Axis of Evil: Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction (The Lone Star Series Book 1)

by Bobby Akart

  Using his watch to illuminate the truck bed, a space large enough to hide two adults was revealed to the men. Inside were duffle bags and a rifle case. Also included were two handgun cases and another hard plastic case that held rifle optics, a spotting scope, a GPS device, and a two-way radio set for short-range communications.

  “Well, looks like the Brits hooked us up,” said Park. “Let’s see what’s in the duffle bags.”

  The guys simultaneously unzipped the dark, olive drab green duffels and peered inside. Park pulled out peasant-type clothing and a couple of rolled-up wool blankets. Duncan produced two Cryovac-sealed bags containing ghillie suits. The Cryovac shrink film process reduced the bulky sniper gear to a fraction of its size, making them packable in the rucksacks provided by MI6.

  A ghillie suit was a luxury in Duncan’s eyes. For the purpose of this shoot, he’d planned on breaking apart some brush and debris and creating a hide. With each of them having a ghillie suit, which was already made up of basic camouflage materials, including loose straps of burlap, cloth, twine and plastics made to look like twigs, their exposure to North Korean recon patrols would be minimized.

  He typically created a custom ghillie for his sniper activity. The sniper team wore heavy ghillie suits designed to obscure their position. Together with strategically placed vegetation, the suits made them nearly undetectable to the enemy, and their target. Prior to deployment, the team spent a considerable amount of time customizing their ghillies. There was always the potential of spending long hours or even days in these outfits as they waited for the perfect opportunity to complete their mission. A bureaucrat’s idea of a one-size-fits-all suit wasn’t acceptable. Their lives depended upon comfort and concealment. With the unusual insertion for this operation, Duncan was pleased to get this one.

  “We’ve got MREs, water bladders with Katadyn water purification tabs, and compressed toilet paper,” said Duncan with a laugh.

  Park didn’t think it was funny at all. “Do you get the feeling they know something about that restaurant that we don’t? I better not get the runs from that crap. I couldn’t identify it and should have left it on the plate.”

  “You’ll live,” said Duncan as he tossed Park his rucksack. The operatives quickly stuffed their extra clothing and the ghillie suits into the packs. They tucked the provided paddle holsters into their belts and checked the Colt 1911 service models used by British intelligence. The forty-five-caliber weapons packed a punch. They each had four magazines and another box of fifty rounds. This added a lot of weight to their rucksacks, but neither man complained.

  Each of the weapons had threaded barrels to allow for the supplied silencers. A suppressed weapon would allow the men to strike when needed, silently.

  Finally, Duncan reached for the rifle case to reveal the weapon he’d use to kill Kim Jong-un. It was the new Barrett MRAD, which stood for multi-role, adaptive design. It was chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum rounds, which suited his purpose. The MRAD had a foldable stock, which made it portable and more readily concealable. Its barrel was interchangeable by simply loosening two bolts with the provided Torx wrench. With these upgrades, the Barrett sniper rifle could be changed to a serviceable battle rifle quickly. Duncan was provided one box of ammo and five fully loaded, ten-round magazines.

  “Park, I couldn’t ask for anything more except a little warmer weather,” said Duncan as a chill came over his body. There was no wind and the night was clear, allowing for a frost to settle in over this portion of North Korea.

  “Well, as far as I can tell, we’ve got about a four-mile hike over the river and through the woods that will surely work up a sweat for us both.”

  “Let’s pack up our gear and put everything back the way we found it,” started Duncan. “I’m gonna remove the distributor cap and hide it close by so nobody can run off with our truck. If they come upon it, it’ll look broken down.”

  “What about the gun cases?” asked Park.

  “We’ll carry them for a while, hiding them in the woods as we go. I wanna leave this truck without a trace of anything out of the ordinary. Let’s not give them a trail straight to us, right?”

  “Right!” agreed Park as he hustled to cover the now-empty compartment.

  Chapter 38

  November 13

  Near Kusong, North Korea

  Duncan and Park donned the peasant garb provided by MI6 and smudged their faces with dirt. Park wore a set of earmuffs, and Duncan, attempting to hide his sandy blond hair, wore a peasant cap with fur ear covers. Under close scrutiny, he’d never pass as a local. But from afar, he was only slightly out of place because of his nearly six-foot frame. Most Koreans were five feet nine inches tall, like Park.

  The men hoisted the empty duffle bags over their shoulders, which concealed their rucksacks and the Barrett slung over Duncan’s shoulder, but under his coat. Although they were hyperaware of their surroundings, they couldn’t appear to be in a battle mindset. Despite the darkness and the desolate location, the men were never certain who might be watching them.

  They took the path deeper into the woods. Duncan moved along the left side of the road closer to the river, and Park paralleled his movements through the edge of the forest on the right side. To the untrained eye, they looked like typical North Korean farmers walking along a path.

  An hour later, the outer perimeter of the Kusong military base lay ahead of them. After a review of the topography map provided by the Brits, Duncan determined they’d need to pass through the camp’s perimeter fence and cut through a mountain pass to reach their proposed shooting site. He plugged the coordinates of the site into the handheld GPS device and led the way.

