Apache Dawn: Book I of the Wildfire Saga (45 page)

“Well, the flu had something to do with that,
” offered the mealy-mouthed Secretary of State.
 
She pushed her glasses up her aquiline nose again.

“
He’s right
,” said the Air Force General.
 
“
My boys are barely keeping even.
 
With reduced strength, reduced communications…those red bastards just keep pouring more and more into the area.
 
I don’t know how they’re doing it.
 
More ground forces, more air assets.
 
I had reports of strategic bombers north of Los Angeles.
 
That implies that China is really pulling the strings here.”

The Air Force Chief of Staff shook his head.
 
“North Korea doesn’t take a
piss
unless Beijing says it’s okay.
 
Besides, the Koreans don’t have any bombers worth a damn and the Chinese H-6K is capable of reaching Hawaii, but not California.
 
So these bombers we’re seeing had to fly over Canada to reach us.
”

“So our friends to the north left the back door open?” asked the President.

“
Hell, sir, we left the front door open
…” muttered the Marine Commandant.
 
“
We’ve been letting anyone from South America across the border Scot-free for decades now.
 
Who knows how many diseases and sleeper cells we let walk across our borders
.”

“That was a policy enacted
years
ago,” said the President.
 
“Before I graduated
high school
, General.”

“
Your boss sure didn’t do anything to change it though, did he?”
shot back the Commandant.

“Mr. President, if the North Koreans have been using Chinese strategic bombers in-theater, they must have supply bases, support personnel…That little Chinese diversion in Taiwan has to be part of a larger strategy.
 
I think
we’re looking at an honest-to-God conquest.
 
They’re just using North Korea as a proxy.
”

“You’re telling me the North Koreans—no, the Chinese, or
both
are here to stay?” the President asked innocently.
 
That confirms what Reginald said.

The general looked like someone had just put a dead cat under his nose.
 
He stared at the President, the color rising on his neck.
 
He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, then closed it.
 
An awkward silence descended on the meeting.

The Secretary of State cleared her throat.
 
“
Sir, North Korea is claiming they struck back against us—supposedly for an attack by U.S. forces that took place last week.
 
They have video and pictures they’re releasing to the press this afternoon.
 
It’s all doctored, of course.
 
They’re insane.
 
I’ve tried contacting the Chinese, but I’m still getting nothing but silence on the matter from Beijing, despite my repeated attempts at personal communication…”
 

“Understood.
 
Options?
 
Everything but nuclear is on the table.”
 
The President leaned back and waited for his military advisers to speak up.
 
This was their one golden opportunity.
 
The funny thing
, he thought to himself,
is that I’m serious.
 
It’s going to be an all-out war.
 
Never thought I’d hear myself say that…

 
“
Well, we all know the North Koreans are batshit crazy
.
 
I say we wipe Pyongyang off the map and see if
that
gets their attention
,” said the Air Force Chief of Staff.

“Can you reach—”

“
Mr. President, even with substandard communications capabilities, we still maintain—by a long shot—the most sophisticated and powerful air force this world has ever seen.
 
In a word, sir: yes.
 
We can be wheels up and over Pyongyang in
—” he checked his watch.
 
“Eight hours.
”

The President considered this.
 
“Opinions?” he said, hands up, offering the floor to anyone.
 
He wanted consensus on this move.
 
He would be the first to admit that he was completely ignorant in the realm of military matters.
 
He was a social activist, and a lawyer.
 
A
civilized
man.
 
He had no need to dream about bombs, missiles, and planes.
 
His whole goal in entering the political world had been to reverse that peculiar, aggressive American tradition.

“
Sir, I believe we should have contingency measures in place.
 
We can deploy a dozen or so conventional cruise missiles from subs in the South China Sea.
 
If the bombers fail—
”

“
They won’t, Admiral.
 
Our pilots do not ‘go rogue’.
”

The Admiral flushed, but held his tongue.
 
After appearing to calm himself, he said: “
Sir, recommend we do a full-scale strike on Pyongyang.
 
Warn them that if they don’t stop their offensive campaign on U.S. soil—right the fuck now—we wipe out their next largest city, and so on, until they do.
 
Pardon my French, sir.”

“Don’t worry about it Admiral.”

“The Admiral has a point, sir,”
agreed the Army Chief of Staff.
 
“If the bombers somehow run into difficulty, a few waves of missiles won’t.
 
It will send the message that nowhere in North Korea is there a safe haven from the air or the sea
forces
.
 
Should be a wake-up call for Beijing, too.”

“If Pyongyang isn’t safe—or Beijing—neither is Colorado, Chicago or Dallas, for that matter
,” said the Secretary of State.
 
“
Gentlemen, you realize that if the Chinese are indeed pulling the strings or aiding the Koreans or even setting up shop on the West Coast, they’ll be able to hit targets farther east
…”

“
Of course,
” said the Marine Commandant.
 
“
It would be tactically stupid to waste such an opportunity.
 
Mr. President, Washington itself -”

“
Is no longer a concern.
 
