John Miller sat before the camera. He knew it was unlikely that his captors knew, but he had actually been prepared for this moment. His administration had prepared for many seemingly unlikely scenarios, but now he was glad they had. During this moment he looked back lovingly at his parents, his wife and his children.
Millers daughter stood silently staring at him. She was quite likely the strongest mentally of the whole group and John knew it, she always had been. That was saying something too, his whole family was quite strong, indeed it was a military family to its core. Both of John's parents had been in the military, Joni's father had been and of course both Joni and John had served. The family bled red, white, and blue.
John had been fully prepared to sacrifice his life for the country, but sacrifice his whole family? That was a decision he did not want to make. His gaze turned to Joni for a moment.
"Do what you must." Joni mouthed to him.
John loved Joni with every essence of his being. He felt she only got more and more beautiful with age. Joni had often complained about finding gray hairs mixed in with the lovely long brunette strands, but John never noticed. It wasn't just Joni's appearance that John loved, it was all of her. They had bonded over their love of country and military. They often talked entire nights away, just enjoying the conversation and being with one another. He couldn't stand when he had to be away from her, even for a single night. And of course they had brought two wonderful children into the fold. The thought of being the cause of her death killed a little piece of him.
And of course the children. No he couldn't think of that. These people were monsters but they wouldn't kill children would they? Not even these people would sink that low right?
"Mr. President it is time." One of Johns captors briskly told him.
John took one last look at his whole family, gazing upon his parents now and thinking how wonderful they had been. Tough of course, he never had gotten away with anything, but that had made him into the man he was today. He then turned and looked into the camera and thought for a moment. But then he realized what he must do for his country, he must save the country above even his own family.
His captors had known quite a bit about them, and clearly they even knew sign language, so he felt with certainty he would be caught, but not before it was too late to stop him.
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The man behind the camera indicated he was live.
"Hello my fellow Americans. I am broadcasting this to assure you that all is well here in the capitol. The destruction you have seen was caused by a Russian militant group. We have yet to ascertain if this was sanctioned by the Russian government, but rest assured we have the situation under control. I am preparing to brief congress shortly on what we know about the militant group."
John's plan seemed to be working quite well, it did not appear that his captors had noticed that the entire time he had been talking his hands were moving in his lap. Signing the same thing over and over again. Code Blue.
John continued with the preplanned message from his captors.
"The militants have been captured by my secret service agents, the true hero's here today. I am grateful for their honor and dedication. Though a few of our men were lost on this tragic day, many remain unharmed. The military has been alerted and is scanning for threats, but thus far no new threats have been detected. Now is the time to return to your daily lives, this was an isolated incident and the resolve of my administration, of this country will never waver from a cowardly act. We will hunt down all who are responsible for this terrible act to ensure the ongoing safety of all Americans. Thank you and good bye my fellow patriots."
With that the cameras stopped rolling and John's captors left the room, locking the door behind them.
John looked up in astonishment when they were gone out of the room. How had they not caught him? He had been signing Code Blue throughout the entire broadcast. Surely the media would be picking up on this quite soon.
John got up and ran to his family and gathered them closely around him into a big group hug.
"I know this may be the end of the road for me, but now is the time to get you all out safely! We must move quickly before they figure out what I did. Joni you know where to go, take them, I will barricade the door and go out the other way. Hopefully if they make chase it will be after me."
Joni nodded her head and looked to the family.
"Follow me!" She said sternly, grabbing hold of a secret lever to escape from the office.
John quickly and quietly as he could broke the wooden leg off the office desk. After his family had all run out secret exit number one, which headed through a winding path led out to the White House lawn, John quickly slid the leg in the door handles as a makeshift latch. He then slid a heavy bookcase against the door. He knew that would not hold his captors for long as these people had incredible strength and speed. John knew what he was up against, he only hoped that he could distract them long enough for his family to escape.
With that John ran to the wall and found the hidden button for secret exit number 2. He left the door open as he left the room, as he felt this would increase the chances they would follow him.
Then he began to run, with both his heart and his mind racing.