The White House, Washington DC
Mark Quail was a tall man, uncompromising and confident. When he spoke, people listened. An attribute necessary when you held the position of Defense Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Defense for the United States of America.
"In summary Mr. President we are taking this threat extremely seriously. The intelligence coming in from Pakistan suggests that North Korea is planning some kind of nuclear attack in the near future on the US or possibly Israeli soil. We cannot allow that to happen of course and it may be necessary for us to pre-empt their actions.
”
The President was sitting at the head of the table deliberating and looking over the rim of his glasses at the sixteen other members seated at the oval table. There was silence in the room which made some people uncomfortable. They scribbled meaningless notes on paper, coughed unnecessarily and avoided eye contact at all costs. The President
’
s face was stern and he appeared agitated by Quail's summary. Finally he broke the silence. "Why are they doing this?" He asked, to no one in particular.
"We don't know the answer to that yet, sir,
”
Quail responded. "We can make a guess from three possible scenarios. One, they believe we are about to attack them. Two, they have decided to attack us anyway. And three...
”
The President interrupted Quail in mid sentence. "Let's not deal with scenarios, let
’
s deal with facts shall we. When you say we will have to pre-empt their actions, what do you mean?"
Quail tapped the table with his pen before answering. "I mean it might be necessary for us to bomb North Korea first."
"With nuclear warheads?" The President asked solemnly.
“
Yes, sir.
”
Quail replied. His eyes quickly scanned the others around the table as he consciously looked for support. Stone faced, they gave him no clues at all.
"Then you need to give me a real good reason gentlemen. If I'm to press the red button I need to know that it is the only solution left to me and the people of the US. Show me evidence of what North Korea is doing. Prove to me without a shadow of a doubt that we are under imminent danger of attack. Don't talk to me about scenarios
…
I want to reconvene in one week for intelligence updates and facts, unless of course the situation worsens in the meantime." The President stood up, quickly followed by the other members around the table.
"Good-day ladies and gentlemen and thank you for your time today." He turned and left the room, clearly agitated by the worsening situation.
The Gulf of Mexico
Domaradzki's cruiser had just entered US waters when on the horizon to the North a US coastguard boat, carrying Officer Wayne and four other armed men, came into view traveling at high speed. Minutes later the boat had pulled up thirty feet from Domaradzki's cruiser. Wayne held a megaphone in his hand and then lifted it to his mouth.
"THIS IS THE U S COASTGUARD, CUT YOUR ENGINES AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED.
”
Wayne could hear the sound of the approaching helicopter behind him.
Domaradzki climbed down from the helm.
"What's the problem, officer?"
"ADAM DOMARADZKI YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.
”
Wayne's voice bellowed through the megaphone as rifles aimed at their target.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Adam whoever. My name is Christian Hansen and I'm from New York City, gentlemen." Domaradzki shouted, through cupped hands.
As the two boats drew closer to each other mooring ropes were thrown onto the cruiser. At the same time Domaradzki pulled the pin out of the hand grenade clipped to his belt behind his back.
McPherson's heart rate was racing with excitement as the Apache approached the two boats. Hunter had flown the helicopter from the Ellington Air Force Base and now McPherson was fully aware of the onboard weapons guidance system Hunter referred to as TADS. Impressive but not something we'll need on this mission....
"That's our man," Hunter said into his helmet microphone. He was flying the Apache just above sea level as they approached the two boats.
"I'll be glad to see him behind bars," McPherson responded.
The hand grenade landed on the deck of the coastguard's boat with a dull thud and rolled between Wayne's legs. He looked at it in disbelief for a few seconds before reacting.
“
GRENADE,
”
he shouted as he dived overboard. As Wayne hit the sea the explosion ripped a hole in the boat
’
s hull, killing two of the four armed guards instantly. A second grenade exploded, sending splinters of wood, flesh and plastic into the air. There was nobody left on board alive and Domaradzki laughed loudly. Hunter quickly banked the helicopter away from the approaching explosion and circled around.
