State of Threat (State of Arizona Book 2)

by Doug Ball

  The rental car was chased down to a dealership in Needles, California. The man had paid for six months with a credit card. He had three weeks left on the contract. The woman at the desk remembered the man and gave an even better description because he scared her so bad she had nightmares for weeks after he left the desk. She commented to the agent investigating that Arizona agents were asking about rentals, also. She had forgotten about this man due to the nightmares and her mind blocking him until she pulled the file on that specific car. She would call Arizona at the number left her by the person who called, a Charles Benson in Phoenix.

  The Agent in charge of the New Mexico office called Officer Benson in Phoenix. He was an Investigator with DPS.

  Within another hour there was a BOLO, be on the lookout, for the woman throughout the southwest states. Little did they know that she was happily traveling east deep in Texas. Lordsburg was alerted only because of the phone call.

  A team was sent to stake out the room in Globe.

  It was too late.

  #

  Nobody got a good night’s sleep.

  #

  Tan called the morning meeting to order. Everyone was there because he called them all in. First he updated all the info they had gathered. The new evidence from Abdul was shared and Abdul was introduced. Names and numbers were shared by Chuck from the call he had just received.

  Leon said, “Abdul’s my partner. I could run a marathon and still be in his shadow. Welcome aboard, Abdul.”

  “Why, thank you, Sir. My pleasure, my pleasure indeed.”

  “Okay, listen up, this is all we have now. Rachel will tell us how to destroy Phoenix with 500 pounds of plastic, which is overkill I am told.”

  Rachel moved to the front of the room. The look on her face was more serious than anyone in the room had ever witnessed before. Tan walked to the back of the room and dimmed the lights. A color coded map of the Valley of the Sun blossomed on the blank wall of the room. Rachel picked up a pointer and began with, “This is it. The inundation map of the Valley of the Sun after Roosevelt Dam fails due to the worst possible earthquake while it and the other lakes are full. This does not assume completely saturated land between Roosevelt and Phoenix, which would increase the water available at downtown Phoenix.

  “Should the dam have a catastrophic failure, in 7.5 hours Granite Reef Diversion Dam will be overtopped at a depth of more than 60 feet. In 9 hours the water will hit the choke point at Tempe Butte or Arizona State University or Tempe Lake, whichever you prefer, with a depth of 43 feet. Back at Dobson Road, some of the water will be diverted south and then west, all the way around South Mountain to the Gila River bed. I have no info on how deep that will run, but the Superstition Freeway will be under water and unusable. Between Dobson and Mill Avenue, Baseline Road will be under water to the extent you will need a boat.

  “Back in Tempe, the water will continue westward inundating Sky Harbor International Airport with 35 feet of water, which means the fourth floor of the buildings there will get real wet. The area bounded by the Grand Canal all the way to Central and Indian School Road will get water, lots of water. As far north as Van Buren, the water will be over 6 feet deep and into second floors at least in many places.

  “From 56th street to the east and 27th avenue to the west the water will flood as far south as Southern Avenue. Draw a line on the north side from Central and Indian School south west to 59th and Buckeye Road and you will define the extent of flooding in the west valley. The Capitol will be reached at hour 10.5, water levels will run near 10 feet in that vicinity.

  “The flooding will continue to Buckeye, which will be reached at hour 19, still 38 feet deep and miles wide. All these depths are center channel of the Salt River measurements.

  “Finally Gillespie Dam will be overrun by 50 or so feet of water at hour 25. Gila Bend will have serious flooding as will all other towns along the Gila River bed from that point south to Mexico. Yuma will have various problems due to the canal system and earthen works in that area.

  “That isn’t the worst of it. All the major sewer plants inundated, a bunch of electric grid components wiped out, two or three power plants gone, a load of mega-tons of trash, and various critters of the venomous nature floating along toward us, mad.

  “Do Saguaro cactus float?”

  Leon asked, “And, just how much explosives of the type on the truck would it take to do all this to our fair cities?”

  “A hundred pounds of plastic explosives, like the stuff hi-jacked, is more than sufficient if it hits right.”

  She ended with, “Any questions?”

  Lenny piped in with, “Hell’s bells and cockle shells. So you’re telling me that this Arab has a drone he can load with the missing plastic explosives and blow a hole in Roosevelt Dam, which will cause the failure of Roosevelt Dam to release Roosevelt Lake into the Salt River bed, which will over fill Apache Lake and blast out Horse Mesa Dam, which will pour through Canyon Lake, overflowing Mormon Flat Dam, tearing it down and over filling Saguaro Lake, which will smash Stewart Mountain Dam into little rocks, allowing all the water from four lakes to roll over Granite Reef diversion dam and flood everything for miles in all directions. Is that correct?”

  “That about sums it up as neatly as possible.”

  Abdul whistled, “That be a lot of water.”

  “About 3 million acre feet of water which is about 990 billion gallons of water which takes up 130 billion cubic feet of space. Not only that but those dams generate 259,000 kw of power. That isn’t a lot, but this area is hanging by a hangnail from overload during the summer season, with the addition, or should I say subtraction, of power units that will be flooded, the entire western grid may go down. You might not have any AC this summer.”

