Will and Debra tried to get some sleep, but the anticipation of the night’s activities wouldn’t let them. So they started going over their equipment to make sure they had everything they’d need.
Will had asked Tanya to go out and get them black shirts and pants for camouflage as they flew to the capital. When she returned, Will took the shirt she’d gotten for him and cut a small hole in the pocket so the lens and microphone of the camera could stick out.
“What do you think?” he asked Debra as he tried on the shirt and slipped the camera in his pocket.
Debra took a close look at him. “Looks good. No one will suspect you have a camera.” She smiled. “And I must say that you cut quite a fine figure.”
Will blushed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
She came over and slipped an arm around him. “Once we take care of Grandle, we’ll finally be able to take that vacation you’ve been promising me.”
He looked into her eyes. “I’m looking forward to it.” His face slowly moved towards hers.
“Made some sandwiches if you’re hungry,” called Tanya from the kitchen.
Debra released her hold on Will. “We do need to work on our timing,” she said with a laugh as she headed to the kitchen. Will just shook his head and followed.
By the time they’d finished eating and cleaning up, it was getting dark.
“We’d better start getting ready,” said Debra.
Having already loaded the jetpacks and oxygen masks into the trunk of the car, Will and Debra headed to one of the bedrooms to put on their black clothing. They went over their equipment belts one last time before putting them in the trunk. They were ready to go.
As they drove, they could see the lights of the Capital Complex shining in the distance. Stretching nearly a mile into the air, they looked impregnable, but Will and Debra knew they had to get inside. It wasn’t long before the Capital Complex was behind them.
They drove until they’d left the last of the city’s buildings behind. They were now engulfed in darkness with only the car’s headlights providing any light. Even the sky had cooperated as it was overcast leaving only a faint trace of the half moon.
They eventually pulled off on a side road and continued on until they reached a small clearing. Tanya pulled over, but left the car running. Getting out, they walked to the back of the car and stood by the trunk.
Will looked at Tanya. “Thanks for everything. Without your help, we’d never have been able to pull this off.”
She stood there, the lights of the car showing a slight glistening on her face. She hugged him. “Be careful.”
“We will.”
Wiping her face, she turned to face Debra. “You’ve turned out to be quite a woman. I know your father would be very proud.”
Debra wrapped her arms around Tanya. “Thanks,” she whispered.
Will and Debra put on their equipment belts. “Be sure to turn on your viewscreen when you get home,” he told Tanya. “Within a couple of hours you’ll know whether we succeeded or not.”
She nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it,” she said while trying to smile. “How often do you get to see the President destroy himself?”
Strapping on their jetpacks, Will and Debra started walking away from the car.
“Good luck,” called Tanya.
“Thanks.”
“So are you ready for this?” asked Will.
“I was born ready,” answered Debra. “Let’s give Grandle a night he’ll never forget.
They slipped on their radio earpieces and oxygen masks and took off into the sky each of them keeping an eye on the altimeter as they flew upward. As they ascended, the winds grew stronger and started pushing them to one side. Will had to adjust his trajectory to counter the wind.
“Adjust your heading to match mine,” radioed Will.
“Okay.”
They continued upward and finally entered the clouds. “That’s good,” radioed Will.
“Got it.”
They could see nothing below them, but the distant lights of the Capital Complex penetrated the clouds. They headed towards them fighting the wind as they flew. It took them almost half an hour to reach the Capital Complex. They came to a stop over the Capital Building doing their best to keep the wind from moving them away.
“Have your blaster ready,” radioed Will. “There shouldn’t be any guards on the roof, but they may have changed that.”
“Understood,” replied Debra.
They started slowly descending towards the roof continually adjusting their trajectory so they’d land near the middle of the roof. The wind dropped off as they neared the roof. As they descended, Will carefully looked it over and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t see any guards.
“All clear,” he radioed.
“Good.”
