Julia frowned. “You’re complaining because the military actually went to the trouble of making their drones hard to hack?”
“It’s really adding to my workload,” Angel said. “Okay, okay. Let me try something different. Every system has a weakness, right?”
“Um, sure,” Julia said.
Angel nodded. “There has to be a channel I can exploit. Maybe something on the optical bus. The drone just has the one camera pod. If I can shut down that camera, it won’t be able to find its target, and it won’t ever launch its weapons.”
Julia leaned back. “That’s kind of brilliant.”
Angel shrugged. “It’s what I do. Now, could you just leave me to it? Maybe you should go talk to Wilkes. Make sure he doesn’t accidentally kill somebody.”
“Good idea,” Julia said.
“I know,” Hollingshead said, “what you’re planning. What you’re in the middle of achieving and it is, well, quite ambitious.” He smiled at the SecDef. “I’d very much like to try to convince you not to go ahead with it, however.”
“Oh? And why is that?” Norton asked.
“Because I think it’s bad for America,” Hollingshead replied. “I understand, really, why you would do this. You think the country is out of control. And I suppose it is. The legislature is frozen in constant gridlock. The executive is stymied by special interests and a splinter party that viciously attacks its every move. Meanwhile the people refuse to even listen to the issues, much less debate them. The country can’t move forward like that, can it? Not when our economic interests are threatened by global market shifts. Not when the very climate has turned against us. Not when we need to be unified now more than ever.”
“You’re making my case pretty eloquently, Rupert,” Norton said. “This country needs a strong leader now. It can’t wait until the next presidential election — not that that would change anything. We need a hand on the rudder if we’re going to weather the coming storm.”
“Indeed. And I believe that leader will step forward. But I don’t think it’s you, sir. With all due respect—”
“History shows us that the man who has the audacity to take power for himself is the only kind of man fit to hold it.”
Hollingshead pursed his lips.
“Julius Caesar started an empire that would rule all the known world. Alexander the Great applied logic to warfare and won everything. Qin Shi Huang saw the petty warlords squabbling over pieces of China and knew they had to be brought together by force.”
“Hitler,” Hollingshead said. “Stalin. Mao.”
“That’s weak, Rupert. That’s just special pleading. You really think I’m that sort? You think I’d use power for that kind of monstrosity?”
“No. But I’d like to point out one simple thing. If you seize America by military force, if you take away the basic freedoms of its people, then you will have gained nothing. Because without freedom, there is no America.”
Norton laughed. “Over the last fifteen years we’ve been arguing this point endlessly. And the result? Americans are perfectly willing to give up freedom in exchange for security. If you want proof, look at what I’ve done in the last week. I’ve shown them what insecurity really looks like. By the end of the day today they will be begging me to take charge. To tell them what to do.”
Hollingshead looked down at his shoes. “You took an oath to protect the president. Now you’re going to murder him so you can take his place.” He shook his head. “This goes against everything that you and… you and … I — Patrick?” he said. “Patrick, are you all right?”
The man’s face had turned bright red. His eyes bulged from their sockets as if he was having a stroke.
Instead, though, his mouth opened, his head tilted back — and he laughed. He positively guffawed.
“Kill the president?” he said. “Kill him?”
Hollingshead blinked in confusion.
“Rupert, why would I do that? The man and I play squash together, for God’s sake.”
Chapel moved quickly out of the kitchen and through the first floor of the safe house, keeping his back to each wall, flanking each doorway as he moved but not wasting any time. He saw no one so he moved into a tasteful if somewhat cluttered parlor in the front. Peeking through the blinds that covered the windows, he could see the guards still arguing with Top and his boys. Chapel had to grin at that — he’d known his old physical therapist would help, had known it even before he’d made the call. But he’d had no idea that every single one of the boys would come with him, or that they would commit to their ruse so intently. Chapel had mostly expected them to show up, ask for Norton, and then politely leave when security showed up.
Instead it looked like they’d installed themselves on the sidewalk for as much time as it took for the guards to drag them away. Of course, eventually Norton’s people would just call the police. But maybe enough of the cops were busy out on Capitol Hill, and it would take them a long time to arrive …
Chapel was playing for time. If he could stay alive and free in the house until Angel reported in, if he could confront Norton with the news that his drone wasn’t going to be killing anyone today, they might have a chance. Charlotte Holman had been as devoted to the Initiative as anyone, but she was also a practical woman. When she thought the cause was hopeless, she had folded in a hurry. Chapel thought Norton would do the same, especially if Hollingshead allowed the SecDef a graceful exit.
Of course, all that depended on Angel and Chapel pulling off a couple of miracles in the next fifteen minutes.
The first floor was empty. The security detail had been smart enough to leave one man on the back door, but otherwise all of them had flooded out into the street to deal with Top. Chapel moved into the front hall and up to the main door. He locked it and threw the dead bolt. That wouldn’t stop the guards forever — once they realized they’d been locked out of the house, they would batter the door down if they had to — but it might buy him a minute or two.
He moved to the bottom of the stairs that led to the second floor. He drew a fresh Taser and started climbing the risers, one by one, careful to test each step with his weight, making sure it didn’t creak. He thought he could hear people moving in the floors above him and he stopped perfectly still to listen for a second, but the sound didn’t repeat.
He took another step. Another.
He couldn’t see any shadows moving at the top of the stairs. No sign that anyone was aware of his presence. He didn’t even hear anyone cough or clear their throat. He took another step.
He lifted his foot, got ready to take the next step, just three from the top of the flight. Put his foot down very gently.
That was when an armed guard leaned out into the stairs and started firing.
Angel tapped at a key. Her screen filled with new data. She tapped another key and shook her head. “Okay,” she said.
Julia nodded in excitement. She rubbed at her mouth because her lips were very, very dry. “Running out of time here,” she said.
“How far away is the drone?” Wilkes asked.
“About ten kilometers. It looks like it’ll be here right when the president starts his speech.”
“How are we looking?” Julia asked.
“Bad,” Angel told her. “I’ve got access to the onboard sensors, which is the first step toward switching off the camera. But I need more time, and—”