by W. R. Benton
He pushed a button on the remote and the TV came on.
“ . . . have no idea of those responsible for this attack, but we had a reporter on scene prior to the explosion, filming the National Guard's efforts to erect tents for the wounded, and here is the footage he shot. I do want to warn our viewers this video is extremely graphic and is not recommended for viewing by children.”
The station switched to a U-Haul truck moving toward the hospital at a high rate of speed. The reporter said, “An unknown truck is really moving toward the emergency room as so many others have this evening. He seems to be gathering up speed. I know he's moving over 50 miles an hour right now. Get the camera on the truck, not on me, on the truck! Something is not right here!”
The truck was seen running over the dead and injured in the grasses, moving toward the double doors, and it was then when a few military police began shooting at the truck.
The cameraman caught a loud male voice screaming, “Allahu akbar!”
The truck was seen striking two medical orderlies coming out with a gurney and then plowing into the building. A second or so later, a huge explosion was seen with bricks, medical equipment and parts of bodies flying through the air. The secondary explosion was even bigger. The cameraman was knocked off his feet and he was heard asking the reporter, “Are you okay?”
“Help me up, and keep filming.”
The camera view was out of focus with the grass seen, then the sky, smoke, and finally a shot of a bleeding reporter's face.
There was a loud explosion on the other side of the hospital and more screams were heard.
“It looks as if a suicide bomber, oh my God, maybe two have struck the hospital! Look at all the wounded running from the place! It looks like a bomber has managed to explode a truck loaded with explosives on the ground floor of the Houston General Baptist Hospital. Right now, we —”
“Run!” the cameraman screamed as his footage showed the six story building starting to collapse. The camera lens suddenly showed pavement and concrete as he ran. The sounds of the building falling, screams of fear and pain were heard, and then silence.
“My God, the whole building is down.” the cameraman said as he filmed the carnage. “Send any help you can to the Houston General Baptist Hospital and do it now!” A large cloud of smoke and flames reached for the sky as the cameraman kept filming.
“I don't see Dick, my reporter, and I suspect he may have fallen victim to this atrocious act, which in my eyes is a deliberate act of war. I'm not sure what caused the explosion on the other side of the hospital, but that would be the main entrance to the building. I'm going to sign off now and look for Dick and help any survivors I can find. I think we need some additional crews here to cover this catastrophe.” The footage stopped.
Frank stood in shock, his eyes on the television.
“Grab your coat and come with me. We'll take the motorcycle and go look for Nancy.”
“I don't believe that just happened. We were just there!”
They made excellent time getting to the hospital. Because of the heavy emergency vehicle traffic blocking all lanes, James was forced to weave in and out of the lanes and at one point even drove down a sidewalk.
“Good Lord, it's a mess!” Frank said as they stopped in the parking lot. They both moved toward the last spot they'd seen Nancy and over the next hour they helped all they could and continued looking for her. It was James who found her.
“Frank! Over here!” He waved his arms.
Frank ran to James and saw Nancy on the pavement, her eyes open, and she was breathing. James squatted beside her and asked, “Where are you hurt?”
“My left thigh was stuck by something.”
Frank knelt and ran his hand down her well shaped leg. Finally, he said, “It feels like a piece of metal completely through your leg. Now, Jim and I are going to wrap your leg tightly to prevent blood loss, then pack you to your Jeep. We'll then take you to his house, where we'll look you over better. He and I have plans to leave town and move to the hunting lodge for a few weeks. Baby, if we stay here, it may be many long hours before you're treated.”
“Be . . . beside me, you'll see my canvas medical bag, so bring it. Before you . . . move me, look in the bag and hand me a syringe . . . marked morphine. I . . . I have some serious pain.”
Frank, pulled out the syringe and asked, “Want me to give it to you?”
“Yes, the . . . pain is . . . rough.”
By the time she was at the Jeep, her pain was gone, but now she was sleepy. They placed her in the front seat, slipped a seat-belt on her and then James moved to his motorcycle.
The trip back was rough due to traffic, so more than once James drove his motorcycle on sidewalks, and Frank followed him with the Jeep. At the last street, they'd pulled off the road and moved over a high school football field, coming up behind James' house.
Nancy was packed into the house and placed on the dining room table. Closer examination showed it was a piece of wood through her thigh and not metal. Using booze and rubbing alcohol, Frank cleaned around the wound, and then pulled the wood out. He poured whiskey into the hole in the leg and then sewed both the entrance and exit wounds closed with a curved needle in his first aid kit. He'd soaked both the needle and thread in rubbing alcohol. He covered both injuries with triple-antibiotic ointment and then bandaged her tightly in a torn up pillowcase. Thanks to the morphine, she'd slept through it all.
“We'll put her in the motorhome when we leave. I just spoke to Donna and she's on her way home. According to her, the whole city is a war zone.”
