Nuclear Spring

by Td Barnes

  Early on, Bradley found the academician intellectuals aloof and self-centered. He and most of the military inside the mountain believed that smart and talented conservatives did not hang around for a Ph.D.; they escaped the ivory tower and went into the business world or the military. With a few exceptions, they considered the intellectuals as girlie men.

  Inside the mountain, many of the male academia, engineers, and scientists arrived wearing long hair, beards, and even earrings whereas the military did not. More than once, Bradley stated that those with a Ph.D. could not find their ass with both hands. Today, he would reluctantly admit that over time, they embraced the adventure of learning the trades of the others inside the mountain and had proven invaluable for the training and cross-training programs instigated by Bradley and his staff of advisors.

  “Gentlemen, you are about to earn your keep,” he said to start the meeting. He glanced over the group, all of them wearing their Kevlar helmets and the civilian version of the military camouflage utility uniform.

  “We’ve kept this under wraps until we knew more, but it is time you know that someone is overflying this region and we don’t know who it is, or why. I have my staff of officers working to come up with some possibilities. To overfly us, they must be based close by. We have reason to believe they may be al-Qaeda based near Tucson. We picked up one radio transmission, but other than that, they are not using any of the normal spectra, which suggest they have advanced means of communications that we do not know about. We do not have intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance ISR capability, so this is where some of you come in. We need to learn their means of communication, their origin, and their intentions. I am setting up a cyber-warfare unit to determine all of this, which will mean hacking into their computer servers.”

  “My God!

  The way the individual whispered his reaction expressed the gravity of his thoughts. Most of those in the room looked at him.

  “What?” Bradley said to extract the reasoning behind this emotional show of despair.

  “Our nukes. They are coming for our nuclear weapons.”

  When Bradley stared at him but did not say anything, the scientist continued. “Nellis AFB has a stockpile of nuclear bombs, we have Soviet nuclear warheads at a dismantling facility just a few miles from here, and the Army Depot at Hawthorne up north has the largest ordnance storage in the world. It has 491 buildings, 2,427 igloos, and a storage capacity of 7,685,000 square feet.”

  “I thought the war is over,” one of the civilians exclaimed.

  For the past four years, Bradley and the military staff trained the civilians for the day that they needed to defend themselves once they left the mountain, and now this idiot makes a statement such as this.

  “Over,” Bradley exploded. “It has not even begun.”

  “But, the Chinese....”

  Anger flashed through Bradley. He allowed it to pass before responding. “Gentlemen, this may seem strange to you, but acts of war did not place us in this mountain. War was Iran nuking Israel. China did not intend to start a world war. Yes, the Chinese did provide Iran with the missiles, but so what? The United States did the same thing in every two-bit country involved in some fanatic religious war. We armed and even trained the pilots overflying us today. In Syria, Russia supplied the government forces with weapons to use against al Qaeda supported militant Islamist rebels while our government was providing arms to the rebels knowing they intended eventually to use them against us. Everyone embraced the idea that the Cold War ended, but it not. The pissing contest between the Russians and the United States never let up at all. Sure, our leaders played nice, but that was only while the United States was sucking up to the Russians and everyone else using money borrowed from China.”

  He paused a moment. Did he expect this group to understand? He continued.

  “The Chinese did not attack us because they hate us or to bring war. The United States is to blame for much of what happened.”

  This comment caused several of those listening to drop their jaws in shock as Bradley intended.

  “Our president at the time sought to be a monarch—King of the world. He thought he could bring peace to the world by weakening the United States military to set an example. He thought that when our world competitors saw him turn our weapons into plowshares, they would follow suit.”

  He sighed. “Our president is not the only one at fault in bringing America and much of the planet to its knees. Our politicians went along with a redistribution policy where the government took from the producers and redistributed wealth in subsidies to those looking for a free ride. Bureaucrats picked winners and losers in the market, issued feel-good, top-down regulations that cost jobs. We allowed our government to create a monstrosity of government control of healthcare, education, and everything imaginable that reduced America to a third-rate country. This emboldened our competition to replace the United States as the superpower.”

  He softened this tone. “China was showing off when they launched the missile that took out Beijing. They tried to intimidate the United States, not knowing about our automated missile defense system. Somehow, the EMP devices received an energize command. It could have been accidental or out of panic, but I do not believe that they did this as an act of war. It could just as have been the United States triggering our own EMP devices. You can bet your sweet ass that we have some in orbit as well to serve as a deterrent.” His eyes moved to the rock ceiling of the alcove as though considering heaven. Many of the others looked upwards as well.

  His comments stunned some of his audience while those formerly with the Homeland Security Agency, CIA, or other intelligence agencies knew he spoke the truth. He again softened his tone into an explanation.

  “I can tell that my words shock some of you. We call that normalcy bias much like the people in Pompeii. Instead of evacuating, they watched for hours as the volcano erupted, failing to react until it was too late. Normalcy bias is well known to psychologists and sociologists as a mental state of denial that individuals often enter when facing a disaster or pending danger. Normalcy bias leads people to underestimate and minimize both the possibility of a catastrophe happening, as well as its possible consequences to their health and safety.’

