Obliteration

by James S. Murray

  “I hope so,” Karen said shyly.

  “Listen, you’re going to do great in there, don’t worry,” Ellen said softly. “Any information you have would be hugely helpful, and we appreciate it more than you know. I’ll be right there by your side, no matter what.”

  Karen smiled. It was nice having an ally.

  “Is it okay to leave Joey with his own personal tour guide?” Ellen asked.

  “Hey, little guy,” McMaster said. “How would you like to see a fighter jet up close?”

  “Yes please!” Joey responded enthusiastically.

  Karen set Joey down and knelt in front of him. “Be a good boy. I’ll be back soon.”

  This was the second babysitter she’d left him with since this whole ordeal started, not that she had a real choice. Only this time, being on board this mighty vessel, far away from the specter of the creatures, made the decision a lot easier to stomach.

  Joey left with the sailor, and Karen blew him a kiss when he looked back.

  “Shall we?” Ellen motioned. Karen walked alongside her in silence. Now, on this ship, away from the horrors of the past few days, the enormity of everything overwhelmed her.

  “Mrs. Cafferty, may I ask you a question?”

  Ellen smiled at her. “Please, call me Ellen. Of course, go ahead.”

  “Um . . . are we safe on this ship?”

  Ellen stopped walking and turned to face her. Tears welled up in Karen’s eyes almost immediately.

  “I heard what you and your son have been through,” Ellen quietly said.

  “It’s . . . almost too much to bear, to even think about,” Karen replied softly, breaking down. “And after everything my son witnessed . . .”

  “I understand,” Ellen said, clutching Karen’s hands tenderly. “But we’re gonna get through this together, all right? And I want you to know that no matter what, I’ve got your back. No one messes with the Green family anymore, not on my watch.”

  Karen laughed and wiped away the tears. “Thank you.”

  A quiet hum and the sound of chattering keyboards filled the Nimitz’s intelligence center. Crew sat in front of workstations around the tennis-court-sized room. Cafferty rested his elbows on the large central table.

  The intimacy of last night now seemed a distant memory.

  At least I had that.

  At least I have her.

  Ellen had pulled him back from the brink so many times, he had stopped counting. By now, Tom had gotten used to his wife saving him from himself, from his worst tendencies. Without her, there was nothing worth fighting for. She made him better. She made everything better.

  The sunrise had yanked him back to their current harsh reality, though. Back to the realization of what he’d agreed to.

  Captain Collingwood had urgently summoned his team and Albert Van Ness for a dawn meeting. A civilian apparently had information that might be useful. That was all he knew. And Ellen had gone to meet her on the flight deck.

  Munoz and Bowcut sat to Cafferty’s left. The captain and his XO sat to his right, all patiently waiting for Albert Van Ness to finally reveal his plans before their guest arrived. On the videoconference screen, a weary President Brogan listened in.

  Across the table, Van Ness peered down at a huge map of San Francisco. He wafted a bony finger over the city several times, analyzing every inch.

  Cafferty studied his nemesis from a distance. Van Ness was like one of those fractal portraits that you need to stare at for minutes before the real image reveals itself. The only difference being, with Van Ness, the true vision never became clear until a time of his choosing.

  “So . . .” Diego said, breaking the awkward silence. “How’s everyone doing?”

  Cafferty smiled at him. Munoz was always a smart-ass.

  “When do you plan on enlightening us on your attack strategy, Mr. Van Ness?” President Brogan asked on the video screen.

  Van Ness lifted his head from the map.

  “First, let us hear the good girl out who’s on her way,” Van Ness replied. “And then I believe the plan will make itself known.”

  Munoz leaned over to Cafferty and whispered, “That means he doesn’t have a plan yet.”

  Cafferty smirked. But knowing Van Ness, he had every potentiality planned out. The questions consuming Cafferty, though, were this:

  Regardless of whether I live or die, what’s Van Ness’ plan after the battle for San Francisco is won or lost?

  And more important, how can I fuck those plans up?