"This motherfucker plays mighty dirty. It's time to take him out, Rob. You know what to do."
McPherson activated the twin rockets and dropped his visor into position in front of his face to locate the target area ahead. Bullets then started hitting the helicopter from machine-gun fire coming from Domaradzki's boat. Hunter again banked the Apache to move out of the firing line.
"Are you ready?" asked Hunter.
“
Yes, I'm ready. Bring her around and give me a line to the target." Responded McPherson.
Hunter banked the Apache around a full three hundred and sixty degrees and attacked the cruiser low and fast. Domaradzki continued to fire at the cockpit as they approached. McPherson moved his head until the message on the inside of his visor display flashed.
-
TARGET LOCKED ON-
He flipped the safety lever and pressed the red button on his joy stick. Immediately two rockets roared from the Apache like massive fireworks. Converging seconds later, they smashed through the front windows of the cruiser exploding with a fire ball that ripped the boat apart and hurled Domaradzki into the air some twenty foot or more before he landed on his back on the front of the stricken boat. Miraculously still alive and still holding the weapon, he raised his head and laughed again as the skin on his face peeled off. His finger pulled the trigger almost subconsciously and bullets ripped into the Apache once again. Hunter recoiled as a bullet passed through his upper body near his shoulder. "Shit" he cried, clutching the wound with his right hand.
"GUNS ROB, USE THE GUNS NOW. GIVE HIM EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT.
”
McPherson fired as Hunter held the Apache as steady as he could with his one good arm. The noise was deafening as bullets tore into Domaradzki's body. McPherson fired continuously at his target and bits of flying flesh left bloody streaks all over the front of the boat.
"KILL THE EVIL BASTARD.
”
Hunter shouted, grimacing with pain as he gripped his blood stained shoulder.
Bullets continued to tear Domaradzki's body into pieces and his arms splayed wildly from the recoil. Then the plastic explosive in the boat took a direct hit, sending a huge fire ball of bright orange light and smoke billowing upwards. Splinters of burning wood and shards of glass fell into the sea all around the boat.
Officer Wayne watched the movie style action through acrid black smoke that burned his lungs. His strength was almost gone but the large piece of wreckage he clung to in the water would save him from drowning. All around him his colleagues' broken bodies bobbed on the fiery water. In front of him he could see Domaradzki's legless torso floating in the sea. Shark bait. Time to go. Frantically, he waved both arms at the circling helicopter to attract attention. Minutes later the torso started to lunge in the water, as if coming back to life. Under the surface fish were biting at Domaradzki's entrails that dangled and swayed tantalizingly in the wake caused by the overhead chopper. Adam Domaradzki's eyes slowly closed and his last breath gurgled from his bloodied lungs.
4005th Military Hospital Houston, some weeks later.
Hunter was sitting up in bed reading when McPherson, Vicki and Officer Wayne arrived bearing gifts of candy, cookies and books.
"How's the patient?" McPherson asked, as they entered the room.
“
Hey, guys, it's good to see you again. I think I owe you all an apology. This time I promise not to fall asleep, okay."
"I must say you
’
re looking much better than you did two weeks ago," said Wayne.
"So how are you, my friend? Your black eye has turned a nice shade of yellow and your cuts are healing nicely". Hunter said, shaking Wayne's hand warmly.
"How are you, sir,"asked Wayne
"The bad news is, I'm well on the way to making a full recovery."
"That's wonderful,
”
said Vicki. "So what have they told you, sir?"
"Luckily it was only a flesh wound, thankfully missing my arteries and bones. The bullet went straight through. I expect to be out within a week and then it's just a case of physiotherapy to tone up the muscles around the wound. They tell me my blood count is back to normal but they're still forcing vitamin and iron tablets down my throat. To be honest I'm going mad here. The nurses are wonderful, I can't speak highly enough of them, but I still can't wait to get back to work."
