"How long have you been training?" Jack asked, frowning.
"About six months." Benjamin flinched, glancing at his companion, still twitching on the ground. His initial bravery had vanished.
Although these men had been "carefully selected," almost all of them were veterans or even mercenaries with blood on their hands—even calling them "death squads" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But after meeting Jack, it was not much different from encountering their natural enemy.
In terms of murder, even including the massacre of Secret Service agents and internal staff after the occupation of the White House, the number of lives these men had taken was probably less than a fraction of Jack's previous "record."
When it comes to torture, a forensic doctor is still a doctor. Given enough time, Jack could devise countless methods to make life worse than death.
After interrogating the large, dark-skinned Benjamin, Jack moved on to the Asian-looking man who claimed to be an agent of the NIS, the Han Nation's National Intelligence Service.
This guy knew far more than Benjamin, a mere mercenary, but the circumstances didn't allow for a detailed interrogation.
However, Jack learned from him that President Yin had indeed actively planned and participated in the attack, with a single goal: to preserve his presidency and use "Daddy" as leverage to suppress the opposition.
The so-called "coup" crisis on the Korean Peninsula a few months ago was actually a failed operation. Whether it was ordering the military to use drones to intrude into northern airspace to induce a counterattack, or secretly colluding with an island southeast of Serbia to create an offensive and defensive alliance,
the goal remained singular: to preserve the president's presidency.
Later in the script, special forces disguised as soldiers from the north attacked a US military base, sparking a conflict between the two sides and even a nationwide martial law.
However, due to the overzealous actions of a certain eyeliner enthusiast, American soldiers were dispatched to disperse the "enthusiastic crowd" surrounding Congress with clubs, thus aborting the subsequent plan.
In reality, the suppressed opposition hadn't subsided; the recent domestic situation had only intensified. Consequently, President Yin had been forced to implement his long-planned "backup plan"—using
the opportunity of a visit to hostage the Federal President and force the US military to attack their northern neighbor. If war broke out on the Korean Peninsula,
he could make further plans. Even worse, he could establish a government-in-exile on the other side of the ocean, far from the raging conflict, and maintain
his presidency for a long time. "Did your president hire some kind of sorcerer to orchestrate this?" Jack, completely stunned by this "astonishing plan," slapped his forehead and complained.
The hell, kidnapping the Federal President and forcing the Federation to go to war on the Peninsula? Putting aside the logical flaws, did the Federation really "forget" the unwinnable war on the Peninsula
? In West Potomac Park on the National Mall, adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial, the 19 terrified stainless steel soldiers marching before the Cold War Memorial still stood.
He then met the NIS agent's stunned gaze. "How did you know?"
What? No.
Jack was equally shocked. Was the truth truly so simple and abstract?
He'd heard stories of high-ranking officials in this country indulging in sorcery and divination, but he hadn't expected them to be so bewitched as to pull off such a "drama."
If the timing hadn't been wrong, he'd have truly wanted to inquire about the entire situation, but unfortunately, time was running out.
The second password for the Cerberus system had already been entered; in other words, the "former" president hadn't outlasted the Secretary of Defense.
Only the final password remained. Jack wasn't sure how long it would take to crack this 16-digit, high-entropy code, but for the high-ranking officials in the Pentagon's underground command center, waiting was impossible.
Whatever their purpose in attempting to control Cerberus, the system was crucial to nuclear weapons security. What if it was truly a conspiracy by one of the other two members of the "Top Three Permanent Members"?
Jason Hayes and his team were already waiting in the tunnels, with the FBI's HRT providing cover.
In addition to the SEALs, several special operations teams were on standby on Black Hawk helicopters, ready to launch a rooftop raid on the White House.
Jack gagged the two men again, cut their tendons, and dragged them to the laundry room on the first floor below ground like dead dogs.
When he opened the iron door to the tunnel again, he happened to come face to face with Sonny Quinn's big round face covered with oil paint. "Howdy, old buddy, is there no one left in your FBI? Why do you always have to deal with such life-threatening situations?"
Jack sighed and threw the "dead dog" in his hand to him. "I don't want to either. I can only say that my luck may be bad."
