Anselm automatically checked for his own, but it was in place, and then he remembered where he had gotten that particular device.
“I think we may have a line to the outside world after all,” He said, picking up the computer and flipping it open. “Agent Gunnar here.”
Natalie Cyr sighed in relief when the calm voice answered the portable, and she nodded at the screen while allowing a very slight smile at the Agent. “I’m very glad to hear your voice, Agent Gunnar. When we lost the computer link, we got a little worried.”
Anselm Gunnar nodded in return, “We have a bit of fun here, but we’re still operating. The STRT unit arrived, and they brought along some help. We’ve got a twelve man SASR team here as well.”
Natalie closed her eyes and let out a whistling breath, genuinely smiling, “That’s good news.”
“Here’s the bad,” Gunnar went on grimly, “We’ve lost network connection, radios are jammed, and Abdallah has begun luring people into the tower facility. The clock is running down, Madam Cyr.”
She grimaced, but nodded, “Alright. Keep the portable close, Agent Gunnar. I’m going to sound the mother of all alarms.”
“I’ve been hoping someone would,” Anselm smiled grimly.
“I’ll be back to you shortly, Agent.” She promised. “Just hang tight.”
“We’re hanging here alright,” Gunnar replied dryly, “just rather not be hanging by our necks.”
“I’ll do what I can to cut you down,” She half smiled, nodding at his dry humor, then disconnected the satellite link before reaching over and opening a direct link to the DCI’s office. “Carl, it just hit the fan. You better call the Aussies and the President, we’ve got the beginnings of a damned nightmare about to kick off.”
The first of the Chinese Type 105 Anti-aircraft weapons rumbled out of the garage, wrapped in tarps and towed behind the powerful, and locally illegal, diesel engine trucks. Abdallah had carefully mapped out their positions, ordering his men to set them up in the city at key points where they could be tied into a unified command network.
Above him, mounted along the outside of the tower about a hundred meters up, Abdallah knew that his people were installing the central control radar for the Skyguard system that would be their primary layer of defense against the military air threat that would come.
In one way, the number of people left in the city would actually work in his favor, Abdallah realized as he pondered what was to come. The air units that would arrive first could do little more than deposit infantry troops, because if they tried to assault the anti-aircraft units that were moving out now, they would risk killing hundreds or thousands of their own citizens.
The umbrella he was building against air incursion would force them to land dozens of miles out in the desert and walk or drive in, giving his men the advantage from where they held the only high ground that existed.
Abdallah smiled slightly, imagining the chaos that was about to erupt, knowing that what happened locally was only a small, minuscule part of what he was sowing to the world.
“He’ll have the tower manned, Sir.”
Malcolm looked up, noting Trooper Mackenzie as the man approached. “Have something to add”
“The tower is high ground sir,” Mackenzie told him simply.
“I was thinking the same thing, Mac.”
“Pardon” Anselm looked confused.
“The tower is high ground,” Mac repeated, “If this Abdallah fellow has any military mind at all, he’ll be using that to his advantage.”
“He’s right,” Malcolm agreed, “In fact, our man Abdallah, holds a rather enviable position from some standpoints. He’s got high ground, surrounding an area with no cover to speak of.With the right forces he could hold off any ground assault with a lot less than parity in forces.”
“Air attack will still nail his ass, Sir.” Mackenzie said simply.
“No.I don’t think so, Mac. We can’t just call in an airstrike on a hundred thousand civilians.” Malcom said, shaking his head, “I think he’s going to be a right bitch to dig out of there.”
Anselm scowled, “Somehow, I think that’s the understatement of the decade, Major.”
Malcolm nodded, but was distracted from replying when Trooper Tavish appeared around a corner, yanking a fiber optic cable out of the wall with gusto.
“Hey!” Gwen yelped, “What are you doing!”
“Sorry,” The Trooper said over his shoulder as he gave it another pull, detaching it from a network connection buried deep inside, “We didn’t bring enough cable to run from the roof, and the short range RF systems are all being jammed.”
“This is coming out of my salary, I can just see it,” Gwen moaned softly.
The men and women of the SAS and Interpol STRT teams chuckled, but Malcolm just nodded back to the schematics.
“Alright, now focus people. We’ve got to figure out a way to get those people out of danger, and we have to do it fast,” He told them, “We’ve got thousands of people going to die inside unless we move quickly, and maybe even if we move quickly. Let’s not let that number grow for no reason, ok”
“Right Major,” Anselm said, noting a system highlighted in the tower and pointing to it, “Gwen, any idea what this is”
She shook her head, but one of the Interpol STRT team came forward and tapped a query into the system quickly.
“Fire extinguishers.” He said after a moment, “See There’s the legend.”
“Fire extinguishers A klick up in the sky” Mackenzie asked, frowning. “What for There’s no offices up there or anything.”
“It’s a safety requirement,” Gwen said after a moment, “National guidelines. People have to work up there, and the tourist overlook means that fire laws have to be obeyed.”
“But why water” The Interpol man, an officer named Pierre Suvole, asked in confusion. “These legend says that the tower facility uses Halon gas everywhere else.”
“Not everywhere,” Gwen pointed out, “In all the interior offices. You can’t use that kind of gas system in the tower because the halon gas would just be pushed up and out before it did any good. The Tower does provide a near constant supply of oxygen rich air from below, blowing straight up at thirty-five kilometers per hour.”
“That’s very interesting and all,” Malcolm interrupted, “But it’s not relevant to our purposes. Let’s focus on the ground people.”
“Hang on, Major,” Gwen said slowly, “We may have something here.”
Everyone turned to look at her, perplexed expressions on their faces.
“Pardon What”
“Just something I remember,” Gwen smiled apologetically, “The facility isn’t the only Tower system ever conceived.There’s another type.and I think we may have a way to prevent the release of the gas into the upper atmosphere at least.”
“How,” Anselm, Malcolm, and at least two others asked together.
“We reverse the flow.” She said.
They blinked.
“Excuse me” Anselm asked, more than a little incredulous. “Didn’t the Director tell me that it was impossible I didn’t hear you arguing then.”
“He told you that you couldn’t simply stop the flow, and he’s right.“Gwen told them,” But if I’m right, we can reverse the flow.”
“Let me be absolutely certain I understand what you’re saying, Inspector,” Malcolm put in, “You’re telling me that we can turn this blower tower into.what A suction system How”
“We turn on the fire sprinklers. All of them.”
“I fail to see.”
“Major,” Gwen held up her hand, “Please, trust me enough to hear me out. The air that is rising up the tower is warm and slightly moist, at least compared to the ambient atmosphere, but it’s not saturated. If we spray cold water into it, that water will moisten the air and cool it. And cold, wet air, doesn’t rise. It falls.”