  He stiffened the whispery tone of his voice. “You all drilled on the use of military weapons and sophisticated attacks on us here at the mountain. It is true that those misfits are long dead from the radiation, but many places in the world did not experience the EMP and nuclear winter effects that other nations did. They have continued to prosper and develop. Many of them will seek to take new territory just because they can. That is human nature. We are weak, and they know it. They will take advantage of that.”

  “We Jews who lived in Nazi Germany are another good example. We could not believe the Nazis’ taking our businesses from us and our people ending up in the ovens and gas chambers. We never left when we could have,” another in the audience said.

  “Yes, that is another excellent example of what happens if we don’t acknowledge a pending threat.”

  For Bradley, the exchange of thoughts, memories, and opinions peeled away what happened and why to expose what not occurred—the real war that existed before the EMP and nuclear exchanges. The realization of this cold fact revealed itself in his mind like a monolith emerging out of the drifting fog of war. He realized that the EMP and nuclear exchanges advanced the growth of the spider web that is the war on Islamic ideology.

  While at DIA, knowledge of Iran’s top diplomat in Mexico providing plane tickets and a scholarship to a mysterious school in Iran ran by the Islamic Republic piqued Bradley’s interest. He watched with concern the success of the institute that styled itself an Iranian madrassa for Hispanics that supplanted Arab operatives with radical Latino Jihadists from Colombian, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and the Central American countries. It was most likely these radical elements now showing interest in this region of the United States.

  The tra
ining started with the enlistment of Latin Americans for espionage and hacking operations targeting US Computer systems. Tehran used its religious and cultural programs to create local clandestine intelligence networks that included not only the Latin Americans but also every prison including those in the United States. Per Intel reports, thousands received two weeks of theological and political indoctrination that included training on how to infiltrate the United States-Mexico border.

  Bradley continued. “Gentlemen, no one knows the number of religious extremists in the US before the EMP. Our Census laws disallowed asking about religious affiliation. In any case, thousands of crazy-obsessed agents of al-Qaeda took up residency in the United States. They organized cells to engage in the jihadist movement to create a world of Islamic fundamentalism. What pisses me is that our government gave them food stamps, cell phones, education, medical benefits, and just about anything they wanted—all of it free and paid for by you and me. We have no idea how many survived or how. We do know that a direct effect of the EMP attack was the closure of prisons. This released to the world, thousands of hard-core Islamic converts—an army of Islamic radicals with intent on global jihadism propagated as the ‘just war’ or ‘war in the cause of Allah.’”

  One of them asked Bradley if his former intelligence provided any demographic data.

  “Yes, it did. Before the war, we estimated the Muslim faith at 1.6 billion. That is one-fourth of the world population living in 49 countries. While the war in the Middle East killed millions, it left millions still living in Indonesia, Brunel, Malaysia, Philippines, and West Africa. Some of these most likely escaped the war and somehow survived the nuclear winter that followed. There were an estimated 10 million Muslims in the US—a number that doubled 10 years, ago. For us, that is 10 million that we don’t have to worry about.”

  “We have some here inside the mountain that is of the Muslim faith. I am not saying that all Muslims are evil. However, we must recognize that all Muslims say the same confession of faith–There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is Allah’s prophet. That sets the stage for taking over the world for Allah, the establishment of a worldwide caliphate with Sharia Law, forced conversion of all infidels–unbelievers in Islam, subjugation in Dhimmi of those who will not convert. Many believe in eliminating any leaving Islam along with the elimination of Jews, Christians, and others.”

  Bradley felt uncomfortable painting an entire religious following as being evil. Not all Germans were evil when Hitler did his Nazi thing, nor were all Russians sorry when Stalin and most of the Russian communist leaders did their outrageous things against humanity. Not all blacks or Hispanics were wrong in the United States, but one could not ignore the high portion of criminal and terrorist activity directed and attributed to the bad apples in any one of these classes.

  His voice softened. “Didn’t mean to unload on you. I just assumed that all of you knew.”

  “You mentioned cyber-warfare,” one of the former HLS agents said. “What do you want from us?”

  The following day.

  The monitor display showed today as another beautiful day with another minor decrease in the radiation level outside the mountain. A small whirlwind drifted across the dry lakebed. The outside world looked to be at peace. This was, however, not the case inside the mountain.

  Yesterday, Bradley brought his staff officers and the sheltered VIPs up to date on what he perceived as being a threat to their future. Today, he assembled his technical advisors from all military and technical aspects of the colony. Those assembled were standing before Bradley in the Command Center where at present; two of his top communications people occupied the hot seat.

  At DIA before the EMP attack, one of the duties of a receptionist sitting outside Bradley’s office was to grant his visitor the green light to enter. She maintained a photo of Bradley hanging to the right of the door that displayed him in his dress uniform with his condiments to indicate him being in a good mood. On his bad mood days, his receptionist flipped the photo to display a picture on the reverse side that depicted him in his Special Ops combat uniform with a mean expression on his face marked with camouflage paint. This photo display warned any visitors of the colonel being in a sour mood, and they better come back another time.

