The afternoon of the 15th was a sunny afternoon. Mitch, the Republican leader of the Senate, strode out of the car wearing his two-piece suit, accompanied by two assistants.
Capitol Hill is the office building of the U.S. Congress. It is located on a height 8 feet above sea level in the center of Washington. Washington himself laid the foundation stone for it. It is said to be a mountain. No matter whether it is viewed from a distance or close up, all people see is just a slope. Perhaps the congressmen need an imposing name.
Mickey made his way through a group of reporters. There are only 100 senators in total. Compared with the House of Representatives, which has nearly 500 people, the senators have higher exposure. As the leader of the Republican Party, they are even more sought after by the media. Many political media outlets make a living by messing around on Capitol Hill and the White House during the days when there is no election. Hoping to catch another intern's love story.
According to the Constitution, the Vice President also serves as the President of the Senate, but he does not have the right to vote unless there is a tie in the vote. This means that in the Senate, the leaders of the two factions have become the de facto speaker, and therefore Mitch McConnell has become the most powerful person in the Washington power circle.
To a certain extent, presidents are just passers-by in Washington. They stay here for 4 or 8 years and then disappear. But senators are different. However, Americans also know this. When a senator is labeled as a Washington insider, it is equivalent to being labeled as "unable to be president."
McConnell has long since lost the possibility of becoming president, so he is not pursuing it. As he left the media, he joked with his assistant: "I'm going to give an eight-hour speech today, and then to hell with their bill."
Both assistants laughed. Mickey is over 60 years old, and the muscles on his chin can no longer hold the weight of fat, and they are falling on his neck like chicken gizzards. However, he still has a loud voice and is full of energy, and is guaranteed to be able to speak for 8 hours. This is also the difference between senators and representatives. In theory, senators can give unlimited speeches. If they have not finished speaking today, they can even continue speaking tomorrow. Although other senators also have the right to vote to terminate, unless there is an emergency , they rarely use such power on senior senators like McConnell. It's different in the House of Representatives. They are required to complete the voting on the bill within a limited time, which includes speech time. Therefore, although the number of representatives is several times more than that of senators, the voting speed is faster than that of the Senate.
The most powerful people in the country can be seen everywhere on the long stairs. The Senate is on the north wing of Capitol Hill. Many people on the road greeted Mitch, and he waved friendly one by one. Perhaps this is the most peaceful area in the United States on the surface. .
A postman stumbled over from behind. His vest was a little dirty, and he passed by Mickey with a smell of earth. McConnell frowned and said, "They should clean up the postal service here."
Several assistants laughed and didn't take it seriously. On Capitol Hill, the most common person is the postman, and it is also the busiest. Most of the time, assistants deliver documents to each other for members of the Congress, but once areas outside the Capitol are involved, the postman becomes very useful. Each representative and senator theoretically represents the people of their district, so they receive a large number of letters from their districts every day, and a diligent congressman will sign at least some of the mail processed by their assistants.
Of course, Capitol Hill has strict and not-so-strict vetting procedures, and they only let two unknown gun-toting men enter in one year, just two.
Therefore, Rachel walked in easily. There was fear in his eyes, and he blinked wildly, trying to tell someone something. But no one noticed him, because under the control of Xiaohe's energy, all of Mr. Richer's nerves except his eyes were taken over by the base - a very simple method, only one step further than modern technology.
Rachel didn't know what the "traveller" in this dimension wanted to do, but he knew very well that it must be something quite unfavorable. Especially when he walked into Capitol Hill, he felt more and more uneasy. . Rachel would rather someone rushed out at this time and shot himself to death.
However, no security guard would care. They followed normal procedures and checked his ID and belongings, and then simply let him go. Rachel cursed a bunch of idiots in his heart, although he also knew that those security guards would not stop a postman with complete ID and normal belongings.
Mickey followed Rachel and watched him knock down someone, shaking his head.
By the time he walked into the Senate chamber, it was only 0 minutes before the topic started.
"Sorry, I'm a little late." Mitch smiled to the conservative Senator Hao Carbone on the right: "I'm ready to make a long, long speech..."
