Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (42 page)

~ ~ ~

As the White House staff evacuated, returning
home to spend these last moments with their families, shock and
disgust were forced on their disbelieving minds. D.C. was turning
into an inferno. Mobs crowded the streets and highways. They
blocked any moving car with firebombs, bodies of the dead and
dying, shouts of obscenities, rocks and any other projectiles
readily available. People inside the doomed vehicles were pulled
out to the street and beaten mercilessly, their belongings and
hastily packed survival supplies ripped from clutched hands.

Rolling plumes of black smoke, as if from the
nostrils of ominous dragons, arose skyward from every direction
throughout the city. Similar columns of smoke could be seen at a
distance in all directions, evidence that suburbs were engulfed in
flame and mob rule. Washington D.C. was burning to the ground. So
too were New York City's five Burroughs, Los Angeles, Denver,
Miami, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and every other city of major or minor
note. Similar views were to be seen throughout the industrialized
world. Only small, outlaying and inconsequential rural areas
escaped this initial wave of the conflagration soon to close in on
them, too.

In his opulent palace the obese, baby-faced
leader of North Korea took in the news of the global devastation
with sadistic pleasure, plotting how he could position his military
to take over the rest of Asia, spreading his control outward from
there. First, though, he would crush the South Koreans for the
audacity of not recognizing his authority and supremacy. Before
completing this twisted daydream of world domination a blinding
flash, brighter than a thousand suns, overwhelmed his vision a
millisecond before he and his palace were vaporized into so many
atoms.

'Mushroom clouds' of nuclear detonations
blossomed in the horizon of the eastern seaboard of the United
States, then America's breadbasket, then finally illuminating the
west coast.

Parents took the lives of their children,
then themselves. Those not so fortunate as to have means of any
type of self-delivery that wouldn't traumatize their children, did
their best to hide from the mobs, hoping prevailing winds wouldn't
carry nuclear fallout over their heads. Nobody knew for sure how
many bombs fell, or exactly where, television and radio broadcasts
were long since silenced. The Internet went down shortly after its
older media siblings.

The last videos and photos posted before the
demise of the Net were unlike any nightmare harbored by humanity
before. Death by some kind of bio agent or toxin, followed by mob
rule and carnage, topped off with nuclear holocaust, bade farewell
to this dying source of information.

Was the first attack carried out by the same
government which unleashed nuclear Armageddon? It came as no
surprise that a number of religious radicals posted their Internet
claims that this was God's vengeance on a wicked, corrupt world.
The Rapture would carry only "saved" Christians up into the heavens
while a vengeful God smote the remaining sinners with the wrath of
His might.

"If they are in heaven" a cynic responded in
a post, "they'd better get themselves up higher than the reach of
the mushroom clouds."

There were a very few pockets of human,
animal and plant survivors. Such were mostly limited to those whose
natural environments, or work, took them to the extremities of the
north and south poles, as well as in vessels capable of surviving
the lower reaches of the seas for military or scientific
purposes.

For the human species it was radioactive food
supplies and water, starvation, insanity, suicide, or murder at the
hands of others fearful of losing limited supplies that would
reduce the thin number of survivors to zero.

Weeks later no life would be found on any
meter of land. Not even cockroaches roamed the land, previously
rumored by amateur scientists and the gullible to be able to
withstand a radioactive environment. In time the bodies of fish and
whales floated to water's surface, bloated, then sank for a final
submerge to the depths of the steaming oceans, all of which would
slowly turn to freezing cemeteries of water.

If the Darwinian view of evolution held any
validity, eons from now it would be a losing bet that any form of
intelligence would again postulate it - at least not on the
desolate planet once coined, "The Blue Marble," a title given a
photograph of the Earth taken in 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17
spacecraft.

From the highest atmosphere to the lowest
oceanic trench life was eliminated, the planet a barren wasteland.
Amino acids capable of bonding could be found, but they would
degrade as the super heated atmosphere of poisoned, radio active
gases slowly leached into space - to be followed by the equally
toxic remaining waters that once were the life-giver to the
planet.

Table of Contents

33. Change of Plans

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in
the mouth."
- Mike Tyson

Suburb Of Northwest Tehran
1936

Jeff at once enjoyed
and anguished throughout
the time he spent in this delightful suburb of Tehran - teaming
with some of the best people he had ever met in his life.

His first day in Persia, the people reminded
him of the Brazilians of his youth that he found himself sometimes
thinking in Portuguese. Aside from the era, language, clothing, and
lack of Samba music, this area wasn't unlike the sights and sounds
of Brazil when he served as a missionary in that magnificent
country.

Jeff felt a degree of anguish about this very
different mission. Before it was his pleasure to bring joy and
fresh hope to the people of Brazil, especially those mired in
poverty. Now it was to bring a life of radical change to the
futures of two innocent youth.

Jeff knew he couldn't jeopardize this
mission. His own world and time in future history stood with its
toes dangling over a dangerous and bottomless precipice with the
ground already crumbling into an abyss should he fail.

He knew that were he too soft, or too kind,
in this mission he risked possibly altering the lives of Ghasem's
grandfather and Abd's grandmother, but not actually preventing
their marriages - thus not preventing the births and ensuing
destruction that the two lead terrorists were to let loose on so
many.

In the case of Martin McGlothlin, there was
no ambiguity, no moral indecision. The ancestor that Stauffenberg
assassinated was himself pure evil. But this boy, the yet-future
grandfather of Ghasem was pure, innocent, and full of life. To
alter his future which was a happy one, potentially bringing him a
lifetime of sadness was anathema to Jeff. Doing the same with Abd's
grandmother in Egypt was an equally distressing thought.

