I Minus 72 (31 page)

He had a lot of work to do, but it would
have to wait until that evening. Right now he had to get back to
the city and pretend to be the replacement driver for Barry.

Vladimir, having been told by Riley where to
park and wait, was leaning on the fender of the Town Car at 6:50
p.m. when Barry walked up.

“Are you my new driver for today?” Barry
asked Vladimir.

“Yes, sir, and maybe for tomorrow if your
permanent driver is still under the weather,” Vladimir replied in a
near perfect American accent. All those months in Soviet language
school were finally paying off.

“Fine, please take me home, then you’re
through for the night. Pick me up early tomorrow, no later than
5:00 a.m.” Barry got into the back seat and Vladimir closed the
door carefully.

After dropping the DNI off at his home,
Vladimir headed to his rented house. The drive lasted nearly an
hour and once there, he pulled the Town Car into the garage and
began to work. First he had to remove the gas tank presently on the
car. Then he would replace it with the one he had constructed
earlier containing the explosives. No matter how thoroughly the car
was searched, no one would be able to find anything wrong. It would
look perfectly normal from underneath, even if lifted into the air.
However, the amount of explosives contained in the tank would
flatten nearly everything within fifty yards. The detonator was
rigged into the C4 which, when it exploded, would set off the
conventional explosives. The tertiary explosion of the
approximately ten gallons of gasoline in the other half of the tank
would add even more to the devastation, and that explosion should
set off the tanks in the other cars parked next to it.

He knew now that there would be at least six
other limousines parked in close proximity. It would create utter
chaos and allow him to just walk away to his new life. Of course,
in order to be safe, he had to be at least seventy five yards away
before setting off the explosion. He assumed, since Thurmond was so
involved in finding him, that he would also be present and be taken
out by the blast. With any luck, this Garcia would be there, too.
But, if he wasn’t, he didn’t pose much of a threat to his future.
There would be no one left who could tie him to his past. He would
be safe in America, living far away from Washington, D.C.

Inauguration Day

January
20
^th

The President-elect awoke very early and
looked over to the other side of the bed where his wife was still
asleep. She was so beautiful and with her face at rest, she looked
no older than thirty. He leaned over and kissed her awake. When she
opened her eyes, he said softly, “I’m more in love with you now
than I’ve ever been.” She smiled and replied through a yawn, “I
love you, too.” She then rolled onto her side facing him, put her
arm around him and kissed him, softly at first, then with more
passion. They made love.

When they were finished, they both rolled
over onto their backs and he said, “Well, are you ready to become
the First Lady? We have a full day and a long night ahead of us,
but I am so excited that I just can’t sleep anymore.”

“You are such a typical man,” she replied,
laughing. “You take advantage of a poor helpless girl, who’s a bit
star struck at getting so much attention from the President-elect,
then just roll over and want to leave.”

He laughed. “You are far from helpless. Come
on, let’s get going. I can’t stand just lying here. I’ve got to
move around. Think I’ll go to the gym and work out before I hit the
shower.”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” she replied, still
laughing. “Let’s go.”

An hour later they were still casually
dressed and having coffee in the dining room when the
President-elect said, “Okay, here’s the drill for today. We start
out just over an hour from now. We walk across the street to have
brunch with the Bowers at the White House. We then leave in
separate cars for the inauguration, which takes place at noon. The
Secret Service wants us to arrive no more than ten minutes before
that. You’ll enter with President and Mrs. Bower and be seated in
the front row. At precisely 11:59 the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court will step to the podium. I’ll be waiting in the wings and
when I see him arrive at the podium I’ll walk to meet him. He will
administer the oath of office and when I’m finished, in about
thirty seconds, you’ll be First Lady of the United States of
America.”

“Well,” she said smiling, “that makes me
important. What’s to become of you?”

Mason chuckled and said, “Uh, I’ll be
married to the First Lady. I think that makes me President.”

She broadened her smile and said, “Yes, yes
it does. And no one deserves it more. Oh, sweetheart, you’ve had
such grand dreams of how this country could move forward and what
it could accomplish. It is such a thrill for me to see that you now
have a chance to make those dreams a reality.”

