Jack could imagine the panic at the DC emergency center.
But what he could do was extremely limited. To avoid misunderstandings, he could do nothing at all until he contacted Joey. Who knew those tense Secret Service agents would mistake him for a terrorist with ulterior motives?
The scene before him was roughly the plot of "Fallen Brother"'s "White House Down," but the scale was clearly much larger than the film.
This world only rationalizes actual events, and there's no set pattern for whether the consequences will be good or bad.
Jack still couldn't figure out the other party's purpose. Even if the president was captured, it wouldn't take the Federation minutes to find someone else to swear an oath on the Bible.
Could it be that there really was a device in the White House's underground bunker that could control the self-destruction of all US nuclear weapons?
While such a device was theoretically unlikely, even if it existed, it wouldn't cause the strategically placed intercontinental missiles on duty to self-destruct in their silos, as depicted in the original series.
Even if the nuclear missile self-destructed in the silo, it would only cause a minor nuclear leak, potentially less than one-tenth the impact of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.
The nuclear technology of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, especially the top three, is far superior to the primitive nuclear weapons of the late World War II era, which simply brought two uranium cakes together to achieve critical mass and trigger a chain reaction.
Even if the military had built in a last-ditch safety measure, ensuring that the ICBM could self-destruct at the last second after launch, it certainly wouldn't be achieved by detonating the warhead.
This is a simple logical problem, as self-destruction and self-explosion are two completely different things. Once an ICBM has been launched and entered enemy airspace, a premature detonation would still be considered a nuclear strike, and the nature of the attack remains unchanged.
Jack grabbed his body armor from the back seat and put it on, hoping the blatant "FBI" logo on it would reduce the chance of friendly fire. He restarted the Mammoth and planned to circle around to the west side of the White House to wait for an opportunity.
Joey's phone was constantly busy, and Kate couldn't reach him. This was understandable. While Jack didn't yet know the exact casualties at the Capitol, the situation was clearly not optimistic.
Rossi's phone was also unreachable, but he was supposed to be in Quantico today, so Jack didn't have to worry about his safety for now.
Many people in New York, knowing Jack was in D.C., had tried to contact him. Besides his female boss, the members of the Most Wanted team were already packing up and preparing to head to D.C.
"Jack, pay attention to the crowds," Kate suddenly called out.
Even without her warning, Jack had already noticed something unusual about the crowd outside the railing.
While most people were frantically snapping photos of the White House, which had just been hit by a round of gunfire, the disproportionate number of them were male.
And while it was still winter, there was no need for everyone to overdress and lug heavy travel bags.
While public security in the US is generally poor these days, that varies depending on the region. In places like the Special Administrative Region, where law enforcement agencies are rife, it's unlikely to lead to the kind of European-style situation where tourists disembark to find their luggage looted.
Thinking of this, Jack instinctively glanced toward the bus parked on the east side of the road, a sense of alarm rising.
With a resounding boom, the tour bus exploded fifty or sixty meters away. The shockwave overturned two police cars parked at the other end, and flames and smoke instantly engulfed several nearby officers and tourists.
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The crowd, who had been watching the commotion outside the fence, suddenly screamed and began to flee in panic, heading towards the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, in the direction Jack was currently standing.
Strangely, only half the crowd reacted normally. The rest crouched where they were after the explosion, pulling items out of their carry-on bags.
Jack released the parking brake, stepped on the accelerator, and sped away. It wasn't that he was deserting the battlefield, but it was clear that the explosion had signaled the enemy's real move.
His position was precarious; a single mistake could land him in the middle, subject to both friendly and enemy fire.
"Kate, take control." As the Mammoth reached the west side of the white house, Jack decisively opened the door and jumped out.
Kate controlled the Mammoth, which continued to move slowly. As the rear of the car passed Jack's body, the trunk lid automatically opened, revealing the equipment box inside.
Two more explosions rang out, and someone threw a carry-on bag at the iron fence in front of the oval, creating a gap.
At the same time, a sudden change occurred on the driveway adjacent to the lawn. Several members of the Peninsula President's security team, men of Asian descent, suddenly launched an attack, attacking their colleagues and Secret Service agents.
The driveway erupted in gunfire, catching the Secret Service agents, despite their numerical superiority, off guard.
While not all Peninsula security team members had defected, they were completely indistinguishable amid the swarm of Asian faces.
Amidst the chaos, several Secret Service agents who had rushed out of the White House to provide support began indiscriminately shooting all Peninsula security team members with their HK416s.
Before the internal chaos could subside, five or six smoke grenades fired from M203 grenade launchers landed on the oval lawn.
The smoke instantly obscured the defenders' vision. Then, two terrorists armed with RPG-7 rocket launchers burst through the previously blown-open fence and burst into the lawn, firing at the guard booths at both gates.
The blast, accompanied by shrapnel, ping-ponged the bulletproof cars lined up in the driveway, knocking down several Secret Service agents and Peninsula Security personnel still engaged in the scuffle.
By then, the terrorists, disguised as tourists, had finished changing their attire and were unearthing various automatic firearms from their travel bags. They rushed through the breach
in the fence. Several Metropolitan Police officers, unconcerned about exposing themselves to Secret Service fire, attempted to use the concrete railings as cover to fire from the side at the numerous terrorists, including the portly officer who had previously stopped Jack.
Unfortunately, their heroic actions proved ineffective. The suddenness of the situation meant they didn't even have time to run back to their police cars to retrieve their rifles. Sidearms like the Glock 17 posed little threat in such a situation.
A female terrorist, armed with an HK416 equipped with a 4x variable scope, rushed onto the oval lawn, then, leaning against the small fountain in the center, began to shoot the officers outside in the head.
(End of Chapter)