"If you need to take a breath, I'm behind." Hao Kaben also opposed today's motion. He said with dissatisfaction: "We cannot allow the Department of Justice to file charges against OPEC members in U.S. courts. If the other party does the same, even Stop the oil supply, what do we do? I hate neoliberals.”
"Oh, don't let Alan hear it, and people like this bill very much." Mitch shrugged: "The Americans think it is unfair, OPEC should not sit back and enjoy the wealth."
"The senators should have more judgment, and the White House will definitely veto this proposal. They can't win two-thirds of the votes." Hao Kaben said bitterly.
The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the president has the right to veto bills in the Senate, but the Senate can also override the president's veto again with a two-thirds vote and directly pass the bill.
Mickey was shaking his head and was about to say something, when he saw the postman bursting in through the door.
There is no media here. Mickey was furious. He pointed at the door and said, "Hey, man, you went to the wrong door."
"United States Senate?" The words Rachel read were strange.
"Sir, you should leave." Hao Kaben said and called again: "Guard, send him out."
"Oh, you can't." Rachel opened his clothes involuntarily, and inside were two thick rows of homemade explosives with metal detonators embedded on them.
In the United States, any explosive produced by an arms company is required by the government to add a special substance to identify the origin and manufacturer of the explosive. In the period after 9/11, this policy achieved good results. The government It is also being promoted to a wider range of raw material fields. When Huang Xuan purchased these raw materials through Raphael's computer, he specially selected two of the monitored raw materials, in very small doses, which were very unnoticeable. But according to Mr. Bin Laden, the CIA's investigative methods are pretty good. As long as they are willing, they don't have to worry about the smallest things escaping surveillance.
Huang Xuan likes the American Bill. There are always people who can easily obtain explosives, such as Abu Sayyaf. Although they have little power in the United States, they are very good middlemen and can also be traced by the CIA.
Rachel's throat, which had lost control, shouted with a loud voice: "These explosives can destroy everyone. Once the button on my hand is released, or my heartbeat stops, the explosives will explode. All senators, come here."
As he said this, Rachel desperately hoped that he could control his breathing and then kill himself by holding his breath. He had already guessed what the traveler wanted to do.
But he had no chance.
Huang Xuan stood in the base, watching the big screen like more than a hundred terrorists. The difference is that he has a microphone in his hand.
A group of terrorist leaders looked at Huang Xuan with envy, and looked at him with wonder as he manipulated Rachel and said, "I want to sue you people who control the United States. As a member of the 'Justice Truth', we will not hesitate to Whatever it takes to destroy you guys who are trying to destroy the world, I promise."
Rachel said, pointing at everyone: "You, divide into two parts, you can do whatever you want, stay away from the window, guard, close the door, pull down the curtains, oh, leave one, I want everyone to see me. Who Don't even try to escape. If the explosives go off, the whole building will be destroyed.
Of course Huang Xuan was telling lies. The explosive power of the homemade bomb was only enough to blow up half of the conference room. He just deliberately extended the time to give the media sufficient preparation time. It was different from 911, which happened suddenly and the Americans had no reaction, and they were led into the battlefield by Bush. They regret it now, it is too late.
"Do as he says." Mitch calmed down at this time. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, about the same age as McCain. Of course, in terms of his achievements in the Vietnam War, he seems to be inferior to McCain.
Huang Xuan put down the microphone with a smile and said: "The next step is the regular way of kidnapping and hostage. Which of you is familiar with this?"
Jian Galani walked over without hesitation and said: "Give it to me, I have kidnapped more foreigners than I have fucked girls."
"Oh, we are civilized people, don't be so vulgar." Huang Xuan handed the microphone to Jian Galani and said: "Xiaohe, three seconds delay."
Kidnapping expert Jane Galani has picked up the baton.
Zawahaoli asked: "When do you want to detonate the bomb? You will involve us all."
Huang Xuan spread his hands and said: "You are already involved. I am not going to blow up all the senators. I should leave at least one third, maybe half better. How many senators are coming to work now?"
"There are 69 people in the room." Xiaohe counted the heads and said: "There is also a guard, and 17 assistants have not left. The vice president is not here."
"Sounds good. Let's inform the media, all over the world." Huang Xuan laughed. (To be continued)