Jack was powerless to do anything about this. Bulletproof vests and healing techniques weren't a panacea. Given time, he could slowly eliminate the scattered terrorists, but time was what he lacked most.
Although Zoe had taken refuge in a relatively safe hideout under Kate's guidance, it was only temporary. He had to find a way to get her out.
To achieve this, Jack's first task was to disable the White House's surveillance system and, while doing so, allow Kate access to its internal network.
The terrorists had just shut down the lights, ventilation, and heating systems in most areas, implying they had gained some degree of control over the entire building.
Fortunately, Jack possessed a high-level Secret Service badge. This badge utilized a technology called "Smart Shield," containing a chip that not only served as an access card but also contained a special code granting different permissions. All
Jack needed now was to find a way to gain access to the continuous surveillance center under Kate's guidance.
Not only could he use his badge's privileges to disable the entire White House surveillance system, making his subsequent actions less easily detected, but he could also communicate with the outside world without revealing Kate's presence.
In reality, Jack's connection to the outside world had never been interrupted, but only on an unspoken level.
Although Kate's physical form had long been transferred by Finch to the core network of dozens of data centers that now spanned the European and American continents and even Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Jack's
modified Mammoth could still be considered a crucial upper node within this network.
The hybrid-electric conversion of this heavy-duty pickup truck wasn't just for Jack's racing convenience; the small supercomputer system, comprised of dozens of professional graphics cards, hidden behind the center console wasn't just for running a supposedly intelligent driving system.
Earlier, when Jack entered the White House to assist the Secret Service agents in the defense, Kate had taken control of the Mammoth and hidden behind the Eisenhower Executive Building on the west side. As
the "Olympus Has Fallen" code was emanated from within the White House, the belated military emergency response team, following their pre-planned plan, cut off cell phone signals in the surrounding area.
If Jack hadn't slipped a satellite phone into his pocket while packing his gear and scavenged a communicator from a corpse on the ground as he fled into the White House, he would have been left to fight alone.
Communication wasn't the issue at the moment; the crucial thing was how to establish contact with the emergency response team outside and gain their trust without revealing Kate's presence.
This wasn't a difficult task for Jack these days. While he wasn't familiar with the specifics of the situation on Capitol Hill, both Quantico and New York were close to Washington, D.C.
Hence the scene before, when someone was playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with terrorists in the breached White House, Rossi, alerted by Kate, arrived first and, with the assistance of Harry Tasker, Director of Omega, took control of the forward command center.
Shortly thereafter, the Most Wanted team arrived, accompanied by their female supervisor, FBI Deputy Director Dana Moger, and a communications van. Of course, this wasn't the same van they had in New York.
While New York was close to Washington, D.C., it was still at least a three-hour drive.
Jack carefully stepped over the corpses and bullet casings strewn across the ground. The thick smell of blood and gunpowder reminded him of his time fighting alongside the Navy SEALs in Mexico a few years ago.
The Secret Service agents had put up a resolute defense, many emptying their magazines before dying. But facing the well-prepared terrorists, their response was too rigid.
The terrorists who stormed the White House had a highly targeted attack plan and were intimately familiar with the building's interior.
In particular, when a truck loaded with ammunition and equipment successfully reached the north lawn before emergency forces could close in, the well-supplied terrorists used offensive grenades and stun grenades to clear their way.
This resulted in heavy losses for the agents who attempted to use the stairways and hallways to reach the corner house, quickly leading to their defeat.
Jack strongly suspected a traitor within the Secret Service or within its ranks, as the terrorists were overly familiar with the White House's structure and the agency's response plans.
While the White House had regular open days in spring and autumn, allowing ordinary visitors to tour the interior under guidance of staff and even see the President with a lucky glimpse,
only a tiny portion of the White House was actually open to the public, and the Secret Service's emergency response plans were extremely secretive.
Although the winter solstice had passed, the days were lengthening and the nights were gradually shortening, but by eight o'clock the sun had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only the cold glow of emergency lights in the blacked-out hallways.
The terrorists who had stormed the White House had clearly not bothered to clean up the scattered bodies, simply taking whatever automatic weapons still had ammunition, not even bothering to pick up the pistols with emptied magazines.
Jack, after inspecting the bodies left behind by the terrorists, frowned. Ever since
he'd learned it was the plot of "White House Down," he'd been musing about it, thinking it unlikely to be the original show, with the country to the north of the peninsula pulling the strings, sending spies into the security detail of the president to the south.
But after noticing that at least half of the people there were Asian with single eyelids, Jack's doubts returned. Could the Koreans really be that bold?
Jack had no idea that after his time travel, the out-of-touch president of the peninsula in his original dimension would later orchestrate a series of outrageous coup attempts.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have doubted the "Korean Sour" president and his android wife's idiocy, or the utterly shabby nature of the supposedly national government.
But the complexions of the remaining terrorist bodies seemed to support his initial suspicions: some were black, some were white, and judging by their tattoos, they were likely American.
Along the way, he'd used his phone to collect facial photos of the bodies. Although the network connection was currently disconnected and he couldn't send them, Kate explained that once she could access the non-stop monitoring center, she could access the military network and attempt to monitor the situation in the bunker.
Jack only wanted to rescue Zoe, not play the hero and save the president. He didn't yet know that the Capitol's high-ranking officials had been wiped out by a wave of planes, that the "Designated Survivor" program had been implemented, and that Maureen might soon become the first female president in the Federation's history.
Of course, if he'd known, he wouldn't have tried to save the president, and might even have attempted a covert attack.
But Jack needed to confirm the terrorists' true motives. If they were truly connected to a nuclear bomb, he had to do something, at least to prevent them from actually triggering a nuclear war.
(End of Chapter)