Read Online April 4: A Different Perspective by Mackey Chandler - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mackey Chandler
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different than those he was watching at the hotel. When they cut away to a view of the doors where the President should appear it was a different angle. None of that mattered to him.
His server dropped off a carafe of coffee and went away. On the TV they went back to the doors and kept the camera pointed there. On his web cam a procession of heavy vehicles turned off the road and actually drove over the grass right up to the loading dock and rear entry of the building. Two of the Marines inside came out and they propped one of the double doors open all the way against the rail on the landing outside. On TV the bright rectangle of the doorway was just a glare from inside. You couldn't make any detail out through the contrast.
In the view from his cam the agents formed a corridor. Some faced outward, some clustered around the President as she was walked the three meters from the vehicle to the concrete stairs that climbed to almost the floor level of the building. It was six steps up to a square concrete pad about three meters on a side with a steel rail all around and a slight threshold up into the hall.
An agent on each side climbed the stairs with the President. They refrained from touching her and she didn't move to take either's arm, but they kept her from using the hand rail on either side by their presence.
When Otis saw her blond head appear, set lower between the two agents as she neared the top, he reached in his pocket and hit the send bar on the phone. The crack of the window breaching charge came clearly over the TV.
The unexpected report made the President miss her last step to the top level. Her dress shoe caught the edge but slid on the steel edging pitching her forward. Both agents grabbed at where she'd been, but she was scrambling to catch her balance, past recovery, arms wind-milling.
Three very fast steps carried her forward, losing ground each step until she hit the slight threshold that fully tripped her. She hit inside flat on her face on the concrete, breaking her nose. The blood that squirted in a double gush down both sides of her white jacket looked far worse than the actual injury.
When the back of the President's head dropped from view on his web cam Otis turned it over and shifted his view to the TV. President Wiggen appeared through the door with both arms thrown back and high, like she'd been struck with great force from behind. When she landed on the floor she slid forward about three feet before she rolled over on her back. The bright blood on her front looked horrible and before any more could be seen a jacket was thrown over her and a hand appeared to cover the camera lens.
Nothing more being visible on the TV, Otis checked the cell again. Almost everyone outside had a weapon in their hands now. An agent at the base of the short stairs outside had both hands in a sports bag at his feet. When he straightened up he had a squat cylinder over his shoulder and turned to the left. Before Otis could pan the camera back a swirl of dust and the smoke of an expelling charge announced he'd launched a mini-missile at the window, where the hole in the glass would be obvious to the world.
The TV was still black with the camera lens covered, but apparently it was still transmitting, because there was a hash of raw noise from the blank screen announcing the missile detonation. Barely on the heels of the TV a deep thud shook the restaurant windows, even though it was a full city block from the hotel.
Otis switched to the other web cam he hadn't zoomed in. Across the street thick black smoke poured out of an open rectangle in the side of the hotel. The missile had blown out the flimsy outer wall and windows and the glow from within said the room was gutted by the thermobaric round, right out to the concrete walls. Otis shut down the phone and pocketed it.
Chapter 9
April hugged Papa-san and Mother as soon as she stepped in Heather's place for their meeting. She saw Sylvia wasn't there. It was a
His server dropped off a carafe of coffee and went away. On the TV they went back to the doors and kept the camera pointed there. On his web cam a procession of heavy vehicles turned off the road and actually drove over the grass right up to the loading dock and rear entry of the building. Two of the Marines inside came out and they propped one of the double doors open all the way against the rail on the landing outside. On TV the bright rectangle of the doorway was just a glare from inside. You couldn't make any detail out through the contrast.
In the view from his cam the agents formed a corridor. Some faced outward, some clustered around the President as she was walked the three meters from the vehicle to the concrete stairs that climbed to almost the floor level of the building. It was six steps up to a square concrete pad about three meters on a side with a steel rail all around and a slight threshold up into the hall.
An agent on each side climbed the stairs with the President. They refrained from touching her and she didn't move to take either's arm, but they kept her from using the hand rail on either side by their presence.
When Otis saw her blond head appear, set lower between the two agents as she neared the top, he reached in his pocket and hit the send bar on the phone. The crack of the window breaching charge came clearly over the TV.
The unexpected report made the President miss her last step to the top level. Her dress shoe caught the edge but slid on the steel edging pitching her forward. Both agents grabbed at where she'd been, but she was scrambling to catch her balance, past recovery, arms wind-milling.
Three very fast steps carried her forward, losing ground each step until she hit the slight threshold that fully tripped her. She hit inside flat on her face on the concrete, breaking her nose. The blood that squirted in a double gush down both sides of her white jacket looked far worse than the actual injury.
When the back of the President's head dropped from view on his web cam Otis turned it over and shifted his view to the TV. President Wiggen appeared through the door with both arms thrown back and high, like she'd been struck with great force from behind. When she landed on the floor she slid forward about three feet before she rolled over on her back. The bright blood on her front looked horrible and before any more could be seen a jacket was thrown over her and a hand appeared to cover the camera lens.
Nothing more being visible on the TV, Otis checked the cell again. Almost everyone outside had a weapon in their hands now. An agent at the base of the short stairs outside had both hands in a sports bag at his feet. When he straightened up he had a squat cylinder over his shoulder and turned to the left. Before Otis could pan the camera back a swirl of dust and the smoke of an expelling charge announced he'd launched a mini-missile at the window, where the hole in the glass would be obvious to the world.
The TV was still black with the camera lens covered, but apparently it was still transmitting, because there was a hash of raw noise from the blank screen announcing the missile detonation. Barely on the heels of the TV a deep thud shook the restaurant windows, even though it was a full city block from the hotel.
Otis switched to the other web cam he hadn't zoomed in. Across the street thick black smoke poured out of an open rectangle in the side of the hotel. The missile had blown out the flimsy outer wall and windows and the glow from within said the room was gutted by the thermobaric round, right out to the concrete walls. Otis shut down the phone and pocketed it.
Chapter 9
April hugged Papa-san and Mother as soon as she stepped in Heather's place for their meeting. She saw Sylvia wasn't there. It was a
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