Reynold Jay
Forty Days to Armageddon
The Players
Marshall Landenberger
Steven Prottenger
Michael Costanzo National Security Advisor
Willard (Willy) Bumgardner Secretary of Defense
Stefano Morrell Secretary of Energy
Melissa Farnsworth Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
Houston Robinson Watchdogg unofficial position
James Shaughnessy White House Chief of Staff
Kenneth Fegan Junior Advisor
Harold Whittman White House Press Secretary
Larry Deshano Director of Central Intelligence
Commander Ishaq commander of the Ethiopian militia
Abdullha Ash Prime minister of Ethiopia
Khalilullah 'Abd al-Wahhab President of Iran
General Hanbal Iran general
Ishaq Al-Awzai Commander of the Revolutionary Guard
Amir Harazi Prime Minister
Arkady Dazdraperm President
General Ali Alabbar 5 star general
Georgiy Kuznetsov Tolstoy President of the Russian Federation
Mikhail Vissarionovich Dostoevsky Russian Foreign Minister
General Dimochka Sergeievich Russian General
Arkady Mussorgsky, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council
Jamal Sheikh Sharmarke Prime Minister of Somalia
Admiral Mustafa Mahdi Leader of the Somalia Marines
Ahmed bin Al-Awzai assistant to the Prime Minister in Somalia
Al-Bukhari Twasana gang leader
Captain Edward Schmitzer Commander of the USS George H. W. Bush
Carol Turner Red Cross worker.
Tanisha Wagner Red Cross worker
Alejandro Santiago President of Venezuela
Red Dog I Miguel Rio the new interim president of Venezuela
Captain Davis Commander of the USS Gerald R. Ford
Richard Stambaugh Navy SEALS
Chris (The Wizard) LE Blanc cyber criminal
Prelude
A Mi-8 chopper hovered twenty-five miles northwest of Lake Baikal sometimes called the “rich lake” near Irkutsk, and landed on a rocky forest of pine and elm. Two figures emerged, one sporting a leather coat, felt hat and Ray-Ban Aviators, the other a military uniform with gold and silver medals emblazoned across his chest.
“This is the place, then?” inquired the Russian president while he watched his breath drift off in the frosty air.
“The pipeline will pass over that ridge.”General Dimochka Sergeievich pointed to the north. “We were careful to move it far from Lake Baikal as originally planned. The Tomsk Oblast and Khanty-Mansi fields will pump into it and from there it will branch off into three separate lines that will feed the Asian markets including one directly to China. New fields discovered here can be fed into it if we make it large enough.”
Lake Baikal, “The Blue Eye of Siberia,” had waited silently for this moment for more than three hundred million years. The Triassic, Jurassic, and Cenozoic periods were but a blink of an eye for the largest inland lake in the world, larger than all of the Great Lakes combined. Great behemoths drank its waters and roamed in the forested woodlands then one day it rained fire from the heavens and they disappeared forever. As the waters rested, its surrounding lands matured and secreted a vast hidden reservoir of blackened sludge that was much larger than the lake.
Millions of years later an upright walking mammal had developed an unquenchable thirst for the blackened sludge that hid beneath the surface.
Mankind had discovered that the “black gold” held within it, the power of the life giving sun. And in the end — the survival of the clans came to depend upon it. There was nothing they would not do to acquire it, no act to inhumane to defend it.
Nations rose and fell depending upon their ability to acquire and defend the great oil fields. Those who controlled the natural resource flourished, the others fell to the wayside. The quest for survival depended upon it.
“How long will it take to get it operational?”
“It is thousands of miles of pipe. In seven years we will have the largest pipeline in our country on line.”
“We will rebuild our country with the revenues, then?”
“Most certainly, Mr. President — the Saudis and the Iranians will look like a tiny drop in the ocean if we continue to find the new fields as we have planned. Add to it the fields off the Pacific, the Baltic and others and we will be able to supply much of the entire world soon.”
“I want this completed in five years. Do whatever it takes to get the manpower up here.”
“Yes sir, Mr. President. I’ll relay your order to Transneft. I am sure we can easily complete this in five years.”
“Great. Do it.”
The pair boarded the chopper and flew back to the Kremlin.
Chapter One
In one minute every living thing within fifty kilometers would be incinerated.
And there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Ishaq Al-Awzai, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, sat in the command bunker on the phone with Khalilullah 'Abd al-Wahhab, the president of Iran, waiting for the go-ahead.
“NgAm, All is good.” A half smile curled across his lips while a crimson scar above his temple pulsated like a writhing serpent. “Allah has blessed us today.”
He glanced at the bank of towering screens that lined the wall, all fixed upon the blast site. The command center had a spit clean look to it. A gaggle of high tech equipment spread across the bunker while a hundred or so technicians, scientists, and military brass sat behind computers listening to the countdown.
“Thirty seconds and counting….”
“It is a great day for Iran and Allah shines upon us.”
General Hanbal tapped him on the shoulder and handed him another phone. “Tehran is on the line, sir.”
“Shokran.”
The Supreme Leader inquired. “All is in readiness?”
“FIFTEEN SECONDS….”
“We will know shortly.”
Pause
“TEN AND COUNTING…. ”
Commander Al-Awzai held his breath and murmured a prayer.
“EIGHT. SEVEN. SIX. FIVE. FOUR. THREE….”
The ground mushroomed up like a bubble about to burst. Then it fell back — perhaps it had changed its mind. Waves of earth moved as though it was liquid — a stone tossed into ethereal water sending spasms in all directions. Shock waves, not unlike an earthquake, shook the bunker while the lights and screens sputtered, went dark for a brief moment.
When the rumbling subsided, the crew cheered then jumped up and down like children while embracing each other.