable to access the football at the moment. I don't want to say it will be impossible to trick, but it is nearly impossible to do so from my understanding. It will likely take them a long time to figure out how to hack in."

"Well that is good news. Have we heard anything about the Chinese nukes?"

"From the back channels we have learned that it seems as though the Chinese nukes will be much more easily accessed. They were a bit overconfident in their ability to keep their nukes under lock and key. They are in a bit of a panic to my understanding." General Howard answered.

"Hmm if it is easier to hack their system, maybe it will be easier for them to override it as well?"

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"We have made that suggestion to our back channel contacts sir."

"Good, perhaps there is a bit more hope for mankind than I had previously thought." John stated.

John watched the screen intently. It wasn't long before, as expected, the terrorist cell made their move. John watched as the men and women moved with incredible speed. It was clear that their methods were brutal as well. They seemed to prefer hand to hand combat, perhaps because they knew they had the advantage in that scenario.

"Give them the move signal now General!"

General Howard did as instructed. John watched as his own soldiers moved in, frantically switching between cameras. The Russian security forces clearly didn't have a chance, they were being killed at a rapid pace by the clearly superior terrorists.

The scene horrified John, it felt like he was watching what had happened to his secret service agents all over again. That biting wound would likely never heal. All of those good people, all those men and women he had respected and even liked, killed in a moments time.

The Code Blue soldiers arrived at the scene making incredible time.

"ETA for the second wave of Code Blue?"

"15 minutes sir."

"15 minutes? I hope that is soon enough. I guess we will see what Code Blue is all about."

John watched now as the Code Blue soldiers began to engage the terrorists. John managed to toggle to a camera where a Code Blue soldier was fighting with one of the terrorist group members.

"Wow they move so fast! You were right general, it seems like they can handle themselves! Oh look there he got one!" John exclaimed excitedly.

John and general Howard watched as one of the Code Blue soldiers killed one of the terrorists. It was clear that this was not something that the terrorists had anticipated at all. They were not used to a fair fight, because they had never taken part in one. This was perhaps the best element of surprise, the U.S. government had troops that could fight on the same level as the terrorists.

Code Blue was a secret program that had been activated 18 years ago. No one seemed to know what had caused it to come into existence, it simply popped up seemingly out of nowhere. In the beginning it was so secretive that even the President himself had not known about the program, but eventually that knowledge had bubbled up.

Still Code Blue had been kept under lock and key. Even all the members of congress were ignorant to the program. It was only the President and one secret faction of military personnel who had been entrusted with knowledge of it.

This was what made it so surprising that China also had this program. How could that have happened? Had someone leaked this information to China 18 years ago? Had a former President given up Code Blue? Was it a member of the military? Perhaps one of the scientists who worked on Code Blue? John did not know the answers, but he figured he could worry about that later. For now the task at hand was saving the world.

It was somewhat difficult to watch the battle that was taking place between the terrorists and the Code Blue soldiers. The problem was that they all moved so fast. As John was toggling through the video he realized that now the shock had worn off for the terrorists. They had finally resigned themselves to the fact that there were other soldiers who were just as fast and strong as they were.

After coming to this realization at first it appeared as though they had begun to retreat. They had suffered bigger losses than in any of their previous assaults on a government building. But as they began their retreat at some point they came to realize that they had greater numbers than the Code Blue soldiers. At this point they regrouped and began an attack directed at Code Blue.

"ETA general!"

"2 minutes till wave 2 sir." General Howard responded, knowing the President was asking about the second wave.

"Good, tell them to fall back until reinforcements arrive."

The general spoke into his direct line, relaying the orders that John had given. As the Code Blue soldiers fell back John noticed that a few of the terrorists had broken off to head inside the government building.

"General we need to break off a group to go inside the building and stop those ones before they gain control."

The general again relayed the order. John watched as a small group broke off to pursue the hostiles that had entered the Russian building. The Russian security forces that remained easily fell to this group. The group began converging on the Russian Presidents location, but with Code Blue soldiers hot on their tails.

John toggled back now to see yet another group breaking off from the terrorists. It seemed that they were going to follow the Code Blue soldiers who had entered the building. But at that moment the second wave of Code Blue soldiers arrived. At this point the terrorists were overmatched and they knew it.

"The cavalry is here!" John yelled in excitement.

"General, this is amazing, Code Blue can handle these terrorists! Thank God! Let them know that top priority is to recover the football."

"Yes sir, will do." General Howard replied.

The general returned to his direct communication with the Code Blue soldiers. John watched as the terrorists began to retreat, and as backup entered the government building. At this point John knew that at least the terrorists would not gain access to the Russian nuclear weapons. A sense of relief began to set over John's body. For the first time in quite a while he felt at ease.

Then John toggled to another view.

"Wait, they are getting away! What they seem to have helicopters and vehicles hidden away! General how fast can we get our choppers or jets in there?"

"Sir that would take about a half an hour."

"Damn it! We need to stop them before they get away. Any word on the football?"

"No sir, we haven't recovered it yet to my knowledge sir."

The tension began to build again in John's body as he watched waves of the terrorists leaving in droves. Sure they had prevented them from getting the Russian nukes, but they hadn't recovered access to their own.

"Scramble the jets, tell them to blow those choppers out of the sky as soon as they have a chance. I don't give a damn what Russia wants at this point. Tell your back channel contacts that we are coming in ready or not."

"Yes sir."

"And as soon as the Russian President is secure I want to talk with him. Do we have a translator on standby?"

"Yes sir we do."

"Bring him or her in immediately."

"I am on it sir."

"And one more thing, what is going on with that small group that remained in the U.S.? Something tells me they are the key to this ending this whole mess."

"Code Blue is closing in on them sir."

"Let us end this as soon as possible general. When they make contact I want it on my screen same as now."

"Yes sir, will do."

John left the room to take a walk. He needed something to relieve the stress. Maybe a beer will do it, he thought to himself as he walked down a long narrow hallway.