San Onofre nuclear power plant was back up and running, but the power delivery infrastructure was still unreliable so they set up large diesel generators as well. Unfortunately, very little of the electronics in the home actually worked, but they had brought enough with them to make for a comfortable existence.
They quickly settled into a new casual normal.
Over dinner, Samantha asked Jamie, "So when are you two getting married?"
Jamie answered, "Not before we can avoid that mess that Julie and Helen went through. What about you two?"
Matt and Samantha both looked embarrassed. "We're not ready for that yet," said Matt.
Samantha said, "We're just screwing."
Luke and Jamie both cracked up at this. Jamie said, "Sounds like you've been hanging out with Aunt Susan."
Samantha laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess the old girl is rubbing off."
"This is nice and all, but it's going to make me crazy not being able to do something productive when the world is such a mess," said Luke. "I hope Uncle Jim nails that Walker prick soon."
Matt said, "Me too, but for now I'm quite happy to take a few days off. Now who's up for lunch?"
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
Julie and Helen flew in with Al on a C-17 military cargo jet filled with vaccines. It might not have fit Uncle Jim's idea of making themselves scarce, but they were being careful. Both believed strongly that what they were doing was extremely important.
At the airport the crates of vaccines were quickly unloaded and the young women were soon doing interviews for Spanish broadcasts. They wore their usual black fatigue pants, boots, and pistols. Al had suggested that they not to go openly armed but both of them refused.
They met with the local people as they were vaccinated. Not all of the interactions were polite. When one of the locals insisted on cursing them out, Helen told him in Spanish, "If we were here to enslave you, do you think we would have listened to that load of crap without just shooting you. Hopefully we will prove to you that you are wrong, but you have the right of freedom of speech and to make and ass of yourself." The man was gently escorted out.
The news stations aired the entire episode.
By the end of the day, they were happy to be flown out to a light carrier twenty miles off shore. They stowed their weapons and met with the crew and officers. They were happy to see how eager everyone was to meet them. They hadn't brought press with them, but soon pictures and video were all over the net of them visiting with the troops and playing basketball in one of the hangar bays. That kind of attention seemed to be the new normal around them.
When they met with the Captain later, he asked if they would mind stopping in to see more of the troops. Before they knew it, their tour to meet the people of Central America was expanded to several military bases as well.
Julie said quietly to Helen, "People are going to get very used to seeing us on TV."
"If we're going to be in the media anyway, we might as way use it to accomplish something," answered Helen. "Besides, you look hot on TV." Julie laughed, but had a feeling they would never see the end of too much media attention.
"This is all fine, but I'll be happy to get back to Arizona."
"Just a couple more days," said Helen.
LAS VEGAS
SEPTEMBER 11th
The day of the attack, Jim had put Rob in charge of efforts to find and kill Walker. So far I'm not coming up with squat, thought Rob.
As expected there had been a Muslim airman set up to take the fall for the Tomahawk missile strike on the president's house. The airman had followed the rules and showed no sign of his religion, but he had been open about it before the virus and everyone who knew him was aware of that. Rob quickly determined that the man had nothing to do it and arranged a new identity and a transfer for him.
Before cutting him loose, Rob had told him, "The people who set you up will kill you if they discover you're still alive. You will be much better off to maintain the fiction of your death. And you know that the anti-jihad is well underway. There is no future in Islam anywhere. I don't care what you do behind closed doors, but your life will be a lot easier if you at least look and sound like an atheist." The airman thanked him, and Rob hoped that the kid would, at the very least, keep his head down.
Rob had put together the case against Walker as part of the conspiracy to take over the government, and detailed how that group had used their wealth and power to prevent the preparations that could have been made to curtail the flu they knew was on its way. Finally he implicated Walker in the death of the previous vice president and in the assassination attempt on Jim. All of this was released to the media.
The next step Rob made was offering a two hundred million dollar reward for Walker, dead or alive. He had it announced widely on television, radio, and the internet.
Rob even offered blanket immunity to anyone who would come forward with information about the conspiracy, and a reward for useful information. Within days, low level members were coming out of the woodwork. For military, he kept their involvement out of their service records, though he did move some from sensitive positions.
The real payoff was when Walker slipped up a couple of days after the assassination attempt and made an encrypted call on a satellite phone. They were able to track the call to an area in Montana near Lewistown. The NSA decrypted the call and the numbers were available.
Rob was at Hill Air Force Base that evening briefing Jim, General Whitman, and several military, NSA, and FBI officials on the progress so far. "The Kemp in the phone call is Keith Kemp. He was formerly Mossad before going to work for Walker in the late 90's. The guy is extremely competent and Walker was fanatic on Israel, so it was a good match for him.
"Kemp knew that we would be listening and had to be furious with Walker over the call. I'm thinking we should give him a call and try to reel him in and find out what he knows. He'll understand that he's as good as dead now that we know about him, so he'll be more likely to cut a deal.
