by Dirk Patton
“Why didn’t you leave?” I asked.
“Thought about it, but go where? Far as we could tell, nothin’s left.”
I nodded as we kept walking.
“What about those girls they took, Nitro?”
I turned my head to look at him as we moved. He lowered his head before answering.
“We didn’t know,” he said. “Only found out about it after your big Russian friend back there came and got them. He took out a bunch of militia guards doing it, and they went apeshit. That’s when we knew. That’s when the General decided she’d had enough. We came here today to push the issue.”
“Push the issue? You were a bit outnumbered and outgunned.”
“Fuck that,” Nitro grumbled. “We found out about those girls, somethin’ had to give. I ain’t sittin’ back while shit like that’s goin’ on, and neither was the General.”
“You’re pretty attached to her, aren’t you?” I asked gently.
“She’s a good person,” Nitro said. “Got caught by surprise, just like the rest of us. Lost her husband during the attacks. Sean, the guy you talked to when I called. He was a good guy, too.”
We walked in silence for a bit as I thought about what he was saying. I believed him, but only because I knew him.
“So, was their leader one of the guys we put down in the hangar?”
“No. Those were just some assholes that were itching to set off that fuckin MOAB they found at Nellis. William, their leader, is off somewhere. Don’t know where, or what he’s up to, but you can bet it ain’t good, whatever it is. If he’d been here, he’d of had a couple hundred men inside with him, and we’d be in a world of shit. He may be a whack job, but he ain’t stupid.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that. Was just glad the asshole hadn’t been here. But, the news lent a new sense of urgency to getting the hell out of here. As I was still thinking about what Nitro had told me, we arrived at the security office. I was surprised, and unhappy, to find Tiffany in the corridor, crawling all over the foam machine as she examined it. She was alone and unarmed.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, a little too brusquely.
She stopped her inspection and looked at me, eyes reflecting the fact that I’d hurt her feelings.
“Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean for it to sound like that. Didn’t anyone tell you there are infected on this level? We ran into eight of them on the way to medical.”
The hurt was replaced with fear as she glanced around at the empty corridor that stretched away from us into the distance.
“No one told me,” she said.
I bit back several things I wanted to say. I’d transmitted a warning. Everyone who had a radio had acknowledged they’d received it. For some unknown reason, they hadn’t bothered to pass on the information, and now Tiffany was out here without any protection.
“Come on inside with Johnson,” I said, pulling her to her feet.
Without argument, she followed us into the security room and headed for a chair in the far corner. Dog went with her, sitting close and putting his head in her lap for attention. Johnson was bent over the control console, working on something, and didn’t bother to look up.
“When I tell you there’re infected running around, I expect you to not let someone that’s unarmed go hang around out in the open,” I said.
He looked up in surprise, then turned towards Tiffany when I nodded in her direction.
“Don’t yell at him. He didn’t know I was out there,” she said.
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
“Sorry,” I said to Johnson.
“No worries, sir,” he said. “If I’d known, I’d have made her come in here with me.”
“So, what’s the militia up to?” I asked, ready to change the subject before I offended anyone else.
“Still have us surrounded,” he said, pointing at several monitors that showed pickup loads of armed men slowly driving patrols around the base. “I can’t tell what’s happening in the area where they breached. That damn bomb blew out a shitload of cameras. We’ve got a huge blind spot. But, that’s not all.”
He hit a few keys and the view on one of the monitors changed to show a fenced area that held multiple satellite uplinks. It was a long view from an odd angle, but I could still tell that the equipment had taken heavy damage from the shockwave of the blast. The fence was down in several places, and all the dish antennas knocked to the side. Several of the larger ones had been completely ripped off their mounts and lay on the sand.
“Son of a bitch,” I breathed. “Is that all of them?”
“As far as I can tell, yes, sir. And, the gear that’s in here is down. There’s an uplink for real time sat surveillance of the base, and it’s not connecting.”
“That something that can be fixed?” Nitro asked.
I looked around when Tiffany bumped into my arm. She’d come forward to see what we were talking about.
“Maybe,” she interjected. “But those dishes that have pieces missing or are bent are just scrap. Nothing can be done other than replace them with new ones.”
“And, to add to the fun,” Johnson said. “That’s about two hundred yards from the closest working exit, and there’s a bunch of pissed off guys out there who might have something to say about us trying to get to them.”
“So, what do we do?” Tiffany asked.
I stood there staring at the damaged equipment, not saying anything. My head still pounded, and frustration threatened to get the best of me. I was tired of this. All I wanted to do was go find Barinov and introduce him to some American steel.
“What else did you find while you were poking around,” I asked Johnson. “Anything we can use to clear out all those assholes?”
He swiveled around in his chair to look at me.
“I found so much shit that I don’t even know what it might do, it’s not even funny. Nicole was stumped by most of it too, and she’s pretty smart.”
