Russian Roulette

Chapter 35 : Being the witness

The White House, Washington DC (Present day)

A flash of a camera used to capture evidence crackled through the room, as the man holding the camera walked around the crime scene to capture more photos. The FBI screamed up at the White House in just a few minutes responding to the explosion that occurred outside the office of the Vice President of the United States located in the West Wing. Standing a few feet away from the crime scene as both the sole witness and the victim I watched as the team of forensic officers does their job. No longer dressed in the bloodied suit I previously wore, a white single-sleeved shirt, a pair of navy pants and a pair of court shoes, I waited for my statements to be taken. The pants have to be loose-fitting no thanks to the cuts I sustained on both of my legs. Bruce stood a few feet away, along with the Secret Service agent in charge of my protection detail as they observed the scene. 

An FBI agent stepped forward, a notepad in his hand. "Madam Vice President." he greeted me as politely as he was trained to which, I waved him off with my good hand. "I'm going to take your statement of the attack."

"Agent... Tsujihara." I noted the name tag. "Don't worry about manners. Considering that I'm also a former colleague."

"We heard a lot about your work, I wasn't expecting to interview you in person."

"There's always a first for everything." I say. 

"So..." the agent flipped through his notebook. "How did the explosion unfold?"

"I was doing some readings in my office when I heard a knock on the door. At first, I thought it was my chief of staff but there was the freaking vase."

"A vase, that exploded?" the agent looked at me. "Sorry, I find it hard to believe Madam Vice President."

"I'm not finished, there was an IED of sorts in the vase, triggering it almost instantly when I was a few steps away."

"Well, that's quite an explosion we got." Tsujihara said, noting my wounds. "No other witness?"

"Just me." I said as the agent jolted down the statements. "In case you're asking, no, I don't have any vases placed opposite my office door." The agent's chin slightly shifted while jolting down the notes. 

"But to be honest, who is that dumb enough to try and assassinate you?" Tsujihara asked me. "No offense but normally the culprits target presidents instead of vice presidents."

"Well... I don't think it's DPRK agents, since they have tried, and failed to kill me once."

"Still a legendary tale in the CD, I've gotta say Madam Vice President, you've got the resume."

"I don't spend my time serving abroad to have my ass kicked when I returned from the Afghan and Syrian front."

"That's all then." the agent declared, closing back his notebook. "Thank you for your cooperation." After that we moved to the Executive Residence again, this time, in the President's study. 

The room was silent, even after the three of us came back from the scene. President Reagan sat on his couch, staring into the fire and without a word. Jack and Andrew stood by the president's side, conveying gestures to tell that the man is thinking things in his brain. He knows that the vice president is in terrible danger and she couldn't stay here as it could prolong her exposure to dangerous situations and more deadly attacks. Then he stood up and approached me. "You're gonna have to stay at the Big Barn, lay low until we can figure out what happened. You're still in charge of the investigation, work from there." he said. 

Hours later

Marine One landed on the South Lawn in the dead of night. I only allowed my Secret Service agent to accompany me on the chopper due to the current situation. Taking my newly born daughter along with me the four of us sat in the chopper and it lifts silently into the air. Bruce joined me on this trip, sending his sons away for them to go on their own missions for safety reasons. Our grips started to get tighter on his side, as now he has one more person to worry about in this situation. Because of this Ryan and I can no longer meet and have to communicate by video conference. It has been the president's plan to get me on Marine One to create a diversion but I doubted that it would last long. The aircraft landed in the bluish morning skies on the lawn of a ranch doubling as both the president's retreat and safehouse. The place has been attacked before by terrorist insurgents but now it's all fixed up.