by Pam Funke
A few minutes later she had reached the hangar. She noticed that while everything else had looked run down and abandoned, the air strip and hangar looked brand new. She honked her horn four times and flashed her headlights twice. A minute later a light came on in the hangar and the hangar door opened up. She drove inside before grabbing her Bible and her bag as she got out of the car.
“Halle. Hey, Halle. It’s good to see you. But how did you find us?” Bishop Williams called out.
Halle nearly dropped her things. “What are you doing here, Pastor? I went to the church looking for everyone, but none of you were there. There were a lot of cars parked out front so I went inside. I couldn’t find anyone, but I heard voices coming from the room behind the altar. Then a strange man appeared out of nowhere and told me it was not safe for me to be there. He gave me a piece of paper with directions to come here and the secret phrase to say. So I followed the directions and here I am,” Halle said surprised.
“This safe house is owned by the church. I am glad you came here.”
Bishop Williams gave her a hug. I wonder who the man was that sent Halle here. I wonder if it was the same guy who warned me.
“Is everyone else here from church?” she asked.
“Yes,” Bishop Williams replied. “Now, come on. Everyone will be happy to see you. Then I will show you to your living quarters.”
Halle followed Bishop Williams eagerly. She couldn’t wait to see everyone and to fellowship with them. Plus, she could continue her studying with Bishop Williams. God had answered her prayers.
****
Chee Tsang, the Chief Executive, gathered the China’s military officials together. He was ready for payback. How dare they attack my beloved country? Beijing is now just a smoldering disaster zone. General Baojia Chan was looking over intelligence and working out a war strategy in his head. First, they would attack Israel with missiles then a surprise attack with their army.
“Well General, I want your opinion. What will we gain from this?” Chee Tsang asked.
General Chan looked at the papers then at Mr. Chee Tsang.
“Well, I think this will only work sir, as long as we contain the element of surprise. We then enter the country from here and here,” Baojia said pointing at the military map.
“I see. But would we not have a greater advantage point from here and here?” Chee asked.
“I have planned for the Immediate Action Unit to drop forces in at those locations.”
“But I thought we primarily used them to protect the country from terrorism, riots, and the like.”
“Yes, but as they are extremely good at what they do, we will be using them to strengthen our military forces. The Snow Leopard Commando Unit will protect our country while our military is deployed.”
“Very well then. How long before we can make this happen?”
“It is being done as we speak sir. In a matter of hours, we will have our troops in the air.”
General Chan has done well, although I wish that he had waited for my approval. Chee turned and faced General Chan, “You are doing a fine job. As you don’t have need of my presence I will be taking care of more pressing issues. Do not disappoint me,” Chee said. He then turned and left the room.
General Chan turned back to his staff. “How much longer before the planes are loaded with the troops and equipment?” he asked.
“Sir, they will be ready for takeoff in approximately two and a half hours,” the young soldier said.
“Excellent. Now I want you to launch the missiles at Israel. We will start by creating chaos and panic before the real fun begins.”
“Yes, sir.” The soldier typed in the target locations, the order codes, and hit send.
CHAPTER one hundred and seventy-one
Adolph, Sergei, and Anya watched as missiles appeared to approach the United States, England, France, and Japan. It wasn’t bad enough that they weren’t even real missiles, but Sergei had set the trajectory to appear as though the missiles were being sent from China, Israel, Iraq, Turkey, and Canada—thus making it seem as though their own allies were attacking them. Adolph wished he could actually see the panic and confusion going on back in those countries. He still could not quite understand how this worked. It really did look like actual missiles were hurtling through the sky at various targets.
“Is this what they are seeing?” Adolph asked as he pointed at a computer screen.
“Yes,” Sergei replied.
Adolph stood quietly watching for a moment. “How do you know that this will work? Don’t the countries have defense systems in place against something like this?” he asked.
Sergei turned and looked at Adolph. Is he going to be a problem? He sighed, “Look, Adolph if we didn’t know what we were doing then yes, I suppose that there would be doubts. There are things in place to take care of any issues that should come up. Now, if you don’t mind, can I please get back to what I was doing?”
Adolph nodded quietly. He hadn’t meant to make Sergei angry. But how does it work? What will each country’s defense system do? Won’t the countries verify the intelligence coming in before retaliating? There are so many questions. This just did not seem plausible. He found a chair and sat in it quietly watching the various computer screens. So far, this seems to be working.
CHAPTER one hundred and seventy-two
Janet Chu, the current director of Homeland Security, was currently meeting in secret with representatives from each of the 50 states. They were finally going to have a temporary President, Vice President and Presidential cabinet. The United States needed some guidance right now and the people would be given the opportunity to vote for someone more appropriate later.
“Does anyone have any experience which would govern them as a potential Presidential candidate?” Janet asked.
A couple of hands went up. Janet rubbed her forehead in frustration. How are we going to fill all the positions?