“Place like this, they’ve gotta be working on some kind of weapons systems,” Nitro said.
Johnson looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
“This is actually an Air Force Base, right?” Tiffany asked.
“Yeah. Why?” I asked.
“Because you guys are thinking like Soldiers,” she said, as if that explained her point.
“Well, that’s what we are,” I said. “What are you getting at?”
“Think about it! You guys want some kind of super gun, or tank or something like that. But, this is the Air Force. What kind of weapons do they use?”
“They use rifles and grenades, too,” Johnson said.
“OK, but what do they mostly use?” Tiffany asked patiently. “They use weapons from the air. Bombs. Missiles. Stuff like that. Maybe you were looking in the wrong places, or maybe you were finding stuff that didn’t make sense because it’s supposed to be aboard an aircraft, not on a battlefield at ground level.”
I looked at the girl in surprise, once again reminded just how smart and logical thinking she was.
“That’s good,” I said. “But if we don’t know what it is, we won’t know what kind of aircraft to put it in or what it does.”
She was shaking her head before I finished speaking.
“No, you’re not thinking. Things that are sitting in a room probably aren’t ready to even be tested. Have you checked the planes? Other than the one with the adaptive camouflage? If there’s a working prototype, it’ll most likely already be installed for field tests.”
We all looked at Johnson. He shook his head.
“No, I didn’t,” he admitted. “Just the one plane because it was so odd, but there’s a lot of others in a bunch of different hangars that I didn’t even give a second look.”
“Then that’s where we should start,” Tiffany said, beaming that she had thought of something the rest of us had missed.
“Forgetting one thing,” Nitro said. “Even if we find an armed plane, h
ow the hell do we get it out of the hangar and onto a runway? The militia’s gonna open up on us the instant they see us.”
“Helicopters don’t need runways,” Tiffany said smugly.
That earned her a scowl from Nitro. She stuck her tongue out at him and held it there until he smiled at her.
“Johnson, are there cameras in the hangars?” I asked.
“I think so,” he said, spinning around and attacking the keyboard.
We lost sight of the exterior, and soon several monitors displayed images from a variety of hangars that I hadn’t been in. I saw a couple of C-130s, several different fighter jets and an A-10 warthog that had some extra bulges that weren’t normal. The screens continued to cycle through, and we finally had a view of a large space occupied by several helos.
I recognized the Apaches, Black Hawks and Super Cobras, but there were a couple of machines that I’d never seen before. They looked like something Hollywood would have thrown together for a big budget sci-fi movie. Kind of a cross between an Osprey and a fighter jet.
“What the hell are those?” I asked, leaning in for a better look.
“Nothin’ I ever seen,” Nitro said.
“Johnson, keep an eye on things. Nitro, get your ass down there and take a closer look. See if you can tell if those things will actually fly, and whether or not they’re armed. Take Tiffany with you. She’s smarter than all of us put together. I’m going to go back to medical and see if our pilot can do his job with a sore ball sack.”
39
“Are you bringing me good news, Chief?”
Admiral Packard looked up from a stack of reports when Jessica walked into his office. He paused when he saw her appearance.
“Chief, this is the second time you’ve arrived in my office looking disheveled. Is there something going on I should know about?”
Jessica paused, unsure how to answer the Admiral’s question. Captain Black, standing in the open door, spoke up.
“My fault, sir,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Packard barked. “Exactly what do you mean, Captain?”
His eyes had hardened to flint and bored into the young Marine.
“Security inspection before she’s allowed into your office, sir,” Black said, unfazed. “Unfortunately, the Chief has a lot of hair, and I may have been a tad overzealous when I checked it.”
The Admiral visibly relaxed but still glared at the head of his security.
“Going forward, Captain, consider Chief Simmons as already cleared. No need to rumple her up before she comes in.”
“Yes, sir!” Captain Black said, stepping out and silently closing the door.
“You realize he’ll ignore my order,” Packard said, smiling. “Now, what do you have for me, Chief?”
“Sir, I’ve achieved full control of the Russian system that transmits the harmonic. There are actually three satellites in geosynchronous orbit over North America that are equipped to do so. Targeting is as simple as entering the desired coordinates and enabling the broadcast.”
“Outstanding work, Chief!” The Admiral said. “Have you considered my question of where to direct the infected?”
“Yes, sir. I have. I believe our best course of action is to draw them as far north as possible. Winter is setting in across the continent, and we’ve seen that the infected cannot survive harsh conditions. At least conditions as harsh as a Canadian winter.”
Packard rocked back in his chair, silent as he considered her proposal.
“Are the Russians aware that you have penetrated their system?” He asked, surprising her with the question.
“Not so far, sir,” she said, shaking her head. “Or if they have detected the intrusion, they have made no efforts to stop me.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“My opinion is they are unaware, sir,” Jessica answered, wondering where he was going with this line of questioning.
“If they did become aware, would they be able to successfully lock you out again?”
