"Excellent," responded Bojangles. "Let's rock this."
"You're a pilot and colonel," Walker stated. "How do you know about programming?"
"I picked up a little here and there," Bojangles said, vastly understating his abilities. "Now who around here can show me the ropes on this system?"
"Try to keep up, Colonel," Walker said. "I've been developing military applications for more than two decades."
"Okay, let's see what you've got," replied Bojangles with kid-in-a-candy-shop enthusiasm. "Let's start by including any ships that have deviated from—"
A loud horn bellowed, and the large screen switched from the map of the boats to a different map zooming in on the Korean peninsula.
"We're getting an alert. It's got to be Kim Jung Un playing with matches again," Commander Walker said. "North Korea's scale-shattering leader thinks he's a world superpower. I bet he tosses another missile into the Pacific Ocean."
Overhead another announcement broke in. "We have a North Korean ICBM launch detection toward the United States. Repeat, we have a North Korean launch detection." After providing the coordinates of the launch site, the disembodied voice from NORAD started to provide velocity, acceleration, and trajectory figures before interrupting itself. "We have second and third ICBM launch detections, inbound for the United States. We repeat, we have second and third North Korean launch detections." The voice gave the launch site latitude and longitude. Then it said, "THADD missile defense system activated."
"This just became very real," Walker said. "We're going to try to shoot those ICBMs down with the AEGIS systems, from both sea and land."
Bojangles was less interested in the AEGIS missiles. He was in deep concentration as he absorbed the data streaming about the ICBMs' trajectories from the screens. "The first North Korean missile's going to re-enter the atmosphere bearing down on Los Angeles, and the second is headed toward Las Vegas. The third one is headed toward Seattle," Bojangles said.
"How do you know?" Walker asked.
"I did the math."
"Yeah, right," Walker said with ample disbelief in his voice.
Bojangles ignored his comment. The voice from NORAD updated the altitude, velocity, and trajectory of the missiles. Then it added, "Missile one re-entry estimated at 33° 50' 7" N / 117° 54' 49" W, near Anaheim, California. Missile two re-entry estimated at latitude 36° 6' 52'' N and longitude 115° 10' 22'' W, in the vicinity of Las Vegas. Missile three re-entry estimated at latitude 47° 36' 22" N, and longitude, near Seattle."
"How did you know?" Walker asked.
"It's just math," Bojangles replied looking up at the screen before him.
"Very complex math. The complexity a computer handles."
"Hey, I get lucky sometimes."
Bojangles and Walker watched one of the giant screens as a map rendered the location of the missiles arcing toward space.
"I do believe Kim Jung Un has the war he'd previously been begging for," Walker said.
The on-screen map continued to update the missiles' paths toward the United States. Other screens showed icons for hundreds of other planes, tanks, and missiles active on the Korean Peninsula. The NORAD voice spoke. "AEGIS missile away."
"Let's watch how this plays out,” Bojangles said. The AEGIS system just fired an interceptor missile from the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur, off the coast of North Korea."
Within seconds, the AEGIS missile, as designed, intercepted and destroyed the Las Vegas-bound ICBM on its upward trajectory, just over North Korea.
"Go Navy!" exclaimed Walker. Cheers erupted from the technicians and analysts in the war room.
"Excellent shot," Bojangles said. "A bullet hitting a bullet. Now, let’s see what happens with the two other inbound nukes. Just minutes to Armageddon."
"We have about twenty minutes," Walker said. "NORAD is preparing its response and the president is being briefed, as we speak."
A phone rang. Walker picked it up. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir." He slammed down the phone and picked up another one. "On the order of the president of the United States, execute Operation Boomerang." He slammed down the phone. "Now it's time to watch and wait for our defensive posture."
"What's Operation Boomerang?" Bojangles asked.
"It's a flexible plan that attempts to move many of our air assets out of harm's way. They fly away from the United States, then boomerang back once the threat diminishes."
Bojangles pointed at the screens. "The two active missiles remain true to their original trajectory. L.A. and Seattle."
"Are you still doing your math?"
"Yes."
"Well, hold onto your slide rule and protractor. The Navy may have a few more tricks up its sleeve."
The NORAD voice came through the overhead speakers providing an update on the missiles' positions, velocities, and trajectories.
"Hang on," Bojangles said as he closed his eyes in a moment of concentration. "The Seattle missile's veered off its projected course."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the data stream. That ICBM's not going to reenter the atmosphere near Seattle anymore."
"How are you coming up with that?"
"The data shows an error in the navigation. The new re-entry point will be about 400 miles west of Seattle."
"You mean out in the ocean?"
"Yes! Hopefully."
"What do you mean, 'hopefully?'"
• • •
On the California coast, dome-shaped lids hinged open, and two ground-based interceptor missiles roared away from their silos at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Accelerating toward its 15,000 mile-per-hour kill speed, the interceptor missiles arched up into space over the Pacific Ocean. Two similar interceptor missiles left their silos at Fort Greely, Alaska.
From Pensacola Naval Air Station, Walker and Bojangles were watching the screens. An announcement from NORAD came overhead. "Vandenberg and Fort Greely ground-based interceptor missiles away."
"So, those are the other tricks up the Navy's sleeve?" Bojangles said to Walker.
"Like you,” Walker responded, “I too, can predict the future. In the next few minutes, you'll hear NORAD announce those AEGIS missiles saving Los Angeles. I bet they still nail the Seattle missile, too.”
On the large screen before them, Bojangles and Walker could see renderings of the interceptor missiles speeding toward the North Korean missiles.
"That makes sense. The military must protect those millions of people." Bojangles reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I'm calling Troy Stoker." As he was about to dial, the voice from NORAD came over with a new announcement. "Updated estimates project missile one atmospheric re-entry at 33° 53' 52" N / 118° 3' 57" W, and impact just southeast of Los Angeles. Revised re-entry point for missile three is now at 380 miles due west of Seattle."
