Debra sat at the desk for several minutes trying to figure out what to say to Nancy Willis. Finally she decided to go with a direct approach while being careful to not provide too much information.

Typing Nancy’s name into the phone, she started searching for her phone number.

“Here goes nothing,” muttered Debra as she pressed “Call.”

“Hello,” said a pleasant sounding young woman’s voice.

“Is this Nancy Willis?”

“Yes.”

“A friend of yours asked me to call you,” she said. “He needs your help.”

There was silence on the line for a moment. “What’s this friend’s name?” asked Nancy, sounding leery.

“Unfortunately I can’t tell you that,” answered Debra. “However, you’ve gotten to know him because he uses an office near yours.”

For a moment Debra thought she’d hung up and was just about to do the same when Nancy’s voice came back on the line. “People say he’s a traitor,” she said in a soft voice.

“Do you believe that?”

“No,” she answered strongly.

Debra thought Nancy sounded sincere. “Then help him prove he’s innocent.”

“How?” asked Nancy sounding confused.

Debra looked down and saw Nancy’s address listed. “Wait outside your building. Someone will pick you there in twenty minutes.”

There was a pause. “Isn’t there someone else you could get to help you?” she asked sounding frightened.

“No, we need your help,” replied Debra in a firm tone.

“Okay, I’ll be there,” she answered, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.

“Thanks.”

Hanging up the phone Debra leaned back and smiled. Hopefully Nancy would be able to help them.

Leaving the den, she found Will and Tanya talking.

“It took a little doing,” explained Tanya, “but Earl agreed to send over what you need.

“Did he ask why you needed the equipment?” asked Will.

Tanya laughed. “Yeah, told him I was going mountain climbing. Having a jetpack makes that a whole lot easier.”

They looked over at Debra.

“So how did it go with Nancy?” asked Will.

“She wants to help but she’s scared. I set up a meeting with her to explain what we need.”

She looked over at Tanya. “I need you to pick her up in twenty minutes. I’ll give you the address.”

“And take her where?”

“Here,” said Debra. “No time for anything else. I’m convinced she won’t give us away.”

Will nodded. “That’s good enough for me.”

Tanya nodded. “Okay, I’ll head out in a few minutes.”

Twenty minutes later minutes later, Tanya pulled up in front of a building in a large apartment complex. A young woman stood out front looking around anxiously. She had long blond hair and wore round glasses. She wore jeans, sneakers, and a light jacket. Tanya stopped in front of her and lowered the passenger side window.

“Are you Nancy?” she called.

The woman nodded and walked over to the car. She stood there a moment before opening the door and getting inside. She stared at Tanya cautiously.

“I’d tell you to not be afraid,” said Tanya, “but I don’t think it would do any good.”

“Probably not,” answered Nancy in a soft voice.

“I’m Tanya. Everything will be explained when we get where we’re going. And when we’re done, whether you decide to help or not, I’ll bring you right back here.”

Nancy nodded nervously. “That makes me feel better.”

“Good.”

Tanya drove back to her house and pulled into the garage. After closing the garage door, she and Tanya went inside. Will and Debra were sitting on the couch and stood up when they came in the living room. Nancy jumped at the sight of Will.

“It is you,” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” said Will. “I’m sorry for having to get you involved in this, but once you understand what’s at stake, I hope you’ll understand.” He gestured towards Debra. “This is my friend Debra who called you.

“I’m so glad you decided to come,” she said.

“I want to help Will, if I can,” answered Nancy.

Will and Nancy sat on the couch and he began to explain everything that they’d discovered. Most of time she quietly listened with wide eyes with an occasional nod.

“… and so finally,” concluded Will, “since we haven’t been able to acquire any evidence that President Grandle is behind what’s going on, we have no choice but to confront him and get him to admit what he’s doing.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“I still don’t understand why you need my help,” said Nancy.

Will looked down. “There’s no guarantee that when we confront the President we’ll be able to get away. So we need some way to record what happens and transmit it to someone we can trust to see that everyone gets to see it. I remembered you telling me about the equipment used to transmit the President’s speeches and was hoping you could get it for us.”

Nancy lowered her head and seemed to be having a conversation with herself. She gave a slight nod several times before looking at Will. “I can do that,” she answered. “However, instead of just recording what happens with the President wouldn’t it be better to immediately broadcast it?”

You can do that?” exclaimed Debra.

Nancy nodded and sounded more confident as she spoke. “Yes, the camera unit can directly send video to the broadcast transmitter. I could program the broadcast to be initiated when the camera is activated.”

“That would be perfect,” said Will. “However, would anyone be able to detect your programming?”

Nancy shook her head and smiled. “No. When it comes to programming I know what I’m doing.”

“So could you get this all done by tomorrow night?”

She considered the question for a moment. “Yes.”

“And when can you get us the camera?” asked Debra.

“I usually take lunch around noon so I should be able to get it to you then.

Will stood up. “I don’t know how we can ever thank you, Nancy.”

Nancy stood up and gave Will a serious look. “Considering all the terrible things he’s done, taking down President Grandle would be enough for me.”

Before Nancy left, they arranged for Tanya to meet up with her to collect the camera. Nancy said she’d include a write up on how to use it.

After Tanya and Nancy left, Will and Debra sat on the couch. “Looks like we’ve got everything we need,” he said. “Now we just need to figure out how to get into Grandle’s office.” A large yawn escaped him.

“We might want to defer that until the morning,” suggested Debra, adding her own yawn.

By the time Tanya got back, she found Will and Debra asleep on the couch. Will was leaning back and Debra’s head was leaning on his shoulder. She was tempted to wake them, but knew tomorrow was going to be a long day. She turned off the lights and headed to bed.

