Storm Tide Rising: Blackout Volume 2
Page 36
"When I say move, you get through the door, and you move quickly," Commander Price said, and Marcus nodded. "Okay, then. Move!"
The Commander stepped through the wide open door, Marcus tight on his heels. As soon as they crossed the threshold, the buzzer sounded and the doors started swinging slowly, implacably shut.
"Fifty thousand pounds of pressure," Commander Price said. "If you get caught in that door, it'll cut you clean in half. Nothing anyone can do to stop it once it starts moving."
"Where are we?" Marcus asked looking around.
"Years ago," Commander Price said, "when you came to work for me and you asked what we did here, do you remember what I told you?"
Marcus nodded. "You said we don't keep information because it's not ours to keep. We're just the gate keepers."
Commander Price nodded. "Well, this is the gate," he said, pointing to the small computer terminal in one corner of the room. "You asked me to bring you in, to let you know what I was working on that was so secretive. This is it, Lt. Commander. I wanted you here to witness what I'm about to do."
"You're making me nervous, Commander," Marcus said honestly.
Commander Price smiled and pulled the network card from his pocket. "The other side is after the information stored in the data backup system you and I and the rest of our colleagues here developed. They want it to use it as a weapon, and I mean to deny them that power. This facility was built differently. Once we severed the connections to the backups after the dump, they were totally cut off from every outside system other than our own operations on site. The other systems are connected to this terminal for secure communication."
"And you're going to use that to infect their data? Why?" Marcus asked, his eyes wide with shock.
"Because then this facility becomes the only one with usable information. And, if need be, we can destroy that too. If I had a way to physically destroy the other sites, I'd use it, but I don't. This is the best I can do, and it's got to be enough. If they're serious about it, they could eventually break through the code, but it would take them a long time. And if there are more than two incorrect attempts, the encryption scrambles the data randomly, and it's lost permanently.
"I'm going to take away the one thing they hoped to use," Commander Price continued, walking over to the terminal. "The information in these databanks is simply too dangerous to leave out there and available. The activation and launch codes for all of our nukes, everything is in these memory banks. If need be, I'll destroy it to keep it out of the wrong hands."
"Why am I here, Commander?" Marcus asked.
"You're here so you can see it happen," Commander Price answered. "This is as hard as we can hit them right now, and I want you to be here for it. You earned this victory as much as I did, maybe more."
Marcus thought about that in silence for a moment, then finally nodded. "Okay," he said, "but if you leave this facility intact, won't they just come after it here?"
Commander Price smiled a wicked grin. "I certainly hope so," he said."
He powered on the terminal and waited as it went through the startup routine. Then, he plugged the network card in and watched as the auto-run feature launched. Marcus stepped up beside him to get a better view as well. Two of the three icons on the screen were still grayed out, but the third was operational. Commander Price selected it and a window opened. He began typing immediately, dictating as he keyed the words into the messenger window.
{Chief Admin}: I don't know who you are, but I know you're not him. You're not Hall.
The response on the screen was nearly immediate, and Commander Price read it aloud.
[Unknown Admi]: How can you be so sure?
{Chief Admin} Because men who execute military coups don't wait around by the telephone. At best you're a trusted lackey. But you'll serve to deliver a message.
Commander Price stopped here and waited. As he watched, the other two system icons suddenly lit up as active. He smiled at that and motioned to Marcus. "That means the program has reached all three terminals and it's at work now," he said. "It'll take nearly seventy two hours for the encryption to complete, but now that it's started it can't be stopped, and no new commands will be accepted."
A message appeared blinking on the screen, and Commander Price opened it.
[Unknown Admin] I can deliver the message up the chain. That's the best I can do.
Commander Price smiled, and typed furiously.
{Chief Admin} Tell the traitor Hall that he will not get anything from me. I've decided to deny access to the databanks at all four sites. Since three of those sites are not within my physical ability to influence, I have decided to deny access the only way I could. Even now, your systems’ administrators should be getting error codes and warning messages. The process cannot be stopped, and it cannot be reversed.
Commander Price paused before typing again, more slowly this time.