“Okay, let’s do this. Those of you that raised your hands a moment ago, I want you to brief us on your qualifications—a mini campaign if you will. Then after each of you has had your turn, we will vote for the position of acting President, acting Vice President, etcetera,” Janet said sitting down.
Approximately ten people stood up each giving their mini campaign and returned to their seats. Janet had to admit she was very impressed with a few of them; it was going to be difficult to vote.
“Now before we vote, I want to remind you that it is imperative to be fair and think before we vote,” Janet said.
Before they could even start casting their ballots, multiple alarms went off across the room. Everyone in the room tensed up; no one said a single word. Janet got up from her chair and walked over to the computer monitors. She looked at the radar screens then at the man sitting before the computer.
“Tell me that is not what I think it is,” Janet asked.
“Ma’am, I really wish that I could. But we have ten missiles flying into our airspace,” Joe Hogan said panicky.
“Quickly deploy the interceptor missiles.”
Joe looked pale, “I did ma’am, they had absolutely no effect.”
“Where did they come from Joe?”
Joe looked like he was ready to pass out. “Iraq and Canada.”
“Are you telling me those missiles came from our own allies?” Janet yelled pointing at the screen.
Joe was almost afraid to answer, “Yes ma’am, I’m afraid that they have.”
Janet looked back at the representatives; they all had the same expression on their faces.
Janet hesitated for only a moment, “Joe, I want you to return fire immediately. Defend our country.”
Within minutes, real missiles were being launched by the United States targeting Canada and Iraq.
CHAPTER one hundred and seventy-three
Prime Minister Leonardo Winslet was currently meeting with what was left of British Parliament. The majority of Parliament had been housed in London which was destroyed a few da
ys earlier. Prime Minister Winslet was now in charge of England as the Queen was deceased. They were trying to decide the best way to protect their country from any more of those devastating missile attacks. So far no one had any ideas—it was hard to come up with a defense when the missiles came without any kind of warning whatsoever.
A young boy interrupted the meeting when he came in unannounced with the door slamming behind him.
“Young man, what are you doing? We are in the middle of an important meeting here,” Prime Minister Winslet said.
“Yes, but…,” the boy replied waving something in his hands
“What is it?” Prime Minister Winslet asked.
The young boy ran up to the Prime Minister with the notice from Henry Mordaunt, 1st Baron Camoys.
“What is this?” Prime Minister Winslet asked.
“I don’t know sir. I was just told to deliver it to you, sir,” the young boy replied. Prime Minister Winslet took the notice from the boy.
PRIME MINISTER WINSLET, PLEASE COME TO MISILE CONTROL IMMEDIATELY. WE HAVE PICKED UP 8 MISSILES ON RADAR HEADING INTO OUR AIRSPACE. INTERJECTORY MISSILES HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL. ACCORDING TO TRAJECTORY READINGS, THE MISSILE WERE DEPLOYED FROM ISRAEL AND CHINA. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE U TO DO? PLEASE COME WITH THE BOY.
--HENRY MORDAUNT, 1st BARON CAMOYS
Prime Minister Winslet paled; he dropped the notice to the floor and stared at the boy.
“Where did you get this from, son?” Prime Minister Winslet demanded.
“Henry Mordaunt gave it to me sir. He said that I must bring you back with me. Please come now sir, it is extremely urgent,” the young boy said pulling on the Prime Minister’s arm.
Prime Minister Winslet had hoped this was a sick prank by the young boy; but realized that it was not. He dismissed himself from the meeting and followed the boy.
“Henry, how much time do we have?” Prime Minister Winslet asked entering missile control.
“Less than ten minutes to impact sir,” Henry replied.
Prime Minister Winslet frowned, “I want you to retaliate; send return fire immediately,” he said. Seconds later, real missiles were being launched at Israel and China.
CHAPTER one hundred and seventy-four
Antoine Bruyere, Beau Laroque, and Elisabeth Ames were working hard to come up with a defense plan for France. The madness of the world the past few days made them realize they were just as vulnerable as everyone else. That didn’t sit well with them.
“Beau, I haven’t been able to find a way to make the missiles vulnerable. I’ve been going over the video footage of the attacks on Israel and the United States, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to even detect the missiles. Without actually having one of the missiles to study, there is nothing that we can do,” Antoine said.
“And where do you think that we are going to get one of those missiles from? No one knows where they are really coming from,” Elisabeth said.
“Really Elisabeth? Must you be so negative about everything?” Beau replied.
“Okay guys, what do we know about these missiles?” Antoine asked.
“Well, we know that they are undetectable for one. They move swiftly. They are very dangerous—as it takes only two missiles to wipe out an entire city,” Elisabeth said.
Antoine took some photos that they had taken from the videos and placed them up on the board. He walked back and forth studying each of the photos.
“Beau, can you blow up photos 5, 29, and 18?” Antoine asked.
“Sure, is there anything in particular that you want me to focus on?” Beau asked.
“Yes,” Antoine replied circling some areas on the photos.
A few minutes later Beau was posting the new pictures up next to their perspective ones. He then stood back looking at the photos with Antoine. Elisabeth stood staring at the photos.
