CHAPTER THIRTY THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, DC
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON, DC
January 10
There’s a first time for everything.As the military helicopter passed over the rooftop of the White House, Suki gripped the armrests, gazed out the window, and watched the lawn approaching. She wore a headset and microphone, as did her mom, Jane Louise, and the others in the helicopter.
“Is this the president’s helicopter?” Suki asked, looking at Lund, seated across from her.
He shook his head. “It looks similar, but this one’s a VH-60N White Hawk. His is a Sea King. It has some special mods.”
“You’d think so,” Suki said. Her stomach twittered as the helicopter started its descent. She glanced at her mom, taking in Sarina’s improved color. She had a new insulin pump attached, and her blood sugar was under control and being monitored real-time. The doctor at the Marine Corps hospital in Quantico had given her lots of IV fluids too. Her mom nodded out the window with a small smile.
It was normal for uniformed marines to be the honor guard for the president’s comings and goings. But the marines who’d come out to greet the helicopter were dressed in camo, faces painted, and were loaded for bear.
When the door to the helicopter was opened, the noise of the rotors became deafening. They left their headsets behind, and the marines helped them disembark. They were on the south lawn, close to the rounded part of the building’s facade with its distinctive columns. As they walked quickly away from the furious winds caused by the helicopter, Suki shielded her eyes to survey the portico. Her brothers came running out at full tilt.
Seeing them, Suki grinned with relief and motioned for her mom to look. Walking after the boys was a tall guy in a suit with ginger hair and glasses, flanked by men in FBI jackets.
“Mom! Suki!” Lucas shrieked in relief. They met midway across the lawn, and the boys nearly tackled their mom in a double hug. They looked so freaked out and worried that Suki’s heart hurt for them. They’d been through a lot.
“I hardly recognized you two,” Sarina said, her voice catching. She ran her fingers through Lucas’s dyed locks, while peeking underneath Brillante’s hoodie. “You’re both taller! And more handsome. Look at you!”
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Lucas said. “And I’m really glad you’re not as old as Abuelita! Oh, Mom!”
The twins went for Suki next and nearly bowled her over.
“Whoa, it’s okay! It’s gonna be okay,” Suki said. She accepted the hugs, though, and tousled Lucas’s hair. Brillante gave her a hug.
Jane Louise smiled at the twins, and when they both stood awkwardly in front of her, unsure of what to say, she hugged them both. Lucas had an extra big smile on his face when she did.
“This is Director Wright, the head of the FBI,” Lund explained, introducing him to the rest of the family. “He personally picked up the boys from the Lincoln Memorial.”
“We’ve been hiding out from that bad dude who got Dad,” Brillante said with a trembling voice. “Man, this sucks.”
“And they brought us here, to the White House!” Lucas said. “Like, the actual one!”
“I thought it was evacuated?” Suki asked.
Director Wright nodded. “It has been, except for the military. They’ve swept the entire building with K-9 squads. No sign of Calakmul. We were hoping, Suki, that you’d take a look as well?”
They’d already asked that, of course, and she nodded. “I’m ready.” Calakmul had taken her dad. She would do anything she could to help rescue him.
Director Wright turned to one of the soldiers. “Keep the White Hawk here. If we need to leave quickly, I want it available.”
“Yes, sir,” said the marine.
“Where’s the president?” Lund asked.
“A secure location, but he’s itching to come back. The UN Security Council is calling a meeting to talk about the abductions. We need intel going into it.”
Suki and the others walked across the stiff grass, and then they entered through the portico doors.
“We got to go to the Capitol yesterday,” Brillante said. “And now we’re in the White House. This is nuts! But I’d rather be back home as a family.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to get your father back. But we need your help too. We’re going to walk through every hallway, every room,” Director Wright said. “Starting with the ground floor. If you see anything unusual, let us know. As I understand it, not just anyone can see the kem ?m. Is that how it’s pronounced?”
“You said it right,” Suki replied. She looked both ways as they walked down the entrance, but nothing stood out.
“Let’s hold hands,” Sarina suggested. “That boosted our ability before.” She took Jane Louise’s with her left and Suki’s with her right. With the three of them linked, Suki felt the power of the magic begin to race through her.
Instantly, she sensed a brooding power within the building.
She stopped and looked at her mom. “Feel that?”
“I do,” Sarina said.
“It’s that way,” said Jane Louise, reaching out and pointing.
“All three of you feel it?” Director Wright asked with a surprised tone.
“We have a special connection to the magic of Ix Chel,” Suki explained. “The three of us together. But what’s here is powerful. It gives off a strong ... vibe. Sorry, that’s the best word I know to describe it.”
“Whoa,” Lucas whispered.
“Show us,” Director Wright said.
The three of them walked in lockstep with each other. It didn’t take long to reach the right corridor. The presence of dark magic gave off a strong, intense feeling. As soon as Suki saw the obsidian mirror on the wall, she felt fear snaking through her.