  Duncan looked behind him and then darted across the narrowing path to join his partner. “Park, we’re getting close to the perimeter fence according to the GPS coordinates. If it’s too tall, or manned, we’ll have to find a way around it to the south, but that’ll cost us a lot of time.”

  “Let’s see what we run into,” said Park. “We might be able to avoid the fence by using the riverbank. I don’t think breaching it is the best idea, especially if it appears to be patrolled on a regular basis.”

  Duncan nodded and led them through the woods as the path came to an end. The clear skies allowed him the full moon to navigate by. The stars were extraordinarily bright, reminding him of the views during clear evenings at the Armstrong Ranch, where ambient light didn’t distract the naked eye from the beauty of the universe.

  They soon reached the outer perimeter fence of Kusong’s military base. The ten-foot-tall fence was roped with razor wire at the top. A quick examination of the structure revealed that this stretch of fencing was not electrified. On the inside, a well-worn ten-foot-wide path indicated it was regularly patrolled.

  “Whadya think?” asked Duncan.

  Park studied the simple chain-link fence. It was stretched from post to post without regard for the terrain. “We could follow it until we find a low spot in the ground where we can slip under. Or there is the river option.”

  “I don’t like the riverbank because we’ll be exposed to the other side, which runs along the highway. If they have night vision, we’re toast.”

  They made their way along the fence into the woods. Duncan carefully moved underbrush out of the way to clear the way for his partner. As they crept forward, they saw a burst of light. Duncan raised his fist into the air, and Park crashed into him in the dark.

  “What?” Park whispered.

  “A flash of light up ahead a hundred feet,” said Duncan.

  The men found cover and studied the area where Duncan had seen the flash. A small red glow appeared.

  “A cherry,” said Park. “That’s the lit end of a cigarette. You must have seen him light up.”

  “Yeah, and this sucks for more than one reason. Look at the gap up ahead. It’s perfect to crawl through, but this guy would be all over us.”

  “We could wait him out,” Park suggested.

  “We could al
so take him out, but he’ll be discovered missing at some point tomorrow. That’ll draw too much attention.”

  Park craned his neck to look over the underbrush. “Is he alone?”

  “Best I can tell. What are you thinking?”

  “A distraction. When I was a kid, my father taught me how to throw my voice. You know, like a ventriloquist.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” said Duncan. “How’s that gonna help?”

  “I practiced making animal sounds to mess with my sisters,” he replied. “When they were playing in the backyard near the woods, I’d scare them by growling. I could sound like a dog, a bobcat, and even a badger.”

  “Seriously, a badger? Do they have badgers in North Korea?” asked Duncan.

  “Probably more of them than dogs. You know what they say about Koreans eating dogs? That’s true in the North. These people are starving. I’m pretty sure a badger wouldn’t let itself get caught. They’re mean and awnry sons of bitches.”

  “Go for it,” said Duncan. “If we can lure him away, we can sneak in behind him and keep working our way toward the mountain.”

  “All right. Get into position to cross. I’m going to make a wide arc through the woods to draw attention up a ways. Then I’ll double back to join you. Worst case, better silence that sidearm. We don’t want him to get off a round first.”

  “Agreed. Good luck, Mr. Badger,” said Duncan as he patted his partner on the shoulder. Duncan crawled on his belly to reach the low spot in the forest floor. The gap between the dry creek bed and the bottom of the fence was just enough to crawl through.

  Park slipped off into the darkness, keeping a constant eye on the smoking cigarette, which provided just enough of a red glow to mark the soldier’s position.

  Over the years, he’d continued to practice the distant effect, the technical term for throwing your voice. It required a series of inhales and exhales to take a large amount of air into his lungs.

  Park took several breaths to simulate the breathing pattern and to help him relax. He placed the back of his tongue against the roof of his mouth, effectively closing off his throat. Pulling his stomach in at the same time, he tightened his diaphragm to apply pressure below his lungs. Finally, he slowly exhaled, letting out a guttural groaning noise as his breath left his throat.

  The low-pitched, rumbling sound of a badger was used as a warning to intruders near its territory, or when they were defending their young against a predator.

  By stretching out the exhale when he groaned, and finishing it off with an extended aah sound, the effect of the noise was to appear like it came from a distance.

  Park mustered all of his recollection from childhood and years of practice and gave an Academy Award performance. The badger-like sound was one of his best and quickly grabbed the attention of the soldier, who raised his weapon and darted away from Duncan’s position after tossing his cigarette to the ground.

  Park knew he had to hustle back to the fence before the soldier realized it was a false alarm. Park also realized the soldier would likely be back to retrieve his still-burning cigarette, a precious commodity to a young North Korean in the military.

  By the time he reached the opening, Duncan had passed. Park surveyed the perimeter road one last time and shimmied under the fence. He quickly darted to the woods on the other side, where Duncan reached an outstretched hand to grab him from behind a large Korean red pine, which dominated the forests in this part of the country.

  “Good work,” whispered Duncan. “There’s a trail that leads in the general direction we want. Let’s put some distance between us and the badger hunter.”