Mason turned serious. “Well, it won’t
necessarily be easy. We have a fairly well-balanced congress. Our
party has a one vote majority in the Senate and a four vote
minority in the House. I won’t have a rubber stamp.”

“You don’t need a rubber stamp. Your ideas
are so well thought out and they benefit all Americans. Even the
other party can see the good in them. You’ll win them over with
just common sense.”

Mason snorted. “Yeah, common sense.
Unfortunately, sometimes politics overrules common sense.
Sometimes, I think too many times, politics play so much a role in
everything that achieving real progress is stymied. Each party
feels they have to vote right down party lines to differentiate
themselves to the voters. It seems to be more about getting
re-elected than running an effective legislature.” He shook his
head. “What a waste. It’ll take a lot to convince some of them that
party politics and voting strictly along party lines regardless of
the value of the proposition is harmful to the citizens that put us
here. You know, sometimes it feels like an impossible task. But, I
really think the time is right. The American public wants something
different than politics as usual. I really think so,” the
President-elect said, almost pleadingly.

“Okay, Pollyanna, we have to get dressed,”
his wife laughed, then continued, “seriously, though, I do believe
in the same things you do, and I do hope we can break down the
barriers to change. I also believe that if anyone can do it, it’s
you.” She smiled at him, not wanting to bring up her worries yet
again.

As they stood up and went to get dressed,
Mason thought, Yeah, great dreams, but I have to make it alive
through today. Sure hope they catch that guy.

***

After a restless night, Grant was up by 5:00
a.m. Sam by 5:15. They met in the kitchen of their apartment where
Grant had already started coffee. Both were still in PJ’s.

Grant took in a deep breath and let it out
slowly. “Well, today’s the day,” he said.

“Yes. And I pray it all goes well.”

Grant nodded. “I know we’ve done all we can,
but I still have an uneasy feeling. We’ve no clue what Vladimir is
up to. We don’t know what’s gonna happen and, although we’ve
tightened up security so that a gnat couldn’t get through, I still
don’t know if it’s enough.”

“Yeah, we just don’t know how clever
Vladimir is.” Sam brought her eyebrows together and pursed her lips
before continuing, “You know, one thought. We’ve been concentrating
so hard on the actual inauguration, have we overlooked anything
regarding security for the rest of the day? As I recall, the note
only had a date, not an event or a time,” she said.

“You’re right,” Grant said. “We’ve gone over
the whole day many times and have spent about as much time on it as
we have on the event. Secret Service has taken the lead on the walk
to the White House, the trip from the White House to the event site
and the procession back to the White House. They, along with FBI
security, have also focused on the parties the President and First
Lady will attend. There’ll be hoards of extra Secret Service men
and women in and around each venue, but I’m still not happy and I
don’t know what to do about it. Guess I’ll spend the rest of the
morning going through all the security plans one more time.” He
paused a beat before continuing, “I sure would like to get a shot
at this guy. I wouldn’t miss.”

Sam said, “Well, while you concentrate on
protecting the President, I’m not going to let you out of my sight.
You were on that list too, remember? So covering your back is my
top priority for the day.”

“Thanks. Look, if you see him, don’t
immediately just blow him away. We’d really like to question him to
find out why he’s doing this. We don’t even know if he has a backup
in case he gets caught or killed. We could waste him and there
would be another one following through on what he started. We need
to question him.”

“Got it. I’ll shoot him only if I have no
other choice. But if I have him in my sights and I feel he is a
direct threat to you or anyone else, he’s dead,” Sam said
determinedly.

“Fair enough,” Grant replied.

***

Barry called Grant at 6:30 a.m., just after
arriving at his office and he immediately opened with, “Thurmond,
where are we?”

“Sir, we already have our security folks
deployed throughout the route and at the inauguration site. We have
approximately a hundred fifty of our people in civilian clothes
along the route and more than twice that around the bleachers and
in the spectator area. We also have about three hundred more
uniformed officers throughout the area. All are armed and have a
photo of the suspect. We’re as ready as we can possibly be. But,
he’s still out there.”

