“I can transmit that now, sir.” The engineering NCO waved his iPad. “HESCO and CONEX units. I’ve put down three bailey bridge sets which can be constructed, too.”
“Baileys probably aren’t what you had in mind,” Guardiola said. “But mobile bridges won’t be able to support the loads you intend to drive over them. The baileys can be made pretty cheaply and quickly and can be demolished fast, if needed.”
“What about some old-fashioned draw bridges, then? I want to be able to get traffic across the trenches.”
“That can be done. The more time, the better, though.”
“We should have both,” Gartrell said. “Raise the draw bridges, but keep the baileys as kill-zone funnels.”
McDaniels nodded. “Very well. Major Guardiola, you have your orders for now. Any problems with getting things straightened out?”
Guardiola looked at Jaworski. “Colonel?”
“McDaniels is the XO and commander of the QRF element, and his mission is to keep SPARTA secure,” Jaworski said. “So feel free to follow his orders. Immediately, even.”
“Yes, sirs. Colonel McDaniels, I’ll see to those details you need taken care of. Someone will have to discuss this with the civilians. If I pull the driveway before we can set up a bridge, no one will be getting in and out unless it’s by foot.”
“I’ll tend to that,” Jaworski said. “Good point, let’s hold off on that last one for as long as we can. We need the civilians to be able to access this place. Cord?”
McDaniels nodded. “Absolutely, until other arrangements can be made. SPARTA needs to function. But if the zeds make it here in substantial force, having a concrete path leading to us isn’t going to be very helpful.”
“I’ll make sure to pass that on,” Jaworski promised. “Anything else for the engineers at the moment?”
McDaniels shook his head. “Negative.”
“Major Guardiola, you’re good to go for now. We’ll send Sergeant Major Gartrell over to you once we’re done here. Where can he find you?”
“I’ll be at the DTOS. That’s the big white and blue box truck that has ‘U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ and ‘Emergency Operations’ written all over it,” Guardiola replied.
Gartrell nodded. “I know exactly where that is, sir.”
“Aviation, you guys need anything from the engineers?” Jaworski asked.
Major Carmody exchanged glances with CW5 Billingsly. Despite his rank, it was pretty obvious that Carmody was the junior member of the pair. When Billingsly shook his head, Carmody repeated the gesture to Jaworski. “We’re good, sir.”
Jaworski nodded and glanced at Guardiola. “Okay then, you’d better get moving, Major.”
“On it, sir.” The two members of the Corps of Engineers left the operations center.
Jaworski motioned for Gartrell, who was leaning against a wall, to sit down. When Gartrell declined, the tall Air Force colonel took the chair.
“Okay, let’s talk some more nuts and bolts. We figure we’ve got a few days until the first wave of panic-stricken civilians starts heading our way from the south. Right behind them will be the stenches. We need to figure out how we’re going to handle that.” Jaworski turned to Carmody. “What’s the situation with your unit? You have all the assets you need? Fuel? Other consumables? Maintenance and spares? Your aircraft are on a hardstand, right?”
Carmody nodded. “We have all our aircraft at the northern parking lot, and we dropped sandbags across its entrance to keep out other vehicles. We also took down several light poles, with the help of the engineers. We have enough space to do what we need to do, and more fuel is on its way from Hood. They’re sending HEMT tankers and trucks full of M500 blivets, which are fine for us, since we have two fuel pumps we can use to transfer the fuel. And if we need to, we can use one of the Chinooks as a fat cow and offload its fuel into the other aircraft.”
“Weapons?”
“Both Chinooks have M134 miniguns up front and fifty cals in the rear. We tripled our normal ammo loadout. The AH-6s are reconfigurable, but we deployed with two M134s and two M260 rocket pods per aircraft, so they have the full loadout. They have short legs, but we’ll be able to provide close air support if things hit the fan.”