Is that what I think it is? “Hey guys, do you see what I see?” Elisabeth said suddenly.
“What? What is it, Elisabeth? What do you see because I’m not seeing anything at all?” Beau said.
He stood up and walked closer to the photos. He looked at each of them comparing them for similarities and differences, but he really didn’t see anything. Elisabeth walked up to the stills Beau had blown up. She pointed at the symbol she saw on each of the missiles.
“Don’t these look identical? I think that it may be something. Any idea of what they are or what they represent? This may lead us to who’s behind all of this,” Elisabeth said.
Antoine looked more closely at the photos. Elisabeth might have something there.
“Beau, can you isolate the symbol?” Antoine asked.
Beau isolated the symbol then put it up on the computer screen.
“What are we looking at?” Beau asked.
“Is that what I think it is?” Antoine asked.
Before anyone could reply the radar alarms went crazy.
“What’s going on Beau?” Antoine demanded.
“Hold on a sec, sir,” Beau replied.
Antoine was busy running various programs. After a moment, Beau turned away from the computers pale as a ghost.
“This can’t be—it can’t,” Beau said.
“What is it Beau already?” Elisabeth asked.
Beau was in shock. “We are being attacked by our own allies. Radar has picked up four missiles heading into our airspace,” Beau said.
“What! How is this possible? Are you sure? That can’t be right,” Antoine said.
“It’s accurate sir. Four missiles are entering our airspace from the United States, England, and Japan,” Beau said sadly.
“But why? Why would they do something like this?” Elisabeth asked.
They both looked at her sadly, “I don’t know,” they said in unison.
“Do it, Beau. Return fire,” Elisabeth said.
Beau hesitated and looked at Antoine; Antoine nodded in agreement. Five real missiles were now being launched at the United States, England, and Japan.
CHAPTER one hundred and seventy-five
Prime Minister Sankichi Ikari was watching ICNN news with his aide, Kosuke Nagisa.
“This is a living nightmare, sir. How can this be happening?” Kosuke asked.
“Kosuke, things are strange indeed. But I sense that it’s only going to get worse,” Prime Minister Ikari replied.
Kosuke lowered his head; this deeply saddened him. “What can we do?”
“There’s not much that we can do. We’ll just have to do the best that we can to protect ourselves and the people of Japan.”
Sankichi was just about to turn off the television when a breaking news story came on.
“This is Gage Cameron with an unbelievable story for you today. China has declared war on Israel. They have launched numerous missiles at Israel. These are not the same types of missiles as the attacks earlier on Israel—these are actually detectable by radar. Israel has retaliated by sending return fire. I don’t know how long this is going to be going on. It seems China is holding Israel responsible for the destruction of Beijing. How it is that they’ve come to this conclusion we are unsure. What’s more is that several other countries have also declared war.
The United States has declared war on Canada and Iraq. England has declared war on Israel and China. There have been massive missile strikes today. Is there no end to all of this madness? There are rumors that this is the beginning of another world war. Why are they blaming each other for the strange missile attacks from earlier in the week? Who is behind all of this? We still have no answers. May God be with us all. This is Gage Cameron, ICNN new.”
Kosuke Nagisa stood there with his mouth open. He was completely speechless. This was bad—really bad. He looked at the Prime Minister.
“Was that for real? Tell me that it wasn’t. The world has gone completely mad,” Kosuke said.
Prime Minister Sankichi Ikari didn’t know what to say. He sat there quietly.
“There’s only one thing we can do now; that’s to pray that Buddh
a protects us. No one else can help us now,” Prime Minister Sankichi Ikari said.
Kosuke agreed with him. They were all in a world of hurt now. What are we going to do?
Prime Minister Ikari turned off the television and returned to his desk. He turned his chair towards the window. It was beautiful outside, hardly making sense of any of the day’s madness. His phone started to ring, Kosuke answered it.
“Prime Minister Ikari’s office, Kosuke Nagisa speaking. How may I…Please repeat that. Just a moment,” Kosuke said.
Prime Minister Ikari looked at him in wonder.
“Sir? You are going to want to take this call,” Kosuke said handing him the phone.
“Prime Minister Ikari. Who…...” Sankichi said
“Prime Minister we are in terrible danger. Our radar just picked up five missiles entering our airspace. The interceptor missiles failed, but we don’t know why, ” a woman’s voice reported.
“Are you positive? Who did this thing?” Sankichi asked.
“Our intelligence shows we are being attacked by France and Turkey. Why would they do that sir? I thought they were our allies. What have we done to deserve this?” she asked.
“Thank you, my dear. Go now and collect yourself. Do your job to the best of your ability,” Prime Minister Ikari ordered.
He then picked up another phone—this one was in direct contact with his military.
“General, do what you can to protect this country. But first, I wish for you retaliate by returning missile fire at France and Turkey. Yes, you heard me right. No, just do it,” Prime Minister Ikari replied.
Within minutes, more real missiles were in the world’s airspace headed to various targets.