24: One Last Day

by MattPrice01

Set hours after Season 9. Having surrendered to the Russians in London, Jack is then thrown back into danger when the Russian helicopter is shot down over Ukraine - and with soldiers and rebels pursuing him, even if can escape the country, his troubles are not over as he discovers a plot by a Euro-terror group to destroy Washington DC...

21. 21: 7am - 8am (WET)

Hello, my amazing followers!

Well - this. is. it. The home stretch of the story. The first of the last four chapters and if they're anything like this chapter, it's gonna be big. I'm hoping to get the story completed by December but don't hold me to that - chapters will be uploaded when they're uploaded and now that I've graduated from uni, I may have more time on my hands. But I appreciate all those who have stuck by this story no matter what. Thank you all :-)

So, without any further ado, here is Hour 21! The biggest chapter of the story in terms of length as it manages to go over 23,000 words!

DISCLAIMER: Please read Chapter 1 as always

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21: 7am – 8am (WET):

The following takes place between 7am and 8am, Washington Eastern Time:

07:00:01AM

Guardstrom HQ

In the short space of time since the HQ was placed on high alert and the warning alarms activated, the main building was abuzz with action. Operatives were either escorting unauthorized personnel to safety, loading up weapons and transporting them to the necessary locations or just getting into position. They knew that if the building was on high alert, they had to be ready for any kind of situation. And this was unlike any other – many of them knew of the danger that General Benediktov posed. He had to be stopped, he simply had to.

"Nearly all unauthorized personnel have been evacuated, we're just waiting on the lower floors to report in" Evans explained to Walkman as they walked through one of the hallways near the bottom of the building, operatives squeezing past them in a hurry as they walked. "Ok, that's good – how is setting up the weapon bays going?" Walkman replied, accepting the offer of Evans' iPad to look over files. "Pretty good so far; I'd say the units have proven they can cope under pressure. Some of the operatives will need a bit longer than others but I think everything will be ready within the next 15 minutes" the second-in-command responded, before stopping and pushing Walkman back against the wall to allow one of the units to come past with a large trolley of what looked like ammunition and explosives. "Sir, Madame President" one of them acknowledged both with two nods of the head as he walked past them.

As soon as the unit had fully passed, Walkman looked towards Evans. "That's fine – but if you find any stranglers, send them to help any other units. There's simply no telling if and when Benediktov could attack; frankly, 15 minutes may be too long" she said. Evans knew she was right; the Russian General could attack at any moment. If they weren't careful, he could launch an attack here and now and everyone would be completely caught off-guard. Time was against them at the minute. Suddenly, there was a loud ringing and Evans, realizing that it was his phone, pulled it from his pocket. Much to his surprise, it was Dr Hampson; he immediately flipped the phone open. "Go ahead, Hampson" he said. "Sir, with the greatest respect, WHAT THE HELL is going on? I've been trying to get an answer for all the alarms but no-one will tell me!" Hampson replied in a rather pissed off tone as he watched several operatives that had helped work on Project Connaughton being escorted out of the laboratories by armed soldiers. "Listen, Dr, there's a simple explanation for.." Evans attempted to reply only to be interrupted. "Don't give me the simple explanation routine! And whilst we're at it, why are some of my operatives being forced out of the building?!" Hampson snapped back.

Evans looked back at Walkman, who had a frown on her face and then indicated to hand her the phone, which he did. "Dr Hampson, hello" the Guardstrom President said as she spoke into the phone. Hampson's angry expression immediately softened. "Madame President.." he said rather quietly, his mood now the opposite of what it had been with Evans. "I understand your frustrations and you have a right to do – to put it simply, we've had to put the HQ on high alert. There's a genuine threat within the city and we have to take all measures to contain this threat.. and I'm afraid to say that that includes evacuation of unauthorized personnel, which would explain why some of your men are being escorted out. Don't worry, they won't be harmed but we simply have to take precaution" Walkman said, explaining the situation as simply as she could. Hampson sighed lightly. "Alright, I can understand that. But if we are on high alert... what does that mean for Project Connaughton? Do we launch it?" he asked. Walkman rose an eyebrow in surprise; the last 10 minutes had been a complete blur and she simply hadn't even given a thought to Project Connaughton. "How quickly can you prepare Project Connaughton for take-off?" she asked. This caught the doctor off-guard. "How.. how quickly?" he responded. "Yes. If all else fails and this threat is able to attack Guardstrom HQ, we need Project Connaughton as a last resort" Walkman explained.

As she spoke, Hampson looked over at his laptop and began rapidly typing on it. "If we start launch preparations now, we should be able to have it in the launch chute before 07:15 – and then it should be airborne before 08:00 hours if we're lucky" he replied over the phone, with Evans listening very closely to the conversation. "Alright.. do it. Start launch preparation" Walkman ordered. "Yes, Ma'am.. oh and Ma'am?" Hampson said as he began typing on his laptop. "Yes?" he could hear Walkman over the phone. Seconds ticked by. "Never mind. I will contact Evans as soon as Project Connaughton is in the launch chute" he instead said before hanging up. He was almost contemplating telling the Guardstrom President about his conversation with Evans, but then he figured it didn't really matter. The super-weapon was being launched. "Alright, men! New orders from the powers that be – prepare Project Connaughton for launch immediately!" he shouted out towards the remaining operatives that hadn't been escorted out of the laboratories. Within an instance, the operatives sprung into action.

Hampson knew that they had to work quickly – this threat that Walkman had mentioned, there was a strong chance that there could be an attack sooner than everyone thought. If they wasted even a second on getting the weapon launched, there was no telling what might happen.

–

White House

Miles underneath the White House in the bunker, meanwhile, the Secret Service were in the midst of completing their own mass security operation – and much like within Guardstrom HQ, agents were evacuating any unauthorized personnel and then preparing to lock down the bunker further. Yanes watched the doors to the elevator close; the elevator was returning to overground with what was the second to last group of personnel that had been ordered to evacuate. There was one last group of personnel due to be escorted overground and as soon as that was done, the bunker could be fully locked down. He quickly left as the lift started its journey upwards, ready to help escort the last group of personnel towards the lift shaft.

In the main briefing room, meanwhile, Novick was walking up and down to the left of the table, hands on his hips. He was trying to understand everything he had been told in the last two hours on General Benediktov, but something about what he had been told just didn't seem to add up. "I just don't understand how he could have bypassed not just our military but the Russian military as well! I mean, he's a Russian General, you'd think Surarov would keep tabs on anything high-ranking in the military!" he pointed out, moving his arms out and looking at everyone in the room – which comprised of Chloe, three Secret Service agents and a General, whose medals and rank insignia's indicated she was in the Army, talking through a mobile phone in the background. "Well.. from what I can gather, sir, Surarov's government only keeps tabs on those who are actually still in the military. The information I have is limited but apparently Benediktov was involved in something that led to him going rogue – the military distanced themselves from him, he was denounced as a traitor and no-one heard from him until when he attacked the base in Greenland" Chloe replied, looking over the information she had available. But this did nothing to pacify Novick.

"Involved in something? Come on, Chloe! There has to be more than that – what exactly did he do that made him a traitor?" the Acting President snapped, unconvinced by the former analyst's response. "I've tried looking into that, sir. There's literally little or nothing that gives away what he did, but then again I'm not too surprised if the Russians are covering it up" Chloe argued back, not wanting to lose her patience. But she was right in that she couldn't find anything – information on what it was Benediktov did that led to him being disgraced and going rogue was extremely limited. She had found certain trigger words such as submarine and cover-up and destruction but considering how certain governments would go to lengths to cover up disasters in their own countries, she had to consider the possibility that there were words designed to throw snoopers off the scent.

Novick simply stared at her before sighing and turning around. She did have a point; Surarov had given assurances that Russia was not involved in the attacks and that he roundly condemned Benediktov's actions and that the Russian military were willing to assist in the hunt for the General, but there was a chance that he was indirectly assisting by not making clear what it was that Benediktov did in the first place that led to him going rogue. Even the slightest clue would give some insight into why the General was doing all this. Novick looked back at the former analyst. "What about actually tracking him? Do we have any indication as to where he is?" he asked hopefully. Chloe shook his head. "Not a trace of him – I've tried everything on the US satellites. I wouldn't be surprised if he was onto us, blocking his signal somehow; he may be a traitor to Russia but he's not stupid" she replied. Novick frowned once again. Why was it they were having so much trouble trying to locate this one man?!

But before he could reply, the Army General ended her phone call and turned towards the Acting President. "Mr President!" she called out and both Chloe and Novick looked towards her. "I've just got off the phone with the Russian Embassy – they're on the lookout for Benediktov and should he make himself known, they'll let us know" the Army General continued. Novick sighed in relief. "Well that's one bit of good news at least. General Hogan, how quickly in this weather could military checkpoints go up?" he replied. Chloe and Hogan looked at him in surprise. "Sir?" the General asked. "If we're gonna catch Benediktov, we need the roads to be as limited as we can get them. Setting up checkpoints might catch him out" the Acting President explained. But Chloe wasn't convinced. "With respect, sir, it's early morning. People are gonna be either on their way to work or considering the attacks earlier today, trying to get out the city. Setting up checkpoints could instil panic" she reasoned. Novick made a face as he mulled over what the former analyst was saying. "That is true, Chloe – but at present and considering what Benediktov is capable of, I say we don't really have much in the way of choice. We want to put an end to the threat, we have to put up those checkpoints" he decided.

Chloe almost looked away, disappointed at what Novick was saying. "How about this – until we catch Benediktov, we put in a curfew. No-one will be allowed to leave their homes until we catch him" the Acting President suggested. But this only led to the look of disappointment on Chloe's face growing. Curfew, allowing no-one to leave their homes? Novick was no Charles Logan but these were the same acts Logan used to try and catch out Jack during the Sentox conspiracy. But unlike with Logan, at least Novick was suggesting them for solid and justified reasons. "Alright, go ahead" she said reluctantly. Novick looked towards Hogan. "General Hogan, give the order. Set up the checkpoints" he ordered. "Sir" Hogan nodded as she got up and left the briefing room in order to make the needed arrangements. As the door that the General had opened began to swing closed, Yanes walked in. "Mr President! The last of the personnel have been evacuated. Permission to lock down the bunker?" he asked. Novick nodded. "Do it!"

Outside the lift shaft, two agents waited for the elevator to come to a stop at the bottom of the bunker – as soon as the agents escorting to the personnel to the surface emerged from the elevator, the final lockdown procedures could begin. Finally, the doors opened and two other Secret Service agents emerged. "Ok, Tracy – you know what to do!" one agent said to his partner, who immediately opened up a panel next to the elevator. Inside the panel was a hand-print recognition system. The agent, called Tracy by his partner, placed his right hand inside the system and after a few seconds of scanning, a binging sound was heard. "Hand-print recognition confirmed. Access code required" a computerized voice declared. Agent Tracy's partner walked forward. "6-S-H-2-9-F-Alpha Omega" he responded. A sound of beeping and whirling could be heard around the shaft. "Access code confirmed. Access code accepted. Beginning lockdown procedure" the voice declared and both agents walked back as the doors to the elevator closed. Followed by a set of metal sheets coming together and closing from a horizontal angle and then another set of metal sheets coming together and closing from a vertical angle. Finally, a metal panel emerged from the right-hand wall, also coming with a hand-print recognition system. Tracy placed his left hand into it and much with the other hand-print system, there was a binging sound. "Hand-print recognition confirmed. Lockdown completed" the voice declared. Tracy looked up. "It's done. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out" he said to his partner.

"I'll go tell the President" the un-named agent offered before heading off.

–

Washington DC

Several miles above ground in the city centre and back in the pouring rain, a blacked-out van made its way through the roads. Inside, General Benediktov was keeping an eye out – he didn't want to have another incident that would make him have to stop, not when he was in the city centre and this close to Walkman. Everything he had done thus far would have been for nothing if he was caught and considering what had been going on, he was expecting heavy security within the centre of DC.

"Oh god... this is not good" he heard his passenger mutter quietly. He peered over at Cannavale, who was now wearing an ear-piece and listening to radio communications. "Problem, son?" the General asked. "Yeah, pretty much – I've been monitoring radio communique as best as I can. The order has been given for the military to set up checkpoints all around the city centre" Cannavale replied, fear in his tone of voice. Benediktov tightened his grip on the steering wheel. No doubt the military had been fully briefed on him and had been told to be on the lookout. He internally sighed. Just then, the navigation system came to life. "At the next left, turn right for 10 minutes and wait within the Rurruthers car park" the voice stated. Cannavale gave a look of surprise. "Rurruthers car park? But that place has been abandoned for months! It's in an isolated spot, nothing major surrounding it" he pointed out. Benediktov rose an eyebrow. "I see – there must be a reason why the navigation would want us to go there" he reasoned.

