One of the agents saw Kate emerge and grabbed her. She heard her mother yell for her as they were propelled down the hall.

“Mom!”

“Keep moving! To those stairs!” Flynn shouted.

“What is going on out there?” Kate yelled to the agent who had her arm gripped tightly.

“There’s a damn tornado! Coming off the water on the other side of the building—”

“Kate!” Stella called out as she was forced down the hallway with her mother and Roxy.

“I’m coming! Agent Hallow! Flynn!”

The agent’s face, usually so sour, was now frantic. “We’re going to be lucky to make it to the garage—”

“William, Ryan. All the others down there, we have to get them out—”

“Where do you think the storm came from?” he snapped, practically shoving her through the opened door.

The frustration in the soldiers was evident in their jugular veins, strained after several minutes of holding their weapons erect. The order to contain the threat at all costs had not included the fact that a US congressman and an famous billionaire would be standing with them.

The strike team leader dared to inch forward. “I’m not going to tell you again to get on your knees with your hands up in the air!”

The hallway trembled. William again repeated what he’d already stated three times before. “Turn around and go back up the elevator. No one has to be hurt. Let us go.”

Another tremor shook beneath their feet.

“What the hell was that?” Quincy whispered.

William could see the soldiers’ eyes flicker from the walls around them back to the scopes of their weapons.

He didn’t dare to move, fearing not only that the soldiers would react badly, but of potentially disturbing Jane. She’d begun to tremble, and he didn’t dare let go to break the connection.

“Mr. Chance, you know we can’t let that happen. There is no way out for you—”

“Enough!” Congressman Smith pointed. “I mean it! Soldiers, lower those weapons now! We’re going to talk this through—”

The crack resounded like thunder, rupturing down the south wall, between the soldiers and civilians. It started first at the ceiling, jarring through the concrete. Water at first leaked and then began to spray.

The soldiers were so jarred they momentarily turned their weapons to the splitting walls.

Like a hundred pipes exploding at once, the Potomac broke through.

The last glimpse William saw of the soldiers showed them rushing back towards the elevator before they were lost completely behind the gushing leaks. Lily gasped as the frigid water swept over their feet and down the hall.

“Run,” William said unnecessarily, turning to take Jane by the arms. “Jane, we have to move. We have to move now!”

She blinked and then stared in astonishment at the rushing water. She looked at him in outrage. “What did you do to me—?”