“It’s bad magic,” Jane Louise whispered.
Sarina nodded. “It’s evil.”
“What’s evil?” Director Wright said. “I don’t understand.”
“That,”Suki said, pointing to an obsidian mirror mounted to a wooden frame on the wall. Then she noticed the glyph in the corner, glowing with kem ?m. It was an invisibility glyph, like the one she’d seen on the Dresden Codex. “Oh, you can’t see it.” The frame looked really old, like it had been hanging there a long time. Maybe Calakmul had added the glyph before departing through it so his trail would be hidden.
“I see it,” Brillante said. “That’s pretty sus.”
Suki invoked the magic of her ring and the bracelet, and the glyph vanished. “Now can you see it?”
Director Wright stared in surprise. The mirror on the wall had been invisible to him before, but he could obviously see it now. “That’s been hanging in this corridor for years. Didn’t think about it being missing until now.”
“That’s how Jacob Calakmul got in here,” Sarina explained. “It’s called a smoking mirror, and it’s part of the magic of the god Huracán. He’s the founder of the Order of the Jaguar Priests.”
Suki’s stomach churned with fear. The obsidian mirror was issuing plumes of black smoke. Its magic had been activated. But not by them.
“They’re coming,” Suki warned.
“Who’s coming?” Director Wright asked.
Lund drew his weapon. “You can take down their shields?”
Suki felt her mom squeeze her hand. She, her mom, and Jane Louise exchanged looks and then shifted their attention to the obsidian disk. The power of Ix Chel rose within Suki, and the image of a glyph came to her mind.
“Raqinik,”she said forcefully.
At the command, she felt a surge inside her chest, amplified by the combined strength of her mom and Jane Louise. A loud cracking noise filled the air, and the obsidian mirror and its wooden frame broke into pieces and fell onto the carpet. The noise was earsplitting and frightening.
The plumes of dark smoke wafted away and vanished.
Director Wright had his hands over his ears but let them fall away as the noise stopped.
“That’s how he got in,” Suki said. “It’s a portal. Someone was about to come through to our side. They were probably watching us.”
“Whoa,” Brillante murmured. “You stopped them!”
“The mirror is broken. They can’t use it again,” Sarina said.
“Could we have used the portal to get inside their hideout?” Lund asked. He edged forward, looking at the obsidian shards on the carpet.
“Only the followers of Huracán can use them,” Sarina said. “Not even Ix Chel knows their secret.”
“Are there any more in the building?” Director Wright asked. “Or was this the only one?”
Suki could no longer feel the dark magic. “That was it.”
“Dark magic or not,” Lund said angrily, “I wish I could’ve used it to get Mr. Roth back. We’re clearly at a disadvantage here.”
“I’ll let the CIA director know about the mirrors,” Wright said. “I’m presuming there are mirrors like this in London and Berlin.”
Lund shook his head, frowning in frustration.
An idea came to Suki’s mind. She looked at her mom. “There is another way to get in and out of the temple. The same way you used.”
Lund turned around, his eyebrows lifting. “Wait ... you can get back in?”
Sarina nodded. “But only from Cozumel,” she said. “That island is a conduit of Ix Chel’s power. When we’re there, we can travel from one shrine to another in moonlight. It only works at night. That’s how we escaped. The grounds are extensive, and there are hidden shrines to Ix Chel that I’m sure Calakmul doesn’t know about. He’ll probably have the main shrine guarded if he hasn’t already destroyed it.”
“But can you bring people with you?” Lund asked emphatically.
“What are you suggesting?” Sarina asked. “That we go back?”
“Are there any Special Forces teams already down there?” Lund asked Wright hopefully.
“We have a SEAL team on an aircraft carrier in the area and the 82nd Airborne is ready to deploy,” Wright said. He looked at Suki’s mom. “Mrs. Roth, our soldiers can’t do anything against Calakmul’s priests without help. But if we can take down their magic shields, our bullets would work, right? It might be the only way to save the hostages before Calakmul sacrifices them. Including your husband.”
Sarina lowered her head. “As long as my children are safe, I’ll do it. I’ll take you there.”
“Mom!” Lucas gasped, eyes wide with fear. “You can’t go!”
Suki felt a knot of pain in her heart at the thought of her mom going. Even though she had been given fluids and was on regulated insulin again, it would take a day or so for her to bounce back from her weakened state. And even if Jane Louise hadn’t been too young, Suki suspected the girl was only a conduit for Ix Chel’s power, not able to use the kem ?m by herself. It was a terrifying thought, but Suki was the best choice for this mission.
A realization struck her hard. She was the one Ix Chel had chosen to help. And if there was any way she could stop her dad from dying, she was going to do it.
“No, I’ll go,” Suki volunteered.