Chapter 43
“So any idea how much time we have before these eleven infiltrators release the really bad virus,” the President of the United States asked his Cabinet.
“Less than forty-eight hours. We’re working under the assumption that Reisch managed to send out his message before we were able to shut down the Web site. It is possible that some of the infiltrators did not see it before the site was taken down. Unfortunately, that will only delay the release, not prevent it.” McDaniels had taken the lead in the briefing.
“All of this comes from the young woman that survived this same virus,” the president said. “I’m still uncomfortable with this. How do we know that she is not in league with them and that all this paranormal stuff is just to confuse us?”
“I’m convinced of it,” Kyle Stanley said. “She took out five of our agents without ever moving. I’ve seen the video, and the evidence is compelling.”
“Any casualty estimates?” The president had turned to his secretary of health and Human Services, who was visibly uncomfortable in the spotlight.
“Based upon what happened seven years ago, I would say a little less than the entire population of the United States.”
“Three hundred million people? You want me to believe that in less than six months, there will be no one left?” The president’s stare pinned the secretary to the couch. “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about mid-term elections.”
The six men arranged around the president chuckled nervously at his gallows humor.
“Obviously, this is unacceptable. Options?” He searched the faces of each of his advisors, but most of them looked away. “Kyle, what is the probability that we can catch these eleven terrorists in the next forty-eight hours?”
“We have two leads that we’re working on. The first may be the most promising. It seems that the spy Avanti used, who by the way was actually working for the Russians, took her identity from a missing person. We’re cross-referencing the list of missing persons and federal employees. We’d like to branch out a little and look into state and municipal employees, but that would take days. The other lead is the man who helped our spy establish herself. He happens to be in a federal prison right now.”
“Excellent. What about this name she gave us, the financier, Moncrief?”
“The name didn’t check out. We’re down to basic police work, cross-referencing residents in upstate New York with French citizenry. Unless we get extremely lucky, that direction won’t get us where we need to be.” Stanley finished by scanning the room, hoping that someone else had an idea.
“What we need is a little more time. We need to extend the quarantine to involve the entire country, Alaska and Hawaii included. I would recommend a complete ban on travel except for emergency and military personnel, and impose an around-the-clock curfew thirty-six hours from now,” McDaniels said.
“Why wait? The president asked.
“It will take some time for all the federal, state, county, and city emergency plans to be activated. It would take at least twenty-four hours for everyone to marshal the resources, and another twelve to get all the people in place. To do this correctly and safely, everyone is going to need a little time.”
“You’re exactly right. Make it happen.” The president made a show of looking at his watch. “That means that the curfew begins eleven tomorrow night.” All the men in the room nodded their heads.” Now, onto other business, General. How are the Iranians getting along?”
“Poorly, sir. We are proceeding on schedule.” McDaniels was a soldier and would obey all orders from the commanderin-chief promptly and to the best of his ability, but this was not the smartest order he had ever executed.
“Thank you, gentlemen.” The president stood, and everyone began to file out of the room silently. “Bill, please may I have a minute?”
The door to the Oval Office closed with a slight whoosh, and the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs faced his civilian boss. “Yes, sir?” He stood at attention.
“Relax, Bill. Please sit down.” The president pointed at the spot just vacated by the secretary of defense. “I need some plain talk. I’m into my sixth year with most of these men, and they’re all thinking just as I do. I believe that we have lost some perspective, and I’m hoping you can find that for us.”
“Yes, sir,” McDaniels answered militarily.
“You don’t agree with my Iran policy, do you? Speak plainly. I want your take on the matter.”
“It is not my place to comment on policy. You have others who are much better versed in that.” McDaniels didn’t know whether to take the president at face value, or whether this was a test.
“An excellent West Point response — now, give me an honest one. That, General, is an order.”
“It is a mistake to reduce a country to the point you are hoping. It was done in 1919 with Germany, and that led directly to World War II. There are almost seventy-five million Iranians, and most of them have some degree of national pride. I don’t think we need to completely humiliate them before the world.” Less than two weeks into his term, and already he was having a policy break with the president.
“For what it’s worth, the secretary of state agrees with you.” The president sat down into the couch opposite McDaniels. “The French ambassador has requested a meeting; I believe he wants to serve as a mediator. It’s a little ironic that a representative of the country that manufactured and sold the weapons that started all of this is now interested in resolving it.”
“I don’t think ‘ironic’ is the term I would use, sir.” McDaniels barely knew the president and had no idea where this conversation was going.
“Do you think Moncrief could have been working for the French government?”
“Avanti did have a surprising amount of financial and intelligence support, but I doubt any government could have been involved. Governments are full of bureaucrats, and bureaucrats like to talk.”
“So you would rule out any connection between the government of Iran and these viruses?”
“I wouldn’t rule anything out, especially when it comes to the Iranians, but after spending time with Avanti, I don’t believe that he had outside support beyond the financial. It was important to him that people know what he himself had done.”
“So you think that this may have been just poor timing on their part?” the president asked.
“One possible scenario is that their attack on Ike was initiated without central approval. The Iranians are not a very homogenous group, and it is conceivable that a single base commander, believing that we were preoccupied with issues at home, tried to force his opinion on his reluctant superiors.” McDaniels didn’t believe that the Iranians were stupid, but attacking the Eisenhower battle group was as stupid an act as he had ever seen. The U.S. had more firepower in the region than three Irans, and if the order had indeed come from their president, or Grand Ayatollah, they must have been banking on a lack of U.S. resolve. However, since 1979, when Iranian “students” had held fifty-two Americans for 444 days, the U.S. had shown nothing but resolve towards Iran. The situation didn’t make sense, and McDaniels thought that the president’s approach was only making matters worse.
“I think that you’re probably correct. How much more time before we begin to finish what they started?”
“Six hours, sir.”
“Good. That’s time enough to meet with the French, work out a cease-fire, and announce it to the world. Before we completely lay down our arms, however, I want every nuclear processing facility in that country annihilated. If it has a centrifuge, I want it on fire by day’s end.” The president stood abruptly, and McDaniels jumped to his feet. They shook hands. “Someone will get back to you soon. Welcome aboard, General.”