“They will,” McDaniels said. “By the way, in New York, a lot of your guys went the distance for us. Pass it on to your commanders that all of them are recommended by me for silver stars, and two of them are going to be put in for the DSC.” The Distinguished Service Cross was the Army’s highest award for valor, only one step removed from the Medal of Honor.
“You have their names, sir?” Billingsly’s tone was flat and expressionless, just like his face. His silvering hair was set off by his pitch-colored eyebrows and mustache.
“I do.” McDaniels pulled his battered notebook from one pocket, opened it, and pushed it across the table.
The warrant officer looked at the handwritten list for a moment, then pursed his lips. He pushed the notebook back to McDaniels. “Thanks for that, sir. I’d like to add some more names to the list if you don’t mind. A lot of other aviators went down with ROMEO.”
“Hell, yes. Give ’em all to me, Mister Billingsly. Everyone gets their due.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’m sorry,” Jaworski said, looking at Carmody and Billingsly. “My condolences on the 160th’s losses, but we do need to move on. I don’t mean to be insensitive—”
“No problem, Colonel. We get it,” Carmody said.
“Yeah, well, just the same, you guys have my respect. And more importantly, it looks like you have that of Colonel McDaniels and Sergeant Major Gartrell.”
“You got that right, sir,” Gartrell said.
“Thanks, guys. We appreciate it,” Carmody said. Billingsly only nodded stiffly, but McDaniels could almost see the roiling emotion beneath the man’s stern demeanor.
“Okay, back to where we were. If aviation’s good, then I guess we can move on to other things. But just the same, you saw what happened in Laredo. If you guys need to pull anything else in, then do it soon. Especially spares. I’m an aviator myself, and I’m really worried about spares for your Chinooks. We’ll probably be using those things more often than we can plan for right now.”
“I think we should probably send a pulse to the AVUM,” Billingsly offered.
“Agreed.” Carmody pulled out his own iPad and typed a note.
Am I the only Neanderthal without a damned tablet device? McDaniels wondered.
“AVUM is our unit maintenance facility,” Billingsly said when Jaworski asked about the acronym.
“Ah, thanks. Again, Major Carmody, I really want you and Mister Billingsly here to go back, talk with the rest of your guys, and figure out what else you’ll need. Definitely get more ammunition. From what McDaniels has told me, we’ll be going through that like it’s water. Hell, even ask for some water, now that I think of it.”
Carmody laughed. “We’ll do just that, sir.”
Jaworski checked his watch. “The rest of the elements will be moving in today. I got word that the Rangers are on a road movement in our direction from Midland, so we should expect them in the next hour or so. Cord, you’ll probably want to synch up with their battalion commander and find out what he needs to make his troops fully combat effective. I get the idea that Rangers travel light, correct?”
“Correct, sir. Rangers are the light infantry of the Army special operations community. I’m hoping they at least brought some vehicles with them, but other than that, we’ve already got everything they need. We just have to secure the post and make it as zed-proof as we possibly can.”
“Ah, sirs, I’d like to add something with regards to vehicles and transportation,” Gartrell interjected.
Jaworski looked up at him. “Go right ahead, Gartrell. What’s on your mind?”
“Humvees, M949 trucks, maybe even HEMTs are not the best things to use for transportation through the zeds,” Gartrell said. “On the open road? Sure. But to te
ll you the truth, when the stenches are in full force, those things are so damned thick that even a Stryker would have trouble getting through them. That was one of our biggest issues in New York, the overland escape. We had a beefy four-wheel drive van, and it still wasn’t enough.”
“So what are you asking for?” Jaworski asked. “Tanks? Bradleys?”
“MRAPs,” Gartrell said.
McDaniels slapped the table. “Damned straight!”
Even Jaworski nodded in appreciation. “Anything that could survive IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq is probably going to be able to take anything the zeds can throw at it. Which, happily, is mostly just other zeds. But still, those things aren’t the most maneuverable things on the market. High off the ground, easy to roll…”
“But even if one did roll over, there’s not a great chance the zeds would be able to get inside it,” Gartrell said. “Survivability is the key here.”