The roof was just as Will had sketched it out. Along one side was a large structure which supported a number of antennas and satellite dishes. Dotted around the roof were numerous ventilation units with large fans mounted on top of them. There was a light rail which ran around the edge of the building which cast a red light over the roof.
They touched down near the antenna support structure and quickly moved behind the nearest ventilation shaft. They quickly removed their oxygen masks and jetpacks.
“Probably won’t be needing these again,” admitted Debra in a wistful tone as she put her jetpack down.
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“Yeah,” agreed Will.
Will climbed up onto the ventilator shaft they were standing by and shined his flashlight into it. He shook his head.
“Goes straight down. We’d have to use a rope to climb down and hope it intersects with a duct running to the presidential wing. Plus, any noise would reverberate through the building.”
“I guess that leaves the stairs or elevator,” noted Debra.
“Let’s try the elevator,” suggested Will. That would get us closer to Grandle’s office.
The elevator mechanical room was on the other side of the roof. Crouching down, they moved from ventilator shaft to ventilator shaft. At each one they stopped and made sure the coast was clear before moving on. Other than their own breathing, the only sounds on the roof came from the wind and the rumbling of the motors running the ventilator fans.
They finally reached the elevator mechanical room. It was about twenty feet wide and fifty feet long. A single door led inside. Will led them around the side.
“Door’s alarmed,” he said. “We’ll have to see if we can cut our way in.”
Debra pulled out the laser torch. “Keep an eye out.”
Firing up the torch, she began running it along the wall. “It’s working,” she called out in a low voice, “but it’s going to take time.”
“Okay,” answered Will as he crouched down near the door and kept an eye on the roof.
“I’m in,” called Debra after nearly half an hour. Will found her shining a light into the opening she’d created. The sound of electrical humming could be heard coming from the building.
“How’s it look?”
“It’ll be tight,” she reported, “but we should be able to get in.”
“Let’s go.”
Debra got down and crawled through the opening being careful to not cut herself on the sharp edges. Will quickly followed. The room was dark except for the blinking lights of the electrical panels along one of the walls.
Shining their lights they saw five elevator motors distributed along the length of the building. Each had thick metal cables running over large flywheels and were mounted to large I-beams which stretched across the elevator shaft.
“The president’s elevator is at the far end,” said Will as he started walking.
Debra stopped at a large junction box which contained five separate switches. “Do you think we should shut down the elevators?” she asked.
Will came over and looked at the panel for a moment. “It would make it a lot harder to get security up here,” he observed. “However, if we shut them down now, it might give us away.”
“Too bad,” said Debra.
“Wait,” he cried. “I’ve got an idea.” He removed a small rectangular box from his utility belt and pressed some buttons on it. Soon a red “20:00” was flashing on its display. He attached it to the panel and the numbers started counting down. “This will send an electrical pulse which will knock out the power to the elevators,” he explained. “We should be in Grandle’s office before anyone notices the elevators aren’t working.”
They hurried down to the elevator shaft at the far end of the room. Will got on the floor and peered into it. “I see the top of an elevator,” he reported in a low voice. “It’s about twenty feet down.” He continued looking. “Don’t see any doors so it has to be on the top floor.”
“Is there a way down?”
“A ladder’s mounted to the wall of the shaft,” answered Will getting up off the floor.
Clipping their lights to their shoulders, they started climbing down the shaft and in a few minutes were standing on the top of the elevator. Getting down on his knees, Will pulled open the access door. “All clear,” he whispered after looking inside.
He lowered himself into the elevator and then helped Debra down. It looked like any other elevator, but there were only two floor buttons labeled with “Garage” and “President.” There were also buttons to operate the door and intercom.
“We’ll need to force the door open,” instructed Will. “If we use the open door button, the elevator’s chime will sound.”
Debra nodded. “Yeah, no need to draw unwanted attention.”
Will started looking around the elevator door. “There should be a release bar around here somewhere. Here it is.” He knelt down and pressed a small block near the floor. There was a click and the doors separated slightly.
“Keep an eye out while I open this,” he said as he worked the fingers of his two hands between the doors.
