"Well, between the president's AIC and mine, we have figured out where they went," Nancy stated. "There is a pad somewhere in the outer part of this system. Looks like it is in orbit around a moon of another one of the gas giants farther out."

"Then we go there," Alexander said.

"Well, I have a better idea, sir." Nancy paused and conferred with her AIC. "I think we should send her somewhere else. The snap-back routine for Dee has been turned off so she could go to the other facility. I believe Allison and Abigail can hack this thing if they work together. Then, sir, I would suggest we use Boland's original plan. We send all of them to the Oval Office. We follow after leaving a charge on this thing to blow it to h.e.l.l and gone."

"You think you can manage that, Ms. Penzington?" Sehera tried not to get her hopes up too high.

"Yes, ma'am. President Moore's AIC is very smart and mine is, well, even smarter. Elle Ahmi's must be somewhere on a level near the two of them but certainly not better than the two of them working together. We might even tap into all of our AICs if we need extra computational power. We'll see. They are already running the dictionary search hack on her control algorithm."

"Mr. President, if this is our plan, then somebody should go ahead to the Oval Office and prepare it for our arrival," Thomas suggested. The head bodyguard was right. Alexander needed to get in there, clear out his office, and get ready to turn on the office SIF. Maybe prepare a surprise or two for Ahmi and Fink. At the same time, he didn't want to leave the system without Dee.

"Okay, Thomas, you go. Snap back and set things up. If the vice president is there, tell him that he needs to vacate immediately. I'm having Abigail download you an e-memo now with my authorization. Then there are some other instructions she is giving you. Follow them to the letter."

"I was hoping you would go, sir." Thomas hesitated with his response. "It would make us all feel better about your safety, sir."

"Thomas, go," Moore told him.

"Yes, Mr. President." The bodyguard sighed, certain that no further argument would get him anywhere. Moore knew it wouldn't, because he came to this star system to find his daughter and bring her home safely. That is just what he was going to do.

"I'll see you soon, sir. Koodie, you keep an eye on things," Thomas said and then triggered his Oval Office snap-back. He vanished with a flash of white and blue light and a crackling hissing sound.

"We're in!" Nancy sounded excited. "Her pa.s.scode was a random string of digits two-hundred symbols long. Their beacons are quantum connected to this pad. I'm setting up a site-to-site algorithm from out there to here to Earth."

"We're gonna need HE, sir. Do you three have any grenades in those suits?" Jack asked.

"If we don't have enough, the Blair Blair can drop us down more." can drop us down more."

"Well, we need a pretty good charge for the pad. It is several meters thick. The control panels are just in here and is all soft circuitry, which shouldn't require a lot of HE. Ten grenades at once should do it for sure."

"We have enough then," Sehera added and started pulling out grenades from her suit's forearm launcher. She counted out ten and dropped them at her feet.

"I'll set them, ma'am," Michael offered.

"No thanks, Koodie. I've set a few grenades in my day," Sehera said. Everybody but Alexander raised an eyebrow at that. Sehera knelt down and put a fifteen-second timer on each of them. As soon as an electronic signal was sent from her launcher, the clock would start on them.

"Nancy, put this on." Jack handed her the wrist.w.a.tch snap-back device he had intended to give Dee. "Dee won't need it. Maybe one day you can come back for your tank and any other planes and goodies you have squirreled away here."

"I won't miss them, Boland." Nancy laughed. "Okay, we're ready to trigger this thing whenever you are, Mr. President."

"The grenades are set. I say that Michael and I will pump a few extras into the walls and around here before we go. I've also sent a message to the Blair Blair to blast this building off the face of this planet immediately upon my signal. She's waiting on ready with the crosshairs on us." to blast this building off the face of this planet immediately upon my signal. She's waiting on ready with the crosshairs on us."

"Well, then, here we go. Is everybody ready?" Nancy looked at everyone to make certain they were. All responded with an affirmative nod.

"Everybody make certain your helmets are on, visors in place. Trust me, just do it," Alexander said. After everyone complied, he nodded to Nancy and raised his grenade launcher. His bodyguard followed suit.

"Triggering the snap-back in three, two, one, go!" Nancy said.

There was a flash of light as usual, and for a brief instant they could see Ahmi, Fink, and Dee standing surprised on the pad in front of them. Then they disappeared again. Hopefully, they had reappeared in Washington, D.C.

