"Right alley, hide in it, quick!"
At Kate's command, the over two-meter-wide "Mammoth" glided through a trail of sparks, its reinforced front bumper bearing down on a green steel trash can as it forced its way into a narrow alley.
Jack heard a growing buzzing sound overhead. Though he didn't yet understand what was happening, he sensed an imminent danger.
"Kate, what's going on?"
"I don't know, but an AC130U is entering the 'FRZ' right now," Kate replied, while a live surveillance video played on the car's screen.
The footage was likely from a bird's-eye surveillance camera mounted atop a high-rise building. The camera, which should have been high above, was now pointed skyward.
The originally blurry image zoomed in and out, revealing a blue-gray gunship.
The image quality was so clear that Jack could even make out the large USAF letters on the vertical tail, though this also meant the enemy aircraft was flying extremely low.
After 9/11, the federal government established a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) in Washington, D.C., similar to the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Within it, a more stringent Restricted Flight Zone (FRZ) was established.
The SFRA has a radius of approximately 56 kilometers, while the FRZ, located within it, has a radius of approximately 30 kilometers. This area is more sensitive and has stricter restrictions.
If an unannounced aircraft enters the FRZ, a ground-based laser warning system uses flashing red and green lasers to directly alert the pilot.
It could almost be said that, in theory, no flying objects should be permitted in downtown Washington, D.C., save for a few permitted aircraft like high-ranking government helicopters, birds, and tourist balloons.
However, this theory has clearly been shattered.
The AC-130 gunship, a modified C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, is a renowned aircraft. Anyone who has seen the first Transformers film will have a vivid impression of it.
The AC-130 is also the only fire support unit capable of carrying a 105mm howitzer in flight.
This devastating weapon has appeared in many shooting games, but as far as Jack knows, the only two movies it's appeared in are the first Transformers and Olympus Has Fallen, starring Olympus.
Jack hadn't heard of Olympus Going from being a commercial airline pilot to becoming a Secret Service agent. Ever since the island disaster, he'd maintained personal contact with Captain Brandi Torrance, who was nearing retirement.
Could it be White House Down, another film that released around the same time as Olympus Has Fallen and is often confused with White House Down?
But the scenes in that film were significantly smaller, and there were no devastating weapons like the AC130.
Before Jack could recover from his distracted thoughts, a tongue of fire descended from the sky, lashing the road like the whip of death.
The AC130U was armed with three different weapons on just one side: a GAU-12 five-barrel 25mm revolver cannon, a 40mm Bofors cannon with a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute, and an M102 105mm howitzer.
The trajectory, marked by tracer bullets, clearly came from the fastest-firing five-barrel 25mm revolver cannon, the same model Harry had flown in Miami.
Even the smallest caliber weapon on the gunship could inflict damage beyond the capacity of any carbon-based organism.
Furthermore, this time, the enemy had clearly been prepared, using not the massive PGU-23 practice rounds but the genuine PGU-25 high-explosive incendiary rounds.
Wherever the HEI rounds struck, the once peaceful streets instantly turned into a blazing inferno, igniting the congested vehicles one by one, transforming them into a long, flaming dragon almost as soon as they were swept by the flames.
Although Jack had ducked into an alley in his Mammoth, he could still feel the ping-pong of machine gun shells blasting against the back of his car.
Even more terrifying was the sound overhead: the deep roar of the gunship's four propeller engines, like the roar of death.
"Kate, contact Zoe immediately," Jack commanded, shifting into reverse gear and pressing the accelerator hard to back the Mammoth out of the alley.
The carnage on the street was unbearable to watch: cars were burning, the wounded were wailing, and the chassis batteries of electric cars had ignited, exploding like fireworks.
Other cars had their fuel tanks punctured, and burning gasoline flowed freely onto the road, while thick smoke and flames engulfed everything.
"Jack!" As the call connected, a piercing alarm blared, accompanied by Zoe's slightly panicked voice. "What's going on out there? We're ordered to go underground immediately."
"There's an AC-130 gunship approaching from low altitude, firing on the ground. Something's wrong. Get away from the President and his security team. Find a place to hide deep inside the first floor and wait for me."
In the White House, Zoe, escorted by a group of Secret Service agents, was rushing towards the elevator. Her gaze fell hesitantly on the figure ahead, who was stumbling forward, supported by two agents' arms.
Her little man's voice continued in the headset. "Trust me, don't go underground. They've got all the safety precautions planned. Find a place to hide. I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Ma'am!" The last Secret Service agent saw Zoe suddenly stop and hurried forward, trying to help her continue.
"Don't worry about me," Zoe pushed the outstretched arm away. "Protect your president. I'm just a senator."
In that brief moment, a host of dignitaries, including the president, the first lady, and the visiting president and his wife, disappeared around the corner of the hallway, surrounded by Secret Service agents.
The Secret Service agent hesitated, glanced at Zoe, who remained motionless, with a look of madness, then turned and hurried after her.
Zoe decisively kicked off her high heels, found a room, turned the doorknob, and walked straight in. "Okay, I'm hiding, but how are you going to get in to find me?"
"We'll see how it goes,"
Jack shouted, swerving the steering wheel to avoid a panicked pedestrian on the sidewalk. The Mammoth's unreasonably powerful torque propelled the car's bodywork directly into the front of a burning car, turning right onto Virginia Avenue.
Virginia Avenue, like Pennsylvania Avenue, which Jack had passed yesterday, appears on a map as two diagonal lines running from the northeast corner of the city to the southeast.
To his left was the White House and the national park in front of it, and to his right was the Lincoln Memorial and the long reflecting pool in front of it.
The AC130's attack posture was to exploit the propeller plane's inherent low speed advantage by circling sideways, using the weapons on the left side of the fuselage to fire at the ground.
However, since it was modified from the C130 Hercules transport aircraft, its structural strength generally prevented it from being highly maneuverable. Furthermore, it was currently flying at an extremely low altitude, so Jack didn't have to worry about the enemy turning back and firing at him again.
The enemy's purpose was clearly to deliberately create chaos. Aside from the 105mm howitzer, which was inexplicably silent, the 25mm revolver and 40mm Bofors cannon fired non-stop at the ground.
The revolver guns strafed the streets, and the Bofors guns also poured fire at various iconic buildings at a rapid rate of fire.
(End of this chapter)