I was standing closest to the door, which was maybe twenty yards away down the corridor. At once I turned, putting my back to the door, and grabbed Nate’s arm with one hand and his laptop with the other and yanked them both up and shoved Nate toward Agent Njeim, who was already stepping forward, her gun raised.
Nate protested, but I propelled him forward, telling him to hide. He was aware of the explosion, of course, but he was more focused on his work to care. Like he was protected inside a digital cocoon and what was happening was nothing more than a slight irritation.
Two seconds had passed, maybe three. The door was shoved open. Heavy footsteps followed.
I pushed Nate inside the utility closet, tossed him his laptop, and then slammed the door shut and turned back to the men pouring into corridor, each aiming assault rifles at us.
The first man shouted.
“On the floor! Put the weapon down and get on the floor!”
Agent Njeim held her ground. She didn’t lower the weapon. I didn’t have a weapon, but I wasn’t going to let these men know that. I kept my hand behind my back, hidden, as if concealing a gun.
There were only three of them, but the firepower between them was enough to tear our bodies to shreds. They didn’t appear to be Army or National Guard. Not the typical uniforms I was used to seeing. Then again, it had been decades since I had bothered to notice anything, so maybe they were proper military. But right now that didn’t change the fact the Vault had just been attacked by terrorists.
The men, seeing that Agent Njeim wasn’t going to lower her weapon, began to advance.
Agent Njeim said, “That’s far enough.”
The men paused, maybe surprised at the confidence in her voice, considering that she had one gun versus their three assault rifles. She might get off a few shots, might take out one of the men, but the other two would surely kill her. The fact that she knew this and didn’t care was enough to give them a moment’s hesitation.
“Get down on the ground.”
The first man said this while the man on his left looked at me again with renewed interest. The lighting was bad in the corridor, just the few emergency lights near the ceiling, so we were mostly in shadows. The men had clearly seen me, but this man was now studying my face.
He said, “Are you Elijah Shepherd?”
I said nothing.
Now the other two men tried to make out my face in the dark.
Agent Njeim said, “Who are you?”
The first man lowered the barrel of his rifle slightly.
“Special Forces. We were called in by the president to secure Mr. Shepherd.”
“Identification?”
The man held Agent Njeim’s gaze.
“We don’t carry identification.”
“We’ll need to check with the White House first.”
“That’s fine, but we’re wasting time. We need to secure Mr. Shepherd now.”
Agent Njeim didn’t move for a long moment, her weapon trained on the three men. Past them, through the open door, snow continued to fall on street.
The first man seemed to make a decision. He relaxed his shoulders, stood up straight, and lowered his rifle. After a moment the other two men did the same.
Agent Njeim lowered her weapon. She raised the radio still in her left hand to her mouth.
“Roger, come in.”
Silence.
“Roger, come in.”
The radio crackled, and Roger’s voice came through.
“I’m on the phone with the president. What is it?”
“Three men are here. They claim to be Special Forces. They want to secure Mr. Shepherd.”
The radio crackled again.
“Yes, apparently the president sent them to do just that. Other men are right now working to open the stairwell and pull everyone up. We’re almost back online.”
As if on cue, the regular lights in the ceiling flickered on.
Roger said, “Ah, there we are. Listen, I need to get back on with the president. But yes, those men are fine.”
The first man motioned at me.
“Let’s go, Mr. Shepherd. We don’t have time to waste.”
Agent Njeim turned back to me.
“You should go with them.”
I nodded. But instead of taking a step toward the men, I turned and opened the door to the utility room. Nate sat on the ground just inside the door, the computer on his lap.
“Anything?”
His head shook.
“I’m still looking. Can’t seem to find anything several blocks out. I mean, yeah, I see some vehicles, but nothing that looks right.”
“What about a helicopter?”
Another shake.
“Doesn’t appear so. I found a camera on Sentry Number Five that was pointed in the direction of Number Six. Nothing came or went during that time.”
I was quiet for a moment, thinking about this.
“What about the subway?”
“What about it?”
“They could have gone underground.”
When Nate shook his head this time, it was with much more force.
“All the trains are shut down.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
By this point Agent Njeim had wandered over to the utility room. The three men stayed back near the door, one of the men now outside keeping watch, the other two men patiently waiting for me.
I said, “Is there a chance that—”
“Look, Mr. Shepherd, no offense, but this is what I do. This is what I’m good at. I appreciate you wanting to help, but right now I need to focus.”
I turned back to Agent Njeim.
“Good luck.”
Then I stepped past her toward the two Special Forces guys.
“I’m ready now.”