Eliza and Alex snuck down the corridor, sticking close to the wall as they went. They did their best to keep quiet but even their best efforts couldn't stop the chain between them from clanging slightly as they walked, and occasionally bumping against the wall.
They approached a corner and came to a stop. Eliza leaned forward and peered around it. She instantly jerked back and turned to Alex with wide eyes, "There's somebody there," she whispered.
Alex slowly leaned forward around Eliza, so that he too could get a view of the corridor.
"He's standing guard," Alex replied.
Eliza and Alex turned to look at each other, "We need to get in there," they both said in unison,
"If there's even a chance Washington and/or Martha are in there…" Eliza said,
"Exactly," Alex agreed.
The two of them crept out from around the corner, each keeping a tight grip on their end of the chain, in an effort to try and keep it from making any noise. They were nearly within touching distance of the guard when Alex took a misguided step forward and a floorboard creaked beneath him.
The guard spun around, his eyes instantly setting on Alex and Eliza. He reached for his musket and Eliza and Alex leapt forward. They went either side of the guard, with Alex diving left and Eliza right, trapping him with their chain.
The guard turned around to aimed at Alex, but, before he got the chance, Alex and Eliza pulled hard on the chain which had settled around the guard's neck, cutting off his air supply. The guard made a croaky choaking sound and Eliza pulled harder, putting all her weight onto the chain. The guard's eyes fell shut and he slumped to the floor. Eliza and Alex loosened their grip on the chain, then they walked over to the guard and knelt down next to him. Alex picked up the musket while Eliza felt for a pulse on the guard's neck.
"He's still alive," she reported,
Alex nodded and went to stand up,
"Hang on," Eliza said, she grabbed a ring of keys hanging from the guard's belt. She took hold of Alex's hand and turned it to give herself better access to the lock on the handcuffs. She tried all of the keys in the set but none of them open the lock. Eliza sighed and stood back up, "It was worth a try."
Alex stood too and took a step towards the door to the office the guard had been stationed outside of. He tried the handle and found the door unlocked. He looked over his shoulder at Eliza, quirked a smiled before stepping inside.
"Oh, for fucks sake!" Alex shouted.
Eliza peaked over Alex's shoulder to see what he was shouting about. Inside the room were Jefferson and Maddison. They were sat on chairs, back-to-back with a chain wrapped around their middle.
"What are you doing here‽" Jefferson cried,
"We thought you were Washington! I wouldn't have tried to rescue you if I knew who was in here,"
"You're not rescuing us. You're standing in the doorway," Maddison pointed out.
Eliza pushed past Alex and walked over to Jefferson and Maddison. She knelt down by the lock on the chain that bound them to the chairs and started trying all of the keys she'd gotten off the guard.
Alex glanced down at his hands when Eliza's movement pulled them in her direction but that was the only indication he gave that he's noticed Eliza making an effort to free Jefferson and Maddison. "Although, I suppose I should be relishing this sight: Thomas Jefferson, captured and chained to a chair," Alex mused, "It's just proving what I've been saying about your intelligence all along,"
"You also got captured," Jefferson snapped,
"But we freed ourselves; we didn't have to get rescued,"
Jefferson looked pointedly at the chain stretching between Alex and Eliza, "You freed yourself, did you?"
"Ah ha!" Eliza cried, finally finding the right key. The padlock on the chain fell away and Eliza stood back up. "Alex, come over here and give me a hand," she said, taking hold of the chain.
Alex huffed but walked over to Eliza and the two of them unwound the chain from around Jefferson and Maddison.
The moment they were free Jefferson stood up and grinned at Alex,
"Now who is more free out of the two of us?"
Alex opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get any words out Maddison interrupted them, "Will you two please shut up?"
Alex and Jefferson turned to Maddison in shock,
"We need to find the Washingtons. You two can go back to insulting each other when everyone is safe,"
Jefferson frowned at Maddison but seemed to accept what he was saying, "Ok, so, what's the plan?" He asked,
"We're going to Alex's office to get some weapons," Eliza said.
Maddison turned and raised an eyebrow at Alex, "Why do you have weapons in your office?"
Alex sighed dramatically, "For situations like this,"
"For situations where you get held hostage at your place of work?"
"You never know what's going to happen. Look, we have one gun, and if we go to my office we can get two more,"
"Why do you get the gun?" Jefferson asked,
"Because I used to be a solider and you didn't. Do you even know how to fire this?"
"Of course, I do!"
"You can't be that good of a solider if you got caught," Maddison said,
"You also got caught!"
Eliza groaned, "Just give them the musket, you can't fire it properly with your hands cuffed like that anyway,"
Alex scowled but he begrudgingly passed the gun over to Maddison.
Maddison grinned, clearly wanting to gloat about the fact that he was had won the argument, but he thankfully didn't say anything.
Eliza pushed open the door and peered outside. She looked back and forth down the corridor before turning to the others, "Coast's clear," she announced.
The four of them stepped outside and Eliza indicated for Alex to lead the way.
They made their way down the corridor, once again keeping close to the wall. Luckily, Alex's office wasn't far and soon they came to a stop outside an unassuming wooden door. Alex pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He marched over to his desk, pulling Eliza along with him, and opened the top draw. He pulled out two pistols and set them down on the desk.
"Alex!" Eliza cried,
"What?"
"You have duelling pistols in your desk," Jefferson said incredulously,
"Who are you planning on duelling‽" Maddison cried,
Alex frowned, "I wouldn't say planning on, but you've got to be prepared,"
"No!" Eliza cried, "You can't keep duelling pistols in your desk in your government office!"
Alex sighed dramatically, "Look, we've already established that me having these pistols is in our favour so if you lot could please stop judging me for it,"
Eliza scowled, "We are going to circle back round to this once this is over."
Maddison laid the musket down on the table with the pistols, "So, what's our next move?"
"We need to find the Washingtons," Alex said,
"Obviously," Jefferson said, "The question is how we do that,"
"How do we know they're even still alive," Maddison added.
Eliza perched on the edge of Alex's desk, "They'll still be alive," she said,
"While your optimism is commendable," Maddison said, "We cannot know that, these people stormed our building and took the President hostage,"
"Exactly," Eliza said sharply, "They took him hostage, if they just wanted to kill him, they could have just shot him in the ballroom, but they didn't, and more than that, they also took Martha, which means they want something. They took leverage." Eliza turned to see that Jefferson and Maddison were staring at her in shock.
Alex grinned, "We should split up and search the building," he announced, "We'll cover more ground that way,"
Eliza nodded and hoped off the desk, "Maddison, Jefferson, you take the pistols, me and Alex will take the muskets, between the two of us we can probably operate it,"
Maddison gave Eliza a weird look, but he picked up the two pistols and passed one to Jefferson. "We'll go left, you two go right,"
Eliza nodded in agreement as Alex picked up the musket, "We'll meet back here when we're done,"
Maddison nodded, "Good luck."