But the mercenary just wasn't convinced. Something about it seemed off. "There's got to be a reason why though, would have thought there would be an above ground entrypoint" he replied, as he started to search around the passenger seat in the hopes of finding something that would explain why they had to go to an car park to get into Guardstrom HQ. But then he did find something. A folded-up map inside a black book hidden within the passenger glove compartment. Opening up the map, Cannavale was completely taken aback by what he saw. "Bloody hell.." he whispered and his shocked expression caught the attention of Benediktov. "What is it?" he asked curiously. "It's... the car park.. Guardstrom has underground tunnels!" the mercenary spluttered. This was enough for Benediktov to slam on the brakes of the van and both men nearly went flying forward because of the impact of braking. "Underground tunnels? Are you sure you're looking at that right?!" the General nearly shouted in amazement as he grabbed the map. But to his surprise, he found Cannavale was not lying. Photos on the map showed that if you parked in a certain spot in the car park, next to what appeared to be a cash point, the piece of tarmac that you parked on could be lowered down into the ground. For there was a long stretch of road leading downwards and round the corner. Almost like a ghost tunnel.

"Well, I'll be – so that's how we get into the HQ. Underground!" the Russian remarked. Now it made sense. Suddenly, the two were knocked out of their senses by a loud crash coming from just in front of the van, which was now turning 90 degrees to the left. Through the slightly cracked windscreen, Cannavale could see a large vehicle in front of them – something had clearly crashed into them. Regaining his senses, Benediktov climbed out of the van and looked out. Much to his bewilderment, there was a large fuel tanker in front of them. What the two hadn't realized was that when Benediktov had braked sharply, the van had stopped on a cross-road and that the tanker had come from the road on their right. Benediktov looked back along the tanker – and then realized what it was. A thought dawned. He peered back down into the van's cab. "You think you could drive that?" he asked Cannavale, who looked back as well. "Yeah.. but why? We'd never get that through the tunnels!" he reasoned. "True – but to be honest, I think you're right. No reason why there shouldn't be an overground entrypoint" the Russian replied, as he walked back around to the driver's side. "Have a look in the book, let me know – I'll see if the driver's okay" he added before walking up towards the driver side of the tanker.

Cannavale set to work looking in the book, but couldn't help seeing what Benediktov was up to – why was he suddenly wanting to check and see if the tanker driver was okay? The Russian climbed up towards the cab door and forced it open, spotting the driver coming to. "You ok, son?" he asked, showing fake concern as the driver put his head against the head-rest. He seemed alright. "Yeah.. sorry, I just didn't see you" he replied honestly. "Well, that's alright.. you won't be seeing this" Benediktov replied, discreetly pulling out a knife and pushing down on the switch to reveal the blade.. before swiftly plunging it into the driver's head. Pulling it out after a few seconds, he grabbed a hold of the driver's body and pulled it out of the cab, throwing it onto the van front and allowing it to bounce onto the side of the road, making Cannavale jump in the process. As Benediktov climbed down, a thought came to mind and he started to walk all around the tanker, checking the underneath repeatedly. Cannavale continued to scan the book in the hopes of finding out the location of a possible overground entryway for the HQ – and he finally found it. It was literally a few minutes away in the other direction. "Anything?" Benediktov suddenly appeared, making the mercenary jump once again.

–

07:08:56AM

"Yeah.. yeah, I found an entryway that's overground. Must be the main building" he explained before looking at Benediktov. "Excellent – I apologize for taking so long. The driver's been dealt with but I had to check and see if the crash started a leak. It hasn't, which is good as I have a new plan" the Russian explained, getting back into the driver's seat to protect himself from the rain. Cannavale was intrigued. "Go on" he replied. "I will carry onto the car park and get in underground. You will drive to the overground entryway and wait for my instructions as soon as you get there. Guardstrom will definitely not know what hit them!" Benediktov continued. Cannavale was taken aback by the idea but then he started to gain an idea of what would happen. And he liked it. "So what are you waiting for? Go get in the tanker if you want to avoid the checkpoints!" the Russian said rather bluntly. Realizing what he meant, Cannavale jumped out of the van and towards the driver side of the tanker. Benediktov was pretty confident this would work.

–

North Atlantic Ocean

Visibility was not as badly impaired as it was when the storm started, but it was still somewhat poor. Almost to the point where the crew of the cruiser Albany almost didn't spot the helicopter carrying divers coming towards them until it was almost above them.

But thankfully, any confusion was cleared up as the helicopter came into land. Emerging from inside were Jack and Belcheck, followed closely by Commander Robinson. The left-hand door on the helicopter, with several divers walking out and towards inside – as they passed the three men, they made sure to salute Robinson. "Commander Robinson!". Of the people still left on the helicopter, there were the two pilots and what appeared to be an NCIS agent. The agent climbed down and walked towards the trio. "I apologize for the delay, visibility is still not good out here!" the agent explained. "Don't worry! Listen, you have new orders – you need to fly Jack Bauer back to DC immediately!" Robinson practically yelled over the sound of the helicopter rotors and the thundering rain. Only the agent looked like he hadn't heard those orders. "What new orders? We haven't been told of this, we were told to refuel as soon as we landed!" he insisted. Robinson frowned. "I'm telling you, you have new orders! Forget the refuel, you have to fly Jack back to the city centre. IMMEDIATELY!" he countered.

The agent would have replied, but one of the pilots opened up a slot within the windscreen and shouted towards him. "SIR! We have new orders, literally just got them from the President; we have to fly back to DC right away!" the pilot explained. The agent frowned as the rain battered against him. "How are you two for fuel?" he shouted back. "We just have enough – enough to fly back to the DC city centre and then to the Navy Yard!" the second pilot replied, shouting through the open door of the chopper. The agent mulled it over. "Alright – I'm not happy at only just getting the orders but if they're from the President, that's fine! Climb aboard" he reasoned. Belcheck raced forward without a second thought, pushing the agent out of the way, but then he stopped as he noticed Jack wasn't with him. He turned around to see the former CTU agent speaking with Commander Robinson. "JACK! Come on!" he shouted. Jack looked up at him and signalled that he would be a couple of seconds. "Commander.. thank you for what you've done" he said, shaking the hand of Robinson. "Don't worry, Jack, You just find Benediktov and soon!" the Commander insisted. Jack nodded and moved towards the helicopter. "Jack!" a voice called and he turned around to see Robinson. "Give him hell" he hissed, indicating the him to be the Russian General. Jack nodded once again and headed back into the helicopter.

"Alright, get us airborne! We haven't a moment to lose" he declared before he had even stepped foot on the chopper. The pilots looked back at Jack and then towards the agent, who was in the middle of climbing aboard. "Do what he says!" the agent insisted as he began to close the door. Without wasting a second, the pilots began to move the helicopter back into the air. Whilst it was tricky as the rotors were not quite at proper speed and then there was the factor of the rain, the crew of 5 finally became airborne. The helicopter began to move away from the remains of the blockade and into the dark clouds. Robinson watched them disappear through his binoculars. He slowly lowered them. "Good luck, Jack.." he whispered.

–

Guardstrom HQ

"Alright, men – this is the moment we have all been preparing for. We have worked all around the clock to get Project Connaughton air-worthy and that moment is finally here. All I can really say is well done to all of you – now, get back behind me immediately. Clear the launch zone!" Dr Hampson declared before opening up the briefcase that revealed the controls for Project Connaughton.

As the men scrambled into position, some heading into the secure booths within the laboratories and some getting back behind the clearly marked lines. Project Connaughton was pretty big and Dr Hampson did not want any injuries. As the last of the men cleared the marked lines, the Doctor picked up a key and opened up a slot on the side of the controls. "This is it – to Guardstrom!" he shouted. "TO GUARDSTROM!" the men shouted as the key was placed into the slot. The controls came to life and Hampson silently pressed a yellow button. "Warning, clear the area. Launch sequence in process! Warning, clear the area.." a female voice called as various cables were released from the super-weapon.. and the floor directly underneath Project Connaughton began to lower into the ground. Turning on a small TV next to the controls, Hampson watched grimly as the super-weapon was lowered onto a large platform with tens if not hundreds of wheels underneath.

As soon as the weapon touched the platform, the floor that had been lowered down was slowly replaced by a large panel that looked exactly the same as what it had looked like. Watching the TV further, Hampson pressed down on a button next to the TV. Slowly but surely, the platform began to move into a large tunnel. As the super-weapon rolled out of sight, Hampson returned the controls to its briefcase. "Fremaux!" he called over a fellow operative, a young woman with glasses and blonde hair going down to her shoulders. She had just come down from the upper levels of the building. "Sir?" the operative asked, saluting as she came to a stop in front of her. "Here, take this briefcase. Give it to one of President Walkman's aides. She needs to get the controls as soon as possible" Hampson ordered, closing the briefcase and handing it over. "Yes, sir!" Fremaux replied, taking the briefcase and walking off back towards the lift from the upper levels. Watching her leave, Hampson turned back towards the TV.

At the speed the platform was going at, he was pretty sure that Project Connaughton would be airborne before the hour was out.

07:13:21AM

–

07:17:59AM

Guardstrom HQ

Just outside the underground levels of the HQ and in the ghost tunnels, the convoy of vehicles that Henderson had stowed away on were waiting behind a large wall panel. Underneath the front vehicle, Henderson was clinging on for dear life. He was very nearly within the HQ itself, he could just tell.

Finally, the wall panel began to open. From looking forward, Henderson could see a black wall one second and then trickles and streams of light seeping in the next. Slowly, the vehicle he was under began to move forward towards the lights. Second by second, he was edging closer and closer towards the HQ – and finally, the area surrounding the vehicle was completely covered in lights. Waiting until the vehicle had stopped fully, Henderson fist-pumped the air. He had finally made it. Hours after his near-death experience in trying to get what he thought were the controls for Project Connaughton, he was most likely in the very building that the super-weapon itself was in.

As soon as the van had stopped, Henderson dropped down onto the ground and waited patiently for the operatives onboard the vans in the convoy to vanish. Looking out from under the van, he watched several pairs of legs walking away. And he rolled out into the light, jumping to his feet as soon as he was clear. He moved to behind the van and looked around as best as he could. It wasn't just the vans that were part of the convoy in the area, there were multiple vans – all blacked-out and all exactly the same. Henderson was intrigued. It was quite possible that Walkman had called for all of the vans to return to the HQ, but why exactly? If she wanted all of her operatives within the HQ, that could only mean that she was launching her final gambit. The super-weapon! She had to be getting it right for launch, which meant that the controls were literally within sight. Looking both left and right within the area, he spotted a lift shaft to his right and quickly raced towards it. Pressing the big button on the panel, he immediately moved to the left and pushed his back up against the wall, unsure if operatives would be emerging when it arrived.

Finally, the elevator came and made itself known with the sound of the doors opening. Waiting 5 seconds for operatives to emerge, he heard nothing and peered into the elevator. It was empty. Moving inside, he looked towards the panel that gave options for where to go in the complex. Unsure at where to go, he opted to just go for the first option available to him. The floor immediately above him. The doors closed and he patiently waited, unsure of what the floor would bring him – the seconds ticked by and the nerves that Henderson was experiencing were unlike anything he had ever felt before. He was within the belly of the beast. Finally, the doors opened and emerged into a large facility with what appeared to be a viewing platform. Walking towards the viewing platform, he peered down and scanned the area below. He could see what looked like a laboratory, with various operatives scattered around the area – but what caught his attention were what looked like large cables coming down from the ceiling.

He would have examined them more, but he heard footsteps behind him. And they were getting louder. He quickly moved to the side and out of immediate sight, pushing himself back up against the wall – and watched as an operative walked onto the platform. Without wasting a second, Henderson lunged at the operative. Quickly getting the upper hand, he grabbed the operative's head and slammed it smack into the floor. Looking around once more to make sure no-one else was coming towards the viewing platform, Henderson pulled the operative onto his back. He scanned the ID badge. It simply read "Technician". Technician? This could have been someone who worked on the super-weapon! An opportunity to infiltrate the laboratory and find Project Connaughton had been handed to him, gift-wrapped and with a bow-tie as well. Henderson was not going to let this chance pass up. He immediately pulled off the operative's jacket and took both his glasses and his ID badge, before pulling the body off to the side. Re-composing himself, he put on the glasses and left the platform in search of either another lift or some stairs to the laboratory.

In another wing of the Guardstrom complex, meanwhile, a nervous-looking Mack was walking down with Heather, who was being escorted by several Guardstrom operatives through the hallways of the building. Mack had resisted every effort to explain to Heather just what was going on, opting to lead President Walkman explain the situation. This had not set well with Heather, as her condition combined with hearing the alarms for red alert and the fact that she had to be escorted through the building had led to her growing scared for not just her own safety but also that of her mother. Was it related to what her mother had been working on?