“No, sir. I’ve already installed a hidden back door. For them to lock me out would require a complete wipe and reinstallation of the core code running the system. That’s possible, but I’d see what they were attempting to do and be able to stop them.”
Packard stared at her for a long beat before smiling broadly.
“You truly are talented, Chief.”
“Thank you, sir. How would you like me to proceed?”
“For the moment, do nothing. Select the target locations to the north you want to use, but do not retask the satellites at this time. Dismissed.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jessica said, making a smart about face and marching out of the Admiral’s office.
She nearly collided with Captain West, apologizing and stepping aside for the officer to come through the door.
“Captain?” Packard asked when his aide closed the door and approached his desk.
“Sir, the Governor is at reception, demanding to speak with you.”
“Did he say what he wanted?”
“No, but I’m willing to bet he’s upset over you having filed for candidacy in the upcoming election.”
“Probably,” Packard chuckled. “Wish I could have seen his face when he got the news. What’s the progress on our plans for Barinov and Shevchenko?”
“We’re into planning a raid into Sydney to target Barinov. We’re also putting together options for a lightning strike into Siberia to retrieve Admiral Shevchenko, but we still haven’t come up with a viable plan to pull Captain Vostov out of Nevada.”
“Captain Vostov? I was unaware we needed her, Captain,” Packard growled, irritated at the surprise.
“My apologies, sir. I’ve been working directly with NIS and the SEAL teams and have failed to update you. The consensus among our Russia experts is that Captain Vostov’s presence will be necessary to fully persuade her uncle to agree to our proposal, as well as help him convince the other Russian commanders.”
“How important is she?” The Admiral asked.
“Potentially, vital, sir. She is known to most of the senior military officers in Russia and legitimizes our intentions, which should allay their concerns to a large degree. This proposal will only work if there is trust, or at least the desire to trust. She has lived and fought with us for months. She will be a strong advocate for ceasing all hostilities and moving forward together.”
Packard nodded at Captain West’s explanation.
“And, that’s why I’m glad I’m in the election, Captain,” he said. “It was actually a stroke of genius. Because of my candidacy, the Governor will be distracted, trying to figure out how to defeat me, and not creating other problems for us.”
“Yes, sir,” West said, a sly grin spreading across his face.
“Now, please have him brought up.”
It was most of ten minutes later before Captain Black knocked, opened the Admiral’s door and announced the Governor. The man stormed in, Captain West slipping in behind and taking up position against the wall. The Governor looked nearly as disheveled as Jessica had. Packard had to suppress a grin, suspecting his Devil Dog gatekeeper had been especially thorough in checking the politician before allowing access.
“What can I do for you, Governor?” The Admiral asked in a congenial tone.
“Exactly what do you think you’re doing, Admiral?”
He slapped a sheaf of papers onto Packard’s desk and stood glaring. They were copies of the declaration of candidacy that the Admiral had signed.
“I believe those documents are fairly self-explanatory. Is there something you don’t understand?”
The Governor’s face turned an interesting shade of red, and he had to gulp several deep breaths before speaking.
“This is unprecedented, and it is illegal!” The man nearly shouted. “You know as well as I that active duty military personnel are prohibited from running for public office!”
“That’s not correct, Governor,” West said with a condescending smile.
“There is no such prohibition. The restriction is against campaigning. The Admiral can run for any office he so chooses, as long as he doesn’t participate in the campaign.”
“And I have no intention of doing so,” Packard said.
“You’re not going to campaign? Then why the hell are you doing this? You can’t win without campaigning! The voters have to know you’re running and what your position is on the issues. There will be debates! You’re just muddying the waters and making a mockery of the election, and I won’t stand for it!”
“Governor,” the Admiral said, getting to his feet. “I frankly couldn’t be less interested in what you will or won’t stand for. My paperwork has been legally registered with the Secretary of State, and my filing fee has been paid. Other than campaigning against me, there is nothing you can do.”
“We’ll see about that!” The man spat, nearly apoplectic in his anger. “This is my world, and you have no idea the can of worms you’ve opened by pulling this stunt! Trust me. It will be remembered when I’m sworn into office!”
Turning, he stomped out of the room. He attempted to slam the door, but Captain Black’s thick arm snaked out and grabbed it, guiding it gently closed.
“He’s worried,” Captain West said.
“He shouldn’t be,” Packard said. “You don’t really think I have a chance in hell of winning, do you?”
“Sir, there’s no one in the islands that doesn’t know who you are. Not after the past several months. Besides, there’re about thirty thousand Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that will be talking you up every time they’re in town. The troops love you, sir. That’s your campaign, right there.”
The Admiral shook his head and resumed his seat.
“Never wanted to be a politician,” he said. “You know, it’s been forty-one years since I put on the uniform. I was ready for retirement. Move to Montana. Fish and hunt. Sleep late, eat and drink too much and act like a civilian in General.”