by Mark Rounds
“You’ll see more of him,” said Nergüi, “when I am not around. He is useful to us.”
Then Nergüi turned and spoke to Macklin.
“He’ll get us back to an airstrip where our plane can hopefully collect us,” said Nergüi.
“It ain’t for free, wasichun,” said Little Bear. “The plane better be bringing us the guns we want or all they will get will be your scalped bodies.”
“The rough translation of ‘wasichun’,” said Nergüi, as they began walking up the hill to the truck, “is twofold. One definition is ‘ghost’ and the other is ‘he who takes too much.’ It amuses him. Little Bear and I have done business for a long time. But we had better get in the truck before he changes his mind.”
June 7th, Sunday, 7:31 am PDT
University of Idaho Campus, Moscow ID
In the end, there was only one staff meeting and it did have to wait until daylight, not because of the light but because the fastest way to travel was on horseback or by foot. Capt Nesmith and Col Antonopoulos put together a plan for the meeting that included many of the military officers in the local area command structure and some of the civil authorities. They were meeting in the Atrium of the University Commons, both because it was large enough to accommodate everyone and the natural light was good.
“I appreciate you all coming,” said Col Antonopoulos. “The purpose of this meeting is to bring you all up to speed on what has happened in the last month as the Plague has spread and to let you know what plans are in the works to normalize the situation. Captain Strickland will brief you on the current status. Major Tippet will then discuss how the new installation here in the Moscow Pullman area will support that mission.”
Before Chad could get out of his chair, the mayor of Pullman jumped up and began to rant.
“There is no proof other than your helicopter that there is a U.S. Government and that you are its representatives. I call upon all the citizens of the Sovereign Palouse to stand up and throw these usurpers out! Furthermore …”
“You are out of order, Mr. Henderson,” said Col Antonopoulos. “The President of the United States is alive and well and in a secure location …”
“Says you …” shouted the mayor.
“And the Governor of the State of Washington,” continued Col Antonopoulos as if no one had spoken, “is alive and well and currently residing at Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord. U.S. Army Rangers extracted him from the Capitol Building in Olympia yesterday at 05:44 …”
“Protective custody more like,” shouted the mayor. “You could have gone in at any time and pulled him out yet you waited until now? Why was that? People not listening to you?”
“Mr. Henderson,” said Col Antonopoulos icily, “four American Servicemen were killed in that operation and several more were injured. Our operation was laid on once we received word that the State Police were struggling to maintain order and couldn’t guarantee the Governor’s safety. U.S. Army personnel were on the ground forty-eight hours later. I resent the fact that you think this is some sort of power play, the same sort of illegal activity you are engaged in.”
“Illegal?” sputtered Henderson. “Where was the Government when we were trying to survive without security forces or food …?”
“You didn’t do too badly in the food department,” shouted a wag from the back of the room, referring to Henderson’s ample belly.
“Who said that?!” demanded Henderson as he whirled and glared around the room.
“That will be quite enough,” said Col Antonopoulos. “Anyone who speaks out of turn will be forcibly ejected from the room. This is a briefing, not a forum.”
Once the room quieted down, Col Antonopoulos nodded to Sergeant Rausch who walked over to where Mayor Henderson was seated and stood behind him.
“Captain Strickland will continue with his portion of the briefing,” said Col Antonopoulos.
Chad got up and went to the front of the room. Instead of PowerPoint slides, he had a flip chart to work from. The data came from Terry Grieb’s work that Chad had put together via his satellite phone. He was uncomfortable wearing Capt Wallace’s spare flight suit; however appearances were important, so he was in a uniform slightly too large for him that showed proper rank.
“Thank you, sir,” said Chad to Col Antonopoulos. “I would like to cover some basics about The Plague since news feeds to this area were cut some weeks ago. The Plague, which was officially designated as AH10N3, was first detected in late February of this year. Patient Zero was a migrant farm worker who was employed to prune grape vines at a winery in Amador County in California. The individual in question was in the U.S. illegally and was in hiding from the U.S. Immigration officials. Public Health discovered him when he was in the end stages of the disease. Initially, it was thought that he was on PCP or one of its derivatives, but testing did not show any chemical traces of the drug.”
“If the disease was discovered in February,” asked Capt Nesmith providing a pre-scripted question, “how is it that the disease wasn’t in the news until late April and was able to infect the country the way it has?”
“There are three reasons,” said Chad referring to his flip chart. “The first was this disease was no accident. It was specifically designed and disseminated as a weapon of mass destruction.”
“I demand to know why this was not made public!” shouted Mayor Henderson. “I smell a government cover-up …”
The end of the sentence was muffled by Sergeant Rausch forcibly reseating the Mayor by grabbing his shoulders and pushing down while at the same time pushing his chair forward with his knees.
“One more disturbance of that nature,” said Col Antonopoulos ominously, “and you will be expelled, Mr. Henderson.”