“Any idea when she'll be here?”
“Traffic is congested in some parts of town, as you know, so it may be an hour.”
“Turn on the TV again and let's see what's going on now. I can't believe this is happening in America.”
The remote button was pushed and the TV came on. A male reporter stood outside the Houston General Baptist Hospital as he said, “. . . no one has claimed responsibility for the suicide trucks yet, but authorities are estimating well over two thousand pounds of explosives were used by each truck. The second truck, which crashed through the locked main entrance doors, was a good hundred feet or more inside when the driver set off the explosives. Authorities now say this was not a quickly thrown together plot to kill, but a conspiracy to strike tonight, when the hospital was working well over full capacity. Which leads me to believe, the mastermind behind the attack was also involved with other violence throughout the United States this evening. There have been over two hundred attacks against our nation this evening, mostly hospitals, police stations, and military bases and the list of dead and injured keep growing.”
James pushed a button and another news reporter stood by the main gate to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
“John, Sergeant Brooks, Senior Airman Thompson, and Airman Joyce were all three gunned down less than ten feet from where I am standing now. Initial reports from the base public affairs office, after viewing the camera tapes from the main gate, is that six unknown men pulled up to the gate, tried to gain access and when Sergeant Brooks told the driver to turn around and leave, the airmen were shot and killed by a passenger, armed with an AK-47, in the back seat. The six men then drove on the base and two attempted entry to headquarters Air Mobility Command, while two others did briefly gain entry to headquarters United States Transportation Command. However, all four were killed during their attempts, but one managed to detonate a vest of explosives he was wearing. Three airmen were injured and none killed when that vest exploded. The guard outside the facility had shot both men, but neither fatally, and was himself shot in the shoulder.”
“Uh, Mark, any idea where the remaining two men are at this time?”
“John, there has been no word released by the public affairs office, but unofficially the two are said to be dead, with one killed near the 375th Force Support Squadron and the other killed out by the Fuels storage area. We are —”
“We i
nterrupt this broadcast to bring a special announcement by the President of the United States.”
A gaunt and tired looking President move to the podium and said, “My fellow Americans. I speak to you tonight with a heavy heart, and it's with great sadness that I inform you of the death of my wife, April, who was killed while working with Muslim refugees. We don't have many details at the moment and no one has been arrested for this crime. The facts are, she and her security detail were surrounded by an angry mob as she made her way to the car, and then . . . and then.” The President waved to the cameras and left the room.
A spokesman moved to the podium and said, “As you can see, he is taking the death of his wife very hard. I will tell you what we know to this point.”
“How was the First Lady killed?” a reporter asked.
“That will be released at another date and time, once an autopsy has been completed. I will say this: she was decapitated at some point, but it remains unclear if the act was the cause of her death or done after she'd died.”
“Can you say if the act was the result of radical Muslims?”
“I am unable to comment on that at this time. I will say, however, The First Lady was in Houston to assure the Muslim population, those recently resettled there, that they would be provided for and their short and long term needs met. She was there to guarantee these relocated families that a humanitarian effort was being made on their part by the President of the United States. No more questions, please.” The spokesman held his hand up and walked from the room.
The camera went black, but then focused on a Hispanic man standing beside a reporter outside in the darkness.
“Burt, I have with me, uh, Mister Thomas Garcia, who claims he was near the crowd when the First Lady was killed. Mister Garcia, please tell our viewers what you saw.”
“I was like standing on the sidewalk, because all of these people suddenly started showing up around me. I was feeling uncomfortable because they weren't dressed like me and it was dark. Then these men in suits, with this rich looking woman, suddenly pulled their guns. Shots were fired by both sides. The men with that woman were down and some men in the crowd were beating on them with their fists and iron bars and stuff. Then two men grabbed the lady and pushed her to her knees. I was shocked when a man wearing a mask walked up behind her, grabbed her hair, pulled her head back, and cut her head off with a hunting knife. The man wearing the mask, he did the cutting, and he held her head high in the air and screamed, 'Allahu akbar!' I blended into the bushes and got the hell out of there then.”
“How many would you estimate were in the crowd?” the reporter asked.
Donna entered the house, the TV was turned off and James said, “Pack quickly baby, we'll be leaving the city for a couple of weeks.” He then moved to her and gave her a hug and a kiss.
“Good; the world as we know it has gone completely crazy.” she said.
“Frank, let’s get Nancy in the RV and then we'll leave.”
“Is something wrong with her?” Donna asked.
“She was hurt when the hospital blew up.” Frank said, but quickly added, “We brought her here, fixed her up and we're ready to go. I want to bring my Jeep, as I said earlier, in the event we have to leave the lodge in a hurry at some point.”
“Sounds good to me.” James replied with a smile.