{Chief Admin} I don't know who you are on the other end of this line. But you've got to choose. Will you side with Hall, or will you side with your country? I've made my choice.
Commander Price closed the chat window and turned to Marcus. "That's it," he said. "The last official bridge between Hall's forces and ourselves has officially been severed. According to the law, if not the Constitution, I am now a traitor. Hall is the next in line according to the Continuity of Government order under a little known contingency plan. If the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security are both killed while an active state of National Emergency has been declared and there are no higher ranking members of the COGCON plan, then the office and duty of the Presidency falls to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security."
"You're telling me that Hall is actually, legally the President?" Marcus asked, a sick feeling twisting in the pit of his stomach.
"Only on paper," Commander Price answered. "He's the one who orchestrated this whole catastrophe; we just have to find the chain of events that ties him to it. If we can find that, then we can expose him as the murderer and traitor he is. On the other hand, if we lose and they catch us, they'll hang us for treason."
"Victori spolia," Marcus said softly. "To the victor go the spoils."
Epilogue
Storm Tide Rising
President Hall stood outside on the broad, flat landing at the top of the steps to the Capitol. The city was moving again, living, and breathing. There were cars and cargo trucks driving down streets. Partial power had been restored to certain critical parts of the city through a system of generators and distribution boxes. If everything went according to plans, an online grocery story would be up and running in the next few days. The store wouldn't really sell anything, of course, but it would serve as a distribution center for FSS rations and rewards.
The citizens that had opted not to participate in the recruiting drive were being relocated to other parts of the city where they'd be easier to sequester and control. There would be another recruiting drive in a few weeks to try and siphon off more people who had grown discontented with the conditions within the secure residential enclaves.
After that, if they still needed numbers, there was always the option of forced conscription. The President wanted that held as an absolute last resort, though. Conscripts throughout history had been notoriously unreliable and tended to disappear at their first opportunity. Or worse, they would turn on you when things started going rough. Defection was a public relations nightmare and could make the administration look weak.
As he looked across the Mall toward the Lincoln Memorial, President Hall couldn't help but think about the riots Lincoln had sparked when he used conscription in the North. People in New York had burned stores, assaulted draft officers, killed, looted, and wreaked all kinds of insanity until troops had been deployed to restore order.
Still, he'd filled the ranks in the end, and President Hall would do the same if he had to.
Behind him, a throat cleared softly, and President Hall smiled to himself. Even now, the leader of the free
world didn't get many moments truly to himself. "Yes, Daniel?" he asked without turning.
"Sir, there's been some news," Daniel said, hesitantly. "Two things that I thought couldn't wait."
When he didn't continue, President Hall turned to face Daniel, a frown creasing his forehead. "It's not like you to beat around the bush, Daniel. Whatever it is, out with it."
"Yes sir," Daniel said, but he still hesitated. Finally, with a deep breath, Daniel said in a rush, "Another two submarines have broken contact, sir, along with five surface ships. They don't appear to have been destroyed; they simply broke contact and have gone dark."
President Hall's teeth clenched briefly. He could see why Daniel was hesitant to deliver the message. These defections had become one of the few subjects that would immediately burn past the carefully controlled facade that President Hall presented to those around him. One by one, Captains in the Navy were deserting him. If the trend kept up, he wouldn't have a Navy left.
"How many is that total?" President Hall asked, trying to maintain a tight rein on his mounting anger and frustration.
"Seventeen ships and three air wing commanders," Daniel said cautiously. "That's not including National Guard and Air National Guard."
"I thought we had replaced most of the commanders and captains with our own people," Hall growled. "It just doesn't make sense why so many would take the risk of breaking rank like that, not unless something else is at work here."
Daniel didn't say anything, and after a moment President Hall realized that he'd said there were two things that couldn't wait. "Okay, Daniel, what's the second thing?" he asked.
Daniel took a second deep, long breath and let it out slowly. "There's been an incident with the data backup facilities," he said. "It would appear that some virus or something was injected into the data banks themselves at the three facilities in our control. The data is being encrypted along with facility operations and control software."