  Everyone in the room sat quietly trying to wrap their mind around the numbers.

  Tan whistled when it all hit him and then said, “My new home will be underwater. I have no flood insurance. Mighty few folks in this area have flood insurance, I’m told by my realtor. We finally get a home of our own and this clown thinks he’s gonna wash it away. Not gonna happen folks. Let’s get busy.”

  Abdul got up and walked down the hall to the men’s room where he could be heard shouting. Tan had to go calm him down. “Man, Roger was a part of this, the fool. I’m so mad at that boy I just want to dig him up and kick him to kingdom come.”

  “He’s already at Kingdom Come, my friend.”

  “Yeah, he is.”

  They walked back together. Tan called the Governor and broke the news to her.

  She responded softly, “Stop him, Tan. Let me know what you need.”

  Tan looked at the group, “Where to now?”

  After thirty minutes of white board and coffee, Leon took Chuck and headed for Punkin Center on the north wing of Roosevelt Lake.

  Tan looked up, “Tank’s truck could come in handy.”

  Abdul thought he was losing it completely. “What have I got myself into, you people talk to yourselves?”

  Tan called Tank. No answer. He left a message. “Meet me in Globe ten minutes ago. The McDonald’s parking lot.”

  He tossed Abdul the keys and said, “Get the car and meet me out front,” and started rummaging through his desk and a file cabinet drawer. He looked up and saw Abdul and Rachel standing in the doorway. “What are you waiting for, Abdul, get the car.”

  “I don’t know your car or where it is.”

  “Oh, crap, Rachel would you please show this kind gentleman where the car is and then come show me where he parks it? Please?”

  “Sure, Boss. Come on, Abdul. The Boss is losing his mind.”

  Tan pulled his cell phone and dialed Joan.

  “Yeah, Lover Boy?”

  “Pack your bags and go up to Flagstaff. If this goes off, the house will be twenty feet under water.”

  “I won’t go.”

  “How long can you tread water with three kids hanging on you?”

  “Look here, Marine, I finally h
ave a home and I will not let some stupid terrorist make me leave it. I will stand in the way of the flood like Moses and tell the water to go around.”

  “This is not funny, Joan. It’s my home, too, and my kids, also. I love you and I do not want to lose you all. Please, with sugar on it. I need to know you are safe.”

  “I will be safe because you are going to get that jerk and save my house.”

  “You sailors are all alike, get in trouble and then call the Marines to come rescue you.”

  “You got it, Marine. Go stop this clown. Semper Fi and all that.”

  “If I get killed I’ll never talk to you again.” He hit end and stuck the phone in its holster on his belt. ‘Woman thinks I’m Superman. I’ll just have to be Superman.”

  A few minutes later Tan exited the building to find Abdul in the driver’s seat and Rachel in the rear. “Good job, Abdul. Rachel, you are not going.”

  “My medic kit says I am. That and this .380 in my garter holster.”

  “Well, in that case,” he got in the passenger seat, turned on the go gettum lights, shut the door, and continued, “Let’s roll, as the man once said.”

  “Which way?”

  “Globe.”

  “Rolling.”

  Tan dug his phone from his shirt pocket and started calling. The Governor was first. “I need your General’s troops. Ask him to call me please.”

  Then he called the Corps of Engineers. They didn’t believe him. He hung up on them with, “I got no time for politics or bureaucracy, good bye.” He hung up on them.

  After eight calls he was done and Abdul was rolling smoothly out highway 60 toward the Superstition Mountains on the way to Globe.

  His cell rang, it was the FAA. “None of the airports you named had anything going on that looked suspicious to the tower.”

  “How about trying all just plain strips with or without towers or controls.”

  “Will do. What are we looking for.”

  “Specifically, a drone capable of carrying a 500 pound pay load.”

  “Would radio control craft qualify?”

  “I don’t know what the difference is, but probably.”

  The man started into a lecture as Tan’s phone rang another call coming in. It was the General.

  “This is Officer Brown.”

  “Tan, General Rios here. How may I assist in saving Phoenix?”

  “I need every man you have that can hit the broadside of a small barn with a serious weapon of 30 caliber or more and any anti- aircraft weapons with operators you might have lazing around doing nothing.”

  “Where and when?”

  “Call me back when they are ready to go, move AA guys to Globe, soonest. Give them this number and tell them to head for Roosevelt Dam if I don’t answer. Also, have them all in civvies, low profile camos okay. No uniforms. No helmets. No body armor. If seen I want them looking like a civilian hunting rabbits or something.”

  “Hard to hide a Stinger.”

  “The best they can do is fine.”

  “What are we shooting at?”

  “A drone.”

  “You got anything to detect and mess with the data link.”

  “No, Sir.”

  “I’ll send a couple.”

  ”Come and join the party if you’d like.”

  “I’d like.” The General was quick on his feet. “On my way.”

  Tan put the phone away. Abdul looked at Tan as he was cruising along US 60 just keeping up with the traffic at 80 miles an hour, “You know I don’t have a driver’s license, don’t you?”

  “No? Pull over and let Rachel drive. Whatchu trying to do, get me fired?”