Suddenly, a set of doors on the right opened and from them emerged both Evans and Walkman. "MOM!" Heather cried and she immediately moved towards the Guardstrom President. Walkman sighed in relief as she saw her daughter, immediately opening her arms out for a hug. As the two embraced, the Guardstrom President peered up at Mack. "I thought you would be at the meet point by now!" she stated unhappily. "We would have, but Heather wouldn't leave at first unless you were with her. It's taken all of my willpower to not tell her why we're moving" the bespectacled young man reasoned. Heather looked up slightly at her mother. "Mom, what's going on? Why did Mack say we have to evacuate?" she almost cried, desperate to know the truth. Walkman sighed. "Well.. to tell you the truth, sweetie, it's not safe here in DC any-more. We have to leave straight away" she said. "Why isn't it safe? Is it the weather or something?" Heather replied, the worry in her tone of voice still clear. "No, no.. it's nothing like that. It's... someone I used to work with. We didn't leave on the best of terms and now this person is making threats against me. That's why we need to go" the Guardstrom President replied, almost half-lying but still having some truth in what she was saying.

But this seemed to convince Heather. "So where are we going?" she asked. "For now, we're just going into protection. Evans is going to try and nullify this person threatening me; if not, a private plane is waiting to take us away from the city" Walkman replied, as two operatives pulled open a set of double doors – which led to what appeared to be a waiting convoy. There were two vans and two cars with gun turrets on the top surrounding a single blacked-out limo. "Heather, go ahead and get in the limo. I'll be with you in a second" Walkman ordered her daughter softly. Heather looked up at her mother with a look of worry before slowly walking towards the open limo door. Walkman turned to Evans. "Whatever you do, Chris.. stop Benediktov! If he finds us, there's no telling what he could do!" she ordered, elements of fear creeping into her voice as she finished. "Of course, Madame President. I don't care what we have to do, we won't rest until he's dead" Evans assured her, pulling her into an embrace in the process. Walkman gave a slight smile at that. "You know.. looks like I made the right choice appointing you as my right-hand man. Your father would be so proud of you" she replied.

"Madame President!" the two were interrupted by Mack and they turned to see the young man looking at them. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to go – one of Dr Hampson's operatives contacted me, she wants me to pick up the controls for Project Connaughton" he explained. Walkman nodded. "Go right ahead. Bring the controls right here as soon as you get them" she ordered. Mack nodded before heading back up the steps towards the double doors. "Go over the plans once more, just so you know" Walkman said quietly. "The convoy departs in a few minutes and down the main tunnel. You wait there until 07-35, enough time for the controls to Project Connaughton to be given to you. If it becomes clear there is a direct or indirect threat to you, the convoy heads through the tunnels to the airport and you get out of the city without so much as a bruise" Evans replied calmly.

Walkman smiled, her first proper smile in quite a while. "Good. Well, I'll leave the HQ in your capable hands" she said, as she headed towards the limo. Evans watched, before there was a sudden ringing. His phone. He headed up the steps towards the double doors.

–

Rurruthers Car Park

Peering left, right and straight ahead to make sure that no-one was watching him, Benediktov turned the steering wheel sharply to the left and drove into the car park. Quickly peering down at the map, left open on the book on the passenger seat, he started to locate the cashpoint as shown in the photos on the map. Spotting the cashpoint, he turned the steering wheel right and parked in the spot, turning off the engine and putting the gear-stick into neutral. "You have reached your final destination; please wait whilst the proper authorities confirm your identification" the navigation system's voice declared and Benediktov could only raise an eyebrow. Confirm your identification? How were they going to do that?

"Unit 39G, This is Guardstrom Communications. Please respond, over" a voice suddenly spoke out over the radio and Benediktov started to slightly panic. How the heck was he going to do this? They'd know for sure it was him if he directly responded. He had to act fast and quickly threw open the driver-side door of the van, the sound of the rain becoming louder as a result. Grabbing the radio, he pointed it in the direction of the rain and responded. "Guardstrom Communications, this... Unit... 9G, over. Sorry for.. reply, weather... havoc" he spoke, trying his best to incorporate an American accent and then using the rain almost as a form of static to make it act as if the radio was cutting out – when in fact, he was merely cutting out certain words to help fool the Communications sector. "Unit 39G, are you ok? You keep cutting out, over" the voice replied, elements of concern making themselves known. "Yes, we're ok. Repeat, weather causing havoc" Benediktov replied, dropping the idea of cutting out certain words to fool Communications and instead just hoping that they didn't notice the attempt to cover up a Russian accent.

"Very well, 39G. You are cleared for entry. Please remain in the vehicle and wait until we say otherwise" the voice ordered before cutting out. Closing the door, Benediktov waited patiently. Until out of the blue, the van started to go down into the ground. The tarmac of the spot itself was being lowered downwards. Grabbing hold of the steering wheel, Benediktov realized that this was it; the ghost tunnel! It was now right in front of him as opposed to being below him. This was it. He grabbed a hold of his own radio. "Clarke, come in! This is urgent, over!" he yelled into it.

–

Guardstrom HQ

Not far off from the car park, meanwhile, the tanker came to a stop. Peering through the windscreen even as the rain smashed against it, Cannavale could see the main entry-point for the HQ. Slowly moving the tanker forward a few feet, he began to position the tanker into place. All he had to do was wait for Benediktov's call and then do what he needed to do.

"I repeat – Clarke, come in! This is urgent, over!" Benediktov repeated himself. Wasting no time, Cannavale picked up the radio that the General had given him. "This is Clarke. Are you inside, General?" the mercenary replied. "Not quite yet – but I am inside the tunnel as those photos on the map showed. Give me a few minutes and I'll tell you when you need to do what you need to do! Just sit tight" the Russian explained. "Right.." Cannavale agreed as he put the radio back. All he could do was wait. The Russian had to time everything perfectly – and if anything, his hopes of launching a surprise attack on Guardstrom HQ depended very much on the timed actions of Cannavale.

–

North Atlantic Ocean

The rain battered against the outer hull of the helicopter as it raced across the water towards the East Coast. "So what time can we expect you, Jack?" Novick asked over the radio. "At present, Mr President.. we expect to be over the DC city centre before 08:00 hours" the former agent confirmed, as he stood between the two pilots clutching the radio. "Before 08:00 hours? Jack, with respect, surely you should be aiming to get her a lot quicker!" the Acting President pointed out, confused as to why it would take longer time for Jack to arrive in DC than it did for Benediktov to do the same an hour ago. "We would, sir.. but as it is, the helicopter's running on fumes. We only have enough fuel to fly towards the Navy Yard at the speed we're at – we try and push this thing any more, we'll end up crashing somewhere over Delaware!" the second pilot replied, Jack pointing the radio towards him so that he could talk.

"Look, sir.. I appreciate we need to be in the city sooner but the level of fuel the helicopter has plus the weather conditions, I don't think we can afford to risk anything" Jack attempted to reason. He knew that time was of the essence but there really wasn't any point in trying to rush things as the helicopter could still crash on the way to DC and then it would be even harder to try and stop Benediktov. "No.. you're right, Jack. Would rather you got here in one piece as opposed to anything" Novick admitted, looking across at Kim and Chloe in the process. "I've got Kim here, Jack. Do you wanna talk to her?" he suddenly added, which sent Kim's eyebrows in surprise. Jack resisted the urge to chuckle. "Yeah, put here on!" he decided. At that, Novick picked up the phone receiver and turned off the speaker button so that Kim could talk with her father in private. "Go right ahead" he said, handing the phone to Kim who eagerly took it. "Dad..." she said in huge relief. To hear he was alive had been amazing news. "Hiya, sweetheart. How you holding up?" Jack replied, smiling at hearing his daughter's voice. "I'm doing good – Mike let me stay in the bunker, been helping Chloe as good as I can" Kim explained, looking over at Novick who had gone over to the door and was talking with Agent Yanes.

"Good to hear! I didn't get a chance to say, I'm sorry for going off like that.." Jack replied, heavily indicating about his going off with Belcheck in the helicopter to confront the Yuri Dolgorukiy. "It's ok! Honestly, I get why you did it, we need to stop Benediktov – but.. I think for Teri's case, you need to stop putting yourself in such danger like that!" Kim insisted, her tone of voice going soft as she spoke. Jack frowned? Teri? And then he realized, just as his daughter started to explain. "You heard me correctly; I've been in touch with one of your friends, an Agent Aaron Pierce. At present, he's en-route to DC with Stephen and the children.." she replied, smiling as she spoke. She knew just how delighted her father would be at the mere mention of her kids and her husband. Jack adored Teri just as he had adored his wife. But to her surprise, Jack didn't react the way she hoped he would. "They're headed to DC? Kim.. when are they due? It's not safe!" the former agent frowned. He was thrilled that Aaron Pierce was driving them to DC and that they were in safe hands but not that they were coming to DC right now. "Dad, it's okay! Agent Pierce gave me his word, he'll keep them safe! If needs-be, he'll stop on the outskirts of DC and go into hiding until otherwise" Kim responded. Jack still wasn't happy but then again, he did trust Pierce a lot. He was confident he would do whatever it would take to keep them safe.

"Alright, alright.. that's fine.. listen, Kim, could I talk to Novick again please?" he responded – only Kim wasn't listening. She was looking back towards Novick and Yanes – she had just-about heard some portions of their conversations and a few words had come up that had made her frown. Namely military checkpoints and safety. "Kim? Kim, are you there?!" Jack shouted into the receiver, snapping his daughter back into it. "Sorry, Dad.. it's just.. I heard President Novick talking. Something along the lines of.. military checkpoints going up in the city centre" she admitted. Jack frowned and then it hit him. Military checkpoints. This had shades of Charles Logan during the Sentox conspiracy all over again. "Kim, put me back on with the President!" he ordered, Belcheck watching curiously. Something was amiss, he could tell. "Mr President!" Kim called and Novick looked up to see her holding the phone out. "My dad wants to talk to you again" she explained and the Acting President nodded, walking over to her and holding his hand out to take the receiver. "What's up, Jack?" he asked as he put the receiver next to his ear. "I just need to clear something up that Kim heard: something involving you giving the order for military checkpoints to go up in the city centre?!" Jack responded angrily, his choice of words taking Belcheck by surprise. Why would checkpoints need to go up in the city centre?

"Aaahh.. well, I was going to tell you, Jack. If anything else, we'll need the checkpoints in order to catch Benediktov by surprise!" Novick said uneasily, holding even the slightest possibility that Jack would be convinced. He was wrong. "CAUGHT BY.. with respect, sir, I could give you several reasons why that wouldn't work! Benediktov is far too clever, he is not going to be fooled by a series of checkpoints! And secondly, you're putting up checkpoints in a city that has been hit by attacks in just the space of a few hours? It didn't work when we were battling Christopher Henderson and President Logan and it's not going to help here! If anything, you're gonna cause widespread panic!" Jack practically hissed over the phone. Novick gritted his teeth. He could see Jack's reasoning but they had no choice. "I understand your feelings over it, Jack.. but as Acting President, my decision stands. We need to take every chance as they come!" he replied. Jack gritted his teeth and sighed through them. He wanted to respect Novick as an Interim President but this was one decision he could not agree with in the slightest. When it became clear the former agent was not going to respond, the Acting President came up with an idea. "If you're worried you're gonna be slowed down by these checkpoints in looking for Benediktov, don't. I've got a General in the US Army who can inform those manning the checkpoints to let you through without stopping" he proposed. He knew it was weak but he didn't want to fall out with Jack.

"Alright.. alright, that's fine. If something happens, Mike.. keep me posted" the former agent said calmly. "I will, Jack. You just get back here safely" Novick responded before hanging up. He sighed and shook his head. He knew that the checkpoints were not going to be popular but he had to do something to keep everyone in the city safe. Sometimes the options that were not so popular were the ones that kept people safe.

–

07:24:45AM

Guardstrom HQ

Within the ghost tunnels, the blacked-out van being driven by Benediktov was making its way downwards through the darkness. The Russian couldn't be that far from the main complex or one of the buildings on site, surely. But it appeared that going on this path had given the navigation system a mind of its own as it suddenly turned on without the Russian even touching it. "Continue through the tunnels for two minutes, then disembark and await further instructions" the voice ordered, though in a gruff male voice as opposed to the female voice he had gotten accustomed to. Whilst this had taken Benediktov by surprise, it meant that he was incredibly close. But again, he had to make sure the timing was exact. If Cannavale had positioned the tanker in the right place, then it meant that he would have to enter the complex at approximately the same time as the tanker crashed into it overground.