This time President Hall's face twisted into a mask of inchoate rage, and he spat a string of curses so retched they made Daniel's face go pale. After a few moments, and with great visible effort, President Hall regained control of himself and turned back toward the view from the Capitol.
"I was almost a meteorologist," President Hall said softly after a long moment. "I never told you that, but it's true. I studied weather on my own for years before and after college. I read everything I could get my hands on about it, especially tornadoes and hurricanes. The idea of so much power concentrated in one place fascinated me."
"Hurricanes especially became an obsession," President Hall said with a small chuckle. "As a kid, I would follow storm tracks and log the data for major storms each season. A lot of the damage from hurricanes isn't done by the wind, it's done by the water. These massive storms hit and they carry with them a surge of water built up by the force of the rotating winds. They drag this mass of water ashore, and that's your storm surge. "
"What most people don't know," President Hall said, turning back to Daniel with a wild look in his eyes, "is that sometimes a storm is timed just right, and it hits with a high tide. That's when you get what they called a 'storm tide' and it can make the damage ten times worse than a similar storm that hits at low tide."
President Hall's voice trailed off, and for a moment his face bore a dark, dangerous scowl. "Go and talk to security," he growled after a moment. "I want things in place for a trip to the Norfolk Navy yards tomorrow. They say that as long as the storm tide is rising, the worst of the storm is yet to land. I will find out from the head of the Navy directly why his men are taking my ships from me. I will learn if the storm tide's still coming in."
Table of Contents
Pt.1
Prologue Caged
Ch. 1 Crowd Control
Ch.2 Unsafe for Travel
Ch. 3 The Daily Brief
Ch. 4 A Position Of Strength
Ch. 5 By Any Other Name
Ch. 6 The Beaten Path
Ch. 7 Rear Guard
Ch.8 Unasked For Answers
Ch.9 Historic Latta Plantation
Ch.10 Breaking Protocol
Ch.11 Three Days
Ch.12 The Way Back
Ch.13 First Light
Ch.14 Coming Home
Ch.15 Rise and Shine
Ch.16 Running Fence
CH.17 Wheels Down
CH.18 Downstream
Ch.19 Peace Offering
CH.20 Up To Speed
Ch.21 Unexpected Company
Ch.22 Footprints In The Sand
Ch.23 A Bird In The Hand
CH.24 Over For Dinner
Ch.25 Routine Inspection
Ch.26 Trouble Ahead
Ch.27 Where There's Smoke
Ch.28 Sacrifice
Ch.29 The Price That's Paid
Ch.30 Ahead of the Storm
Ch.31 Something Local
Ch.32 No One Home
Ch.33 First Light
Ch.34 Person of Interest
Ch.35 Dry Feet
Ch.36 Name and Number
Ch.37 Canning Tomatoes
Ch.38 Keep It Moving!
Ch.39 Authorized Personnel
Ch.40 Losing People
Ch.41 Need to Know
Ch.42 Eyes and Ears
Ch. 43 Strangers
Ch.44 Shots Fired
Ch.45 Changing of the Guard
Ch.46 Aftermath
Ch.47A Quick Visit
Ch.48 Bottle Caps
Ch.49 Going Bad
Ch.50 Speechless
Ch.51 Gloves
Pt.2
Ch.52 Turning Seasons
Ch.53 Calculated Risk
Ch. 54 Mobile
Ch.55 Wheels
Ch.56 Never the Question
Ch.57 While It's Hot
Ch.58 Half Heard Words
Ch.59 Word Gets Around
Ch.60 The Sound of Silence
Ch.61 The Answer
Ch.62 Change the Watch
Ch.63 What’s Coming
Ch.64 Unexpected Guests
Ch.65 Sunrise and Smoke
Ch.66 Small World
Ch.67 Last Request
Ch.68 For Your Own Safety
Ch.69 Where There's Smoke
Ch.70 Doctor's Orders
Ch.71 Wrong Side of the Tracks
Ch.73 An Early Dinner
Ch.74 To Pass The Time
Ch.75 Just a Rental
Ch.76 Thanksgiving
Ch.77 Unlocking the Door
Epilogue Storm Tide Rising