CHAPTER 5
The man in Frankfurt, Germany smiled as he watched the news and sipped the very finest in cognac. The room was dark, with only a single candle burning on an end table. He was thrilled at all the deaths and turmoil in the United States.
“Sir,” the butler said, “your 1800 appointment is here. Shall I show him in?”
“Yes, please.”
A man dressed in a black suit, holding his hat, entered the room and moved to the sofa.
Before he was near, the man on the sofa said, “Have a seat in a chair and we will talk in a moment. Cognac?”
“Yes, please.”
He leaned over, poured a bit of the drink into a glass, and then handing it to his guest said, “It looks as if phase 3 is moving very well. Most of the civilized world is now in upheaval. I must say it's progressing much better than I'd ever dreamed.”
“But will the UN troops leave America on time? I think the American military is very serious about war.”
Crossing his legs, he thought for a moment and said, “Let them start the fight and we'll bring the whole force of the UN against America. I'd hoped the dirty bomb that exploded would kill their useless President, but if nothing else, our agents did get that worthless bitch he called a wife. I am angered that we placed that squirrel in the position of President and now he ignores our orders. See that our Houston agents responsible for her death are given a handsome bonus, say a million dollars each.”
“I'll see it is done. I'm here, sir, to determine how long you want phase three to continue.”
“Oh, for at least five years. We still have millions to kill and I want all resistance by the survivors to be dead. They must be like zombies when we take over their governments, because the next step is planting chips in each survivor.”
“Some will resist.”
“Of course, it's expected. I think when we start killing those who resist, then that foolishness will stop.”
“Any areas that you see that need special attention?” The guest swirled the cognac in his glass and then smelled it.
“I want things doubled in the Southern states of America. Increase the attacks on military bases, get the black and Hispanic folks out on the streets rioting, and if you have any dirty bombs, use them where we'll reap the most good, but with care. I don't think the Southern states will be easy to convince that fighting is useless, because all those damned Rednecks are hard-headed. It may be a good time to use biological warfare and spread some diseases. I want you to hit Texas twice as hard as the other states. Now, if the UN troops are attacked, let them die to the man or woman. We want the world outraged with the United States because of their response to the world's peacekeeping force. If the US does not attack, I still want some or all of the UN troops killed, if possible. This must be made to look like the Americans have turned against the United Nations. Any questions?”
“Uh, no sir. I take it if we're given a chance to kill the American President, we do so?”
“Yes, the Boss is very upset with him. After grooming him most of his adult life, spending millions to see he was made President, he suddenly chooses not to follow our orders. We cannot allow him to live. If he walks away from this unharmed, how many others will try the same thing? The Boss wants him dead.”
“Does it matter how?”
“Well, I don't think we'll have another opportunity like we had with JFK in Dallas, do you? The NWO took him out and no one was the wiser, with all blaming Oswald. No, how he's terminated is of no interest to us. But, let me warn you, no one outside of the United States must be involved in his killing. See an American makes the hit or blows his ass up for all we care. The NWO is willing to pay ten million dollars to see this job done, but we want it done right.”
“I will handle it personally, sir.”
“Good, but let me warn you, if anything goes wrong, we'll come after the heads of all involved, including yours.”
Knowing the conversation was finished, the guest gulped his cognac, stood and said, “It shall be done, sir, and soon.”
The man on the sofa moved his left hand as if shooing a fly and the guest left.
Pulling his cellphone as he was moving toward his car, the guest dialed a number and waited for a reply.
“Hello?”
“This is Frankfurt.”
“How may I help you, sir?”
“The payment for your job has been approved.”
“Excellent, sir.”
“The amount is ten million, but that includes all labor, parts, and material to do the job.”
“Good, I'll start working tonight.”
Both men closed their phones.
“Bullshit!” James said and then gulped down the rest of this beer.
“Keep the noise down, because I want to hear this.” Donna said.
The reporter said, “So far, the death count at the NBA game in Houston has reached 3,000 and it's expected to climb. Medical authorities today said Polonium 210 is responsible for the majority of the deaths, which was confirmed through urine testing, but how to treat the victims is somewhat of a mystery. It's confusing to medical personnel due to there not being any documented history for exposure or treatment. Members of the Military Medical Studies Group will be meeting with the doctors at some point overnight to work out a medical treatment plan. The President stated the attack was going to be treated as an act of terrorism.”
“Next up, the FDA issues a serum recall after more than fifty children are hospitalized after getting Mumps, Measles and Rubella (MMR) immunizations. Additionally, there have been 10 deaths related to these inoculations since Monday across the nation.”
Hours later, they were resting in the RV while Frank and his wife had the lodge. The lodge was a single story log cabin made from a cabin kit years ago. It was a two bedroom building, with electricity, running water, central air and heat. It also had satellite internet and TV, which worked better than most of the services back in the city.