"I'd like for us to call Kemp now and talk to him. On his end it will show the call coming from Walker's phone. We have units in place to pick him up if he's willing to cooperate and we have bombers in the area to blow him to hell if he won't play ball.
"Okay, now let's argue about this."
It took two hours, but Jim finally signed off on it.
Rob made the call. Kemp answered, "Don't use the damn cell phone, you idiot."
Rob answered. "You have two minutes to save your life. Are you listening?"
Kemp said, "I'm listening."
"Good. I understand you know the game. That saves some time. You can make a deal with me right now and have a comfortable life, or you can die about two seconds before your boss."
"I want fifty million dollars, immunity, and freedom to leave the country."
"I'll offer you one million, immunity, and your freedom for everything you know and nothing less than everything."
"For what I have, twenty million is a fair price."
"If it's not, I'll shoot you myself. You have a deal. Now you need to get out of your current location. Go get in a vehicle now, drive out of the facility, and we will pick you up once you are clear of the area. Bring all the data you can. Is there anything I need to know right now?"
Kemp said, "I'll be bringing out my wife and kids."
"Then go now. We'll be watching."
On the large computer screen at the front of the building was displayed a satellite map of Kemp's location in Montana.
Rob said, "Okay, Jim. You want to make the call."
Jim answered, "I'd be delighted to."
Walker answered the phone. "Is it done?"
Rob silently mouthed, Got him, and signaled for the B2 to launch its missiles.
Jim smiled and said, "Hello mother fucker."
"What? You!"
Jim smiled and said, "Goodbye."
The phone went silent as Walker died.
Jim said, "Now that was satisfying!"
"Something's happening, sirs" said one of the airman as he switched the main screen over to the feed from a drone over Kemp's location. Vehicles were fleeing the facility as hidden doors were opening in the ground all around the facility.
Whitman said, "It's a missile field!"
Jim yelled, "Hit it with everything we've got!"
The four B2 bombers that had been circling the area fired missiles at the same time. All of them were seconds too late.
Rob said, "Where are those missiles headed?"
It took a few more seconds and one of the Air Force officers said, "They're targeting Russia, sir. All but one that's heading toward the Southwest United States."
General Whitman said, "We can't stop these new missiles sir. Those are hyperkinetic missiles. They'll do the damage of a small nuke without the radiation."
Jim asked, "Recommendations?"
"Take out the Russian missile sites, ships, and subs before they can launch at us, otherwise they will hit back with their nukes."
"Shit!"
"Orders, sir?"
"DefCon one. Take out their subs now! Get me the football!"
They ran through the procedure in less than a moment and launched enough missiles to permanently put an end to Russia. The missiles from the US missile subs in the arctic hit just after the hyperkinetic missiles, soon followed by those launched from American missile bases in Alaska.
In the end, hardened US satellites were able to destroy the five obsolete Russian missiles that were successfully launched. The entire process had taken less than an hour.
Jim said, "Now that I'm one of the biggest mass murderers in history, where did that other missile go?"
An Air Force officer said, "It hit Flagstaff sir."
Jim grabbed a nearby rail to keep from collapsing.
MONTANA
Kemp and three former Mossad agents who were loyal to him alone were driving down the main mine tunnel in an electric vehicle. He had killed Larson's man, Foster, but otherwise the break from the facility was clean.
The main reason he had selected this site for the facility was the large mine that led up into the mountain. He had crews of Brazilian workers busy digging an exit and dumping the tailings in the side tunnels for the best part of a year until they broke through, then he had an emergency hatch installed and sent the workers home with a big bonus.
He also installed blast doors at the start of the smaller new tunnel. The men grabbed their weapons and gear and entered the smaller tunnel. Kemp hit the switch to close the blast door behind him. Above the switch was a panel that he quickly unlocked and opened, revealing a keyboard and a screen. He typed in his access codes and set the timer on the charges at the main mine entrance to collapse the entrance tunnel just after the missiles launched.
They took the electric cart up the half mile tunnel and got out just before the next blast door. All four men changed into cold weather gear forest camouflage with infrared protection and helmets, and readied their binocular night vision gear.
Kemp said, "They should be evacuating the building now. Get ready now."
All of them covered their ears and sat down on the ground. A moment later, the explosion was painfully loud, even through the blast door. More explosions followed seconds later, although these felt farther away.
As soon as the explosions stopped, Kemp hit the switch to open the blast door. They moved into the outer chamber and quickly opened the outer hatch to leave the mine. A quick jog took them to the electric car that was hidden below.
Kemp took the passenger seat and watched as his driver took the car down the road at breakneck speed without lights. With so many fleeing vehicles, he wasn't worried about them being caught. If they could keep going for ten more minutes, they would be past the initial search area and could lay low in one of the camps that he had prepositioned. They could last for weeks at any of those. Hopefully they could make it to the river and transfer to his boat.
Those missiles will keep them busy enough for us to get away. Time to get the hell out of this game. He could already imagine the taste of a Caipirinha cocktail on a Brazilian beach. Life would be very good.
