She’d graduated near the top of her class at Bowling Green University, taken a job at a pharmaceutical research company, and even tinkered with the idea of buying her own house. Life was definitely good. But then came September 11, and the horror unfolded before her eyes on the television screen, as it did for millions upon millions of people across the globe. She watched as the second plane slammed into the doomed tower, watched as valiant firefighters and police ran headlong toward their deaths, watched as people made the unimaginable decision to leap to their deaths hundreds of feet below rather than be burned alive inside the upper floors of the towers.
She saw the Pentagon in flames.
She saw the crater in a Pennsylvania field.
And when the towers fell, she knew the world had changed.
Her world had changed.
All of a sudden, her personal comfort didn’t seem quite as important. Her country had been attacked by people for whom life held no apparent value — and chances were, they were going to do it again. She wanted to do something but didn’t know how she could help.
The day Carolyn received the phone call, however, was the day she knew she would be able to help. One month later, she was in Utah.
She was startled by a hand on her shoulder.
“Carolyn, you need to report to General Rammes’s office.” It was her branch supervisor, and he had a deadly serious look on his face. “Now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’ll be briefed when you see him. And get ready to travel.”
She set her cup down, sloshing a little coffee onto the table. “Travel? Where to?”
“Missouri. You’re the team lead. Get moving!”
CHAPTER 9
The modified Bradley fighting vehicles were the first military vehicles to enter the city on the ground, their diesel engines thrumming loudly through the dead streets. These were the “sniffers,” equipped to sift through every single molecule of air for something recognizable as a chemical, biological, or radiological agent. Buttoned up within their armored vehicles, the specialized crews slowly made their way through the abandoned city, scrubbing the air for the reason why thousands of people had been slaughtered.
Speakers mounted below police choppers and Army Blackhawks blared instructions to people still on the ground: Stay away from the buildings, stay calm, stay on the main thoroughfares, stay calm, head toward Interstate 29, head north, help is on the way…
A trickle of people on foot, and a few in cars, were slowly snaking their way out of the city, for the most part following the directions they’d been given. Those who’d followed other routes were being held at different points around the exclusion zone — a rough circle measuring forty miles from the center of the city — and were given whatever food, water, and medical attention they required. After being tested, screened, and interviewed, they could be taken to more prepared evacuation centers, which were at that very moment being set up at five areas ringing the city. Just within the forty-mile exclusion zone, lumbering dual-rotor Chinook troop carrier helicopters began to line the ramp at Kansas City International, which was in the process of being transformed into the main evacuation point. When complete, it would be configured to handle a large number of people. There weren’t that many coming out of the city, though. Not at all.
Inside one of the modified Bradleys, a Missouri Army National Guard major pressed his mic button. “Brooklyn, this is Brooklyn One. Status. Over.”
The ten other Bradleys under his command radioed back in numbered order:
“Two, all sectors covered. Negative results.”
“Three, all sectors covered. Negative results.”
“Four, negative results all sectors.”
“Five, neg. All sectors complete.”
The other five Bradley crews reported the same thing. Nothing. The air was clear.
“Roger, Brooklyn,” the major radioed back. “Copy negative results. Good work. Rally at Bravo. Out.” The major switched his comm gear to his command net frequency. “Jersey, this is Brooklyn One.”
“Brooklyn One, this is Jersey. Go.”
“Brooklyn reports negative results all sectors. I repeat, negative results all sectors. Brooklyn rallying at Bravo. Out.”
Within minutes, the information went up the command chain, and soon thereafter orders were sent back down. In the next few hours, boots would be on the ground, and hunting season would be officially opened.
Sundown was in seven hours.
CHAPTER 10
Andrew Smith sat behind his desk in the Oval Office, a prepared copy of his speech at his fingertips. The teleprompter on the camera in front of him slowly began to roll. He was live in three, two, one…
“Good afternoon,” he began, staring straight into the camera lens and directly into the eyes of tens of millions of Americans looking for guidance, hoping for answers. “Over the course of the past decade, this nation has suffered severe tragedies, and it is my sad duty to report to you that today, we have suffered yet another.
“Early this morning in Kansas City, there was a wave of attacks against our fellow citizens. Sadly, many people have been lost or are missing. The exact cause of these attacks is still being determined, but I have been informed they were caused by… animals.”
The president looked down from the camera, momentarily losing his famous on-camera persona. That last word—animals—hung in the air like a line from a bad science fiction movie. Suddenly, Andrew knew reading a prepared speech wasn’t what the American people would want from him. He looked up from his desk, slid the paper copy of the speech away, and spoke from his heart instead of the teleprompter.
“This is not easy, but I’m going to be straight with each and every one of you. This is what we know. An approximately thirty-mile radius of Kansas City has been… Everyone within a thirty-mile radius has been killed or is currently unaccounted for. The death toll… There’s not an exact number I can give you, but if I could, it would be too terrible to comprehend.
“We don’t know how, or why, this has happened. I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to ascertain why as quickly as I can, take immediate action to destroy this threat, and take care of the people who have been affected. These animals, described as some sort of large rodent, are still in the city. As of now, they’ve stopped their spread and are remaining stationary. We believe they have an aversion to light.
“I have directed the secretary of Homeland Security, along with the secretary of defense, to take any and all actions necessary to respond to this catastrophe. Kansas City is off-limits except for military and civil defense personnel.
“I have ordered a complete evacuation of every person within a forty-mile radius of Kansas City. If you’re within this zone, please follow the directions of the military and civil authorities. I need you out of the immediate area. Most of all, I need you to stay calm. The military forces of the United States are being mobilized as we speak to enter the city and eliminate these things. For your safety, and the safety of those I’m ordering into the Kansas City area, I need the exclusion zone cleared.”
A little over sixteen hundred miles to the west of DC, near Colorado Springs, Vice President Allison Perez watched the president’s speech from deep within the Cheyenne Mountain complex. She’d known Andrew for a number of years and wasn’t the least bit surprised he’d gone off script. It was a habit that drove his speechwriters batty, especially on the campaign trail, where a carefully crafted message meant votes in November, but it was simply who he was. They’d won anyway.