“And it’s not like that’s an asset that’s going to be heavily resourced,” McDaniels said. “MRAPs are very specialized. We should be able to get some delivered from Hood, or Carson at the farthest. Good call, Sergeant Major.”
“My only job is make officers look more amazing,” Gartrell said.
“Keep that up, and we might get out of this yet,” Jaworski said. “All right, let’s add MRAPs to the list, and anything else you can think of. Let’s get it all while the getting’s good. What else?”
“How about something a little less pedestrian?” McDaniels looked at the Air Force colonel directly. “The rules of engagement aren’t entirely clear.”
Jaworski seemed puzzled. “What do you mean? We kill as many zombies as we can if they show up.”
“A mass of humanity’s going to show up ahead of the zombies, Colonel. We could have thousands of civilians outside this facility, looking for safety. If we don’t give it to them, they’ll eventually try and get inside any way they can. That’s going to put the entire task force and the facility itself at risk. We need clear instructions on how far we take this. We can’t build another city out here, and if we could, there’s no chance we could fortify it to withstand dedicated assaults from the stenches. Not that we have that circumstance well in hand yet, either. But the time’s going to come when we’re going to have to face down fellow Americans in extreme danger and either bail them out or turn our backs.”
“The ROE’s not unclear at all. We defend this facility and hold it at all costs. That’s what we were told at the Pentagon, and that’s what the operational orders say.” Jaworski didn’t seem uncomfortable, but something in his eyes told McDaniels different. No one had stopped to think, to really think, about the potential toll that might be looming just over the horizon. Everyone had been fixated on stopping the stenches, but no one had taken the time to factor in the human element.
“Colonel … sir, think about this for just a second. There’s a housing development just up the street, on the other side of three eighty-five.” McDaniels pointed over Jaworski’s shoulder. “A lot of the people who work here live there. Their families are there. How can we expect these people to work and do what we need them to do if their families are food for the zeds?”
“So what are you recommending, Cord? You just said yourself we can’t build a big enough facility to house those people.”
“We can probably house the families of the employees here, if they want to come inside before the walls go up,” McDaniels said. “I’m thinking mission essentials here, sir. We do need to keep the people who we’re depending on to come up with Safire’s proposed treatment safe, and we need to keep them focused on that, which means we’ll need to do something to improve the security of their loved ones. That is something we should plan on doing, which means we’ll need to add that to the to-do list and see it actioned. But the bigger question remains—are we going to ask our soldiers and sailors and airmen to open fire on refugees? Because as soon as people figure out there’s a sizeable military presence here, they’ll come. And we have to prepare ourselves for that.”
“And maybe more importantly, we need to prepare ourselves for what’s going to happen when some of our troops can’t commit to that action.” Gartrell’s voice was oddly subdued, and he had that semi-haunted look in his eyes that worried McDaniels. “In New York City, it wasn’t that tough. We were on the run, and we had to think on our feet. Here, we’ll be dealing with a stream of refugees who are desperate, people who will do anything to save themselves or their kids. And some of our troops will help them. Discipline’s going to break down, and we all have ringside seats. It’s not going to be pretty, Colonel. We can order the troops to deny the civilians access, but some of them won’t be able to go along with that, even if they are special operations forces. Look at it this way.” Gartrell pointed at McDaniels. “Colonel McDaniels has a son in college in Austin. What if he shows up here? How could McDaniels lead the QRF and not try to save his own son?”
Jaworski looked at McDaniels and shifted in his seat. “Your son is here? In Texas?”
“He is,” McDaniels replied.
“Well, I can solve that. Let’s get him here. Let’s take that circumstance off the table right away.”
McDaniels struggled with how to take that offer. If he could get Lenny there with him… “I appreciate that, sir, but it still doesn’t really solve our dilemma,” McDaniels said, tabling the issue for the moment.
