Chapter XXXVIII: Someone set us up the bomb.

1230hrs, 16 December 2013, Alexandria, Virginia, United States.

"There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn't bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders." General Curtis LeMay

A couple of hours later, Amy drove up to the apartment that Georgia had told her to meet her at. Mina had tried to drive some more, but Amy insisted after she had let her sleep all the way to Manassas.

"Luna, is this thing safe now?" she asked over the radio, looking at the location of where they dropped the WMD off on a map. "I do not want to be responsible for letting this thing blow up."

"It seems like you've cut the remote detonator, and I don't think that there's any chance of nuclear detonation."

"You don't think?"

"I can't be certain unless you open up the WMD and take a look inside," Luna replied. "But whoever jury-rigged that thing doesn't seem to know what they're doing, because it would have to be detonated within a small radius, enough to kill the user…hold on."

Amy heard her talking to the other team. "We're in full control of the medical facility, and we're ready to commence this operation. We only have five hours before the terrorist attacks begin, so we must hurry."

"Luna, it sounds like you're really busy, we've got it from here." Amy hoped that everything was going well in Japan. As much as America was important, the operation in Japan to obtain the data from the Nakanishi HQ was just as important. Maybe even more so.

"Thanks, I'll try to get back to you ASAP." Luna terminated the conversation and left the two of them alone.

"Maybe it was a suicide mission," Mina said, looking at the map with Amy.

"Who knows. Hope that it's safe there."

The two of them got out of the SUV and walked toward the apartment. It was a nice, rustic place, with a gable roof, brick façade, and big, clear windows that overlooked the block. This nice view was tempered by the fact that the plaque on the side of the building noted that this place had been used to trade slaves in the antebellum years.

Amy looked by the entrance and located the buzzer for apartment 302. It merely read, "Georgia Clemens." No mention of a congress member here. She hit the button.

"Yeah?" A male voice answered the intercom, which took Amy back for a second before realizing that it was probably Charles O'Conner, another member of Congress. From what she remembered, he had been with her at the shootout in Orange.

"We're here to see Georgia," Amy replied politely.

There was a pause for a second. "You with the Japanese government?"
"Yes, that would be us."

There was no vocal reply, but the door buzzer came to life, ringing for a second as the door was unlocked for them. Amy and Mina stepped through and walked a couple of steps to the elevator. Getting in, Mina pressed the "three" button and waited for the elevator to take them to their floor.

"How do you think this is going to go?" she asked Amy.

"No idea. But if we can pull this off, we save a lot of lives today."

Ding. The elevator doors opened, and the two of them walked out of the elevator and looked for room 302. It was down the hall, several feet away and to the left.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Amy took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Georgia's voice resonated back.

Mina opened the door and was greeted by the sight of a Colt 1911 being pointed at her head by Representative O'Conner.

"Charles!" Georgia snapped at the pot-belled man.

O'Conner gave them a look, making sure that they were who they said they were, then put the gun away in a holster near his arm.

"Sorry about that," he said, with Amy and Mina glaring at him. "Can't be too careful these days."

Amy took a look around the room. It was a sparse room, with a couple of potted plants, a coffee table and couch, some chairs, and a table for eating at. On the couch sat another woman that Amy didn't recognize and another man. They both got up when they entered.

"You must be…Amy?" the woman asked, approaching her with an outstretched hand. "Senator Gloria Patterson."

"Nice to meet you…Senator," Amy replied, choosing her words carefully. Patterson turned to Mina and introduced herself to her as well.

"Mina, nice to meet you," she echoed from Amy. The man also greeted them. He looked about in his mid-fifties, prim and proper with slicked back hair (or what remained of his hair), a nice suit, and average weight. A consummate politician.

"Senator James Plum, nice to meet you." He shook both their hands. Probably not since the American Revolution had so many influential and powerful people had met in such humble surroundings. But when matters were as serious as this, you didn't have much choice in that.

"I know both of you must have gotten a lot of trouble to get here, so we'll get right to business," Patterson (ironically) said to both of them. She sat back down on the couch, along with Plum. Mina and Amy remained standing, and Georgia and O'Conner sat down in the remaining chairs.