"Well, things have been happening over the last few days as you already know and last night there was another burst of transmissions that lasted about twenty minutes, but we still can't trace the source and we still haven't been able to break the damn code. It's so damn frustrating."
“
Yes, I know, Rob," Hunter said sympathetically.
“
But we knew it wasn't going to be easy when we set up the project didn't we? And we sure as hell didn't think our lives would have been put at risk like they have been. Saying that though, I never thought I'd fly an Apache again in anger."
Vicki noticed the glint in Hunter's eye as he thought about the incident that nearly killed him.
"Me neither," McPherson admitted.
"What do you mean, Rob?" enquired Vicki.
McPherson looked at Hunter for a while. "I think it's time to come clean, Vicki. I was in the Apache with Hunter. You'd gone home and it was a chance to see Domaradzki captured. We weren't expecting fireworks."
"If you ever do that again Rob I'll...You've got a son to think of now you know."
“
Vicki, I have to take the blame for this one," admitted Hunter.
“
I'm sorry and I promise it won't happen again." Hunter
’
s words defused the situation somewhat, but McPherson knew he was in big trouble. "The one thing we can all do now is relax and get on with our lives and the project, knowing the threat has gone.
”
"Oh it's gone all right," asserted Wayne, smiling broadly. "Rob made sure of that."
McPherson looked at Wayne with clenched teeth.
"What do you mean?
”
Vicki asked, looking shocked.
Wayne knew immediately that he shouldn't have said it.
Hunter once again interjected to save Rob from another verbal beating.
"I must ask you both, how did the funerals go?"
Vicki looked slightly strained by the question and struggled to keep her emotions under control. And frankly she didn
’
t appreciate the blatant attempt to change the subject using a tragic event in her own family to spare Rob any wrath for his careless behavior, especially now he had a family of his own.
"It's been a tough time for all of us sir. You expect to bury your parents don't you? But you don't expect to bury your children. Mom was hit hard by the events." Tears started to fill in Vicki's eyes and she took a deep breath to compose herself.
“
The baby has somehow given Mom a reason to live though. She absolutely adores the little tike."
"And your sister-in-law, how's she coping?"
"Susan's a tough cookie but she's hurting, I can tell, I know her. Richard
’
s involvement with the sect came as a shock to all of us, especially her."
"Give my best wishes to your family for me, Vicki. I'm so sorry that it had to end this way."
"Thank you sir, I will." Rob could see Vicki was hurting and held her hand. She looked at him and smiled through tearful eyes. She loved him so much, even if she was mad with him.
"Listen guys, we need to talk about the project for a moment, while I've got you here, before we all dive into the candy. I'm not sure exactly what's happening in Washington as I've been off the scene for a couple of weeks, as you know, but it looks like we're about to lose two of our satellites."
"What? Why?" asked Vicki, already depressed.
"I don't know the reason but the military wants them back."
"Is this anything to do with the tension that seems to be building up between us and North Korea?" Rob asked.
"It could well be but as I say I've been out of the loop, so I can't be sure of that. What difference will it make to the search if we do lose two? Will it be significant?"
Rob hesitated for a while, looking at Vicki for support. "I don't think under the current circumstances it
’
ll make any difference at all."
Vicki nodded in agreement.
"We're able to pick up the transmissions with just two, but that's not the point is it? Why are they now taking away the hardware from us that was so important to the project only a few months ago? Has their focus changed or what? What's more important than us breaking the alien code and deciphering their transmissions? That's why this project has cost so much isn't it? It's that important.We must obtain their superior knowledge before the Chinese. Remember."
“
Rob, I understand your frustration and I promise you as soon as I have any information I'll update you and the team. The last thing I want is for the morale of my team to drop at this crucial stage.
”
“
Come on, let's crack open the candy. It's time to celebrate." Hunter wanted to sound upbeat even though he was fully aware of the serious military situation developing. He would tell his team if it became necessary, but for now, he knew, they'd been through quite enough already.
"Visiting time is over, guys. Time to go, sorry," said one of the nurses leaning around the door into the room.