The wrought iron gates started to close immediately after the armored limousine sped through them. The driver guided the stretch Cadillac DeVille Touring Sedan down the empty streets of Washington D.C.

As soon as he had received the call from Hannah, not just any call but "the" call, Hartford knew he couldn't be the man Hannah wanted him to be. He immediately called his chauffeur and demanded to be driven to his estate in Pennsylvania. Hartford had always paid his staff very well. He also insisted that everyone who worked for him lived in the lower floors of his apartment building.

Half an hour after the call Hartford was speeding through the empty streets of the nation's capital, the bottle of whisky he took with him now nearly empty. The combination of light traffic along with the red and blue flashing emergency lights built in to the grill of the modified limousine meant the driver would complete the hundred and fifteen mile trip in just a little over an hour.

Ten miles from his apartment however, the driver slowed the limousine and lowered the tinted partition. “Someone's blocking the road sir.”

***

“Hannah said he'd pass this way.”  Henderson slipped the tactical sling of his Heckler & Koch XM8 compact carbine over his head. “Unlock his doors Jake.”

“It’s Jacob, never Jake.”

“Whatever piss ant, just do it.”  And with that Henderson slid out of the Audi Q7 Quattro SUV.

When microprocessors were first produced in the early 1970s a short range wireless system was integrated into the low level design during original conception. Since the technology was unknown to all but a select few it was widely accepted by the engineers as part of the fundamental requirements of a microprocessor. And now thirty years later, anything that used a microprocessor, which was practically everything, had a dormant wireless backdoor just waiting for the proper activation code.

And Hannah had provided that code to Jacob.

During the armored limousine’s customization process everything about the Cadillac DTS was enhanced, modified or replaced; including the electronics. But it didn't matter. The original car manufacturer’s embedded electronics were all he needed.

Jacob’s hands flew over the keyboard of his Panasonic Toughbook as he remotely accessed the computer in the limousine that supplied virtual processors for the cruise control, the air conditioning and the door locks.

***

Hartford watched through the windshield as someone approached the limousine before the figure disappeared along the tinted side windows. He had seen what could only be an assault rifle in the hands of the man that was now walking up to the back of the limo.

But Hartford was not worried. Nothing short of a rocket propelled grenade would be able to open the door he was sitting next to.

Suddenly the door locks popped up, the door immediately swung open and the assault rifle pointed right at him.

“Hello Mr. Speaker.”

“What do you want?”

“I already have everything I want.”  The man holding the assault rifle leaned down to look into the limousine and smiled. “Hannah has seen to that.”

He lowered the assault rifle, sat down next to Hartford and closed the door. “But we would like to borrow your house for a while.”

“What do you need my house for?”

“I have a very special houseguest, but I don't have a house,” the man turned and looked Hartford directly in the eyes. “Hannah said we could borrow yours.”

And with that the man swiftly exited the limousine and strode back to his own car. Hartford watched as the SUV backed up off of the road to let them pass. He shivered with the dreadful knowledge that he could never hide from Hannah.

After the call, his first thought was to escape to his Pennsylvania estate and give himself time to figure out how to sever all ties to Hannah. Politics was a game played much like chess and Hartford had always considered himself to be a skillful player, when he was sober. But as the headlights from the SUV shown through the back window of the limousine as they drove north towards his estate he realized he was not a player but just a piece on the board. And not one of the good pieces like the king or bishop or even a rook. He realized he was nothing but a lowly pawn.

And with Hannah as the grandmaster he had no free will.

And with her playing such a strong game, who was she playing against?

And who were the other players on the board?