The smell of bacon and eggs wafted through the house as Will opened his eyes the next morning. He could hear the sound of sizzling and metal pans coming from the kitchen.

The faint trace of sunshine coming through the closed blinds gave just enough light to see. He looked over to see Debra leaning on his shoulder, still asleep. He was tempted to let her sleep, but they still had a lot to do to prepare for the night’s activities.

“Time to get up,” he said, gently shaking her.

“Already,” she moaned. “She sat up and sniffed the air. “I smell bacon.”

“That you do,” said Tanya who was standing at the kitchen door. “There’s eggs, toast, and coffee too, so I hope you’re hungry.”

“I’m starving,” said Debra who got up and headed for the kitchen. Will was right behind her.

They all sat down at the breakfast nook and dug into the pile of food before them. It wasn’t long before all that was left on the table was a few scraps of toast and some unfinished coffee.

“That was delicious,” declared Will patting his stomach. “Thanks.”

“Yes, thanks,” added Debra. “Haven’t had a good old fashioned Earth breakfast in quite a while.”

Tanya smiled. “You’re welcome. Figured we should get the day off to a good start."

Will nodded. “Have you heard back from Earl when the jetpacks and oxygen masks are going to be delivered?”

“Yes. He called me just a little while ago,” replied Tanya. “It should be here around mid-afternoon.”

“Oxygen masks?” wondered Debra. “What do we need those for?”

“To avoid being detected,” answered Will. “To get to the Capital building, we’re going to have to approach it at nearly thirty thousand feet and then drop straight down onto its roof.”

Debra nodded. “I see. So how do we get inside from the roof?”

Will shrugged. “Still trying to figure that part out.”

Tanya got up and started clearing the dishes. “Then we’d better get to work,” she said. Once the table was clear she brought over several pads of paper and a number of pens.

Will started drawing. He drew a square with one large rectangle and several smaller rectangles inside it. “This is the roof layout,” he explained. He pointed at the large rectangle. “This structure supports the antenna dishes used for communications and television broadcasts and really isn’t of use to us.”

He placed an “S” by one of the smaller rectangles and an “E” by another. “The door leading to the stairs is alarmed as is the door to the elevator mechanical room. There might be a way to deactivate the alarms, but I’d rather not risk it.”

“What are these?” asked Tanya, pointing three other rectangles.

“Those are ventilation units,” answered Will. “We’d have to cut our way in below the fan units, but it’s a possibility.”

Debra stared at the drawing. “Would it be possible to cut into the side of the elevator mechanical room with a laser torch?”

“Don’t know,” said Will. “We’d have to see what it’s made of. Going through the elevator shaft would be a lot easier.”

Tanya looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was nearly ten o’clock. “I’d better start getting ready if I’m going to be on time for my meeting with Nancy,” she said as she got up.

“So what are we looking at inside?” inquired Debra.

Will took another sheet and began drawing. “Grandle’s office is on the top floor which is split into two sections; a general office area and the presidential wing.”

Will drew a large square with a line through it about two thirds along one of the edges. He spoke as he drew.

“There’s an entry door into the presidential wing which opens to a corridor that leads to the office. On either side of the corridor are executive offices.” He drew a small corridor off the main corridor. “This is Grandle’s personal elevator, probably our best bet for getting inside. The main corridor ends at a lobby in front of the office.”

Debra nodded. “What about guards?”

“At night, the only guards we need to worry about are Grandle’s personal security detail. There’s two of them and when he’s in his office they stand guard outside the door.”

Debra stared at the sheet of paper and nodded. “So if we can get in through the elevator, we might be able to take them out.”

“That’s my hope,” said Will.

He continued drawing. “The office is split into different sections. His main office is in the middle with meeting rooms and bedroom on either side.”

“How can we be sure he’s going to be there tonight?”

“Grandle loves working late. When he’s in the capital and there’s no special events he’s usually in his office until one or two in the morning. I checked and there’s nothing scheduled for tonight. If we start out at ten that should give us plenty of time to get to him.”

They heard the sound of the garage door opening and a few minutes later, Tanya came in holding a small box. “Got it,” she said handing the box to Debra.

She opened it and pulled out a small silver device that was about two inches wide and about four inched long. There was a small opening on the front and several buttons on the top. There was also a small folded sheet of paper in the box.

Debra took it out and read it. “It says all we need to do is press the red button to start the camera and to not touch any of the other buttons.”

“Nancy said that the programming will be in place before she leaves the Capital building this evening,” reported Tanya.

Will carefully picked up the camera and smiled. “This just might give us what we need.”

After a quick lunch the three of them got back to planning, but there really wasn’t much more they could do. Will and Debra knew the building layout and had several options for getting inside. Anything beyond that, they wouldn’t know until they were inside the building.

Around three in the afternoon everyone froze as there was a knock at the door. Will and Debra rushed into one of the back bedrooms and grabbed their blasters. They stood near the door listening.

There was the sound of a man’s voice, but they couldn’t make out what he was saying. However, they clearly heard Tanya who called out in a loud voice. “Thank you. Could you please just bring it inside?” There was the sound of a thump and then a door closing.

“It’s okay,” called Tanya. “Looks like Earl came through.”

Will and Debra came out to see a small crate sitting in the middle of the living room. Tanya brought out some tools and Will set about prying the top off it. A wide smile came over his face as he pulled out two jetpacks once he’d gotten it open. Reaching in he pulled out two boxes labeled “Personal Emergency Oxygen Mask.”

He looked over at Debra and Tanya. “Looks like we’re as ready as we’re ever going to be. Hopefully tonight the people of Earth will get to see a most unusual presidential address.”