Now that COG is in play, the chances of them taking enough of the upper echelon of our government out at the same time is just not there.
 
Surely they know that.
 
This may simply be a land grab,
” said the Homeland Security director.

“
Well, the Koreans
are
suffering from over-population
,” offered the Secretary of State.
 
“
And China has been for a hundred years or more
.”

“Let my boys break out the big guns—we’ll fix that problem in a jiffy
,” said the Air Force general.
 
He wore a smirk that made the President want to slap the man.
 
The arrogance!

“Enough
,” said the President.
 
“General Andrews, Admiral Bennet, I want mission drafts within the hour, and updates every 30 minutes until the strike is completed.
 
You’ve got the green light.
 
Make it happen.
 
In the meantime, every available asset is to head west.
 
We will hold the line and take back what is ours.
 
I have just reached an agreement with the U.N.
 
We can pull out from the east to prop up the defenders in the west.
 
Understood?”

“
Yes, sir!
”

“Now.
 
On to the Source.
 
Have we made any progress in bringing him in?
 
Now that we’ve lost Spokane, we’re going to have to take him…where?”

“
Johns Hopkins, sir
,” said the Homeland Security head.
 
“
It’s the best bet for replicating a vaccine.
 
From there we can transfer the vaccine to just about a dozen different locations and mass-produce.
 
But the trick will be bringing in the Source.
”

“
My boys have him
—”

“
Yes, General Harrison, they do, but your Rangers haven’t brought him
in
, yet, have they? We’re still tracking him by the GPS chip implanted in his shoulder and he’s making a zig-zag path roughly southeast through the mountains of central Idaho. That’s the wrong direction from Spokane—or what’s left of it.
”

The President stifled a shiver.
 
It was exactly like Reginald had said.

“
My last communication indicated that they had commandeered a squadron of Apaches
—”

“General, I do not want your men gathering an army.
 
I want them to bring that man in so we can save our country.
 
You are to order them to get him in, post haste.
 
Is that clear?
 
Their mission is
not
to rescue orphaned soldiers along the way.”

“
Yes, sir.
 
Of course, Mr. President.
 
The problem, sir, is that the Koreans, or maybe the Chinese, have been on their tails since the get go.
 
I’m tracking reports of incoming light ICBMs. They’re dropping down near where my boys are on a regular basis.
 
Installations thought to be well behind the occupied zone are coming under attack, always when the Source comes within about a hundred or so miles
.”

“
Are you suggesting that the Chinese have his HD-GPS locater code?
” the CIA chief said, incredulous.

“Jesus
,” muttered the Secretary of Defense. He nervously shuffled some papers. “Sir, we can’t take the risk that the Koreans are tracking him—if we take him to Johns Hopkins—”

“We could lose the last major facility at our disposal that is already set up to handle the vaccine production,” finished the President.
 
“I understand your concerns, but we have to take that risk.
 
That young man is our best hope for turning the tide against this flu.
 
If we can stop the flu, we can turn our full attention on the North Koreans.
 
But the death toll…” he glanced at the Secretary of Homeland Security.

“
Sir, my people are getting worried we’ve reached the tipping point
.”

“Tipping point?”

“
Yes, Mr. President.
 
The point at which individual people infected with the flu are just infecting one person—who then infects one more person.
 
That’s the normal case for seasonal flu; that’s why it dies out every year.
 
A one-to-one infection ratio is not sustainable for very long.
 
What we’re facing now though…well, we think we’re approaching—if we haven’t already passed it—is the point where one person will infect two or even three people, who then infect two or three more, each.
 
The infection rate grows exponentially and before long
…”

“Wildfire,” said the President.
 
Jesus,
he thought.
 
The Great Pandemic, part two.

The obese man nodded his head, a sweaty sheen reflecting off his forehead.
 
“
Sadly, yes, Mr. President.
 
We’re starting to see disturbingly large infection reports from most of the major population centers, nationwide. It’s now spreading into the suburban and rural areas
.”

“So maybe this thing will burn itself out?” asked the Secretary of Defense.
 
“We should be focusing on the North Koreans, sir, or there won’t be a country left to—“

“
If only that were true,”
replied the Secretary of Homeland Security.
 
“In the 1918 pandemic, the rural areas of the country and more isolated areas of the world saw a huge increase in fatalities.
 
We’re talking, it went from a 4% mortality rate in Philadelphia to 85% in Alaska.
 
Entire towns were erased from existence.”

“Holy God…” said the Secretary of Defense.

The President thought back to his conversation with Reginald.
The Conservative base in the country moved to the rural areas decades ago.
 
They still have their guns and Bibles, but now they have the biggest target on their backs for the flu.
 
He had to try hard not to smile.
 
Goddamn Koreans may have helped me out more than they’ll ever know…

“Okay,” said the President.
 
“Is there anything we can do about the flu
right now?”

No one said anything.

“Very well, then, keep working on it.
 
Bring in the Source.
 
But in the meantime, Al is right, we need to get a handle on these North Koreans.
 
Do we know where they’re launching their ICBMs from?”