  Today, they received no such warning but should have. Bradley was not cutting anyone any slack with his demand for answers that no one could provide. He wanted not only answers but also tangible results. Anything less meant that he could not guarantee their survival at the mountain.

  He had not slept well the night before. His mind would not rest. He had woken up thinking about their not detecting any more overflights at the mountain, and the lack of communications. The lack of additional flights meant to him that whoever was checking them out obtained what they needed. What are they looking for? Who did the looking, and what are their intentions?

  What concerned him was his knowledge that they would return, and not for a look-see. They would do so knowing that the Jackass Flats survivors were sitting at ground zero of the most advanced technological venue on earth. Any nation remaining on earth would do anything necessary to acquire this knowledge.

  “Dammit,” Bradley said with his frustration showing in his whispery voice and his pacing. “I understand our not having communications after the EMP while the magnetic interference played hell in the heavens. However, now with the atmosphere settled down and the Aurora Lights gone, we should hear something. I cannot believe that we are the only ones left standing. We know that we are not because those reconnaissance planes are not flying themselves. Do not even dare give me that UFO line of shit. No extraterrestrial would dream of even getting near this fucked up planet.”

  Those before him knew that he did not direct his frustrated rant at them.

  “Sir, we agree with everything you are saying. There is no question that our military communications took a hit. We depended upon third world countries to provide us with cheap hardened electronic components and got what we paid for. We agree that much of our modern communications used fiber that is resistant to E1 attacks. We know that there are survivors out there with functional communications. Unlike much of the United States, many housed their communication networks around the world in facilities designed to protect against EMP effects or lightning. Though it destroyed Ham radios and other communication devices the infrastructure itself is invulnerable.”

  Bradley stared at the man talking and then scanned the meteorologist and nuclear scientists in the room. His manner and mood visually and audibly changed to one of debate.

  He said, “What if much of the world is still experiencing the magnetic storms? During the past four years, we have seen the magnetic storms come and go, the sun peeking through before the arrival of high winds and black snow that covered everything with radioactive fallout particles. So, what if the jet stream is dipping and wobbling all over the place causing weather havoc? Could we have a river of air, undulating like a drunken driver with high and low extremes not playing by the old rules before the EMP?”

  Charley Mitchell, a meteorologist, took a step forward to speak. He shrugged. “Perhaps. The polar jet stream affects the North Hemisphere as it dips down from Alaska across the United States and Canada. It could extend across the Atlantic and over Europe. Nonetheless, I’m sure it doesn’t cover the planet, so that doesn’t account for the lack of communications.”

  When he stopped talking, Bradley motioned for him to continue.

  “Well, no doubt that it caused a disturbance of the ionosphere. I can imagine the electromagnetic pulse causing the jiggling of electrons in the upper atmosphere. This accounts for the creation of areas of increased and decreased electron density. Much long-range radio communication relies on bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere, which means that such communications, most likely suffered substantial interference, disrupting the longer wavelength signals than shorter wavelength signals. There is no need to go into the physics wizardry of this. This doesn’t explain why we do
n’t have communications from the shielded undersea cables or a submarine radio mast or buoy.”

  Bradley stopped his pacing and peeked into the radio room while speaking to the others at his back. “What a mess. We have the technology here that is half a century ahead of the rest of the world. Inside the mountain, we have nuclear generators, medicines designed for space that exceeds technology anywhere on the planet. We are in the Dark Ages when it comes to knowing what the rest of the world is like. They are looking at us, but we can’t do a damn thing to see them.”

  His last sentence said it all. It focused his helplessness on the fact that someone out there could do something that those inside the mountain could not do.

  He sat down at his desk and looked at Callahan. “Major Callahan, are you confident that the reconnaissance plane did not detect your sentry?

  “I don’t believe that he did, sir. I suspect that the aircraft was flying a north-south grid pattern northwest of us. The mounted sentry left no dust plume, and the plane was flying high and most likely using cameras for reconnaissance. From the guard’s description, I believe the plane was a prop-driven King Air. I envision a plane festooned with radio antennae and ball-shaped sensors.”

  “I know the plane that fits what you envision. We used the King Airs in Afghanistan. We equipped them with infrared and daylight cameras, L-3 wideband data links, and radio signal receivers and sensors. This means the plane has onboard processing to sense radio emissions from targets, zero in on them with cameras and then pass targeting information on to a Command Center or strike aircraft. It bothers me that they are surveilling around the mountain and here at Groom Lake.”

  “I imagine that they are interested in the technology known to be in this region and are looking to see if anyone survived to protect it.”

  Bradley looked at the sergeant suggesting. “Good point, Sergeant. “That suggests our technical personnel being almost as valuable to an enemy as the technology itself. That makes our technical staff targets for capture and the soldiers protecting them targeted for annihilation.” Even though most of the military men and women in the mountain were Air Force or Navy, Bradley called the soldiers. He had no Air Force or Navy.