Debra positioned herself in the back of the elevator across from the door and pulled out her blaster. “Ready.”
With a grunt, Will pulled on the door and it slowly began to move. When he’d opened it a few inches he stopped and looked over at Debra. “All clear,” she whispered.
He got back to work and soon the door was open enough for them to squeeze through. They stepped carefully out of the elevator and looked around.
The corridor they stood in was brightly lit with white walls and had two doors along it. The corridor extended forward about fifteen feet before meeting with another corridor which went in both directions. On the wall beyond the corridor they saw a couple of office doors, but the rooms were dark. All was quiet around them.
They slowly walked down the corridor and stopped several feet before it ended. Debra pulled a square mirror about three inches wide attached to an extendable rod from her belt. Getting down on the floor she moved forward until her head was about a foot away from the other corridor.
She slowly extended the mirror until it was just in the other corridor. She stared at it for a minute before pulling it back. Flipping it over, she extended it out again. After she brought it back, Will helped her up. “Only one guard at Grandle’s door,” she reported in a low voice. “No sign of the other guard.”
“He may be checking the rest of the floor,” guessed Will. “We’ll need to stay out of sight until he gets back.”
They went back to one of the doors. Will tried it, but it was locked. They tried the other one and it was locked as well. Debra took a three inch long metal pin from her pocket. “I’ll take care of this.” She slipped it into the door lock and began jiggling it around. Within a minute the lock clicked and the door opened.
The door opened to a utility closet which contained cleaning supplies. They quickly went inside. They closed the door most of the way leaving only a small crack so they could watch the corridor for the other guard. “You’ll have to teach me that sometime,” whispered Will.
Debra smiled. “I’d be happy to.”
Will glanced at his watch. “Elevators should be out.”
It was another five minutes before they heard the sound of footsteps from the corridor. Peering out from the closet, they saw a soldier quickly walk past the end of the corridor. They pulled out their blasters. “I’ll take the guard by the door and you get the one in the corridor.”
“Right.”
They hurried to the end of the corridor, doing their best to be quiet. Will got down on the floor, holding the blaster in front of him. “Now,” he whispered.
Debra stepped out into the hallway and fired at the soldier who’d just passed them. Her blast him him in the back and he fell to the floor. As she fired, Will rolled out into the corridor and fired at the guard by the door. He’d just drawn his weapon when he was hit and collapsed.
Will got up and the two of them ran towards the office. Once in the lobby Debra immediately went to the secretary’s desk and immediately began pushing button. “I’m putting all the phone lines on hold so no one can call in or out,” she quickly explained.
“Good idea,” agreed Will.
As Debra was busy at the desk, Will took a small metal box and attached it to the bottom of his blaster.
“What’s that for?” asked Debra when she’d joined him.
“Insurance,” he replied grimly.
They approached the door. “When we get inside,” instructed Will, “take out the door controls.”
Debra nodded.
Will pressed the button by the door and as it slid open, he activated the camera in his pocket. They rushed inside and as soon as the door closed, Debra fired at the control panel which burst into flames. The office was about thirty feet deep and nearly as wide. They faced a large ornate desk which was set against a wall of windows bathed in the light of the surrounding buildings.
There were a couple of couches and overstuffed chairs set before the desk. A large meeting table surrounded by chairs took up the right side of the office while a bar and another couple of couches filled the other side. A large viewscreen was mounted to the wall by the table. Each of the side walls had a single door not far from the entry wall.
Will and Debra held their blasters and walked up to the desk, stopping about five feet in front of it. The man at the desk looked up from the papers he’d been reading as the approached. He was heavyset with thick black eyebrows and black hair which had thinned slightly on the top of his head. His face was slightly wrinkled and didn’t show any sign of fear.
“Hello, President Grandle,” said Will trying his best to control his anger.
President Grandle smiled and gave a slight nod. “Power and Miss Corlander,” he answered in a firm tone. “I’ve been expecting you.”