He quickly kept an eye on the clock. 07:25:30. He would give it another 30 seconds before speaking with Cannavale. He slightly pushed down on the accelerator and the van picked up speed ever so slightly. Finally, he grabbed his portable radio. "Clarke, this is Benediktov. You are a-go! Good luck" he spoke into it, the end of it clearly being heard by Cannavale. The mercenary tightened his grip on the steering wheel. This was it. He threw the tanker's control stick into first gear and pushed down on the accelerator. The tanker began to roll forward, gradually picking up speed towards the main building. 15MPH. 20MPH. 25MPH. The front of the building was drawing closer and closer, as Cannavale kept his foot on the accelerator and went up into second gear, into third gear and finally fourth. 35MPH. The building was now literally 15 seconds away. Timing it perfectly, Cannavale kicked the driver-side door open and the left-hand side of his face was meant with drops of rain smashing into it.

Finally, grabbing a hold of a round plastic device, he jumped out. Landing directly on his feet, he rolled onto his knees and away from the tanker. Inside the building, within the main entrance area, an operative looked out at the pouring rain. And stopped. She could hear a rumbling sound like something coming towards the building – and from out of nowhere, the tanker appeared. At the speed it was going, nothing could stop it. Realizing too late what it was, the operative dived out of the way as the tanker smashed into the main entrance and towards the front desk, crashing through it and coming to a stop only because of a large pillar standing in its way – the pillar smashing the driver's cab in the process. Throughout the surrounding area and on the first to fourth floors, everything stopped. Everyone had heard the crash and the sound of the general alarm going off, including Evans who was on his way back to Walkman's office and then Walkman herself. As the sound of the general alarm alongside the sound of the red alert became clear to him, he immediately grabbed his phone and dialled a number, racing towards a hallway going left. Whatever that crash was, it did not sound good at all.

Outside in the rain, Cannavale struggled to his feet. The impact of landing had left him winded but not to the point where he couldn't move. As he got to his feet, he peered at where the tanker stood now. He could just make out the back of it through the smoke, the very back wheels and the fuel tank above it exposed to the elements. He looked at the plastic device and sighed. This was it, now or never. Everything that he and Benediktov had pinned their hopes on, it all depended on this single moment. He pressed down on the big yellow button. Inside the main entrance, the same operative who had been first to spot the tanker coming towards the building hauled herself onto the cab and pulled open the passenger-side door. The first thing she saw on the seat was what looked like broken glass from the windscreen – and a large block-shaped product. Plastic explosive that had connecting wires to what looked like a detonator. The operative's eyes widened in horror. "CLEAR THE BUILDING! CLEAR THE...!" she yelled before the detonator itself exploded.

One moment, Cannavale could see the back of the tanker exposed to the elements of the storm – but within mere seconds, the tanker vanished. Replaced by a massive explosion with shockwaves so powerful that they sent the mercenary flying backwards even though he was quite a short distance away. He immediately shielded his eyes from the intensity of the blast as the explosion ripped through the main building of the headquarters.

Inside, glass shattered and walls collapsed under the strength of the fire and shockwaves. Operatives were sent flying or instantly killed as the explosion just ripped through the floors of the building, leaving a trail of destruction where-ever the shockwaves went. But the operatives that had been sent flying didn't know that they were the lucky ones – they at least survived but had to watch in horror as the floors caved in on each other, slowly collapsing onto each other and then stopping within the main entrance or at least what was left of it. What's more, shorter but quicker explosions followed from certain rooms, rooms that had been filled with ammunition and explosives. Deeper into the building, Evans stopped as he heard the first big bang – turning around, his eyes widened as he was completely blown backwards by a shockwave. Even though he couldn't see it, he could hear the walls collapsing or exploding before pieces of ceiling began to land all around him. He could hear the screams but could not do anything to try and help them. As for Mack, a shockwave had completely blown a piece of wall right on top of him – whilst Fremaux, who had been in the middle of giving the controls for Project Connaughton to the young man, was nowhere to be seen. It had been hard for him to see what was going on around him without his glasses on, but he could see that the floor area where Fremaux had been had completely collapsed. She could not have survived that.

As the first major explosion died down, several smaller ones started to pop up all over the main building – all while the surviving operatives started to get to their feet. Many were injured with some burnt and others very badly burnt. Guardstrom HQ had just been attacked from out of nowhere. And it could not have been any better timed for Benediktov, who made his way out of the ghost tunnel and into the complex proper. And just in time to see a massive fireball completely rip through a passageway, sending a unit of operatives flying. "Nicely done, Clarke!" he said to himself as he sharply braked. Climbing out, he grabbed a hold of his gun and walked towards the group of operatives. One looked up at the Russian and frowned. "Who the devil are..?" he started to shout only to be immediately silenced by a knife in the mouth. The other operatives, realizing what was happening, lunged at Benediktov but the General was no match for any of them – one had his neck snapped whilst the other suffered a gunshot to the gut and the other was sent head-first into the wall with such velocity that there's no way he would have survived. Peering backwards, he suddenly remembered what was in the van and walked towards it, opening the doors and grabbing the array of different guns and weapons. He was going to need them, that was for sure.

He walked back towards the open door to the passageway where the fireball had been, being careful as he walked inside. The interior was a complete wreck, with bits of rubble strewn everywhere and fire burning in different parts of the hallway. The lights had completely failed, with only the fire lighting up the long hallway. The Russian slowly walked through the hallway, ignoring the option of the elevator and instead throwing a grenade at it. He could easily feel the shockwaves on his back, but he just kept walking. What he didn't know, however, was that outside the passageway, the operative that he had shot in the gut was still alive. Only just barely but still alive. He slowly moved to pick up his radio, his arm shaking as he did. "This is.. this is.. Agent Power of.. Unit 56V... sending warnings to all Guardstrom operatives. He's here – Benediktov is in the building! Be on guard..." he was able to get out before he dropped the radio. His arm lay still and blood began to pour out of his mouth.

At what was the other end of the complex, near the convoy carrying Walkman, agents were scrambling about. Walkman was getting anxious as she saw operatives clearly panicking and trying their best to make contact with someone. "Giles, what's going on?" she asked the driver through the intercom. "We're not sure yet, Madame President. But we think there's been some kind of explosion in the main building. Just sit tight" he replied, his voice indicating he wasn't so sure himself.

Meanwhile in another part of the complex and in the laboratories, the operatives working under Hampson were scrambling desperately. They had heard the massive explosion and were fearing the worst, with the lights having failed as well not helping matters. "Alright, alright! Everyone calm down! Yes, we heard an explosion but we have a job to do!" Hampson yelled over the desperate cries and shouts of his operatives. As soon as he knew he had everyone's attention, he restarted. "We all know what we have to do; no matter what happens, we have to protect President Walkman. We've done the hard part, we've battled against the clock and finished Project Connaughton. Now, it's our job to defend that work and kill the enemy!" he declared, his battle cry praised by a series of cheers. Suddenly, a fireball ripped through the glass windows near the ceiling in the laboratories – the glass shards made their way downwards towards the ground and the operatives, some shielding their eyes from the shards. But this didn't deter Hampson. "Now, let's grab arms and fight for our country!" he finished as he revealed a small handgun from within his jacket and shot upwards towards the ceiling.

His battle cry had appeared to rally the operatives as they were now opening up lockers and pulling out a variety of weapons – grenades, guns, bullets, rocket launchers, knifes, various kinds of weapons. Having collected their weapons, a group of operatives began to make their way up the staircase and towards the overground floors, determined to face the enemy head on. But as they charged upstairs, they headed past a disguised Henderson. He had heard the explosions and quickly came to the conclusion that they were of the work of Benediktov, which was exactly what he hoped would be the case. Whilst Benediktov and Walkman were busy fighting each other, he can sneak in and take the controls for the super-weapon essentially unnoticed. But first he had to find them. Peering into the laboratory proper, he could see the various operatives leaving in groups; they had collected their weapons and they were now headed up onto the overground levels to join the fight. As another group walked past him up the stairs, Hampson peered up and spotted him. "Hey, you! Are you just gonna stand there? Pull up a weapon for Christ's sake!" he yelled, as he returned to loading bullets into a machine gun.

Internally delighted by the order, Henderson raced up towards an open locker and pulled out a rocket launcher, complete with the rocket locked into place. It could be used there and then. And Henderson decided to use it there and then. He peered around the area, trying to figure out what would be best to hit. Finally, he found this target – pointing the launcher upwards, he fired directly at a large collection of weapons that happened to be positioned right next to a group of operatives. The resulting explosion and the closeness and proximity meant that the group just stood no chance. But it did manage to take Hampson by utter surprise, enabling Henderson to pick up another weapon in the shape of a katana and just ruthlessly slice his way through the operatives surrounding the doctor, until the tip of the katana was right up against Hampson's throat. "I have but one question and do not try to play dumb – WHERE are the controls to Project Connaughton?!" Henderson snarled as he saw the fear gradually increase within the doctor's eyes. He could tell Hampson was trying his best to not say anything but eventually, fear won out. "They're with another operative! She went to go give them to one of Walkman's aides!" he cried, his focus not for one second looking away from the katana. "Which aide?" Henderson continued, knowing that the Guardstrom President had more than one. "The.. the young one. With glasses, he's somewhere towards the front.. IF he survived!" the doctor spluttered.

Henderson smiled, removing the katana – and then swinging it with force into Hampson's neck, the doctor's head just falling to the side and away whilst the headless body collapsed to the floor. Back into the main building, it is then. As he headed back towards the stairs, another fireball ripped through the top of the area though this time, it was through the observation platform. He would have to work quickly or else pay with his life.

Back towards the convoy, the motorcade was finally on the move as the vehicles headed into the ghost tunnel. "Alright, alright, thank you. I'll let her know" Giles the driver said as he spoke into a phone that was held by the agent sitting next to him. As he indicated to her to close the phone, he activated the intercom. "Madame President!" he said, attracting the attention of Walkman who was in the middle of trying to comfort a troubled Heather. Walkman pressed down on her own intercom button. "What's going on, Giles?" she asked. "It's not good, I'm afraid, Ma'am. Those explosions we heard? Someone's attacked the complex. From what I can gather, someone smashed a fuel tanker into the main entrance – that's what that massive explosion was" Giles admitted. Walkman pushed herself back up against her seat in shock. It was true, someone had attacked them. Most likely Henderson or Benediktov. And if they weren't careful, either one of them or even both of them would be coming straight after her.

"How soon until we're out of here?" she asked. "We have the safety checkpoint up ahead; once we're clear of that, you'll be just fine!" the driver replied, trying to remain cheerful. Finally, the checkpoint came up; how it worked was that any vehicles entering or leaving through this tunnel would be monitored by the security footage system. Operatives watching the system would have to key in an access code to disable the checkpoint until such a time that the vehicles had passed. What Walkman didn't realize, however, was that the area of the complex in which all this was done had been one of the first hit by the explosion. Everyone inside was dead and there was no-one left to let her pass through safely.

In essence, Walkman was trapped and her only salvation was that neither one of Benediktov or Henderson likely knew where she was.

07:28:52AM

–

07:33:07AM

Guardstrom HQ

Up in the higher floors of the HQ, the operatives that had been taken completely and utterly by surprise by the tanker explosion were starting to pull themselves together. Some were clearing rubble off the floor and helping other operatives that had been trapped underneath whilst two were trying all they can to fight the raging fires, all whilst the general alarm that had gone off when the tanker crash as well as the red alert blared around them. "Sir!" a female voice called and a senior operative turned around to see a younger operative coming up towards him, saluting. "At ease, Vickins. Report!" the older man barked. "I've checked the surrounding areas, some of them are holding for now, but..." Vickins explained, her voice becoming uneasy as she finished. The older man rose an eyebrow. "But? What's happened?" he said sternly.

"The whole front of the building.. it's gone. Nothing's left. As far as the first perimeter for the Northern Wing goes, up to there is still standing – but after that.. nothing. It's just gone.." Vickins admitted, as everyone around her stopped and looked at her, shocked expressions on their faces. The older agent turned his body around and away from Vickins. The explosion had utterly ripped apart the Northern Wing of the main building. "If the Northern Wing's gone, then we have to assume the building is unstable" he suddenly declared, looking up and turning back around. "We have to move, find some way down to the lower levels. Vickins, did you see any staircases that would be stable enough to take all us?" he continued, turning towards the younger agent. He knew that the staircases near the first perimeter were certainly stable enough to hold them all, but they also had to assume the explosion had weakened them in some capacity. "Quite a few, yes – but we need to avoid the ones on the right side of the Wing. They were the ones closer to the rooms with the Ammunition" the female operative explained and the expression on the older man's face fell. That would at least explain the further explosions coming from those rooms but it was still a blow to lose the ammunition and explosives.

