Chapter 6

The room was dark as the screen in front of them and some dim lights were the only lighting. As she stepped in, everyone stood.

She moved her hand signaling them to sit. "Thank you everyone." Henry and Ellen took their places two away from her while Jay and Susan sat directly next to her.

Isabelle began her update, with a drawing made up of the area. "Our last intel leads us to believe they are being kept in separate rooms but those rooms are next to each other, which once we get in there should give us an easy extraction."

"The diificult part are these tunnels. There are six of them stretching out like tentacles from an octopus. They are all dimly lit and guarded with at least three heavily armed guards each."

The screen switched to the drone making its' way through the early morning twilight. They had about three more hours before daylight.

The General took over. "We are currently sending another heat seeking stealth drone over the area before we go in."

As she saw the cave in the distance Elizabeth commanded "Turn the heat seekers on now…"

Henry picked up on it right away. He knew what she was doing. He stood to see the screen better. Guards were scattered heavily in the woods on the southern part of the cave but not the northern part. The terrain on the northern part was more mountainous but not too difficult to pass. As the drone moved closer, the yellow and red images of guards showed five tunnels. Definitely three figures in each tunnel. They were wavy with at least three curves each.

"There was a sixth tunnel in the top left before," she stated looking to Ellen.

Henry spoke, "Send the drone over the cave and then over that area."

As the drone moved over the cave you could see the break of the rooms. The three separate rooms were dark, except for bodies laying on the ground.

Over the sixth tunnel there was no light showing any bodies, Ellen said "Keep going."

Elizabeth looked to her and said quietly, "I am normally not a praying person but pray that they escaped."

Jay turned to her, "Let's hope so."

The drone continued north scanning the area. Nothing. Elizabeth stood and walked closer to the screen, her arms crossed in front of her. She searched as the drone was sent north.

"That's too far. Go back but head east," she said. The General gave the command for the drone to move east.

It turned and made its' way East. Elizabeth furrowed her brow as she watched the screen. "Damn it, nothing."

She turned and looked at Henry. He had taken off his glasses and rubbed his face. He gave her the look that he knew she was on the right path.

"Go back again but lower," she ordered.

The General spoke, "Madam President, that could give us away."

"They've already gotten out," she bit back. "We have to do whatever we can to find them."

Jay spoke, "With all due respect, Ma'am, the bodies on the floor could be them."

"I appreciate that, Jay. But, you don't know Andrew like we do," Elizabeth answered him, while looking at Ellen.

Ellen had been fairly quiet and Elizabeth shot her a glance to get her out of her Mom trance and into Admiral mode.

Ellen asked, "General, when was the last time you had eyes on this location?"

"About two hours ago. They were still there," he replied.

Ellen put her head in her hand, thinking.

"Go East, out about a half an hour. There is more than one lake that way. Andrew knows that. He has studied this planet and knows it like the back of his hand. He would head towards the best water source in case they were stuck for days." She said looking up at the screen.

The next ten minutes were harrowing as they waited. The drone moved at a fast speed surveying the land all around. It was just about 10 minutes out from the cave and that's when they saw them. Three bodies of bright yellow and red running through the woods. Another looked like it was being carried. They almost missed them through the dense trees.

A sigh of relief came over the room.

"How far out is the Blackhawk?" Elizabeth asked.

"Five minutes, Ma'am," the General answered.

"Send them in for identification and pickup. How far out are our jets?" she asked.

"Maybe 10 minutes. They took off from Aviano about an hour ago, just awaiting orders," he said.

She turned back to the screen and waited as the drone followed the five.

Within five minutes, the Blackhawk flew in to get a better view.

"That's him. That's my son," Ellen said to the room and an eruption of cheers.

That's when Henry saw the flash of red hair, pulled into a long ponytail. In his mind, he pushed it away thinking it can't be. Elizabeth saw the same but had a different thought. She and Henry locked eyes as she made her way back to her seat. She was regretting not telling him that Sarah had been brought into the company.

She sat down and Jay leaned in, "You look like you have seen a ghost."

She whispered, "If we are not mistaken, that's Sarah McCord. How did they get her? Why is it relatives of high-ranking officials?"

Jay looked down at his file, then over at Isabelle. She shrugged her shoulders at him.

The Blackhawk found a field not far ahead of the group. It hovered above but not too high hoping not to be seen. They figured they were about three miles out from the cave and surely would be chased down soon.

As they came across the field, Henry looked to Elizabeth. It was the first time they had seen her since Stevie's wedding.

Elizabeth spoke up, "General, the woman is my niece, Sarah McCord." She turned to Isabelle "Get every bit of information you have on this group. We need to know if there are more out there and why are they taking relatives of high-profile figures in this administration."

Marines hopped out and helped them lift a man they were carrying into the chopper and helped the other four into the helicopter.