“I know that. Jesus Christ on a rubber fucking crutch!” Jaworski leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his face. He stared at the display on the wall for a moment, then looked back at McDaniels. “We have to do what we have to do. We can’t house a massive displacement of civilians. If they try to get in, we stop them. Passive measures would be best, so we should look into getting some of that stuff here. Tear gas, electric fencing, whatever will work. And if they try to force their way in … well, we’ll have to resort to deadly force. There just isn’t another way, unless you guys know something I don’t.”
“No, sir, I can’t think of anything that would be as effective as we need it to be.” McDaniels looked at Gartrell, and the sergeant major slowly shook his head. “We just have to be as prepared for that particular shit storm as possible. We’ll have the best troops on hand, but…” He shrugged. There just wasn’t much more he could say.
Jaworski nodded and checked his watch. “All right. I have to meet with the company CEO and his staff, and I’m sure the Rangers are going to show up any minute. You guys keep doing what you’re doing. Cord, you have the authority to requisition anything that we’re going to need, so don’t wait for me to bless your shopping lists. And I’ll seek guidance from the top about what we just discussed. I doubt they’ll have anything very helpful to add, but we’ll see what they come back with.”
9
“Where are we going?” Regina asked Doctor Kersey as soldiers—or airmen, or whatever they were called—pulled the USAMRIID team from the Black Hawk after it had landed.
“Texas,” Kersey said. “We’re going to join your friend McDaniels and continue to work on the vaccine there. It’s the safest place for us to be right now.”
“What about the CDC?” Regina pulled abreast of the older woman and matched her long, bounding stride. “They have suitable facilities. Wouldn’t it be better for us to relocate there?”
“The Centers for Disease Control isn’t any more secure than the Rid was, Doctor Safire. You’re right. It would make some sense to go there; after all, they have access to the same systems and technology. But if it should fall, we might not be able to find any transportation out of there. As you can see, things are a bit hectic right now, and this is only the beginning.” Kersey weaved around the Air Force base, which was a beehive of activity.
Transport aircraft taxied about and formed long queues for the runways, their big jet engines wailing. But over the din, Regina heard the crack-crack-crack of gunfire from the base’s perimeter. As the Army Black Hawk lifted off behind them, more helicopters swooped in and landed
on the ramp. At the far end of the airfield, even more helicopters descended from the sky, separate from the rest of the pattern. Regina recognized them after a moment. They were the president’s helicopters, but instead of just one, there were several and all identical. The choppers landed in an area secured by armed Humvees and other vehicles. Not far from their landing area sat the huge bulk of Air Force One. The president was obviously leaving the chaotic Washington area, and Regina didn’t blame him one bit.
It’s all happening so fast.
“Where in Texas are we going? To the pharma facility by Odessa?”
Kersey nodded. She glanced over her shoulder as the gunfire reached a crescendo in the distance.
Regina looked back as well, and for a moment, she was almost overwhelmed by their circumstances, so similar to what she had faced in New York’s Central Park only days ago. When McDaniels, Gartrell, and an entire Special Forces team had come to evacuate her and her father before the great metropolis fell to the gathering dead. When her father was still alive.
“There’s your plane,” one of their military escorts said.
Ahead was a fairly large jet, like one of the business jets her father’s company had used. The jet’s engines were already running, and a female flight attendant stood at the base of the air stair, watching them approach. She didn’t wear a uniform, so Regina supposed the aircraft wasn’t operated by the military.
The flight attendant directed them aboard while the two airmen escorting the group of scientists took position on either side of the air stair, their hands on the butts of their pistols. Regina joined the rest of the team as they settled inside the Gulfstream’s sumptuously-appointed interior. Kersey buckled herself into one of the seats on the right side of the cabin—what the flight attendant called “the principal’s seat”—and Regina took the seat across the aisle from her. As soon as the last person was aboard, a pudgy virologist named Adams, the flight attendant retracted the aircraft’s air stair and closed the boarding door. The jet started its taxi before Adams had even made his way to a seat.
The Rising Horde, Volume One (Sequel to The Gathering Dead ) Page 11