"Alright, let's move. Pick up what you can or help those who need it..." he decided but before he could finish, there was a massive bang right behind him and he was nearly blown off his feet into Vickins. Looking back at the bang, he could see the fire and smoke firing down. But then there was another bang, which took out the wall on the left and another bang that took out the wall on the right. And then what followed, no-one was expecting. It was someone whistling the Russian national anthem. Grabbing a hold of their guns, Vickins and her superior immediately raised them, pointing them all around them. The whistling slowly got louder and louder, as though the person whistling the anthem was getting closer and closer, except they had no idea on the angle that he or she was coming from. Everyone looked desperately around where they were standing, but no figures appeared. Until..

From out of nowhere, the wall to their left immediately caved in with a loud bang as though a grenade had hit it – as the two moved back to avoid the falling rubble, that's when the whistler struck. From out of the shadows, a dark figure emerged and immediately began firing at anyone within target range, successfully hitting two injured operatives and killing them. Vickins and the older agent began firing back, but were simply unable to hit the figure; for some unknown reason, their bullets were just bouncing off of his body. And before they could reload, he lunged right at them and threw them to the ground. Without wasting a second, the other operatives still alive moved in to help them. But they quickly found that they were no match for the figure – some were smashed in the face with the butt of a gun, some were simply thrown through weakened parts of a wall which smashed on impact, one even had a grenade shoved into his mouth and thrown backwards before being shot at; everyone else still standing was thrown off their felt by the resulting explosion. Another operative was pushed directly into a rusty pipe that had been blown outwards, another had their neck snapped and one had the unfortunate fate of having a knife forced into her skull.

The figure moved forward and looked back at his handiwork – despite his age and being vastly outnumbered, General Benediktov had just taken on approximately 10 to 20 Guardstrom operatives and defeated nearly every single one of them without taking any injury. He noticed something in the corner of his right eye and looked down. A single young female operative who had been lucky to survive considering what had happened. The General moved his arm down and grabbed the women by her long red hair, ignoring her sharp yelping as he dragged her to her feet. He pushed her up against the wall and looked into her eyes with a cold and angry expression. "Where can I find Walkman?" he said coldly. The woman started to whimper, refusing to answer. "I SAID... Where. Can I. Find Walkman?!" he snarled, the sounds of the two alarms still blaring in the background. But then he realized she was trying to speak. "She's.. not.. I'll take... you to her... office. Just don't kill me!" she finally got out. Benediktov rose an eyebrow but agreed. "Very well, young lady. Please, lead the way" he said calmly, releasing his hand and letting go of her hair. The woman, trying her best not to show that she was clearly scared of being in the Russian's presence, walked past him and indicated for him to follow her which he did.

In another part of the building, Henderson was also making his way through the wrecked hallways – and much like Benediktov, he was also getting rid of any operatives he came across with ease. Some of them were already dying or in retreat or just trying to find off the figure so that they could try and protect their President, but all were swiftly dealt with in one swing of the katana that Henderson had taken from the laboratories. But each time, he had also taken the time to check the bodies of those he had killed in the hopes of locating the controls for Project Connaughton. Since Hampson, before his death, had said that the controls were either with the doctor's female operative or Walkman's younger aide, he had to check every single operative he killed as they could be the younger aide or even the female operative and they could have in possession of the controls.

He swung the katana at another operative and watched as she fell to the ground, dead instantly. He looked all over her body but could not find the controls. He would have to go deeper into the building, closer to the front than he really would have wanted to be – but if that's where the controls were, then so be it. As he walked through the crumbling hallways, he quickly dodged out of the way of falling rumble and jumped over a large hole in the floor where an even larger chunk of ceiling had come down. Suddenly, he stopped. Over the sound of the alarms blaring, he thought he could hear someone shouting desperately for help. He immediately headed in the direction of where the shouting was coming from, not so that he could help, but so that he could check if the controls for the super-weapon were there. As for where the shouting was coming from, they happened to be coming from the room where Mack was trapped. He was desperately trying to lift the piece of wall off of him – but without help, it was almost impossible.

But then, as he continued to shout for help, he spotted something on the other side of the large hole where he thought Fremaux had fallen through. A piece of rubble slid down and fell into the hole, the fire at the bottom immediately growing bigger as a result – and the young man realized that there was someone there on the other side of the hole. Fremaux. Against all odds, she had survived. But much like Mack, she was trapped. "Help! Somebody, is anyone there?" he shouted desperately – just as Henderson walked through the doorway and into the room. He surveyed essentially what was left of the area before looking down at the trapped Mack. "Oh boy, you Guardstrom people have really outdone yourselves now, haven't you?" he teased, swinging the katana around almost aimlessly. "Please.. please just.. help me – help her, please!" Mack begged, again trying and failing to lift the the wall off of him. Surveying the area behind him and spotting Fremaux, realizing why Mack had said "her" and not just "me", he knelt down. "You know what? Ok, I will help you. But I need something in return" he offered. "Just say it!" the young man insisted, his attention less on the fact his life was practically being bargained with and more on trying to lift up the wall.

"I'm.. looking for a set of controls. Hand-held, apparently able to fit inside a single briefcase. Do you have any idea where they might be?" Henderson asked, his tone of voice almost joyful as he spoke. Mack knew very much what the mysterious man was talking about and normally he would have just straight-up lied to keep them out of enemy hands. But at present, he wasn't really in a position to bargain. "They're.. they're right behind you. Over there, near the hole!" he cracked, trying to point towards the west of the hole. Following his arm, Henderson scanned the west side of the room and smiled. For there they were, the controls to Project Connaughton – still in the briefcase and still pretty much intact. "Excellent" he said smugly as he walked around the edge of the hole and got onto his right knee, leaning across to pick up the briefcase. Checking to make sure nothing could have been damaged in the explosion, he locked the latches and stood back up, walking away from the hole and back towards Mack. "Well son, I'll give you this. You kept your promise, you didn't lie. For that, I'll help you and your little lady friend" he said, as he put the katana blade under the rubble and used it as a sort-of lever to help Mack lift the wall off of him. With the combined strength of both men and the blade, the wall was off the bespectacled young man.

"And now for your lady friend" Henderson added, turning on his heel to assist Fremaux. Again, using the katana as a lever, he was able to help lift the rubble pinning her in place before extending his arm out to help lift her to her feet. In-between coughing and wheezing, she was able to get out a reply. "Thank you... whoever.. you are" she gasped. Henderson smiled. "It's no problem, lovely. In fact, I'm gonna help you further" he said before grabbing a hold of her and chucking her through the hole into the fire at the bottom. As her screams filled the area, Henderson looked down, smiling. "Murderer!" he suddenly heard Mack snarl as his shoulder was grabbed and he was turned around to see the angry young man. However, him turning Henderson around proved to be a fatal mistake as Henderson simply swung the katana into the side of his abdomen and quite close to the bone. Pulling the blade out, he pushed back the young man and watched as blood began pouring out at an incredible rate. "You... you said you'd.." Mack wheezed as he tried to stay calm. "Help save you? Why my young friend, I did save you! You and your little lady friend, you were both dead anyway. I simply sped up the process" he said before grinning and making his way out of the room.

But what neither man knew was that the room still had a functioning security camera – and that they were being watched from the CCTV footage monitors by Cannavale. It had been a struggle for the mercenary to actually get into the main building after the explosion and to find a stable enough path that didn't look like it was going to collapse at any given moment, but none the less he had found it and he was now trying to locate Henderson. He had done as the guy had wanted and now he wanted to know his daughter wouldn't be killed. He had found the monitors and was able to spot Henderson literally just seconds after he had thrown Fremaux to his death so he had no idea that there had been a female operative in the room at that point. Watching Henderson leave, he made a note of where he was and raced out of the monitor room to intercept him. Cannavale had to be careful to make sure the weakened floors didn't give out beneath him as he ran through the wrecked hallways, but that didn't deter him one bit as he jumped over rubble and dodged burning fires on his way to the room where Mack now lay.

Stopping outside of it, he looked desperately to locate Henderson; but to his surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. He looked down all available passageways and hallways but all he could see was rubble, fire and smoke. Peering at Mack, he raced into the room and towards the young man. "Hey! Hey, don't worry. You're ok!" he lied, trying his best to not send the aide into a panic. He knew Mack was pretty much a dead man. "I just have a question for you, mate. That man with the katana, where did he go?" the mercenary asked, hopeful. But the answer got was certainly not what he was either expecting or hoping for. "He... he killed.. He killed her... he killed Vicky, he.. just killed... she didn't... stand chance..." Mack slowly coughed and spluttered out his answer whilst moving his arm upwards to try and point at the hole. But then his arm dropped and blood started to come out of his mouth; he was dead. The shock of everything, including the massive loss of blood, had taken its toll on him. But little did he know, or could he have known, was that his last words would about to have a huge impact on what would happen in not just the next 20 minutes but also the next few hours. Cannavale could not have known that Agent Fremaux's first name was Vicky whilst Mack equally could not have known that the name of Cannavale's daughter was also Vicky.

But now, the mercenary had reason to believe that Henderson had ordered for the sniper targeting his daughter to shoot her. He had gone back on his word and killed his only family. Cannavale looked down at the burning fire at the bottom of the hole – and the fire within him ignited once more as he clenched his fists. He was angry. If it was the last thing he would do, he was going to track down Henderson and kill him. And he knew exactly what he needed to help him with that cause. Walking back into the hallway, he started to make his way towards the Northern Wing. He needed to find Benediktov. But as he made his way north, he came to a halt. Something about what he could see caught his attention as normally, he should have been looking at a brick wall.

But instead, he was looking out through the remains of Northern Wing into the storm hitting the city. The explosion from the tanker had been so powerful that it had ultimately destroyed everything beyond the first perimeter for Northern Wing, there was literally nothing left apart from massive piles of rubble on the ground level and the massive fire still burning. As he saw the dark sky lit up by two successive strikes of lightning, Cannavale shook his head in disgust and went to find Benediktov.

–

White House Bunker

Without stopping to knock, Agent Yanes burst into the main room of the bunker where Novick was in discussion with General Hogan – Chloe and Kim were both close behind him, Chloe clutching her laptop. "Mr President! I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but you have to see this!" Yanes said, not giving Novick a chance to interrupt. The Acting President looked at Hogan and then back towards Yanes. "Show me" he said grimly, knowing that whatever it was, it wasn't good. Chloe bought the laptop towards the table in front of the sofa and lifted up the screen. On it was a running news report.

"..so if you're just tuning in right now, we have been getting reports of some kind of massive explosion within the DC area – we're still in the midst of trying to get confirmation but if you look at the footage, you can clearly see the thick smoke lifting into the air. As it stands, we are currently trying to identify the building in general but our on-the-ground team has been denied access by the military, which only adds more questions than answers.." a female news report explained, to back-drops of live footage of the Guardstrom Complex completely ablaze. Novick's eyes shot up. "When was this? WHY DID NO ONE HEAR IT?!" he snapped, as Hogan watched in amazement. "Just over 10 minutes ago, sir. I don't know why we didn't hear it, it just happened out of nowhere!" Chloe protested. Novick shook his head. "Any idea on where in the city it happened?" he asked. "We're still trying to figure out but it looks like it's towards the West of the city. As for what building, we're just as in the dark.." Yanes explained. The Acting President was about to reply, but General Hogan was next to cut him off. "Sir! Look!" she pointed at the laptop screen. It had gone back to the reporter. "And whilst we don't have confirmation as of yet on where the explosion has occurred, but our social media pages have been floated with comments that indicate that the building in general belongs to a drug reproduction company called Guardstrom.." she explained further.

But after that, no-one paid any attention to what the reporter was saying. Her mere mention of the word Guardstrom had sent the alarms bell ringing for Chloe, for Yanes and to a lesser extent, Novick as he had been briefed on this just a few hours previously. Hogan was quick to pick up on this. "What's wrong?" she asked. "A few hours ago, I was able to make contact with someone who worked at Guardstrom – it's highly likely it's not a drug reproduction company but rather a military contractor.." Chloe started but then found herself unable to speak. "..a military contractor that's created some kind of weapon. We don't know what exactly, but it's big and it's aerial" Yanes finished, crossing his arms and looking away in worry. Hogan could only scoff in utter disbelief. "Chloe.. were you able to get into their website?" Novick asked, suddenly remembering that the former analyst had been devoting time to trying to hack into Guardstrom's website. Chloe shook her head. "I tried, but then all this came up.." she admitted. "Well then.. have another crack. Kim, try and help" the Acting President said, turning the laptop around to face the former analyst.

