Chapter 2
The Americans and Russians worked jointly in protecting the embassy, its employees and visitors. Each trusted their life to the others. The Russians had been employed at the Embassy for over five years and had been vetted many times for many important visitors, the latest just before the President's arrival. They were trusted employees and no one suspected them of being anything else. In addition, for the Presidential visit, a Secret Service agent had been added to the gate security.
Tonight, two Russians were manning the main entry gate as a car with two people inside approached the Embassy.
The two guards looked at the car, then each other. They both knew that they would clear this car. It was very important that this particular car be allowed inside the Embassy compound.
"Stop!" The guards held up their hands to stop the vehicle. Walking over to check the occupants, they looked back at the Service agent standing by the guardhouse, watching their every movement.
The guards maintained their usual routine. They looked over the papers and searched the vehicle. Then the car was swept with bomb sensitivity devices. Having the correct papers and finding the car clean, the guards, with the approval of the Secret Service agent, cleared the car into the Embassy compound. The papers stated that it contained materials for the meeting to be held at the Embassy early the next morning.
The car pulled up alongside the front of the building, in front of the windows of the VIP suite. Two more Secret Service Agents, standing guard outside the windows, walked over to the car and requested their papers. When the President and First Lady slept in the room just inside, one could not be too careful.
As the agents reviewed the paperwork one more time, the driver reached to release the brake.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The car exploded with the impact of hundreds of pounds of plastic explosives, sending burning debris into the sky. The occupants of the car died instantly. Windows shattered all along the front of the building, raining glass down onto anybody who had survived the initial explosion. The two agents were thrown into the air and landed some fifty yards away. They were dead on impact.
The agent at the gate started running toward the burning vehicle with his gun drawn. Within seconds, he had been cut down by the two Russian guards who, in the confusion of the aftermath of the bomb explosion, slipped away in the night.
The VIP suite was inundated with shrapnel, flying glass and burning debris. The bed was smothered under hot debris. The room ceiling caved in, adding more debris to the bed.
The agents in the hall, initially knocked down from the force of the explosion, quickly regained their footing. Based on hours of training they quickly took charge of the situation and went into rescue mode as they pushed the crushed door aside and ran to their protectees.
Ron, who had been rousted out of bed by the explosion, grabbed some pants and ran toward the Suite where the First Couple were sleeping. Coming in through the hallway door, he realized with dismay that the suite had borne the brunt of the explosion.
To his horror, he noted the fire on the bed as well as the debris from the explosion. Debris was still floating downwards and landing on the floor as well as the bed. The bed where the President and First Lady were sleeping.
"Find them! Get that fire out! Get some medical help now! And call for the military. We'll need transportation and security."
But the agents had already instituted their disaster plan.
Code Black was in full swing.