  “Nope, jus’ followin’ directions from da Boss man.”

  They all chuckled as he pulled to the right. Tan saw a sign up ahead. “Up the ramp and into that quick stop there. I need water and a coke. I’ll buy, Rachel will fly. When she gets back, she will do the driving.”

  Up the ramp, turn right, and into the stop. Rachel jumped out with a twenty from Tan and the order written on a note card.

  “We could ditch her here if you want, Boss.”

  “No way, then I’d have to listen to her for months. Besides, a lot of what we know is due to her.”

  #

  Usafi laughed at the idea that the woman had the guts to call the cops. Continuing to the Taco Bell and then turning around, he passed the motel again, double checking the stake outs he spotted. He continued driving with a smile on his face. His touch was still in tune with Allah who showed him the three men and one woman staking out the motel. ‘There are probably more,’ he thought as he passed a Sheriff’s car going the opposite direction. The Deputy didn’t even look at him.

  Within minutes he was moving along the road from Globe to Roosevelt Lake. He turned on 288 toward the country of the Pleasant Valley War and the little town of Young. After crossing the river, he looked for a turnoff he had spotted three months ago and marked on his map. At the second road he turned left and cruised along a well-used dirt road. Another mile or so he turned right up into the hills on a road that was just barely worthy of the name. Rounding a curve, there it was. He turned uphill, on a dirt road that led him to paradise. At the top of the hill, the drone was unloaded next to a box trailer with signs on all four sides which read, GILA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, RADIOMETER DANGER, with radioactive materials warning signs directly below. Here he began the process of turning the toy plane and plastic explosive into a shaped charge installed in the nose of the drone.

  First he walked back down the ruts until he was out of sight of the car to a place he had made ready three months before and began rolling large stones onto the road effectively blocking it to other traffic should anyone decide this looked like a great place to use their off road vehicle. He then took a push broom he had stashed behind the rocks and lightly dragged it behind him in the right hand rut all the way to the turnoff and up the other rut to the rock pile, which he admitted to himself looked like a rock slide. Then he did the same between the rocks and a point out of sight of the rocks. Finished with the preliminaries, he sat on the trailer tailgate and ate the little food he picked up at the gas station when he filled the gas cans he needed for the drone. “All that’s left is a very short flight to the target.” He was talking to a raven flying overhead.

  As long as Tweet was driving the truck north he would be leading the law away from the real target giving him all the time in the world before this place got hot.

  #

  Tan’s phone rang. “Yeah.”

  “FBI just called, our drone guy won’t make it to Phoenix.”

  “Why not? They didn’t bust him, did they?”

  “No bust. The man is dead in Reserve, New Mexico. It appears our man picked up the drone and a woman after putting a neat little hole in the drone guy’s head. Prints match our blackmail note.”

  “Damn.”

  #

  The FedEx guy was getting tired of coming to the Governor’s office with what was obviously bad news. He had talked with his bosses when he saw this one in his load. He didn’t want to make the delivery, could someone else do it. No return address. Dead giveaway.

  The boss said go, he went.

  He walked through the door. Josie looked up, “Yes? No, not another one.”

  “Yup, I’m afraid so.”

  “Hey Muscles, come in here,” she said as she led the man into the Governor’s office.

  The Governor looked up. “Here we go again.” She got up and met the man halfway, signed the proffered box, Muscles put a clean sheet of paper on the desk, and pointed. The FedEx guy sat the package on the paper, looked at the Governor and said, “Sorry. It’s another one. How many more?”

  “Can’t say. Stay with it, you’re okay in our books.”

  Muscles handed a copy of the note to the Governor, slid the original into a clean, large envelope, and trotted out the door.

  The Governor read:

  Tomorrow at noon. One half billion dollars
as described or your city will die in a deluge of problems. Will call at noon with instructions.

  You still don’t know my name

  The Governor looked around the room. All she stood for and represented was surrounding her for a couple hundred miles and the center of all her activities was to be destroyed by a highly motivated radical Islamist who thought she didn’t know his name. “Josie, get the FBI on the phone and I want the name of this bastard now. Whatever names he has used before will do.

  “I am calling the radio and TV stations and having a press conference in one hour.

  “Any questions?”

  Nobody responded with anything but action.

  #

  Rachel drove the car like she stole it. Passing cars like they were broken down was the ordinary on this journey. She laughed at a man who tried to keep up with her as she saw him pulled over by a DPS officer just as she passed Florence Junction and its ruins of dreams. The climb through Gonzales pass was the end of the wild driving, the road narrowed to two lanes and passed many side roads to campgrounds and mines, with an occasional business or home thrown in for interest. Miami was a welcome sight as the road was once again four lanes, but then the speed limit was 35. Tan told her to cool it. They had lots of time.

  The General called, he would be landing at the high school football field in ten minutes.

  Tan triggered his MAPS APP and punched ‘globe high school football field’ and got directions which he read to Rachel. They arrived as the chopper was spooling down. One of the coaches came out to see what was happening and to shoo them off so his team could practice. He was politely told this was more important than football.

  The coach responded, “Soldier boy, there ain’t nothin’ more important than football in this town except the price of copper. Now move it.”