First Strike by Jack Higgins Page A

in the President. Get him to a safe area now.”
    The agent on the other side of the room was still shrugging and tapping his ear. The man by the door didn’t move.
    There was an audible gasp as the door opened, and the President of the United States stepped into the room.
    The ceramic gun is a myth. There is no firearm available that is made of a substance undetectable by x-ray scanners or metal detectors. The materials that might be used are simply not strong enough. And even if they were, the ammunition would be detected.
    But there are other ways of getting a weapon past security checks. It was a compromise, but Jefferson Kent’s team was willing to sacrifice speed for surprise. It took Kent himself several minutes to assemble his handgun from the metal components of the trumpet he had openlyand legitimately brought through metal detectors and thorough searches into the White House.
    The barrel was disguised as the trumpet’s lead pipe. The stock was the tuning slide. The valves formed the handle and the magazine—bullets and tranquiliser darts had been concealed in lead sheaths within the valve casings.
    The other weapons were just as ingeniously disguised. If everything went to plan—and Kent had no doubt that it would—then Lorraine Metz would have removed the knife concealed in the metal side of her flute case and killed the Secret Service agent escorting her, Hank and Tom to the restrooms. Hank had already quickly assembled his own handgun from a saxophone. Tom would take the agent’s weapon. Then they would make their way to the Situation Room in the basement.
    With all communications into and out of the West Wing already jammed, Jefferson Kent’s next task was easy.
    As the President stepped into the Roosevelt Room, Kent raised the fully assembled handgun and fired.

12
    The sound of the single shot echoed round the room. Plaster fell from the ceiling where the bullet impacted.
    Chuck White was already moving. As soon as the President appeared, he hurled himself towards the door with a shout of warning. His cry was lost in the noise and confusion.
    The members of the orchestra were taking up position around the room, aiming their peculiar, but obviously deadly, handguns. Secret Service agents were drawing their own guns, but they were caught unawares, and there were too few of them in the room.
    Rich saw Steve—the agent with the metal briefcase chained to his wrist—in the corridor behind the President. With his free hand he was drawing his gun. Thefirst shot caught him in the shoulder and spun him round. A second slammed him to the ground.
    The agent standing with the President reacted immediately. He grabbed the President’s shoulders and dragged him back and down, pushing him out of the room. He turned so that his own body shielded his President. Chuck White was there too, dragging them both clear.
    They almost made it.
    Then two shots tore into the agent’s back and he crashed to the floor. But the President was still moving. Chuck White dragged him out into the corridor. Two more agents appeared from the crowd of guests, shielding the President’s escape and returning fire.
    Rich felt himself grabbed from behind. He gave a yell of surprise, then realised it was Dex Halford. Dex gathered Jade with his other arm, and the three of them ran.
    There was noise and confusion. Gunshots and shouts. A bullet kicked up close to Rich’s foot as he reached the door.
    Out into the corridor, the President, Chuck, and the other two agents were just in front of them. They were heading for the Oval Office on the other side of the wide corridor.
    The Oval Office door was suddenly peppered with gunshots. Chuck dragged the President the other way.
    A large man with a dark beard was charging down the corridor, firing as he came.
    â€œHe’s got one of our guns,” one of the agents yelled as they all backed away. A moment later, he was knocked sideways as a bullet