Whilst she thought it a lost cause, Chloe knew they had to keep trying until they got something and she was the best they had. Taking the laptop, she immediately set to work and isolated the contractor's website fairly quickly. "Let's see if second time's the charm.." she said to herself as she started typing, Kim watching over her shoulder to spot anything that the analyst might miss. As for Novick, he was the first to notice that the news reporter was still talking. And what she had to say, it almost sent chills down the spine of a man known for integral character and backbone. "And as we try to uncover more of what's taken place, we still have one question left unanswered – WHERE is the government in all this? We have seen our city attacked not once but three times today, we have had reports of a military blockade in the North Atlantic Ocean being attacked and some vessels SUNK and yet we have had no comment from the White House! What is going on and why is President Heller staying silent?" the reporter stated. Novick knew she was right – the White House had remained silent and that wasn't fair on the citizens of not just the city but the whole country. But he was bought out of his thoughts by Chloe, who moved her hands away from the laptop. "It's done... I'm in!" she said, shocked that it had been that easy. Yanes uncrossed his arms in surprise; he knew that Chloe had struggled on the first try to hack into the website and for her to say that she was in after almost no time at it, he wasn't expecting that. In fact, no one was expecting that.

Novick watched as Chloe made a face at the laptop. "The best way we're gonna find out what's going on is to hack the security feed, I'll need a minute tops.." she explained as she started rapidly typing once more. Novick signalled towards Hogan and lent in to whisper. "I'm gonna need you to get the military in, figure out what's going in. Anyone with nearby checkpoints, anyone who happens to be within two miles of the site, I don't care, just get the military in!" he insisted, to which the Army General nodded. "I don't believe it! I'm in already – almost like as if their whole cyber-wall has been wrecked.." Chloe said suddenly. Something must have happened to affect Guardstrom's internet security as it was now really easy to get into everything. But as she bought up the feed for the security system, she was met by static – on virtually all of the cameras she was bringing up. This didn't surprise her too much as it knew that the explosion would have damaged or even wiped out some of the cameras. But as she kept changing the channels to go onto a different camera, she kept on finding static. Until finally, she found one that was working. "Got one!" Kim said, picking up on it quicker than even Chloe did. As Yanes and then Novick started to come behind the laptop, the group looked through the feed for any sign of activity.

"There.. in the top-left corner" Yanes pointed and the other three watching followed his direction. At first, there was nothing but then from the top-left corner, they saw a young and scared young woman leading a gruff and angry older man. Novick's eyes shot up as he recognized the figure. "Chloe, get a facial screenshot and analyse it against the database!" he ordered, an order that nearly threw the former analyst off-guard but she recovered quickly enough to take the screenshot. Bringing up a database, she submitted the screenshot and waited for a potential match. It took quite a few seconds but finally, it came up. The screenshot of the older man was replaced by a mugshot and details of his identity. Russian General Andre Vladimir Benediktov. A deadly silence fell over the area of the bunker, so silent in fact that someone could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Acting President Novick had official confirmation that Benediktov was here in Washington DC. And there was a strong chance that he was after the aerial weapon that Chloe and Yanes were talking about. "My god.." Novick said quietly. He looked up towards Hogan, who quickly stood to attention in anticipation of new orders. "Get me Jack and Belcheck, immediately" he ordered Yanes quietly who nodded and slowly backed out of the room.

Novick turned back towards the General. "Send in the military, tell them to do what they can – we have to catch Benediktov!" he ordered her. As Hogan saluted, Chloe started to go through the remaining security camera feeds. Some were still working but none of them showed Benediktov. They knew he was there but not where he was going.

–

Guardstrom HQ

With the katana still in one hand and the briefcase with the controls for Project Connaughton inside in the other hand, Henderson walked quickly through the wrecked hallways of the burning building. He had what he needed, but now he had to find a way out. Sooner or later, certain people were going to catch on to what he now possessed and they were going to come after him. He couldn't just stay in a safer part of the complex, he had to keep moving. As he made his way down a small set of stairs, he found himself in front of what looked like a collapsed doorway. He looked to both the left and the right of the doorway, looking down the hallways for any other means of escape; but within all the smoke and rubble, he could find none. He would have to smash his way through the doorway and hope there was something on the other side. Looking around for anything that could help him and finding nothing, Henderson slowly lowered his katana and smashed his leg against the remnants of the door, kicking it in repeatedly.

Picking up the katana once again, he made his way through the room and into an area that surprisingly was nowhere near as damaged as anywhere else – and as he scanned the area, Henderson smiled. In front of him were several parked vans, all of which were blacked-out. In the far-left hand corner of the area, there was what looked like the entryway to a large tunnel. Quickly making his way towards one of the vans, Henderson opened up the passenger-side door and placed both the katana and the briefcase on the seat. He looked along the walls of the doorway from where he entered in the hopes of finding something that would indicate as to where the tunnel would go, but he found none.

Suddenly, he heard a loud bang. Followed by another. He had to move now and find out where the tunnel went whilst on the move. He moved around to the driver's side of the van and opened the door, feeling around for the keys if they were there – and they were, underneath a panel underneath the steering wheel. With the keys in hand, he closed both doors and placed the keys into the ignition. The engine roared to life as Henderson threw the engine into reverse, moving the gear-stick backwards and pressing down on the accelerator. The van moved backwards and to the right as Henderson moved the gear-stick back into forward gear and towards the tunnel.

Up in Walkman's office, meanwhile, a panicked Evans was in the middle of smashing up just about everything he could get his hands on. Deep down, he knew full well that whoever had attacked the building was most likely either one of Henderson or Benediktov; but he also knew that neither of them could have any idea that Walkman was on her way out of her building. As a result and considering that the authorities were going to latch on to what happened to the HQ anyway, he had to get rid of all possible evidence there and then. Hampson had officially activated and launched Project Connaughton so no-one would know about it unless it came towards the DC city centre and that's only if Mack was able to get the briefcase with the controls in them before the explosion. Aside from the super-weapon, most evidence was within the office of Evans' superior and he expressly promised to protect Walkman – this qualified, he thought to himself.

He had just smashed up the bookcases and now he had to destroy Walkman's computer system – but before he did, he knew he had to check up on her position. As he opened up the laptop, he pulled up the software that linked directly to Walkman's position – something that could be achieved if the Guardstrom President was not only wearing a tracker but was also still alive. To his relief, the tracker signature was still working. But then he frowned as he pulled up the infrastructure details on her position; she was still in the tunnels, still at the first checkpoint. Why was she waiting, why wasn't the convoy moving? "What are you doing..?" Evans said to himself in disbelief. But then he was put out of his thoughts by a loud clang at the door. His blood ran cold as that clang was followed up by another. Evans had barricaded the door as well as he could, but he knew that it wasn't going to last forever. There was another clang and another clang before it all stopped. Not wasting a second, Walkman's aide grabbed the axe he had used to smash up everything in the office and prepared to smash down on the laptop.

But before he could swing the first blow, the door exploded in a massive fireball with such power that the sofa Evans had used to barricade the door was blown in two and even forced away from the remains of the door – indeed, the fireball was so powerful that it managed to knock Evans completely off his feet and up against the wall underneath the window with a view down to the laboratories. But this didn't deter the aide, as he immediately jumped to his feet and decided to use the smoke from the explosion to hide what he was about to do – but as he approached the laptop, he was immediately shot in the stomach. Then he was shot again and again and again, through the heart, head and abdomen respectively. His arm lowered the axe and after swaying from side to side, he collapsed to the floor with a thud. He was practically dead, no-one could survive being shot where he had been shot. Through the smoke, Benediktov walked in and peered over at the body of the presidential aide. He tutted. "Why on earth do people insist on having aides? They're such a frivolous waste of bullets" he muttered to himself in annoyance as he walked behind the desk to look at the laptop. If Evans had tried to destroy it, it must have something big on it.

Outside the office, Cannavale raced through the hallway and into the area where Mack's office had been – he had heard the explosion that destroyed the door and figured that it was either one of Henderson or Benediktov. As he came in, he inspected the remains and then spotted a body sticking out under bits of plaster – a young woman with red hair. Must have led the Russian here, the mercenary thought to himself. Looking through the remains of the door, he slowly made his way into Walkman's office. "HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!" he suddenly heard someone yell and nearly flinched at the sound of a gun firing. He sighed in almost relief as he realized the voice was Russian. "Calm down, General. It's only me.." he insisted as he walked into the office proper. Benediktov, who was pointing his gun upwards, lowered it. "My apologies, Clarke. Any luck in finding that weapon of yours?" he asked. Cannavale shook his head. "No.. either Guardstrom realized what was happening and hid it or it could have been destroyed in the attack" he admitted. "..OR it's absolutely fine and the controls are with Walkman – either way, we can find out in a few minutes!" Benediktov added in with a wry smile, turning the laptop around.

This got Cannavale's attention and he looked at the Russian inquisitively. "See that signature? That is President Walkman herself. She's still in the complex, in underground tunnels. For whatever reason, she's not moved in the last 15 to 20-odd minutes – and that means we don't have to go searching for her either. We can attack her HERE AND NOW!" the General explained. Cannavale had not expected this revelation in any way, but he knew that Walkman was someone Benediktov was after. For the time being, he knew he had to help. "Do me a favour – pick up a few guns and the laptop. We're gonna hit President Walkman where she doesn't expect it!" Benediktov quickly added in, taking some of his weapons and promptly leaving the office. If they were gonna do this, they simply had to attack the convoy now whilst it was still here.

Cannavale peered over at Evans' body and then at a laptop – and an idea hit him. If Benediktov was able to determine Walkman's position based on a tracker, surely the software could be altered to track someone else! Someone like Henderson. Grabbing the laptop and the remaining weapons, Cannavale raced after Benediktov. Speaking of Henderson, in another underground tunnel, a blacked-out van drove through the long stretch of tunnel – but at a rather slow speed. In the driver's cab, alongside driving through the tunnel, Henderson was looking at the controls for Project Connaughton. He had opened up the briefcase and was now following the activity for the super-weapon. Another 12 to 15 minutes and the weapon would be at it's launching destination. As soon as it was airborne, the super-weapon would finally be his.

–

North Atlantic Ocean

"Sorry, did you say Guardstrom?!"

When Novick had gotten in touch with Jack whilst the helicopter was still overflying the North Atlantic, the former CTU agent had certainly not expected to be told that there had been a massive explosion somewhere in the West of DC. The mere mention of the word Guardstrom had sent the alarm bells ringing for Jack and the thoughts of the company being an invisible contractor and then Chloe's friend suggesting that there was a super-weapon being finalized underneath the Guardstrom building had left him with much to ponder.

"I did, Jack, yes. There's no doubt about it – the building where the explosion took place is looking more and more likely to be Guardstrom Headquarters" Chloe confirmed, a grim look on her face. She heard Jack sigh. "Well.. any suggestions on why there was an explosion to begin with? Supposed drug reproduction company buildings don't explode for no reason" Belcheck intervened – whilst Jack had had his doubts on whether Guardstrom were telling the truth on what they really were, the Serb mobster was now very much unconvinced. "At present, there's nothing to indicate why it happened. But we do have a possible lead.." the former analyst said before trailing off, unsure of how Jack would react to the news. "Well? Chloe, WHAT IS THE LEAD?" Jack snapped over the phone. "Jack, it's the President.. we got into Guardstrom's website, got into their security footage system. We got a positive identification on General Benediktov. He's in the city." Novick, noticing Chloe's uncertainty, stepped in.

Jack looked up at Belcheck, looking like someone had just punched him in the stomach. Benediktov was definitely in DC, they had no doubt about it now. The Serb mobster stepped in. "Mr President, from the way you were talking, you're indicating that Benediktov is within Guardstrom?" he asked. "That's right – most of the security cameras were likely destroyed in the attack, but we were able to find one working camera and identify Benediktov from that" Novick responded. Jack quickly found his voice. "Have you tried all the cameras, anything that might indicate why Benediktov was there?" he enquired. "Not yet – we're still going through all of them, only found five so far that aren't damaged. Apart from the camera that spotted Benediktov, there's nothing to report" Kim said as she helped Chloe go through the available camera feeds. As mentioned, a good chunk of them were non-operable so it was a slow process.

"Alright.. keep trying. For now, we have to assume that Benediktov is going after that weapon that Freemason was talking about a few hours ago, if it exists" Jack said finally, remembering himself about Chloe's former friend and what he reported to have seen just before his death. He firmly believed that such a weapon did exist but they needed some form of proof. "Will do, Jack. How far away are you now?" Novick responded before asking. Jack looked out of the helicopter windscreen and spotted what looked like landmass in the distance, through all the rain. He looked down towards the pilots, indicating that they should be the ones to tell the Acting President as they would have a better idea of their ETA. "At present speed, sir, we'll be overflying the city centre just before 08:00 hours. We'll be with you guys soon" the second pilot stated. "Good to hear – and Jack.. one more thing" the Acting President added. "Sir?" Jack responded, raising an eyebrow. "We may have a potential panic on our hands – add the explosion at the HQ to the attack at the blockade in the North Atlantic and the fighter jet assault earlier today and we've got not just a media wanting answers but a city of citizens as well!" Novick explained.