“As I was about say,” said Chad, carefully trying not to smile, “the second reason was the way in which the disease was spread. There were two illegal drugs, White Heaven and Slash, that were used to spread the disease. White Heaven actually contains an endosporated version of the pathoGen Slash reduces certain proteins in the blood and makes it much easier for the disease to gain a foothold. It also holds the symptoms in check, although the dosage required ramps up as the infection progresses.
"These two drugs were cheap to manufacture and so they flooded the market, especially in third world countries. The result was a semi-hidden population of drug users that harbored the disease with many of the worst cases being held in check by Slash. This population, for various reasons, escaped the notice of many health care organizations. It only became known, we think, because of some sort of lab accident.
“Patient Zero was quite religious and a teetotaler. He used no drugs that we can determine. We think he was in the area when there was an accidental release of the pathoGen He contracted the active disease rather than the endosporated pathogen and hid to the best of his and his family’s ability until he became uncontrollable and was found on the streets of Sacramento. Had that accident not occurred, it is our best estimate that the disease would have remained dormant in the population for another year or more and then exploded even faster.
"The final reason that this occurred was that the U.S. Government has been penetrated by an unknown organization …”
“Oh please,” said Mayor Henderson. “Now you’re manufacturing a bogey … oof!”
Again Mr. Henderson’s interruption was terminated by Sergeant Rausch.
“Thank you, sergeant,” said Chad, suppressing a grin. “We still don’t know much about this organization, save that they have organized and controlled groups of Slash addicts and Infected who now use Slash to keep the disease under control.”
“What is the current world situation then?” asked Amos, the Commander of the Army ROTC detachment in Pullman.
“From satellite imagery and other sources,” said Chad in reply, “the population of the United States is estimated at slightly under one hundred million, of which an estimated sixty percent are infected. Urban areas are especially hard hit. Worldwide, we esti
mate a total population of less than two billion, of which more than seventy percent is infected. These figures are higher outside the U.S., because in many parts of the world, medical care was slower in reacting. In some cases, officials used Slash preemptively with the mistaken impression that it was a cure, which only made transmission easier.”
The room grew silent as the enormity of those facts sank in. Two thirds of the world population had died and the majority of the rest were infected with a fatal disease. It was clear that civilization as they knew it was on a knife’s edge.
“The final issue I would like to brief you on is how the disease presents,” said Chad into the silence. “I know many of you are familiar with the normal presentation where the individual becomes visibly infected and in a period of three to five days becomes more and more psychotic along with the physical symptoms of lesions and tissue deterioration. In an estimated ninety percent of the cases, the disease progresses in this manner. We now have a simple test that we can administer that looks for various proteins in the bloodstream; their absence usually indicates the presence of the disease.
“Will these tests be made available to us?” asked Daniel Judd, a local physician.
“Yes,” said Colonel Antonopoulos. “We will start as soon as possible after this briefing, screening health care professionals to make sure none of them are infected, and then teaching them how the test is done. You will be issued enough supplies to test everyone in your enclave here. Captain Strickland will then be monitoring the results.
“Continue Captain Strickland,” said Col Antonopoulos nodding to Chad.
“There is a small number of cases,” said Chad, picking up the briefing, “where we have observed individuals who stop declining somewhere along the way. They begin the decline mentally and physically and then stop for some reason. Some have the physical symptoms but are completely aware mentally. Some deteriorate mentally and show limited physical signs. Some go through all the phases and appear dead. In reality they are not. In the early days of this disease, these cases were not an issue because simple medical tests showed that the patient was merely in a deep coma. Now, however, these cases are often determined to be terminal based on superficial inspection as no one wants to get to close to anyone who is infected. The bodies are disposed of, usually by shallow burial or some form of abandonment. Sometimes, they revive enough to become active again, continuing the notion that these people are somehow ‘real zombies.’
“Finally, some actually go into remission. This last category is a serious issue. Once somebody goes into remission, there is usually an attempt to kidnap him or her within forty-eight hours.”
“Who is behind these attempts?” asked Capt Nesmith. This one was not a scripted question, but it was anticipated.
“We don’t have a name of an organization or anything,” said Chad, “but we know a significant amount about their habits and operatives. I am sorry I can’t be more specific, but revealing more, unless you have a need to know, would unnecessarily expose our sources …”
“I’ve heard enough!” shouted Mayor Henderson as he began to leave the room. Col Antonopoulos shook his head as Sergeant Rausch moved to restrain him.
“You are rolling in here and just taking over,” continued Henderson as he stopped in the doorway and pointed at Col Antonopoulos. “You are mandating intrusive medical tests, requiring us to support your staff with no compensation, and you are claiming Authority of a Government that no longer exists! The Sovereign Nation of Palouse will not submit to your tyranny!”
With that, Henderson stormed out of the building.
“Major Eveleth,” said Col Antonopoulos quietly. “Have him followed discreetly and let us know where he goes.”
Eveleth nodded at Col Antonopoulos and then spoke to one of his sergeants who quickly left the room.
“What is the situation in Pullman, Lt Col Amos?” asked Col Antonopoulos after he had heard that Henderson was out of earshot.