"That's it. Let's go!" Nancy said.

"Admiral Walker, this is Moore."

"Yes, sir?"

"Count to ten and then rain h.e.l.l on my current coordinates and don't stop till there is nothing left but a crater."

"What about you and the First Lady?"

"We're snapping back to the Oval Office. Dee is already there."

"That's good news, sir. Sir, we just had multiple Seppy ships QMT into the system. We are outnumbered here now!"

"Get a courier to Wally to get over here and help you. Now start blasting!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Go, go!" Moore said. Sehera vanished. Nancy and DeathRay flashed out. Moore and Koodie pumped a bunch of grenades through the walls, computers, down the hallway, and into the ceiling.

"Let's go, Michael."

"Yes, Mr. President."

They vanished. Seconds later the room erupted into a ball of high-energy plasma and debris. Fire spread and engulfed the floor. Then the building began to shake and shudder as DEG and missiles rained down from above. The Capitol Building of the United Separatist Republic, the house of terrorist leader Elle Ahmi, was being razed to the ground.

Chapter 33.

July 1, 2394 AD Sol System, Washington, D.C.

Friday, 4:15 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time Moore appeared in the Oval Office just behind the Resolute Resolute desk. His HVAR was at the hip, and he was flashing crosshairs for Ahmi. Thomas had done his job. The office was cleared, and as soon as all of them reappeared, there was a SIF field put in place around the room. n.o.body was getting in or out. desk. His HVAR was at the hip, and he was flashing crosshairs for Ahmi. Thomas had done his job. The office was cleared, and as soon as all of them reappeared, there was a SIF field put in place around the room. n.o.body was getting in or out.

Unfortunately, Ahmi and Fink were still on their feet. Fink was now wearing his helmet, and while Ahmi seemed a bit unsteady, she was somehow still standing-probably immun.o.boost and stims.

"Don't f.u.c.king do it, Alexander!" Ahmi screamed at him almost in a pitch too high for dogs to hear. She had an unconscious Dee by the neck and a railpistol to her head. Fink was on her left with his HVAR leveled on them. He had his back to the window facing the White House lawn and waved the weapon back and forth cautiously.

"Let her go, Elle!" Moore shouted at her. He shifted the weight of his feet and readied himself. For what, he wasn't sure, since he didn't have a plan of action yet.

"Let her go," Sehera said. Sehera was near Thomas at the entrance to the office, and both of them were pointing their rifles at Ahmi, trying to get a line of sight where Dee wasn't in the way. Koodie, Nancy, and DeathRay were on the other side of the couch.

"You shoot me, and my AIC will fire this pistol. Dee will die," Ahmi said. "Now drop the SIF and let us go."

"Dee stays here," Alexander growled.

"Very well, Moore. You win, this time." Ahmi tightened her grip on Dee. Dee started to regain consciousness-they must've given her something as well.

"Don't move, Dee. It'll be all right," Sehera warned her.

"Ma'am, if we're gonna go, let's go," Fink said.

Dee was quickly regaining her feet. "f.u.c.k you, Fink. I am so gonna hunt you down and rip your G.o.dd.a.m.ned head off," Dee shouted.

"Easy, dear," Ahmi said.

Abigail! Ask Nancy's AIC if they can QMT Dee out.

No, sir, they cannot.

Can we track them?

Yes, sir. That was all part of Nancy's plan. Allison, her AIC, is quite brilliant, sir.

Then if we let her go, I can go right to her?

Yes, sir.

Now we're talking.

Yes, sir.

"Go, Ahmi, and don't come back. Your Separatist movement is over," Moore told her.

"We shall see, Alexander. We shall see. Now drop your SIF."

"Drop the SIF, Thomas." The Secret Service bodyguard triggered the SIF generator off.

"Done, sir."

"Let her go. I gave her my word." Moore motioned to the rest of them.

"Yes, you did. You are such an honorable marine, Alexander. I should have killed you long ago!" Ahmi pushed Dee forward and fired three rounds of the railpistol into Moore's chest as spheres of crackling light flashed around her and Fink. Dee dove for the ground, and DeathRay, Nancy, and Sehera pumped railgun rounds through the b.a.l.l.s of light to no avail. Thomas and Koodie dove for the President. They covered him until the firing stopped.

"This is Thomas Washington. We have an emergency. The president is critically injured with three rounds to the chest. I repeat. The president has been shot."