“Damn, I’m nervous. Are you sure he can’t
possibly get through?” Barry barked.

Grant sounded calm when he replied, “No,
sir, I’m not. There’s no way we can be sure. I just know that we’ve
done all we can.”

“I’m sure you have . . . . I just hope it’s
enough,” the DNI replied and then hung up without waiting for Grant
to respond.

Yeah, me too, Grant thought.

Barry’s driver arrived at 11:00 a.m. to
transport him to the ceremony. He planned to get to the bleachers
at least twenty minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin
so he could look around. Because of the overhanging threat, he was
one of the few that would be parking directly behind the bleachers.
The others were the current President; the President-elect; the
Vice President and the Vice President-elect and their wives, who
would all be in the same car; the Chief Justice; and the Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Six cars in total. He knew the Secret
Service had set up an elaborate examination plan for every vehicle
that would be within a hundred yards of the ceremony and, although
he was on the cleared list, his car would have to be examined as
well. That would take about ten minutes. He had plenty of time.

He said to his driver as he entered the car,
“Good Morning, again. Looks like Matt isn’t going to make it? I
know you said earlier he was still going to try to relieve you by
mid-morning.”

Vladimir didn’t miss a beat. Standing with
the back door open he said,“Yes, sir. I talked to him again about
an hour ago. He was at the doctor—diarrhea. I didn’t want to hear
the rest of it. Certainly was disappointed that he couldn’t drive
you to the ceremony today. Said he had really been looking forward
to it, but there was no way he could make it. I promised to call
him tonight and give him all the details.” Vladimir smiled
pleasantly.

Barry, wanting to make sure his driver knew
the routine, looked up from his plush leather seat and said, “You
know, we’ll have to go through two checkpoints. The first one is
about a hundred yards from the bleachers and the next one, which is
a more intense examination of the vehicle, is at the entrance to
the parking area. I’ll get out when we get to the second security
checkpoint and join you in the VIP parking area right after the
ceremony.”

“Yes, sir. All the drivers received a
thorough briefing yesterday morning. Matt gave me a complete
update.” Vladimir continued smiling as he closed the door got into
the driver’s seat. This was going very well.

The rest of the drive was made in silence.
The DNI spent the time looking out the window with a brooding look
on his face. Vladimir was only a little bit nervous as they
approached the first checkpoint. The first check was made with both
the driver and the DNI in the car. It was a brief conversation with
the DNI to make sure he wasn’t under any duress and a visual check
inside and outside the car. The Secret Service security agent asked
the driver to pop the hood and then checked thoroughly in the
engine compartment looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Another agent had a mirror on a long pole she used to examine the
undercarriage of the car. Yet another agent thoroughly checked the
trunk. Less than five minutes later they were waved through.

At the second checkpoint, adjacent to the
bleachers, the agents asked both the driver and the DNI to exit the
car. The DNI walked over to the bleachers and started to look
around. The search of the car was exhaustive. They combed over
everything both inside and outside the car. Instead of a mirror on
a pole, an agent was on his back on a mechanic’s slide and actually
went under the car for a close-up look. If anything was amiss he
would have seen it. But thanks to Vladimir’s careful work, it all
looked normal and after fifteen minutes he was finally passed
through to the parking area. Relief poured over Vladimir as he
drove the car forward.

Vladimir realized he would have to spend
some time mingling with the other drivers before he could slip
away. He figured he only needed to get about seventy-five yards
away to be safe. Then he’d just wait. Since the oath of office was
to be broadcast on speakers all around the area, he could easily
hear where he’d be waiting. He’d set it off right when the new
President said the last word. He chuckled as he thought of the
confusion in the aftermath. Who would be the new President? Nearly
the whole immediate chain of succession would be wiped out—both the
current and the newly elected. It would be months before the
country settled down. In that time he would be well into his new
identity and life. It would be good. In the old days, the Soviets
might just have used the chaos to launch a pre-emptive nuclear
strike. The temptation would probably have been overwhelming. But,
not today. Today, Russia was weak, corrupt and nearly bankrupt.
Today, America, his new home, was the world power.