Making it a matter of prayer, Jeff considered
his options - but none came to mind. It seemed as if the very
heavens were closed to him. Surely the angels surrounding the
majestic throne of God hid their faces from him in shame. Jeff felt
utterly alone.

That afternoon, while discussing the
pharmaceutical business with a doctor running a small pediatric
care clinic from his house, the man asked Jeff about education
opportunities in the United States. His son wanted to follow in his
father's footsteps, the doctor felt that he would have better
opportunities were the boy were to receive his medical doctorate
from an American institution.

How often answers to prayer come from
unexpected sources! He grabbed onto an idea that just might work.
It definitely would work if he were precise in the timing and
administration of the plan. Nothing was to be left to the vagaries
of chance.

Finishing his business with the doctor Jeff
gave him the names of two medical colleges he knew to be in
existence in this time period before taking his leave.

Returning to his hotel he called the parents
of Ghasem's grandfather from the guest phone in the lobby to see if
he could visit them in the evening, explaining that he would be
departing the country in a few days. They were delighted and
invited him to dinner.

"How nice of you to come by."

"Thank you, I appreciate the invitation to
join you in your evening meal. When you have to travel as much as I
do for work, home cooking is always welcome!"

"Please, sit down."

"Thank you. If I may get right to it . . . I
want to ask you to consider something. Your son is very
intelligent."

"That's kind of you to say" the boy's father
responded.

"In the United States, there is an excellent
program for exceptionally intelligent boys. I sent a telegram
inquiring about available space for your son as a student. As you
can see in this response they would be able to accommodate him
without a problem but classes start in less than two weeks. I'm
certain you would be able to find housing and employment easily. I
can't emphasize enough what a great opportunity this would be for
him."

"This is a boarding school?"

"No, not a boarding school. He would live
with you."

"We've already discussed giving our son an
American education. Money wouldn't be a problem. But this is all so
sudden!" The tone of the boy's mother was that of excitement and a
hint of anxiety.

"Yes it's sudden I know. I hope you'll
consider it. Not only would it open opportunities for your son's
future, it would also expand your professional contacts
considerably."

The evening passed pleasantly. As the
discussion continued, the parents seemed to be convincing each
other that not only
should
they do this, they
could
.
Both wanted to see the United States. To have a son educated there
would add to their already high profile here, where their family
was considered pillars of the community.

Jeff bid them farewell at the end of the
evening, returning to his hotel room relieved that this plan just
might work. Time will tell. Funny, he reflected, how words such as
time continually come unbidden to one's mind in circumstances such
as this.

Two days later, while packing his belongings,
there was a knock on Jeff's door.

"Sala'am!"

"Wa aleichem asala'am habibi! What brings you
here?"

"I wanted to say 'good-bye', and to let you
know we booked a steamer from Borsa'id to go to America." Seeing
the questioning look on Jeff's face, he realized this name would be
unfamiliar to him.

"Forgive me, 'Borsa'id' in English is called
'Port Said.' We leave in three days. My wife already has the entire
house 'on wheels' as they say, getting things in boxes and crates.
We contacted the school, they have acquired temporary
accommodations for us until we find housing more to our style."

By that Jeff knew he meant a mansion, but was
too well mannered to say it aloud.

"I'm so happy for the three of you. It is an
adventure you will always hold near and dear to your hearts."

"Thank you, yes. Our boy is saying his
farewells to his friends now. We haven't told him yet, as he will
be very upset, but we have decided to remain in America until he
matriculates from university."

"That will be many years from now, are you
sure?"

"Yes, we are sure. My wife and I will return
here from time-to-time. I expect to open a branch of my business
there, leaving my brother to manage it here. Thank you for this
suggestion, we owe you much."

"You are very welcome."

"If you are ever in New Jersey, please come
stay with us, you and your wife. Our home will always be your
home."

"It would be our honor and pleasure." Jeff
smiled as they hugged.

"If you can wait a couple of more days,
perhaps we can travel to Egypt together?"

"Thank you for the offer, I would like that
very much but I have a tight schedule to which I must attend.
Perchance you will see me in Cairo before continuing on to the
port?" Jeff wrote the name of the Cairo hotel in which he already
booked a room.

"Yes, if we have time. Our schedule, too, is
also very compressed if our son is to make his first day of the
scholastic year."

"If not, please send me a telegram so that I
can rest assured your family arrived safely. I expect to be in
Cairo for two weeks, perhaps three."

Table of Contents

34. Witnesses to
Desolation

"I have many
times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of
peace upon earth through the years to come than this massed
multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war."
- King
George V

The Project
Facility,
Former State of Israel

Each of the facilities
housing the different
protocols of
The Project
were protected against changes in
the timeline by a temporal shielding. Additionally
The
Project
founders felt other preemptive protections to be in
order. Though deep underground, in bunkers capable of withstanding
a direct nuclear blast, each facility was protected by a Faraday
Cage, in the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse such as a nuclear
bomb detonated high in the atmosphere, or a Coronal Mass Projection
from the sun. Either of these EMPs would render useless all
unprotected electronics.

When news of the first deaths caused by the
terrorists came to the attention of the Prime Minister, he
contacted Lt. General Aharonson to have her evacuate the
above-ground members of each facility underground. Then the General
was to take whatever course necessary to defend the nation - short
of that, to take revenge against her enemies.

Israeli war planes first flew over known
missile launch areas in the Gaza and West bank to destroy their
launchers, at the same time taking out launch sites and the
terrorists' headquarters in Lebanon to decapitate the Hezbollah,
the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the lawless areas of
Egyptian-controlled Sinai Peninsula, and the nuclear sites of
Iran.