  The intelligence center’s door opened.

  Ellen led a young lady to the table and they took seats opposite the officers. Maybe thirty, Cafferty thought. She had dark rings around her eyes and nervously glanced around.

  “Everyone, this is Karen Green,” Ellen said. “She’s a brave paramedic who escaped San Francisco with her four-year-old son, Joey, and has been helping victims as they arrive on the island.”

  “Good to have you here, Karen, and thank you for all your help,” Collingwood said. “I am Captain Collingwood, this is my commanding officer, Captain Vasquez. This is Tom Cafferty and his team, and Albert Van Ness.”

  Karen nodded hello at everyone in the room.

  “And of course . . .”

  “Hello, Karen,” President Brogan chimed in, momentarily startling the woman. “Thank you for your help today.”

  “Oh, wow, um, hello, President Brogan.”

  “Captain Kohler filled us in briefly about what you witnessed, but we’d like to hear it from you directly.”

  “If I can help in any way, I’ll do it,” she responded.

  “Tell us what you saw,” Brogan said. “No detail is too small.”

  “Um . . . okay . . . well . . .” Karen stammered. “Well, my son and I were hiding on the top floor of an office building after my husband had . . . um . . . had been . . .”

  Cafferty saw the woman’s eyes fill with tears. “Karen,” he said gently, “what did you see from the top of the building?”

  She fought back the tears and continued. “All the smaller creatures gathered around the center of George Sterling Park, and the ground began to shake, like an earthquake . . .”

  Van Ness straightened in his chair and leaned forward, listening intently.

  “Then . . . the big one rose out from the ground.”

  “Exactly how big was this creature?” Cafferty asked.

  Karen turned to him. “Almost three times the size of the rest. It was the size of a truck.”

  “Did it look any different from the rest?” Van Ness asked.

  “Yes. Its . . . its eyes glowed red,” Karen said. “And it had what looked like a crown of thorns on its head.”

  “Hey, Karen, my name’s Diego,” Munoz said. “I’m just an intern here.”

  Karen smiled at his joke.

  “What did you hear when this creature rose from the breach?” he asked.

  She closed her eyes, trying to recall what she’d experienced. Eventually she said, “It was like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Its screech shattered every window on the park. And . . .”

  “And what?”

  “It seemed like every other creature bowed in deference to it. Obeyed it. Like it was commanding them all. Like they were communicating with each other.”

  Van Ness leaned in closer to the map of San Francisco, studying it carefully.

  “Sterling Park, you say?” Van Ness asked. “You’re positive, my dear, of the location?”

  “One hundred percent,” Karen replied. “And then the smaller creatures surrounded it in thick lines. Like they were protecting it as it walked the streets, checking on their destruction.”

  “Fascinating,” Van Ness commented.

  “Did you see it return into the same breach in the park?” Cafferty asked.

  “We didn’t have the chance. Joey and I got the hell out of there.”

  “How can we be sure it returned to the same hole it dug up?” Cafferty asked Van Ness.

&nbs
p; “We cannot with any certainty,” Van Ness replied. “Although, all things in nature tend to take the path of least resistance.”

  “You’re very brave, Karen,” Captain Collingwood said. “Anything else to add?”

  “Just one thing,” Karen said confidently. “If there is a queen, that was it.”

  “Well said, my dear,” Van Ness said to Karen. “President Brogan, as I thought, our attack plan has revealed itself.”

  He jabbed his finger against the map.

  “The main assault teams will land at Hunters Point. Send every supersoldier there. But before we do, I’d humbly request the U.S. Navy turn the dock and surrounding neighborhood into a parking lot, Madam President. The more noise the better.”

  Cafferty studied the map, confused. “Hunters Point?” he asked. “That’s miles away from Sterling Park. I thought our mission was to hunt down and kill the queen.”

  “And we will, Mr. Mayor,” Van Ness responded. “Trust me, Madam President. No one knows war strategy better than an old German.”

  “Except maybe the Russians,” Diego whispered under his breath.