"Daddy!" Dee rushed to his side. There was no blood, as his suit and organogel had sealed it off. Immun.o.boost had been administered, but the rounds were completely through him in three places.

"I'm alive, Dee. And most important, so are you!" Moore smiled as he tried to open his visor. Then he, the bodyguards, Dee, and Sehera vanished from the Oval Office.

They reappeared in a hospital room in someplace unknown to Dee. Sehera tossed her helmet on the floor and helped Thomas and Koodie pull Alexander Moore out of his armor.

"Leave the seal layer on." A team of doctors rushed in around them. "Stand back, we've got this."

"He was wounded pretty badly. His right lung was collapsed and torn asunder. His intestines were cut in half. And his heart had a hole in it big enough to put your thumb through. We did everything we could, ma'am." The doctor looked at Sehera and Dee. Then he looked over their shoulders at the bodyguards and politicians.

"No, Daddy!" Tears flowed down Dee's cheeks.

"Come with me," the doctor told them.

"Dee, shhh. It is okay, baby." Sehera held her daughter's hand and led her by the hand calmly as she followed the doctor.

He led them down a long white corridor to a double door where Thomas stood in his Secret Serviceagent black suit and tie and dark sensor gla.s.ses. He nodded to them but didn't say a word as they pa.s.sed through the doors.

The room they entered was a large private hospital room with a single bed in it. Moore was lying in the bed with a blanket covering him. The blanket had the presidential seal on it. They could only see the foot of the bed, as the head of it was blocked by a wraparound curtain that hung from ceiling to floor.

"It will be okay, Dee," Sehera comforted her. Dee was trembling and crying, barely maintaining control.

"Of course it will. Why wouldn't things be okay?" Alexander slid the curtain back. Dee's eyes widened.

"What! Daddy?" She rushed to his side and hugged him.

"Ouch, not too tight, princess, and not too loud, either." He hugged her back.

"Why? Why would you do this to me?" Dee looked angry.

"Shhh, Dee. Listen to your father before you say anything else." Sehera sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed Alexander's leg through the blanket. He smiled back at her.

"We have some very hard decisions to make, Dee," Alexander started.

"What do you mean, decisions?" Dee interrupted. "There are no decisions. We go and find Fink and my deranged grandmother and we put about ten bullets into each of their brains. No decision. It is simple!"

"Like father, like daughter." Sehera smiled again. She rubbed Dee on the back with her other hand.

"Well, yes, Dee, we will do that, if that is the right thing to do. And believe me, I agree with you. But Elle Ahmi controls and inspires millions of people. If she suddenly vanishes, there will be chaos and Tau Ceti will tear itself apart. The power-hungry a.s.sholes like Fink, Elise Tangiers, and many others will usurp resources and create a world of factions that will continue to be a war zone for generations." Moore paused for a breath and adjusted the tube in his nose. For the first time, Dee noticed it.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"Ha, nothing. They haven't had time to finish printing me a new lung yet, so I'm still only using one of them. The doctors spent all the time so far printing me a new heart and then a new section of intestine. I'll be fine after my surgery in a few minutes, but first we need to talk. The lung will be printed by then, and the surgery is quite routine. With immun.o.boost, I'll be back to normal in two hours tops."

"Okay. I love you, Dad." Dee had never seen her father hurt before. He had tackled giant mechanical monsters with his bare hands and come out without so much as a scratch, but he seemed extremely mortal to her now lying in the hospital bed. The feeling scared the h.e.l.l out of her. The fact that it was her own grandmother that had shot him just made her more certain that Elle Ahmi was nothing more than raw genetic material. If Dee got the chance, she'd kill Ahmi for doing what she had done to her dad.

"So, the decision we have to make, Dee," Sehera added, "is what do we do next? Ahmi can't continue to be in charge of the United Separatist Republic, as she calls it. The U.S. can and will forcibly take the system, but there would be terrorist activity for decades and decades, until every last Separatist is found and killed, if it isn't handled delicately. And who is to say that the next president will have the fort.i.tude your father has had in dealing with them. After all, no matter how much we we love him, no president will continue to get reelected forever. Nor should they." love him, no president will continue to get reelected forever. Nor should they."

"What are you two saying?"

"We have a plan in mind to take out the heads of all the cells in the Separatist movement and remove their desire and ability to resist the U.S."

"How?"