"What's the situation in there?" Jason, who also had camouflage ink on his face, asked while helping to take over another prisoner and transporting him back.
"There are about forty to fifty heavily armed terrorists remaining. Those guarding the rooftop are equipped with Stingers and Javelins. A forced attack is not recommended."
Jack briefly summarized the intelligence he'd gathered from the interrogation and then asked, "Any plans for breaking into the PEOC?"
Jason's face was obscured by the camouflage ink, but his body language was enough to convey his emotions. He shrugged helplessly and spread his hands. "No plan. That's a fortress sturdy enough to withstand a nuclear attack.
Steel plates as thick as main battle tanks are embedded within the concrete walls. One or two blasts won't break through the walls, and multiple blasts might cause the tunnel to collapse."
"So the best way is to trick them out?"
Jack had been pondering this. Given the current situation, the fate of the hostages inside wasn't really that important. The sooner the PEOC's underground bunker was breached, the better.
It wasn't that, with Maureen now acting president, Jack was planning to eliminate the person inside and make the situation irrelevant.
In reality, most people, including those in the Pentagon at the time, didn't care much about the "former" president's life or death. In other words, anyone with even a modicum of political sensitivity wouldn't consider the person inside to be a good thing.
Contrary to popular belief, before the 22nd Amendment, the federal Constitution never stipulated a maximum number of consecutive terms for the presidency. The eight-year maximum was more of a tacit understanding. It was
n't until the outbreak of World War II that Franklin Roosevelt, capitalizing on the critical situation at the time, broke this tacit understanding, winning not only a second term but also a third four years later, in 1944.
Of course, as we all know, Roosevelt didn't last long in his fourth term as president, dying of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Interestingly, shortly after Truman, then Vice President, took office, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment, limiting presidential terms, legally ensuring that no one could emulate Roosevelt's example.
However, calls to repeal the 22nd Amendment had been surfacing several years earlier, during the presidency of the businessman who had taken office.
Now that this person has successfully taken over, almost entirely accepting his predecessor's legacy, such calls are becoming increasingly frequent among the Elephant Party members of Congress.
With Congress completely destroyed, the president's power will be infinitely amplified in a short period of time. Once the "president" inside is rescued, he will naturally reclaim these powers.
And with this will come a huge reputation, akin to that of a "war hero."
No one knows what exactly happened within the "PEOC" during this period, but it is foreseeable that this "president" will cultivate a reputation of being unyielding and refusing to surrender.
The center of a nation's capital has been captured, and the enemy's forces are "unclear." But as the person involved, the surviving hero, if the president comes forward to testify, even if he claims it was a conspiracy by the Serbs or the Russians, many citizens will be "willing" to believe it.
At least it sounds more "credible" than the information Jack had previously obtained from the two captives.
What will happen next?
Regardless of who the president targets, without congressional checks, the emergence of a "military" government is almost inevitable, and the people will be in a frenzy, venting their anger on any suspected enemy.
Some might be hoping for this scenario, but most sane people wouldn't want to see it play out this way.
This is why, when the frantic President Yin contacted the Pentagon, threatening the lives of hostages and demanding an ultimatum from the Federation against the northern part of the peninsula, no one paid any attention.
The superficial reason was that the Federation would never compromise with terrorists, but the reality was that no one would start a doomed war over the lives of a few hostages, even if it were still a limited war.
Therefore, a forceful attack was absolutely necessary. Rescuing the hostages was best, but failing that was even worse.
However, a strategic approach was also required. Although the Air Force had already driven away the media helicopters that had dared to intrude into the no-fly zone to take photos of the Capitol and the White House, that didn't stop the "uncrowned kings" from all over the country from forming a three-tiered perimeter around the blockade.
If the situation turned out to be too ugly, it would further exacerbate the already low public sentiment.
So, upon meeting Jason, Jack immediately issued a warning. Jason possessed the Stinger and Javelin, warning the military not to pull off a Black Hawk Down-style stunt in public.
"So, what's your plan?" Rossi asked over the communicator the SEALs had delivered.
Jack outlined his plan: "Have the Pentagon cut off communications with the PEOC, forcing them to bring hostages and publicly issue threats. We'll then set up an ambush."
(End of chapter)