  “You need to launch everything you’ve got at Hunters Point, Captain,” Van Ness said authoritatively. “All your weapons, all your men, all my supersoldiers, except for the ones protecting your fleet of course.”

  Cafferty shot a look at Ellen, suspicious.

  Except for the supersoldiers protecting the fleet?

  “In the meantime,” Van Ness continued, “I will require a Chinook helicopter to transport myself and a small squad of twenty supersoldiers to Sterling Park on the other side of the city.”

  “Why would I agree to this?” Collingwood asked. “We need more details.”

  “My intention is to win this war, Captain. I’ll let you do your job. Let me do mine. Your military will be safe and sound while my soldiers are the ones on the front line, bearing the brunt of all this. But if you don’t agree, perhaps we can reverse that order.”

  Collingwood looked away, backing down.

  “Oh, and one more thing . . .” Van Ness eyed Cafferty. “Thomas and his team will accompany me on my mission. Assuming that is amenable to you, Mr. Mayor?”

  Cafferty nodded at Ellen, Diego, and Sarah, and then turned back to Van Ness defiantly. “Bring it on.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The vanguard of the fleet cruised underneath the deep red splendor of the Golden Gate Bridge, still proudly intact, and entered San Francisco Bay. Five choppers swarmed in the clear blue sky around the deserted docks at Hunters Point. They were checking for any survivors before the overwhelming military force incinerated the area.

  On the Nimitz’s flight deck, a Chinook helicopter landed, blasting Diego Munoz with its strong downdraft. He hunched over an ultrahigh-frequency distress beacon, a metallic briefcase-sized box with assorted switches, knobs, and waveforms on it. Diego had calibrated the device carefully. A theory had formed in his mind. Unproven? Yes. Useful or effective? He had no clue . . . yet.

  But it’s better than just sitting on my ass.

  Bowcut nudged him with her knee. “You seeing that, Diego?”

  “What?”

  She nodded toward the smoldering city on the mainland. “What a god-awful mess.”

  A cruise liner listed against the rugged Marin Headlands. Its hull groaned against the rocks and a torn banner fluttered on the pool deck. The bloodstains on the balconies told their own story.

  “Someone had their vacation ruined,” Munoz said.

  He gazed at the stage above the pool deck. Dried blood almost covered the entire area. Body parts littered the floorboards. Whatever went down, it must have happened fast. “And we thought we had it bad.”

  The aircraft carrier powered toward the city.

  Munoz switched his focus to the military base on Treasure Island: a bastion of human survival, untouched by the carnage. It appeared oddly tranquil. People walked around the perimeter in civilian clothing. Vehicles moved backward and forward. They, unlike him, probably didn’t possess the knowledge that the creatures were capable of tunneling under seabeds. He guessed a breach could happen at any second on the basis of never underestimating the creatures’ abilities.

  “You ready for action?” Bowcut asked.

  “Nothin’ prepares you for this.”

  “Damn straight.”

  Diego looked across the deck at Albert Van Ness and the Caffertys boarding the helicopter, along with twenty supersoldiers.

  “This doesn’t feel right,” Munoz said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Van Ness’ plan. Sending thousands of supersoldiers and the U.S. military to the wrong location and only a handful of us to hunt the queen. Why?”

  Bowcut shrugged. “Classic diversion. The queen will send hordes of creatures the wrong way, leaving herself vulnerable to attack when she least expects it.”

  “I suppose. But what if she keeps a few thousand creatures around to protect herself? Then we’re royally screwed.”

  “I don’t trust his intentions, either, but he’s coming with us. To me, that means he’s confident the plan will work.”

  “I guess we’ll find out. I’m surprised the military put up with his demands.”

  “Like they had a choice. He’s got the supersoldiers. And if his plan fails, it’s his clones that get slaughtered. Better than our soldiers.”

  “I suppose,” Diego replied. “Doesn’t it also strike you as odd that he wants all of us off this ship to join him?”