  The guys walked heel-to-toe, making steady time as they traversed the forest and began a steady incline up the side of the mountains that separated the Kusong Base from the surrounding farmlands to the west.

  The men took another three hours to crest the top of the ridge and begin their slow descent to the other side. By two in the morning, they’d found a place suitable for sleeping in their ghillie suits, which provided some warmth in the thirty-five-degree frosty night.

  Chapter 39

  November 14

  National Military Command Center

  The Pentagon

  Washington, DC

  Defense Secretary Gregg spent a few minutes with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as they entered the National Military Command Center, commonly referred to as the war room within the Pentagon. In this command and communications center, all activities of the U.S. military are directed.

  Both men were en route to a briefing but had several minutes to interact with the troops who manned the computer stations and monitored U.S. military operations worldwide.

  Secretary Gregg was extremely popular with the troops. He was a soldier’s soldier, born and raised on a military base and, as a result, dedicated his entire life to the defense of the United States. His network of close allies stretched around the globe and through every aspect of the military. Even the chairman of the Joint Chiefs considered Secretary Montgomery Gregg a close friend and confidant.

  After some pleasantries were exchanged, they entered the briefing room and introduced themselves to Colonel Kimberly Sterling with the Air Force Space Command. Based at Peterson Air Force Base near Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, the U.S. Space Command coordinated a variety of satellite and cyber operations in support of the U.S. military.

  They were also responsible for monitoring space situational awareness via the Air Force Satellite Control Network. AFSCN provided tracking data to the Pentagon, which helped catalog space objects and low-earth orbit satellites launched by other countries.

  This briefing was suggested by AFSCN the day before, and Colonel Sterling, the head of the satellite reconnaissance team, flew to Washington to conduct it herself. Everyone took a seat, and Colonel Sterling powered up the four wall monitors at the end of the briefing room.

  Her first graphic provided a timeline of events to set the stage. “On February 7, 2016, North Korea launched a satellite into orbit. NORAD tracked the missile on a southerly trajectory over the Yellow Sea and immediately determined it was not a ballistic missile threat to the U.S. mainland or its allies.

  “An hour following the launch, North Korean officials formally proclaimed their mission a success. USSTRATCOM confirmed two new space objects were detected. One was confirmed to be a Kwangmyongsong-4, or KMS-4, satellite. The other object was likely the rocket’s first stage, which was later detected falling harmlessly through the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.”

  “The so-called Super Bowl Satellite,” added Secretary Gregg. “If I remember correctly, Kim Jong-un was so proud of the accomplishment that he orchestrated a massive fireworks display over Pyongyang to commemorate the launch.”

  “Exactly, Mr. Secretary,” said Colonel Sterling with a nod. “North Korea further boasted that it could fly a nuclear-equipped satellite over any position in America with its technologically advanced navigation systems.”

  Secretary Gregg added, “At the time, the executive director of the task force dealing with electromagnetic pulse attacks warned that North Korea may have launched a satellite-borne EMP. He warned that the DPRK was capable of placing a nuclear warhead aboard one of these satellites, which could be dropped on our heads.”

  Originally established at the urging of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the EMP Commission in Congress conducted extensive research, tirelessly conducting tests, identifying risks, and performing statistical probabilities concerning the immediate and long-term impact of an EMP attack on the United States. Their findings were startling.

  This unpaid group of scientists, engineers, and security experts agreed. An EMP attack on America would likely result in the destruction of the nation’s power grid and civil infrastructure, including dangers to nuclear facilities.

  The abilities of our government to function at local, state, and federal levels would be hampered or shut down altogether. The corresponding economic collapse and resul
ting societal unrest would ravage the country unchecked as first responders would be overwhelmed, or abandon their posts altogether to protect their own families.

  As General John E. Hyten, commander of USSTRATCOM, said, It’s more than a dangerous threat. It is a total game-changer—an event to end life as we know it. A high-altitude EMP detonation would turn off every light, burn up every kind of computer, fry every cell phone, and stop virtually every vehicle within the blast’s reach. That’s what an EMP does. It brings our world to a screeching halt and throws us back to the 1800s technologically, for years.

  Despite these dire warnings over the last three decades, the suggestions of the EMP Commission have gone largely ignored and opposed by the energy industry. Some federal regulators, such as FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and most electric utilities have sought to maintain a status quo, which, the EMP Commission argues, leaves ninety percent of Americans at risk.

  Eventually, due to lack of additional congressional funding, the EMP Commission was abandoned in 2021 with President Billings’s new budget. The commission’s paltry appropriation of under a million dollars was deemed excessive. Ironically, the EMP Commission’s budget fell under the overall appropriations of FERC, the very agency that pushed back against the commission’s findings.

  There was one statistic that remained unrefuted and was therefore cited repeatedly by the media and those who encouraged the government to take action to harden the power grid—ninety percent of Americans would die within one year of an EMP attack.

  Colonel Sterling continued. “As always, the U.S. and its allies in the region roundly condemned the launch. At Peterson, we immediately established tracking of the KMS-4 satellite, which we redesignated as NORAD 41332. As promised, NORAD 41332 passed over the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, during halftime, indicating North Korea’s ability to plan and control the satellite’s path.”