Hello. What are you doing?

Oh, I was tired, so I decided to go to bed early. Gunner was running me all day long. So I hit the hay right after I hung up with you. How did everything go? Did you watch the President?

Luke took a deep breath. She went to sleep before the Presidents speech. Which meant that she didnt know. He couldnt bring himself to tell her. Not now.

Nah. I was too tired. I decided to take a night off, and unplug from everything. No TV, no computer, nothing. Im sure people will fill me in tomorrow.

Now youre thinking, she said.

Luke smiled. Okay, sweetheart. Go back to sleep. Im sorry I woke you.

She was already falling asleep again. I love you.

He sat on the sofa and smiled to himself for a moment. He took another sip of the whiskey. It made him happy to think of Becca and Gunner running around all day, and now sleeping in the deep quiet of the country house. Luke was going to enjoy retirement, he really was.

Just not yet.

He dialed another number.

A clipped female voice answered. Wellington.

Trudy, its Luke.

Luke, where are you? Everythings gone haywire.

Im home. Where are you?

Im at headquarters, where the hell else would I be? Luke, half the Congress was at Mount Weather. The President and his aides and his chief of staff. The Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Education. They are all down there. The place is on fire and no one can put it out. There was a firestorm in the elevator shafts. The emergency stairwells were blown up. The firemen can not get down to the fire.

Is there any contact at all?

She made a sound. It was almost a laugh. The Presidents chief of staff, David Halstram, managed to call out. He called 911, if you can believe that. Theres a 911 dispatcher tape. I heard it a little while ago. He sounded terrified, talking very fast. He said his legs were pinned and he was afraid the President was dead. He said you called him just before it happened, and told him to get the President out. He… Trudys voice shook… said he wished he had listened to you.

Luke didnt say anything.

Did you call him? Trudy said.

I did, yeah.

How did you know? How did you know what was going to happen?

Trudy, I cant tell you that.

Luke

He cut her off. Listen, I need you to do something for me. Is the Secretary of Defense alive? David Delliger?

Hes alive. Hes at Site R.

I need a direct line for him. Some way to contact him.

Why him? Shouldnt you talk to the President instead?

Luke shook his head. There is no President.

Not yet. But theyre swearing the new one in… ten minutes from now.