At the far end of the tunnel, they took another elevator to the surface. They came out at a helipad. A big gray Sikorsky was on the pad, its rotors already turning. They climbed aboard and the helicopter took off.

As they rose, Luke saw that they were rising from a wooded area about half a mile from the White House. They hovered at a distance. The President stared at the building. Luke did, too.

If something were going to happen, it would be happening right around now, the President said. Isnt that right?

Luke glanced at his watch. Its 10:53.

A dirty bomb tends to be small, Ed said. We might not see anything from this distance.

It may be a drone attack, Luke said. If so, we might

Suddenly, his words were cut off as the Oval Office exploded.

A flash of red and yellow light appeared behind the tall windows. The glass shattered. The walls seemed to bulge, then blew outward onto the lawn.

Another, larger explosion destroyed the West Wing.

As they watched, the roof caved in.

A series of explosions walked down the Colonnade toward the main Residence in the center. Everyone watched the flames consume one of the enduring symbols of the United States. A huge explosion, the largest one yet, ripped through the Residence. A huge chunk of masonry flew upwards, spinning end over end. Luke watched its arc as it disintegrated in the air.

Suddenly the helicopter shuddered. It dropped sickeningly before the pilots caught it, and it started its ascent again.

Its a shockwave, Luke said. Were okay.

The helicopter turned and headed west. They all flew in silence, exchanging dazed looks. Luke looked at Eds damaged face. He looked like a boxer who had just lost a fight. There was nothing left to say.

Behind them, the White House burned.

PART TWO

Chapter 24

11:15 a.m.

Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center - Bluemont, Virginia

Weapons? a man said to Luke.

Twenty Secret Service men were on the pad when the helicopter came down. They operated smoothly and efficiently, separating Luke and Ed from the main group, and hustling the President and Vice President toward the gaping maw of the open tunnel. The entrance was two stories high, framed in corrugated metal.

Overhead, helicopter gun ships filled the air like dragonflies. The Presidents helicopter had flown out here with a ten-chopper escort.

Luke and Ed stood isolated on the tarmac, about twenty feet apart. They were fenced in by barbed wire. The Secret Service searched them roughly. Two men held Lukes arms while others reached inside his clothes. His clothes rippled with the wind from helicopter rotor blades.

Weapons? the man said again.

Luke was in a fog. The White House had blown up. The Oval Office, then the entire West Wing, the Colonnade, all the way to the Presidential Residence. He had expected… something. But not the thing he had witnessed. He was too tired right now to make sense of it.