Jack knew exactly what he meant. A potential panic was the last thing they needed; therefore, the helicopter would need to land discreetly within the city centre and he and Belcheck would need to quietly make their way back to the White House or wherever Novick needed them. "Right.. we'll take that into consideration. Be with you soon, sir!" the former agent replied before hanging up the radio. The landmass was getting closer. They were nearly back on DC soil for the second time today. "How much fuel do we have? Approximately how many minutes?" he asked the pilots. "10, 15 minutes.. 20 if we're lucky. How come?" the first pilot asked curiously. "We may just need to stay in the air for a while longer" Jack admitted as he headed back to where Belcheck was standing. Hopefully the White House would find out why Benediktov was in the remains of the HQ soon – for at the minute, something was missing from the puzzle.

–

Guardstrom HQ

Near the double doors where the convoy had been, a group of four operatives were standing guard. Following the first explosion, they had tried to make contact with the main building but after 10 minutes of failing and hearing nothing but static, they had to assume that Guardstrom was under attack. Even though it was likely that Walkman had made it out of the complex, they had to defend her and stop anyone realizing where she was. They had no idea who it was exactly that had attacked them but that didn't matter to them, all that mattered was protecting the President.

Then it happened. The double doors were completely blown off their hinges and down the steps, taking the operatives by surprise. But before they could do anything else, one fell to the ground. Shot dead. Then another one fell to the ground, then another and then the last one. All four had been shot through the head. Benediktov and Cannavale emerged, walking down the steps. Cannavale scanned the laptop and looked up. "She's through there, through that tunnel!" he remarked, pointing at the tunnel near the double doors. "Excellent, any sign of movement?" the General asked. Cannavale looked at the laptop again before closing it. "None, she's still there. How do you wanna do this?" he replied.

"I say.. we walk it. Take them completely by surprise. No point using a vehicle, they'll see us coming for miles" the Russian decided before walking off. Cannavale nodded – he was right, walking would take them a bit by surprise. He raced off after him.

07:47:21AM

–

07:51:48AM

Guardstrom HQ

At first, Walkman had thought nothing of the length of time it was taking for those monitoring the checkpoint to let her pass through. But as time went along and the convoy found itself stuck in the same position it had been in for over 25 minutes, it quickly became clear that something was very wrong. "Hello? Hello, hello? Will somebody please respond?" an operative said as he looked out of the limo and at one of the vans with a gun turret on the top. But to his worry and frustration, he was once again met with static. He looked over at Giles. "Something's happened, I just know it. I'm gonna go back, try and get help" he explained, jumping out of the limo and closing the door before Giles even had a chance to try and protest. From the back of the limo, Walkman could clearly make out somebody passing by as she tried her best to comfort a clearly worried Heather. "Listen, don't worry. These things just take time, I'm sure there's a good reason for why we've not been waved through" the Guardstrom President insisted. But Heather just wasn't buying it.

"Then why is it taking so long? Mom, you heard the explosion – why else would we be not moving?" she replied anxiously. Walkman didn't have an answer so she tried to build on the excuse she gave. "It could all just be a system failure, I've seen something like that up close in the past. Giles!" she started before pressing down on the intercom so that she could talk with the driver. But only Giles didn't respond. She pressed down on the intercom. "Giles?" she called his name again. But once again, he didn't respond. He was fixated on the limo's interior-view mirror as he could see something coming towards them. Two mysterious figures looking like they were carrying weapons and who didn't look like they were Guardstrom operatives. "Giles?!" Walkman called again, finally snapping him out of his thoughts. "Oh, er.. sorry Madame President. What were you saying?" he spluttered, which sent Walkman's eyebrow up in concern. "Are you ok, Giles?" she asked. "Yes, yes! It's just, there are two figures coming towards us.." he admitted, pointing out the interior-view mirror. Intrigued, Walkman peered forward – and just as the driver had said, there were two dark figures headed straight for them. And much like Giles, the Guardstrom President had a feeling they weren't to do with the contractor.

As for the operative who had spoken with Giles, he was now heading towards the two figures, blissfully unaware of who they were. "Hey! So what the hell is going on? 20 minutes we've been trying to contact someone, what's with the hold-up?" he asked, both in a demanding and curious tone. "Do you hear the explosion?" one figure said with a Russian accent. The operative rose an eyebrow, both at the question and the Russian accent. "Yeeesss... would have thought everyone heard it" he responded pointedly. "Well then.." the figure with the accent started as he pulled a knife blade from his pocket – and plunged it into the operative's gut, twisting the knife in the process. "..I suggest that you use your imagination" he added, retracting the knife and letting the operative fall backwards to the ground. Dropping several guns onto the floor, the figure turned to the second figure. "You suggest you duck and cover, Clarke.. gonna be a hell of a bang" Benediktov said as he picked up a rocket launcher from the pile of weapons. Immediately getting the picture, Cannavale leapt onto the ground and covered his head – as Benediktov aimed the rocket launcher at the last vehicle in the convoy, a van with a gun turret, and fired.

"What the hell?!" Giles shrieked in shock as he saw the rocket launcher being fired – but was unable to explain to a confused Walkman before the rocket hit the van, destroying it in a fireball. As the glass windows on the remaining convoy vehicles cracked or even shattered completely, Benediktov wasted no time in dropping the launcher and instead picking up several guns. "Let's go, Clarke!" he shouted as he raced into action, leaving several guns behind for the mercenary. Looking up but not moving from his spot, Cannavale watched as several operatives leapt into action – whilst Giles scrambled into action, opening the door to the middle of the limo and pulling out his gun as he locked the door, sitting next to a fellow operative and opposite a jointly-terrified Walkman and Heather. "Madame President, for your safety, I suggest you duck down out of sight!" the driver ordered, as he positioned his gun upwards at the cracked glass. Outside, two operatives jumped down from the back of the van directly behind the limo and fell to their sides on the left-hand side of the van, opening fire on the Russian advancing on them. However, they stood no chance as the General torn through them, killing them both in an instant. Further operatives made their way out of the van, only to be gunned down before they could even fire on the Russian, whilst several operatives were shot and killed by an advancing Cannavale.

Even though she couldn't see anything, Walkman could hear the rapid gunshots outside of the limo and grimaced. She looked towards Heather, who looked like she was close to tears. She was tempted to surrender, but then she knew that she would likely be gunned down before she was even out of the limo. Outside, several operatives crept down between the van and the limo, hoping to catch Benediktov off-guard – but he was onto them before they knew it, as he threw himself onto the three men and wrestled them. With complete ease, he snapped the arm of one before throwing him onto another operative and using the distraction to break both of his legs and then turning his attention to the last one, who slammed himself back against the back of the limo in fear. Eyeing him done, the Russian grabbed the operative's neck and snapped it. Hearing the sound of gunshots behind me, he peered over his shoulder and found Cannavale firing his way through half a dozen operatives. Suddenly, he was grabbed on the left shoulder and swung around forcefully until he was facing an operative ready to punch him – but even that wasn't enough as Benediktov simply stopped the fist and snapped the operative's arm, pushing him back into the wall. He walked past the locked limo door, a decision that surprised everyone inside the limo and instead walked towards the bonnet.

Smashing it open, he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin out before forcing it inside and shutting the bonnet. The resulting explosion, whilst not as powerful owing to the closed bonnet, had enough power to smash the windscreen and crack the door windows. Walkman grabbed Heather close, trying desperately to console her teenage daughter. Satisfied at the damage so far, Benediktov knelt down and pulled out another grenade – again pulling the pin out, he threw it under the limo directly underneath Giles and the operative. Because of the damage caused by the first grenade, part of the limo had dropped down onto the floor and that was what the second grenade made contact with. The explosion proceeded to rip apart the limo, killing the two men and pushing Walkman and Heather back against the seats. The metal buckled and fell apart as Benediktov returned to the locked doors, this time pulling it off with ease. He stared through the smoke at the two terrified women watching him. And he smiled, as President Walkman was there in front of him. "Madame President. It is an honour, at long last to meet you" he said, an almost sneering gentle tone in his voice, before he lunged forward and grabbed her by the hair. "MOM! MOM!" Heather started screaming desperately as Walkman was pulled out of the remains of the limo.

"Clarke, the girl – KILL HER!" Benediktov snarled as Cannavale approached the other side of the limo. Surprised by the order, the mercenary opened the door which promptly fell off. "NO! PLEASE! PLEASE, DON'T DO!" Walkman yelled desperately as she locked eyes with her daughter and then Cannavale. She looked up at Benediktov. "Please.. please.. she hasn't done anything. Leave her alone, I'll come with you willingly" she begged. Benediktov looked down at her, anger in his eyes, before looking over at Cannavale and then the remains of the limo at Heather, who was close to tears. He sighed. "Very well; leave the girl, Clarke. We've got what we came for!" he decided before walking over towards the van with the gun turret at the front of the convoy, dragging the Guardstrom President by the arm as he did so. He forced open one of the doors. "Are you going to come quietly?" he asked as he looked at his captive. Forcing herself free of the Russian's grip, Walkman slowly climbed into the back of the van and sat down, not wanting to risk the Russian changing his mind and killing Heather.

Leaving the door open, he glared at her. "I'd say let's move out, Clarke. We need to go somewhere that the government will not be expecting.." he said as he turned to the right. Only Cannavale was nowhere to be seen. Benediktov frowned. "Did you hear me, Clarke?" he asked, wondering where he could have gone. "I did.." a voice said quietly and Benediktov turned to his left, only to be smashed in the face by the rocket launcher. Thrown backwards, the Russian was then thrust into the wall by Cannavale. "But there's been a change in plans, General. I'm taking Walkman and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" the mercenary declared as he swung the launcher into the General's face once more, this time with another power to send Benediktov crashing to the ground – after several seconds of what appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness, he finally passed out. But what he didn't know was that when he landed on the ground, the briefcase of remote launchers had broken loose and landed next to the back-right wheel of the front van. Suddenly remembering it and realizing he never asked about it, Cannavale crouched down and checked the case. The launchers were all intact inside and it quickly dawned on the mercenary just what they were. "They might come in handy.." he muttered as he picked up the case and walked to the back of the van, where Walkman had seen anything.

"Sorry to have to do this, Madame President.." he started before crashing his head into hers. She fell backwards, knocked out, as Cannavale moved her legs inside and locked the doors tight. He climbed into the front cab and into the driver's seat, placing the briefcase onto the passenger seat. Peering out through the interior-view mirror, he started up the engine and drove off into the tunnel. He was sure a route had been planned in and he was going to follow it.

As expected, watching the car drive off through the wreckage of the limo was Heather who had been left completely shaken by the experience – not only had she nearly died twice and nearly been shot, but she had to watch her mother being taken and then had to see the mastermind behind the attack, a Russian General, being double-crossed. She wasn't sure what to do. "He.. Heat.. Heather..." he suddenly looked up and to her horror, the operative sitting opposite her was alive. Badly burnt and most likely near death, but still somehow alive. "Und... under... seat... use... it..." the operative desperately tried to splutter, raising his arm to point under the seat even though moving his arm was causing him clear pain. Doing as he ordered, Heather looked under the seat and found another briefcase. Pulling it out, she looked up at the operative. "Now what?" she asked, only to notice that the operative had passed away. He had used the last of his energy to tell her about the briefcase but nothing about what it was. Slowly opening the case up via the latches, Heather was taken aback by what she saw. There was a small disposable phone, an iPad-like screen with a single dot moving slowly to the top of the screen, a small notebook with what looked like a lock on it, two flares and a beacon transmitter.

It quickly dawned on Heather that this was an emergency survival kit – and eyeing the phone, she realized she needed to call for help.

–

In another one of the ghost tunnels, meanwhile, Henderson bought the blacked-out van to a halt. He was pretty certain he was clear enough of the complex enough to take a quick break and check out a number of things. He took a look at the sat-nav and decided to see where the tunnel went – considering that the tunnels he had found so far went under the city centre, he wouldn't be surprised if the tunnels went under pretty much every part of the city or even Virginia on the whole

He pressed a button underneath the small screen, which immediately bought up a large map network of tunnels going off in different directions. In the end, he practically lost count as there were so many and he'd been there all day if he tried to identify every single one. Pressing another button, the route planner came up alongside a small touch keypad. He didn't want to complicate things too badly so he just decided to type in "straight route through the tunnel" onto the planner. It took several seconds of calculating, but finally a route came up. "Planned route confirmed. Destination: The White House. Press the touch pad to finalize route" the navigation system voice beeped. Henderson sat back in his seat in shock. Guardstrom had tunnels leading to the White House. Just what kind of person was President Walkman? She had tunnels underneath the city, an army capable of fighting a war AND a super-weapon capable of ripping apart even the most indestructible military vessels.