As everyone jumped on, Andrew yelled to the pilot, "Go, go, go! There's three of them trailing us."

"Agent Hill, there's somebody on the phone who wants to talk to you." He was handed the headset as a headset was handed to the others.

"Andrew, it's Elizabeth McCord," she said. "Your Mother is with me."

"Hi Mom!" He waved to the camera. Ellen began to cry. "Hi Son, you still going to make Christmas?"

Andrew laughed.

"Sarah, you there?" Elizabeth's voice cracked as she spoke.

"I am…. barely." She was sipping water.

Elizabeth and Henry made eye contact.

"Uncle Henry is here too." A faint smile came across Sarah's face.

"It's good to see you, sunshine." Another faint smile.

Andrew piped in, "We need to get her some medical care. She is definitely the strongest of all of us but she took some tough hits on the escape. Johnny here, saved her life."

The camera swung to the other American. Isabelle looked at Elizabeth with a confused expression, "He's not one of ours."

"What?" she asked her. "Who is he?"

Susan piped in, "I think that's Ambassador Hutchins' son. He was in the Marines."

Andrew spoke up again. "This other guy here" the Marines swung the camera to the man who was clearly knocked out. But, the face and mole were unmistakable to Elizabeth. She had seen that face since he was a child. It was one that never left her even when she saw him just a few years ago. Andrew's voice was there in her head, but her mind went elsewhere. "He is the ring leader. Sarah kicked him in the gut when he tried to tranquilize her. She got a hold of the needle and stuck it in him. We don't have much time before he wakes up. I have his gun."

He was already handcuffed. Henry noticed the shift in Elizabeth's posture and stare.

"We took out six guards in that tunnel. We lost one of us. Three were trailing us, not sure who they are."

Bringing her out of it, she asked firmly. "Andrew, who did you lose?" Elizabeth said.

"McCafferty?" he said in a questioning manner. "Female."

Elizabeth looked to Isabelle. "I know who that is," she repeated back to her

"Andrew, we're gonna get you down, cleaned and healthy and then they can debrief with you." Elizabeth said.

Susan spoke to her, "Minister Avdonin has given us permission to land at one of their nearby bases. They can be flown to Aviano from there."

"No, I want that helicopter going to our nearest base. No stops. Work with Avdonin to take down the rest of that facility and get our agent out. Then, send in the jets and get rid of that place." She said firmly and left the Sit. Room.

Ellen and Henry shared a look as they knew this Elizabeth all too well.

With her NSA team and her husband hot on her tails, she stopped and turned to face them, "I need a few moments with Henry and Isabelle before the rest of you," she said matter-of-factly.

The door to the Oval was left open as three of them stepped in. Isabelle shut the door behind her.

"We're going to put a pin in the Sarah situation for a few minutes," Elizabeth was speaking to Henry.

She sighed and let out a breath, turning to Isabelle. "That's Zaheed Ah-jamil."

Isabelle replied quietly, "I know."

Henry questioned, "The translator kid?"

"Well, he's not a kid anymore. I'm fearing several of our assets have been made. I get the Sarah and Andrew thing. That's revenge. But, we need to figure out why the others. Clearly, we have a group that has axes to grind against the U.S."

"You must bring in every asset that has any connection to the U.S. government employees," Henry stated.

Isabelle protested, "We can't do that. That's like everyone. We have to be methodical about this. A knee-jerk reaction like that would make so many of our agents, especially those in the tech industry."

Elizabeth turned and looked out the window. Without turning back to her, she said to her, "Bring in those who are relatives of high-ranking members. That list should be pretty small. More importantly, shut down all the systems of communication. Pull the servers for the time-being. Let's meet back in here in about a half-hour.

"Okay, thanks, Bess." Elizabeth turned and gave her a slight smile at the use of her name. Elizabeth hated when Isabelle was put in the position of using her title.

Isabelle left and Henry turned to her, "How long?"

"Only about six months. She was working some of my former assets in Iraq. She went directly there from Afghanistan. But, she was on a break in London." Elizabeth stated without taking her gaze from the window.

"How was she doing?" Henry asked.

"Great. We have good intel back from her. She's a natural." Elizabeth said.

"She always was fond of you," Henry said quietly looking down.

Elizabeth exhaled a long breath. "I hope she is going to be okay," she answered him. "Sorry I had to keep it from you."

Henry pulled her in for a hug. "It's okay. I just want her to be okay, too. Physically and mentally."

"Henry, I am so sorry. I had no idea she was in there. I only knew about Andrew." Elizabeth sighed.

He stepped around the desk and pulled her into his embrace. "Babe, it's going to be okay. You got this. In the meantime, let's keep going. Black bra is all I am going to say."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him and laughed, "Seriously, even in a time like this?"

"Circle of two, Babe. If we don't have each other, what do we have?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Nothing," she whispered back to him.