"Senator," Amy said formally, reaching into her purse and obtaining her tablet computer. "This is a recording from a source we had detaining the operations of the Nakanishi Group in a bid to force their dominance on the United States and the world at large." She played the video, translating all the while.

Both Senators looked nervous and confused, with O'Conner simply nodded his head.

"So, they're planning to nuke Washington,"

"That's why this speech was called," Plum added. "The President, all of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Chiefs of Staff…everyone."

"They can destroy everyone and start anew," Amy said. "But we're putting a stop to that. We have the nuke."

Everyone in the room breathed out on that one.

"Wait, is it here?" Georgia asked, nervously.

"No, it's hidden in Manassas Battlefield…" Amy began, but was cut off by the sudden argument that sparked up between the Congress members.

"You mean, Bull Run," O'Conner and Patterson said at the same time.

"No, it's Manassas," Plum and Georgia replied, again at the same time. All of them looked at each other awkwardly before continuing at the business at hand.

"Right…" Amy continued, wondering why it was such a big deal. She knew of the American Civil War, but that was all in the past now. "We have the nuke hidden here. But as you know, there's another one in New Jersey. We have the location and my superiors have contacted the FBI, but we haven't had much luck so far; they refuse to believe us."

Patterson nodded. "I'll call an audience with the President."

Mina looked at her, with some suspicion. "We just met, and gave you some evidence that may or may not be true. Are you just going to believe us that quickly?"

Patterson shrugged. "I've been harassed by Nakanishi goons all year, and it doesn't surprise that they would plan something like this. It's obvious that this company needs to go down, but beforehand, we need to get these terrorist attacks stopped. Now, if you don't mind…"

She reached in her pocket for her cell phone and dialed a number. "Jorge, it's me. Yes, I know you're busy, but I need to speak with the President. I know she's busy…it's really important. Five minutes? That's all I need. Four O'clock? That'll be fine, thanks."

Patterson hung up the phone. Amy wondered how one could have so much power; with one phone call, she had an audience with the most powerful person on the face of the Earth.

"Uh…thanks," Mina said, as much in awe as Amy was about the power that Patterson wielded.

"Not a problem," Patterson replied, nodding her head in agreement. "Let's get our game plan together so we can convince the president."

"Of course," Amy said. She hit a few more buttons on the tablet. "This is the location of the bomb, and from what we've discovered about Nakanishi operations…"

Things were quickly falling apart on Nephrite's end. After the failure to pursue the hijacked vehicle, his PMC had gotten in trouble with some police officers for brandishing weapons out in the open. A few phone calls later, the problem had been resolved but it had slowed them down. Now, Nephrite was somewhere in Crystal City, trying to track down the two SAILOR members that had taken his goddamned nuke.

"Change of plans, Beryl," Nephrite said into his (new) cell phone.

"What is the problem?"

"The WMDs have been compromised. We will not be able to use them for this mission."

"Jesus fucking Christ, why the fuck did you have fucking LOSE THEM?!" Her voice screeched over the phone, and Nephrite cringed at the shill noise emanating out of the phone. He might need a new one after this, if things went really downhill from there.

"We didn't lose them. It was the SAILOR Team." He said it in a calm voice, but on the inside

"You know, I'm thinking that this entire business with creating the SAILOR team was a complete waste of our time," she snarled over the phone. "They're a complete liability now. After all of this is over, you need to take them out."

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps my ass," Beryl said. "Fine, here's what we're going…you're going to do. Take the security force and kill those parasite members of Congress."

"But won't that blow our cover?" Nephrite asked, the tone in his voice.

"We can always blame it on someone else!" Beryl snapped back. "Do I have to do all of the fucking thinking around here? Better yet, why don't you blame it on the SAILOR Team? Two birds with one stone, hmm?"
You're not the one who has to deal with the consequences, Nephrite thought, but held his tongue.