“Henderson is mostly a blowhard,” said Amos. “He has twenty or twenty-five thugs and losers that go around trying to collect taxes and such when we aren’t around. The police keep an eye on him but are kind of stuck in the middle as he is notionally their boss, at least until he is declared unfit for the job or gets voted out at election time. Besides, until you guys showed up last night, we did kind of think we were on our own. Some folks agree with him.
"The police in Pullman are one of the real powers in the area. After a couple of riots in the nineties, they up armed significantly. They have automatic weapons and an MRAP. They also have a couple of small RPV’s. It is believed that they have a small store of gasoline as well. Unlike other police forces that disbanded when the state attorney general released the officers because they could no longer support them, the Pullman force stayed together, primarily to counterbalance the Mayor as he became more … independence oriented. They often appear to be aligned with us but they have maintained their own counsel on many issues. Like Capt Nesmith mentioned, we thought we were on our own until you folks showed up. ”
“Well, I guess we have our work cut out for us then,” said Col Antonopoulos.
The briefing went on for two more hours before the local force commanders were up to speed and Col Antonopoulos and his staff understood what they had been dealing with. As they were leaving, Col Antonopoulos pulled Chad and Dave aside.
“Can I have a word with you in private, gentlemen?” asked Col Antonopoulos.
“Yes, sir,” said Chad and Dave almost in unison. They were led to an upstairs conference room by Capt Nesmith.
“How secure is this?” asked Chad as they sat down.
“With the very little electrical power we have around here,” said Capt Nesmith, “the only way it could not be secure was if there were someone physically listening, like the Middle Ages. This portion of the building was completely searched during our meeting and my troops have the entire outside of the building under observation. It’s secure as it can be.”
“Very well, I have just received word from headquarters that I am to return immediately,” said Col Antonopoulos. “I thought I would have a couple of days to smooth things out, but Major, Captain, this one is all on you.”
“Yes sir,” said Dave. “May I be so bold as to ask why the change in plans? It will make our job difficult.”
“I understand that more than you probably realize,” said Col Antonopoulos wearily. “There is no easy way to say this. There has been an incident back at Fort Lewis. ADM Turner is dead and Gen Buckley is injured.”
“Did someone try to take them out?” asked Chad incredulously.
“No, the incident is under investigation,” said Col Antonopoulos. “Apparently there was a physical altercation and a gun went off. This is somewhat politically charged, so both the Army and Navy CID are investigating and the Air Force Office of Special Investigation is monitoring the results. Morale was never really strong on base and was held together by Gen Buckley’s forceful personality. With him under investigation, Gen Johnson, the deputy commander for operations, a two star, is in temporary command. He is competent, but some of the Navy guys are … restive. I am the senior Air Force officer present so I have to go back, probably to sit on the board of inquiry.”
“What does that mean for us?” asked Chad.
“The Chinook lifts in an hour,” said Col Antonopoulos. “I don’t know when there will be another flight back. My position will likely change if Gen Buckley is relieved. That said, I am stripping the task force and the Chinook of anything that might be considered useful. Each soldier will keep his personal weapon with one magazine for each weapon. The rest of the ammo I will leave here along with all the medical supplies, rations, radios, and anything else in the aircraft that isn’t bolted down. I am also leaving Sergeant Rausch and his Air Team and two PJ’s. I would have left the entire Special Tactics Team but I was advised to travel with bodyguards I trust. All of the Army troops will, of course, leave with Major Eveleth.”
&n
bsp; “Is it that bad, sir?” asked Major Tippet, “that you need bodyguards on a U.S. military post?”
“That was the order from Gen Johnson,” said Col Antonopoulos. “Besides, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you. This could be some deep game by our adversary. My advice is the same for you and your families. Get someone to watch over them. I saw a young man in the battle take out a guy that looked three times bigger than he was with a ball peen hammer. He has potential.”
“They call him the Hammer,” said Chad.
“I can see that,” said Col Antonopoulos nodding. “Keep a couple of people you trust personally around. I suppose it goes without saying that the operation using Captain Whipkey’s MRAP Company to clear the road between here and Fort Lewis is on indefinite hold.
“We will maintain communications and still rely upon you for your intelligence reports, but in conjunction with Captain Nesmith here, you have another mission. Neutralize Mayor Henderson. This will get out eventually, and when it does, he will be playing the Sovereign State of Palouse anthem all day long.”
“What are the mission parameters?” asked Dave innocently.
“You can’t kill him,” said Col Antonopoulos, “unless there is no alternative or it turns out he is working for the bad guys. Other than that, you can freelance. I will make this an order; you will test all of his ‘forces’ for the Plague. If he is working for the opposition, having a couple guys who were infected but covering with Slash would be how I would keep tabs on him, were I the evil overlord. The order will give you the cover you need to get the uninfected away from him.”
“Captain Nesmith,” said Col Antonopoulos, “this is still your command. You orders are to do pretty much what you have been doing; keeping the peace, trying to make sure everybody is safe and fed, supporting the rule of law, the usual stuff. This intelligence operation I am running here will play second fiddle to that. Work with Major Tippet. You will find him … capable.”