Designated Survivor by John H. Matthews Page B

destruction is more accurate. How much more Semtex you have?”
    “Enough to take down a tank,” Holden said.
    “That should do it,” Grace said. “Holden, Levi, Chip and Avery you’re with me. Netty and Corbin, you’re here to watch the door.”
    “Shit,” Netty said.
    “Don’t worry. There’s plenty more to come, Netty,” Grace said.
    Grace moved out with the three men and went back down to the first floor of the Capitol. They stood in the center hall that ran under the House Chamber.
    “I need a few desks pulled from offices to give Holden enough height to reach the ceiling,” Grace said. “After that we’ll need more desks to stack up to use as stairs.”
    Holden looked up at the ceiling and grimaced. “Are we gonna . . . ”
    “Yes, we are,” Grace said.
    “Don’t you think there’s some bad guys in there?” Holden said.
    “When terrorists go to all the trouble to wire an entire building they’re really good at making sure they’re out of the way of their own explosives,” Grace said. “My guess is that the worst people in that room are members of Congress.”
    “You’re the boss,” Holden said.
    “Pick your spot as close to the middle of the hall as possible. No C4 was found through here and we want to stay as far away from it as possible. We need at least a ten by ten square with clean lines. We should be dead center in the middle of the house chamber upstairs.”
    “How are we going to let people know that a huge fucking hole is about to be blown in their floor?” Avery said.
    Grace looked up as he stepped to the center of the hallway. “How thick do you think the ceiling is?”
    “Couple feet, probably,” Holden said. “Maybe more. Also depends on what the floor above is made of.”
    “Start shaping your charge, Avery come with me,” Grace said.
    The two men worked their way up to the first floor and down the hallway that led to the center of the building. They entered the circular room below the great rotunda, weapons up, moving opposite directions to clear the large area. Once clear, Grace began scanning the dome above them.
    “What are we looking for?” Avery said.
    “The rotunda’s been under construction for a few months. We’re looking for tools,” Grace said.
    They walked around the room close to the walls to get a better viewpoint of the ceiling above.
    “Nothing,” Avery said.
    “The stuff they’re using is too big and heavy to haul out of here every day,” Grace said.
    He turned and went through the opening facing west into the stairwell.
    “Bingo,” Grace said.
    Avery followed him in. The walls of the landing to the stairwell were lined with industrial carts covered with tarps.
    “Uncover all of them, let’s see what we have,” Grace said.
    Avery moved right and Grace left as they began to pull back the thick canvas tarps revealing cans of plaster, brushes and ladders.
    “Boss,” Avery said. “Think this would work?”
    Grace turned around to see Avery holding up the end of a huge drill with a four-foot bit that was thicker than you could wrap your hand around.
    “I think it will,” Grace said. “Let’s get moving.”
    Avery and Grace took each end of the heavy tool and went back through the building until they reached the hallway where Holden was placing straight rows of orange plastic explosives on the ceiling in a clean square.
    “Perfect,” Grace said. “Now help us get this up there.”
    They lifted the drill up to Holden who picked it up like it weighed nothing.
    “What do you want?” Holden said.
    “One clean hole right up into the house chamber,” Grace said.
    Avery got the other end of the power cord plugged in around the corner in an office.
    “What about all that C4?” Holden said.
    “C4 doesn’t mind a bit of vibration,” Grace said. “As long as we don’t send a signal to the detonators, we’re fine.”
    Holden pointed the bit up and placed it onto the ceiling and paused then pulled the handle to turn the drill on.