The War Cloud

16

“The federal government can’t do everything,” Sachs said from the podium in the gymnasium. The floor-to-ceiling windows behind her framed the school’s wintry track and field. “But it can do something.”

The bored eyes of the students and faculty began to glaze over. Sachs could see Jennifer slump even lower in her folding chair.

So much for the lecture circuit.

“Please tell me there’s more to the United States of America than a libertarian philosophy of no government, no shared values, no community and the notion that the only moral authority for each of us is ourselves.”

That seemed to perk them up, ironically, because the students and faculty stirred.

“That’s not a country,” she continued with more feeling. “That’s chaos.”

But all eyes were looking over her shoulder. She turned and blinked as two military Black Hawk choppers with side-mounted machine guns landed on the school green and soldiers in field uniforms jumped out.

Suddenly there was a crash from the opposite side of the gym. A dozen men in dark overcoats and sunglasses burst through the doors into the gymnasium.

Some kid yelled, “It’s Rambo!” as the men rushed past Jennifer to get to the podium. The look on Jennifer’s face said, “You really did it now, Mom.”

The leader of the detail halted in front of Sachs. “Secret Service, ma’am. I’m Special Agent Raghav. You are Deborah Sachs?”

“And you are?”

“Special Agent Curtis Raghav. Secret Service. May I see your authentication card?”

Sachs rummaged through her purse and presented her card to Special Agent Raghav.

He looked back and forth at her like a passport inspector at Dulles International Airport, like she was on the terrorist watch list. Then, showing no emotion, he returned the card and nodded to the others. The agents closed ranks in a circle around her. “Please come with us.”

Sachs didn’t budge. “Where?”

“A secure location, ma’am.”

“I’m not leaving my daughter.” She looked over at Jennifer, who took a few steps back into the crowd, trying to disappear.

Raghav nodded to two agents. “Grab the kid.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you goons!” Jennifer shouted as they approached her. “I’m staying with my friends.” She then shoved a prominent middle finger above the heads of the student body and made a break for the opposite exits, the two agents giving her chase.

“Jennifer!” Sachs called out.

But Raghav and the rest tightened their protective ring around her, lifting her an inch off the floor and forcibly carrying her away.

“Smoker Four,” Raghav said into his lapel. “Secure exit!”

The freezing air outside on the school green slapped Sachs in the face. A dozen Green Berets wearing distinctive 1^st Special Forces headgear and holding M-16s guarded the Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawks, their rotors turning impatiently, screaming to lift off. But the commanding officer, a hulking, pock-faced presence in field uniform and jump boots, halted Special Agent Raghav and Sachs’ protective detail with a broad, flat hand.

“I’m Colonel Kyle,” the officer said. “This chopper is reserved for Green Dove. We’ll take it from here.”

Raghav flashed his ID. “Wherever she goes, I go.”

“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter and until you tell me what’s going on,” she demanded, trying to veil her fear.

Colonel Kyle looked like he was about to bark an order but seemed to change his mind when he noticed the sea of faces pressed against the gymnasium glass.

“Green Dove and two agents board Black Hawk One,” he ordered. “The rest of the suits, inside Black Hawk Two.”

Before Sachs could protest, Raghav shoved her hard into the eleven-seat chopper, then climbed in after her with five Green Berets so she couldn’t get out. Kyle was the last to board. He signaled the pilot to lift off.

“This is Marine Six to base,” the pilot spoke into his radio. “Green Dove is airborne. Repeat. Green Dove is airborne. En route to DZ.”

As the Black Hawk lifted off, a furious, helpless Sachs could see students and teachers below, noses pressed to the glass wall of the asium, waving good-bye.

“I’m going to have it out with the president when I see him,” Sachs said. “If anything happens to my daughter…”

“Don’t worry,” Colonel Kyle assured her. “We’ll get her.”