Falling Through Time: Basking in Firelight: Book 2

Does Anyone Know What's Going On?

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Warnings: Childish bickering and there isn't really a bloodbath. Yet.

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"Treeline of the Presidential Manor. Incognito. Bring stuff."

That's all the text said. Jefferson slid his phone back into his pocket and immediately went to get stuff.

Jefferson stole onto the Manor's grounds and immediately saw a flaw in Hamilton's instructions. Where? There were trees surrounding the entire place. He could be at any spot on the treeline.

Okay, just think tactical advantage. Jefferson scanned the terrain. There, the slight rise, that's where'd he be. On the other side of the goddamned place. Jefferson huffed and began the trek around the Manor through the darkened forest. Luckily, it was a moonless night, he was nothing more than a ghost story. A part in the back of his mind wondered, if he was practically invisible, how would Madison and Burr move through these shadows.

He found Hamilton exactly where he thought he would be, Hamilton and someone else it seemed. Was that Laurens? Jefferson approached silently and slid a hand onto Hamilton's shoulder, "What's going on?"

Hamilton sensed Jefferson presence so his sudden appearance didn't bother him in the least. Laurens, however, jumped five feet in the air and whirled around to deck Jefferson in the face. Jefferson chuckled slightly, easily dodging Laurens' frightened swing at his face. "Relax there, Laurens, it's only me," Jefferson soothed.

"Bloody hell," Laurens whispered, "How'd you sneak up so quietly?"

Hamilton cut in, "Did you bring the stuff?"

"Yep," Jefferson said cheerfully, his voice low, swinging the bag from off his shoulder and dropping it to the ground with a heavy thump.

"I recognize that bag..." Laurens said, "That's the one you had at the rally."

"I guess?" Jefferson couldn't remember the rally. He zipped it open and started handing out weapons. All sorts of fun weapons. Jefferson saw that Hamilton had worn the dark Kevlar body armor Jefferson had designed. It wasn't his normal one, this was one was one of the newer ones. Jefferson grinned. It was updated and much cooler. Everything the other suits didn't have, that one did. They must be having fun tonight. Good thing Jefferson wore his too.

Jefferson's looked much different than Hamilton's since they had such different tastes. Hamilton preferred a rifle and then only one pistol. Jefferson was very much attached to his duel silver guns. Hamilton's had a short coat to prevent it getting caught in any slings attached to his rifle. Jefferson's coat reached his ankles, designed to be able to hold his cane when he was dual wielding. There were all sorts of different features about them but now wasn't the time for Jefferson to be admiring how well Mulligan put them together and how good Hamilton looked in it.

"You still haven't let me know what's going on," Jefferson said.

Laurens decided he better be the one to explain. "Goveys attacked the Manor, trapping all the presidents, vice president, and cabinet members inside."

"How many?" Hamilton asked.

Laurens shook his head. "I don't know. A lot. Enough to storm the Manor."

That would be a lot indeed. Jefferson designed the place to have a strong defense, remembering the story of the British burning down the White House in the War of 1812. He didn't want that happening all over again but at this rate, it might. Jefferson pulled one of his pistols out of nowhere, twirled it around, and said, "Well it's our turn to storm the castle."

Hamilton grinned.

"What's the plan then?" Laurens asked.

"Hamilton and I go in, kill all the Goveys, and rescue everyone," Jefferson replied simply. He was getting too accustomed to suicide missions.

"That, is in no way, a real plan. Besides, it leaves me out of it. No way am I sitting here on my ass while you two go gallivanting about down bloody hallways. Fuck that. New plan," Laurens said.

"Nonsense, that was a perfect plan," Jefferson said.

"Thomas, we are not leaving Laurens on a hill, in the middle of the night, alone in a place crawling with Goveys," Hamilton said.

"Thank you!" Laurens replied.

"Nonsense, we'll leave him some toys," Jefferson chuckled.

"We'll break into the Manor and clear it steadily and together," Hamilton said.

"Okay, I'm going to pretend there's only one problem with that plan and ask, how are we getting in?" Laurens asked.

Hamilton looked to Jefferson, he was the architect after all. He thought about it for a moment, going over all the different routes of the Manor. "E-1," he said finally.

"What?" Laurens asked, confused. Hamilton just nodded like he understood. "All those crazy plans and you're not going to knock on the front door?" Laurens asked.

"Darlin, we've done that already, gotta change it up a bit."

"Jeez, John, liven it up a bit," Hamilton laughed.

"There's another problem though. If we're using the tunnels, we can't all go together. Two at max. We can't be heard through the walls as we go running through the Manor," Jefferson informed.

"I thought you soundproofed the place?" Hamilton asked.

"I said I soundproofed some of the place. Not all of it."

John was completely lost. "What are you guys talking about?"

"E-1 is an emergency evac route. It'll get us inside and drop us out into the kitchens. There is then an entire web of paths leading out of the kitchen to almost everywhere in the Manor. We use those and move like ghosts through the place, clearing it out slowly but surely," Jefferson explained.

"Like a horror movie," Hamilton added.

"Exactly. Only we can't all move together. We'd have to split up. Two at the most though I'd prefer each of us to go separately," Jefferson went on, "We'd each claim a floor a work through it."

"Great, except we don't know the passages like you do," Hamilton reminded Jefferson, "we'll get lost."

"See? This is why we should've just stormed in. Things usually go well when we do that. Now that we've made a plan, a sucky plan mind you, people are gonna die," Jefferson pointed out.

"Don't say that," Hamilton said.

"You're right. People aren't going to die, they'll just be injured and mentally scarred for the rest of their lives."

"That's not any better," Hamilton said.

"You two have gotten so wrapped up in your own egos you forgot that over half of the people in there have served in the war right next to you. They're already mentally scarred and know how to fight," Laurens pointed out, "We're not useless."

"Isn't Angelica a cabinet member this term?" Hamilton asked.

"Oh shit, you're right. They probably don't even need us. Angelica will probably slice them up and dump them out windows," Jefferson said.

"Can we stop sitting around and actually do something?" Laurens asked, "If this were a book we would've spent the entire chapter bickering like children."

"Shit, you're right. Let's move."

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