"Huh…? What was that…?" Nephrite heard her talking to someone else in the room. "Nephrite, I'm going to have to get back with you on that, we have a situation developing here…"

She hung up, leaving Nephrite wondering what the hell was going on here. Things seemed to be getting out of hand extremely fast, and he was afraid that the already out of control situation was going to get worse. Nephrite sighed and went back to his vehicle.

There were three SUVs in the parking lot near Cesar's Diner, a popular joint for the locals. Nephrite walked over to the middle one, double parked near one of the other restaurants in the strip mall.

"What was that all about?" one of his "new" commanders said to him.

"It's nothing, Kruger," Nephrite replied. "Get the PMC up to the capitol. We've got some work to do."

"All units, prepare to move to the Capitol Building," Kruger said over the radio. "What are we doing there?"

"What a lot of people have wanted to do," Nephrite commented bitterly, although he appreciated the circumstances of what he was about to commit. He didn't need to say what needed to be done after that.

"Sounds great to me," Kruger replied, tapping the driver of the SUV to get a move on. "But won't that…"

"I realize it, I know," Nephrite dismissed his subordinate's worries like they were nothing, but he knew that they had merit. If they went in and started shooting up the place, then things would get bad and everything would point back to Nakanishi. But if they didn't act now, this chance to start anew would be gone forever, nuke or no nuke. He took a deep breath in. This was something that had to be done, whether he liked it or not.

Molly flashed before his eyes for a second, her curly hair and goo-goo eyes blinking at him, her smile penetrating the cold air…

"Sir, what are your orders when we get to the Capitol building?" Kruger's voice interrupted him. "We can't just start shooting randomly."

"Have your men change into civilian clothing, but use those balaclavas so that they can't identify us, at least by sight."

"Of course."

"Split the PMC up into two groups; one that will take the Capitol and one that will take the White House. After we have finished eliminating all targets, we will withdraw from the area and meet…here."

He pointed to a small town in Maryland. Crofton? Kruger had never heard of that town, but whatever. Nephrite seemed to know what he was doing despite the original plan completely going to shit.

"Then, we can work things out there," he continued stoically.

"Understood."

"Also, tell the unit stationed near the Pentagon to start hitting the place when we attack. I can send some more of those 'militia' units to attack that place, but they'll be on their own while we deal with the Capitol building."

"Got it." Kruger started to radio instructions to everyone, while Nephrite sat back in the car seat, hoping that this hastily thrown together plan would have a decent chance of success.

The convoy rolled on, toward its destination.

"That's it then," Amy said, finishing up her briefing. It had gone on for awhile, but this was to be expected; there was a lot of Nakanishi data that had been coming in from the raid on their HQ, and it was being fed to them in real time.

"Jesus, this is really bad," Plum noted. "I always knew that these guys were bastards, but this…this is like out of some sci-fi movie or something."

"I don't know how else to put it," Amy replied. "It's bad, but we have a chance to stop all of this madness before it even starts."

Georgia nodded. "We can do it." That brought a smile from O'Conner; he admired the newbie's spunkiness. It reminded him of a simpler time…a time when there were no big corporations looming around every corner, when politics got something done, when…ah, what was this old man to do?

"Okay, it's time," Patterson said to them, checking her watch. "We should get a move on."

The six of them got into their vehicles, with Amy and Mina riding in their SUV, and the other Congress members riding in another SUV, taking point on their way to the White House. The drive would take about thirty minutes or so.

Mina wondered what kind of furniture that the White House had; maybe it was all regal and all that jazz, like those palaces in Europe. She quickly reminded herself that Europeans had more history than Americans, and that while beautiful, the White House in its current form was less than a hundred years old. Hmm. What did they serve for dinner? Macaroni and Cheese? Mmmm…perhaps some jelly beans and stuff as well.

Amy however, was thinking about what she would say to the President of the United States. How would this sound to her, coming from a foreign agent, supposedly on their side but in fact, engaged in operations to undermine them? How the hell could she explain something like this? Why was she doing it? Could she even muster the courage to…to do this? Wasn't this treason? Amy continued to panic about it until they reached Pennsylvania Avenue.

As they approached the White House, Amy felt a lump in her throat. This was it. No turning back now.