Kemp said to the others, "The missiles are all aimed at Iran and will take out whatever's left of the bastards who killed Israel."
His driver grunted his approval and kept flying like a demon into the dark night.
ARIZONA HOUSE
SEPTEMBER 12th
Julie and Helen had arrived home from their trip that afternoon and were grateful for the chance to kick their feet up. That night they woke just before midnight to the ground shaking and a loud sonic boom.
Helen asked, "What the hell was that?!"
Julie looked at the sky toward Flagstaff and said, "God, I hope that wasn't a nuke!"
They turned on the small TV and satellite TV receiver in the bedroom. The news was talking about a missile hitting Flagstaff, but there wasn't much information yet.
Helen's phone rang. "Hi, dad. What's going on? Oh, no! Okay."
Helen looked at Julie and said, "It was one of our kinetic jobs fired by the guys that tried to hit Uncle Jim. There won't be radiation, but there won't be much left of Flagstaff, either." Tears started flowing. "It doesn't look good for the village, but dad wants us to sit tight and wait. He said to stay off the satellite phone, too."
"Do we know who was there?"
"I just don't know. It's frightening."
"This is going to be a long night."
They watched the news in the bedroom for the rest of the night, hoping against hope that their friends survived. Finally, they fell asleep in the early hour of the morning.
Julie woke after 10AM and went out to start the main generator. The TV had drained much of their battery power and it would have to be recharged.
She started the main generator and went down to the basement and turned on the TV there. Helen came down in a few moments as well. The city of Flagstaff was wiped out completely but the outlying areas had mostly survived.
Helen had opened her laptop and was searching the news on the web. She read for a few minutes and said, "They're spinning this as a first strike trying to take out Uncle Jim and our response against the Russians as they tried to launch. Holy crap! We set off and EMP over Russia and took out most of Northern Europe's electronics. This is bad!"
Julie asked, "Any estimates on radiation?"
"Nothing yet. Hopefully most of ours were kinetic and not nuclear."
"I want to go look."
"Me, too, but Dad was pretty serious about us staying put and not using the phone. I'm thinking that there may be hit teams out there looking for us."
"This is going to get old."
In the end, they stayed down in the basement TV room watching the news for most of the day.
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, IDAHO
"Look, Kemp had an escape plan and he is somewhere in the vicinity still," Rob said. "We may have captured or killed everyone we saw leaving. I'm saying that he planned far ahead in order not to be seen."
General Whitman thought for a moment and said, "Let's put the youngsters on it going over the footage from last night. If there's one thing the video game generation is good at it's finding anomalies in video data. First one to find it gets their choice of duty stations and one hell of a bonus."
Before long, every computer was in use with Air Force troops looking for the one that got away. Two hours later, an 18 year old E2, Michael Green, found it. Rob brought the kid in to show it to Jim.
"I can see how we missed it," said Jim. "You did good, kid. You're on the team to find this asshole."
The airman almost glowed. He said, "Thank you, sir."
Jim continued, "I'd bet my bottom teeth that's Kemp. How far did we track him?"
Whitman answered, "We had Predators all over the place but only about 30 miles out. This one took the 91 north and we lost him on the videos after 32 miles."
Jim said, "Find him and kill him, whatever it takes. Let me kn
ow when you get him. I'm heading back to Nellis to deal with the aftermath."
After he left, Rob said, "I want to get more heads in on this one. I'm putting twenty grand in to start a pool on where this guy went. Put out the information to all our analysts and helpers and let's see what they come up with."
Before long, the bets were being placed.
Rob asked Green where he was betting and the kid said, "Somewhere around the James Kipp Recreational area, here," pointing to the map. "That's where I would go because I could then just hop on a boat and go with the current. If the boat has a cover, you wouldn't even have to worry about IR all that much. Just add a survival blanket to the top of it and drift."
"Would you have hit the river already?"
"No, sir. I would find a quiet place to sit and relax till the hounds get tired. But I'd have my boat ready and I'd be real close to that water, sir. Right about now I'd be sitting with my feet up enjoying a good meal and a snooze in a place where I wouldn't have to sweat over some Predator jockey looking with IR. Look for the right boat and you've got them. They're in it already or they're close to it. When they move, they'll be doing their best to look like they're fishing or drifting. Except nobody's wasting fuel on fishing right now, so I would lean toward drifting."
"Good thinking, Green. Keep looking."
"Yes, sir!"
Rob shared Green's analysis with General Whitman.
"I think the kid's onto something," said Whitman. "I'll put him to work with the feeds from the Predators. We have a couple of other options that are showing up in the pool that we'll follow up on as well." He chewed lightly on his lower lip, lost in thought. "But I think the kid's right."
ARIZONA HOUSE
SEPTEMBER 13th
Aerial pictures of Flagstaff were finally available on the web. NAU quite simply didn't exist anymore. The campus and surrounding area just wasn't there. Damage in the surrounding areas ranged from completely flattened to merely unlivable.
The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken Page 24