  Bowcut looked intently at Diego, considering what he said. She turned and walked across the deck to speak to Tom Cafferty as he climbed on board the chopper. Then she joined Roux and boarded an amphibious assault craft headed toward San Francisco.

  Diego glanced across the bay at the carnage. Most of the skyscrapers in the city had transformed into charred skeletons. But the weirdest thing was the absolute stillness that had overcome the city. No movement at all. Like the place had transformed into a corpse.

  But all that was about to change.

  Forty amphibious assault crafts sliced through the water ahead of the fleet, creating white trails in the deep blue water. Black and angular, they bounced over the waves toward their drop-off point, each packed with hundreds of supersoldiers. U.S. forces followed them in countless more crafts. It looked like D-Day on steroids.

  The missile bays opened on the Nimitz, and dozens of powerful projectiles shot from below deck and arced into the sky, flames burning behind them.

  Munoz gazed up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.

  Simultaneously, missiles shot from every aircraft carrier in the fleet and rocketed toward the landing point.

  “Holy hell,” he uttered.

  The missiles raced over the landing craft and struck the empty dock and surrounding buildings with tremendous force. Thunderous booms split the air, and the earth shook upon impact. Massive balls of fire shot upward. Debris rained onto the empty berths and destroyed warehouses. Everything within hundreds of yards was almost instantly flattened at the destructive power, including any creatures in the vicinity. They would probably have made things harder for the landing force, if it were human . . .

  That should get the queen’s attention, though.

  Munoz gasped with awe at what he was witnessing. He couldn’t see any creatures on land, but they were coming, no doubt. His experience told him that much.

  The roar of fighter jets came next.

  On every carrier, dozens of F18s took to the sky. They quickly gained altitude and swept toward San Francisco in formation. The jets homed in on known clusters of creatures near Hunters Point and simultaneously fired dozens of laser-guided AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles at various targets.

  Munoz instinctively held his breath and closed his eyes a split second before the missiles hit, anticipating the shock wave.

  In a flash, San Francisco had become a full-blown war zone.

  Diego could only imagine the queen belowground somewher
e, clear across the city, just now learning about the massive human counterattack under way.

  That bitch is gonna be pissed.

  But this awesome display of power wasn’t going to win the war. The main assault powered over the waves toward the raging fires in Hunters Point. The amphibious assault craft with thousands of supersoldiers on them were seconds from hitting land and launching a full-scale invasion . . . on the opposite side of the city from where Van Ness and Cafferty’s team were about to head.

  Let’s hope the queen takes the bait.

  “Diego, over here!” Cafferty bellowed.

  Munoz turned toward the deck.

  The Chinook helicopter’s rotor blades had spun to a blur. Inside, Van Ness, twenty supersoldiers, and the Caffertys waited, the old man likely pissed that Bowcut hadn’t joined them. Munoz doubted it put a serious dent in the crazy old fool’s real plan.

  He took one last look at the battered city, hoping they were bringing it salvation. Then he scooped up his tactical beacon and jogged toward the tailgate of the chopper. He leaped inside and the Chinook prepared to take to the sky.

  A moment before it did, Ellen Cafferty kissed Tom on the lips and unbuckled her harness.

  “You’re not joining, Mrs. Cafferty?” Van Ness shouted over the sounds of the chopper.

  “I think it’s best for at least one of us to remain behind, to coordinate intelligence and communication,” she shouted back. “You know, just in case.”

  With that, Ellen leaped out onto the deck of the Nimitz and mouthed the words I love you to her husband one last time.

  “Suit yourself,” Van Ness said sternly. “It will make no difference.”

  Munoz studied his face and could tell Van Ness was definitely pissed at this sudden change of plan. It likely added to Bowcut’s nonappearance for the smaller mission.

  Perhaps Van Ness wants us all where he can kill us.

  Tough shit for him.

  As the propellers sped up, Diego noticed Van Ness lowering a syringe containing green liquid into his swagger stick. The same syringe Tom had pointed out in the Antarctic base two days ago.

  With that, the Chinook took to the sky.