Page 34 of Hawk on the Hunt

“Let’s pick up the pace,” he said.

Tiger started walking faster, and they both hurried along without running. They were wearing business suits, which would make it easier to blend in with the people at the Capitol later, but would throw suspicion on them if they jogged outright.

“Fuck!” Tiger hissed as they were coming around a corner. “Damn tourists.”

Dylan saw them too. Dozens if not hundreds of people crowded along the White House fence on E Street from where they had a perfect view of the South Lawn. It was evident that the tourists were taking this opportunity to take pictures of Marine One. There was no way they could activate their device from here.

“Chopper’s already landed,” Tiger pointed out, even though Dylan could see it too.

At best they had five minutes left until it would take off.

“This way,” Dylan said, ushering Tiger to the right where the road made a bend, wrapping around the east side of the property. “I think we might have better access from up there.”

They hurried past the crowd. It thinned almost immediately, since directly behind that part of the fence tall trees and thick bushes obstructed the view to the White House and the South Lawn. To their right, across the street, there were trees too, and Dylan knew that the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument was located behind those trees. As the curve straightened, they reached a spot where a heavily guarded access road provided entry onto the White House grounds. Instinctively, they both slowed their pace and crossed the road. Only a few yards north of it, bushes and trees rose to their left. But between them, there was a small spot along the fence that offered a direct view of the spot where Marine One was sitting.

“This is it,” Dylan said and glanced around. They were hidden from the guards at the gate, and while there were cars passing them, the trees along the street provided some cover.

Tiger turned his back to the street and opened his backpack. The device he pulled from it was no larger than a loaf of bread and weighed only two pounds. He powered it up.

“I only see one chopper,” Tiger said with a sideways look at him.

“The decoys may be taking off from somewhere else, and join Marine One once in the air. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that now. We’ll be able to see POTUS and the VP get into this one. We only need to stop this one from taking off.”

Tiger nodded. “All right.”

“Do you have a signal?” Dylan asked, while he alternately watched the road behind them and the helicopter in front of the White House.

“Not yet.” Tiger sounded tense. “Damn it, Fox,” he whispered into his earpiece. “I powered it up. Where’s the signal?”

Dylan could hear Fox’s response in his own earpiece.

“Thirty seconds.”

“Fuck!” Dylan cursed and pointed to Marine One. He spotted several men in dark suits emerge from the White House. This could only mean one thing. “They’re already getting on the chopper.”

“Fox, get a move on,” Tiger demanded. “We’ve gotta take it down before they lift off.”

“Not helping,” Fox admonished.

Anxious, Dylan watched the helicopter and noticed, judging by the noise, that the rotor blades were spinning faster. “The chopper is about to take off.”

Marine One was suddenly moving up by a few feet.

“Now!” Fox’s command was accompanied by a beeping sound coming from the device in Tiger’s hands.

Tiger pressed a button, and the beeping stopped. They both stared at the chopper, which suddenly lost height and landed back on the ground, its rotor blades slowing, and the sound of the engine cutting out.

Dylan sighed in relief. “The electromagnetic pulse worked. The chopper is disabled.”

To his surprise, Fox’s voice came through the earpiece. “Don’t sound so skeptical. Of course it worked.”

“Why are the comms not down? Shouldn’t the EMP have disabled them too?”

“No, most cell phones and smaller electronic devices still work.”

“Good.”

Meanwhile, Dylan watched as secret service agents surrounded the helicopter, weapons drawn, while the president and the VP were rushed into the building. By the looks of it, the drop of a few feet hadn’t caused any injuries to the passengers.