Shaking his head, Henderson decided to check what was in the back of the van. He was pretty sure there would only be a few weapons in there, guns and grenades and the like. But as he opened the door, he was not expecting to find what he found; there was a large cylinder-like device in the middle of it, surrounded by bricks and a timer that had not been switched on. Climbing into the back, Henderson investigated further and it quickly hit him what it was that he had found: it was an electromagnetic pulse bomb. An E.M.P. A non-lethal but highly destructive weapon that was capable of destroying anything electric within a certain mile radius. If positioned in the right place, it could wipe out electricity for a large chunk of a city. And it was then that he was hit with a new plan. It was brilliant, simply brilliant, It involved the planned underground route to the White House, the E.M.P and the super-weapon. "Oh yes.. that's just marvellous" he said to himself with a dark smile.

By the end of the day and if this plan worked.. Washington DC would be in ruins. The government would be destroyed. Jack Bauer would be dead for killing his father. And it was likely that either one of Benediktov or President Walkman or even both of them would get the blame. International relations would break down, the country would be rocked to its core and the chances of a third world war would be inevitable. And he, Jeremy Henderson, would have vanished into thin air. He could live out his life, having gotten the revenge he so desperately wanted.

He walked back into the van's cab and began to plot out his plan in full. He had the time and it would take time to work out all the cogs. But in short, what he was about to initiate would change the world – and it would impact the world far more than whatever plan General Benediktov or President Walkman had to offer up.

–

North Atlantic Ocean

Within all the bad weather, one might be forgiven for not noticing the abandoned oil rig within the North Atlantic. But there certainly was an abandoned oil rig, to the south of Bermuda. There had been plans for the rig to be demolished but planned demolition had been postponed owing to the storm. For all the wind and the rain that the storm was throwing at the rig, it was still standing pretty strong.

Until suddenly, the whole rig platform began to shake uncontrollably. Metal became to twist or outright collapse, like as if an earthquake was happening underneath – but then, coming up from under the rig and sending the platform flying backwards was what looked like an interior launch-pad. The launch-pad moved slowly upwards until it was facing the dark clouds at an angle. Inside, a loud voice was booming. "Launch pad activated. Commencing launch in 20 seconds" the voice declared as at the bottom of the pad, Project Connaughton was raised into position. A strike of lightning hit the sky as the final countdown. "Launching weapon in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0!" the voice droned until suddenly, the engines at the back of the super-weapon ignited. It started to shake as the clamps holding the super-weapon in place were released.

With the blast of the engines at the back helping, Project Connaughton rose up the pad and finally out into the open. It flew towards the dark skies whilst onboard, a spinning sphere turned sharply forward. "Co-ordinates confirmed. Heading for first weapon's testing site. Estimated time of arrival, 30 minutes!" a new voice declared as the super-weapon moved to the east in the direction of America.

Project Connaughton was finally airborne and heading for it's first target.

–

Guardstrom HQ

Whilst she knew she had to contact someone if she had any hopes of saving her mother, Heather just did not know who to contact. She could hardly contact anyone within Guardstrom as it was likely no-one would answer, owing to the sudden attack 30 minutes ago. Her mother was her only family so that was out. Everyone around her was dead or unconscious so she couldn't ask anyone for help. In short, the teenager had no idea what to do.

She looked back through the briefcase in the hopes that she would find something she missed the first time. It took a while but she found a small piece of paper underneath the book with the lock on it and read it. It was a list of contacts, including one that got her attention as it did not look like a contact number at first – it looked like a radio frequency and it had the words "only in the case of extreme emergency" underneath it. Heather thought to herself. If this wasn't an extreme emergency, then what did qualify as one? Typing in the number onto the phone, Heather waited. The seconds ticked by before the phone started talking. "Radio frequency matched and identified. Please proceed" an automated voice stated. A little startled at first, Heather returned the phone to her ear. "Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?" she pleaded.

–

07:56:44AM

Washington DC

As the rain continued to pour down over the city, it didn't take long for Jack to spot the thick smoke in the distance – even with the rain pouring down, the fire was still burning enough for smoke to be produced. "There! In the distance.. that must be Guardstrom" he said outloud, holding his hand out as if to say he wanted a pair of binoculars. Handing a pair to him, the NCIS agent looked out of the window. His eyes widened at the sight of the smoke. "Good god. No wonder the President said there could be a panic" he muttered. Jack ignored him and looked towards the pilots. "How close do you think you could get to there?" he asked, which raised the heckles of the agent. "How close?! Jack, with no disrespect, we barely have enough fuel to get back to the Navy Yard! We'll crash due to fuel exhaustion if we head to Guardstrom!" he snapped.

Jack looked at him, unimpressed. "Well I'm sorry you think that, agent.. but in case you've forgotten, we have evidence of a proven terrorist moving around in Guardstrom HQ. You want to be the one who tells the President that we missed out on catching him because you were more worried about your fuel consumption?!" the former agent retorted, as the sound of thunder made itself known across the sky. Belcheck decided to ignore the argument and focus on helping getting the helicopter on the ground, but as he approached the pilots, the radio buzzed to life. "Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?!" a desperate voice cried. The Serb mobster shared a surprised look with the pilots – the radio frequency that the helicopter used was known to only a few people. Unless someone who knew the frequency was in some kind of danger. Belcheck picked up the radio. "Hello? Who is this?" he asked. He heard a sigh of relief on the other end. "Oh thank god! Thank you, I thought no-one would pick up!" the voice replied. It sounded young, female and scared.

The second pilot took the radio. "Listen, whoever you are – this is an NCIS frequency only. Unless you're in an emergency, I suggest you hang up now!" he said sternly. He had experience of prank calls and this felt like one. "NO! PLEASE.. don't hang up. I need help.. I'm trapped underground. There.. there are bodies all around me.. I'm scared" the voice replied desperately. The last message from the mysterious voice had got Jack's attention and he grabbed the radio. "Ok, listen to me, sweetheart. Tell us who you are and where you are" he insisted. He had a feeling this was real. "I'm.. I'm Heather. I don't know where I am.. I'm in some kind of tunnel underground. Oh god.. my mom and I, we were ambushed by two men. One of them, he's got my mom.." Heather said, trying her best to fight back the tears as she spoke. "Ok, Heather. Give me a few seconds and I'll get back to you, I promise, just stay on the frequency.." Jack promised before handing the radio to Belcheck. He pulled out his phone and dialled a number.

In the White House bunker and even though she was still going through the security monitors, Chloe was quick to grab her phone the very second it started to ring. "O'Brien" she said as she bought the phone to her ear. "Chloe, it's Jack. I appreciate you may be busy but I need you to isolate a radio frequency for me" he said, a request that surprised the former analyst. "Alright, but what for?" she asked. "Someone was able to make contact with the radio on the helicopter, claiming her mother has been abducted – normally, I'd think it was a hoax but I just have a feeling this has more to it than we think" the former agent said, his gut doing most of the talking. "Alright" Chloe agreed after some thought. "Give me the frequency".

With the one phone in one hand, Jack took the radio back from Belcheck. "Heather? You still with us, sweetheart?" he spoke into it. Heather was not expecting to get a response so soon and nearly dropped the phone. "Yeah! I'm here. What do you need?" she asked. "The radio frequency you used to contact us. We're gonna try and locate you, alright?" Jack replied. Heather wasn't too sure about giving out the frequency but she had no real choice in thinking about it. "Alright..."

"...the frequency is .9, under Emergency Communications" she explained. "Right, that's brilliant. Just stay with us, sweetheart. We're right above DC, we'll find you soon!" Jack replied, unaware of who was listening in. "Well, I'll be damned! Jack Bauer!" Cannavale said in a sing-song voice as he drove through the ghost tunnel. "So.. you're above the city now, are you Jack? Well.. NOT if I have anything to do with that. I guess it's time to test out these bad boys" he said to himself as he opened up the briefcase of launchers and pulled one out. He was intrigued as to how it worked and opted to stop the van to figure it out. Pressing down on the button, the small screen lit up and asked in a different language to enter in a target. The mercenary's Russian was not so good, but he was able to figure out what it was asking – and then the small screen asked for a form of target identification, as in how it could distinguish this target from any other. Remembering the frequency, Cannavale keyed in ".9, under Emergency Communications" and pressed down on the button once more. He hoped that would work.

At the bottom of the North Atlantic, meanwhile, several divers were hovering over what remained of the Yuri Dolgorukiy. The ships on the surface were still waiting on the heavy-duty equipment to arrive to help with salvaging the submarine. One diver signalled to the other divers that they should head back to the surface or towards the submarine Olympia – but he spotted something strange. It was the hatch for the ballistic missiles and it was opening up. Someone appeared to be launching a missile but that was just impossible. Then, from out of nowhere, the missile launched upwards – barely missing the diver – and towards the surface. It crashed out of the water and into the air, taking Commander Robinson by surprise. The missile flew into the sky before changing direction so that it was horizontal and then flying at full speed towards the East Coast. Robinson, having just-about seen it all, raced towards the radio system, not giving his communications officer a change to give him the radio. "This is Commander Robinson contacting the White House, repeat Commander Robinson contacting the White House! Missile launched and heading for the East Coast!" he shouted quickly.

Within the bunker, meanwhile, Chloe was trying her hardest to isolate Heather's location based on the frequency she had given Jack and where that frequency was transmitting from. It was taking a while but finally, she got it. "Alright, Jack, we have Heather's location – it's West of your position, Area 99, Reference 256" she confirmed as the pilots bought up a map of the area and keyed in the location given to them. Jack scanned the map results and frowned. "Chloe, just checking – did you say Area 99, Reference 256?" he asked. "Yeah, why?" he heard the analyst reply. "It's just.. according to the maps, that's literally north of Guardstrom!" he explained.

Several miles away, meanwhile, the missile was now overflying Delaware and headed towards DC at an impressive speed.

As for Chloe, she was retrying the frequency and checking to see if the computer could have made an error. But it hadn't – and she quickly realized that the confirmed location was in-fact literally north of Guardstrom HQ. "You're right, Jack – but if the frequency is coming from near the HQ.." she started. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'm gonna check it out, I'll let you know what we find" Jack insisted as he handed the phone to the NCIS agent. They needed to start on the line with Chloe in the event that something did come up and they needed to make contact with the bunker in an instance. He turned to the pilots. "Take us to Area 99, Reference 256, immediately!" he ordered as the rain battered against the windscreen and a bolt of lightning appeared in the distance. This time, the NCIS Agent didn't argue about the fuel consumption.

The helicopter began to turn to its left and towards the burning remains of Guardstrom HQ – but then the agent began to hear desperate voices from the phone. "Jack!" he said, holding up the phone. Taking it, the former agent tried to speak into it only to be cut off. ".. just get on the ground now!" he heard Chloe yell. "Chloe? What's going on?" he asked. "JACK, GET THE HELICOPTER ON THE GROUND NOW! YOU'VE GOT A MISSILE HEADED RIGHT TOWARDS YOU!" Chloe explained, trying her hardest to get a heat signature on the ballistic missile. Dropping the phone, Jack raced towards the pilots and pushed down on the controls, sending the helicopter dropping towards the ground. "What are you doing?!" the pilot snapped, baffled by Jack's impulsive action. But Jack wasn't listening; he was looking out of the helicopter in horror. The missile appeared from out of the clouds – and it was coming straight towards them at an alarming speed..

–

08:00:00AM

---

And that's all she wrote.. for this chapter.

But yeah, wow - Guardstrom HQ has been attacked. Walkman has been abducted by Cannavale. Henderson finally has his hands on Project Connaughton. And perhaps most crucially, Benediktov has been double-crossed. One of the big bads of the story, double-crossed just like that. Next time.. Project Connaughton begins it's rampage whilst the resolve of what remains of the United States government is put to the test when they are forced into an alliance.

And before you start saying that the whole idea of Cannavale and his actions all being influenced by a mistake sounds farfetched, I can assure you now that it is not. After all, one of the key reasons that the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 was because the man that the Germans chose for a press conference concerning visas for East Germans to enter West Germany gave out the wrong information that led to the Wall falling and the end of the Cold War. One of the reasons that the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was because the Allies read the Japanese Prime Minister's response to a surrender as not "being worthy of comment". Events in history and popular culture can be built on mistakes - and that's no different for this story.

Anyhow, please rate and review as always. See you next time, guys :)