"In eight minutes, we'll know if the ground-based interceptors from Vandenberg and Fort Greely are successful."
"Good. That will give Troy Stoker just enough time to squeeze some critical intelligence out of a source."
"How come North Korea's only lobbing three missiles at us?" Walker asked. "Don't you think they would want to send more over to annihilate most of the United States?"
"No!" Bojangles replied. "Their supreme leader only needs one or two. He doesn't need fireballs engulfing cities. These specific nuclear attacks will be silent. Humans won't even feel them."
Then it dawned on Walker. "No—this could be more horrendous than I thought. A brief surge of energy is going to fry all our electronics. I can't believe I didn't think of it."
In silence, they watched the screen as the missiles passed upward through fifty miles above the earth, and then 100. Bojangles reached Stoker. He immediately sprung a question on him. "What does that Nikolas scumbag know about three North Korean missile launches? The AEGIS system intercepted one as it lifted off near North Korea. The other two are projected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in a few minutes. One 380 miles shy of Seat
tle, and the other one's on a trajectory for Orange County."
"Nikolas hasn't said a thing about missiles," Stoker said. "I thought they dismantled all of their nukes."
"A lot of people did," Bojangles said. "There are some of us, with the right clearances, who really knew what was going on. But, right now we need to make sure we're getting the right intel out of Nikolas. Because I don't think we are."
"He's still in the fMRI machine," Stoker said. "I'll yank him out, dislocate his other shoulder, and find out."
"Good. But, don't hang up. Keep me on speaker phone."
"No, I'll call you back," Stoker said. "Cell phones don't work next to fMRI machines." Then he ended the phone call.
The large screen showed the missiles passing beyond 300 miles above the earth. And, in a few short minutes, they had climbed to 500 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
"Now, those nukes are higher than the International Space Station," Bojangles said. “Seconds away from their apex in space."
About twenty heartbeats later, the missiles reached their highest point in space and turned their nosecones downward toward earth. Bojangles's phone rang, and he saw Stoker's name on caller ID.
"Are you there with that Nikolas guy?" Bojangles asked.
"Yes, he's right here. I've not used any persuasive techniques on him, yet."
"Colonel Bojangles," cried out the desperate voice of Nikolas Antoniou. "I know nothing of the North Korean attack." Bojangles heard a struggle ensue. "No, no, no," his yells crescendoed in volume and desperation. "Nothing!" Nikolas cried out. "I would tell you anything just to make this misery go away."
"Think about it really good," Bojangles said. "Can you link anything in your mind? We'll even listen to theories and long-shot ideas. How does this missile from North Korea relate to your bonyad director, Pour-Mohammadi?"
Commander Walker interrupted to capture Bojangles's attention. "We're just a few seconds away from the impact of the ground-based interceptor with a missile."
"That Nikolas guy's a useless information source so far, Troy. Dislocate his hips while you're at it," Bojangles said. "No need to hang up the phone or anything. I can hold while you do your work."
Stoker spoke up, "Look Bojangles. I'm not your commander or boss. But, I really want to encourage you to set aside everything occurring on the West Coast. I know I'm asking a lot. But, the civilized world, as we know it, really needs you to scour the Gulf of Mexico and East Coast. We need you to find any ships that may be threatening America."
"Bojangles immediately switched off his interest in the missiles flying toward the East Coast. "Okay Stoker, I’m with you on that."
"I think this guy is a master chess player," Stoker said. "And I just got a bad feeling about why there are only missiles going after the West Coast—so far."
"Exactly. The Gulf of Mexico," Bojangles said. "I'm on it."
Walker spoke up. "Ten seconds to ground-based interceptor impact on the Los Angeles-bound missile."
Bojangles stepped in front of Walker, interrupting his view of the many screens at the front of the room. "We need to ignore what's going on the West Coast and turn our attention toward scouring the Gulf of Mexico."
The NORAD voice counted down. "...three, two, one." The voice went silent for a moment. "Warhead not destroyed. I repeat. Warhead not destroyed."
"Don't worry," Bojangles said. "The AEGIS from the USS Bunker Hill is going to hit it. The data stream all lines up. Seventeen seconds to impact." He paused for effect and grabbed Walker by his shoulders. "We need to scour the Gulf of Mexico, and we need to do it now. The East Coast is much more hardened than our softer underbelly in the Gulf of Mexico. There's a huge threat there."
"Look Bojangles. I've got a war to run here."
"Really? How much can you do for the people of Seattle, here in Pensacola? Where is your responsibility? What happens if we're attacked from the Gulf on your watch?"
Walker balled up his fists at his side. "Do you want me to remove you from my war room?"
"No! I want you to defend the United States of America from an imminent threat. It will be no consolation prize if you kick me out, and I end up writing you up if we're attacked from the Gulf!"
When the second AEGIS intercept vehicle plowed into the Korean missile, the whole Pensacola war room team shouted in celebration. But, Walker and Bojangles did not participate in the spontaneous festivity. They were using the data about all the ships in the Gulf of Mexico to find those that might be an imminent threat to the United States.
"This one's interesting," Bojangles said. "It's a fishing trawler from Vietnam. It's approaching Veracruz, Mexico. Can we get a satellite on it?"
"Give me about thirty seconds." Walker typed away on a keyboard. "It's loading up now."
Bojangles and Walker watched one of the screens as a grainy image appeared and then snapped into focus. The two men examined the fishing boat from stem to stern. "I don't see anything unusual going on there," Bojangles said. "But, you're the squid. Boats are your specialty."
Walker smiled at the mild insult. "No, I see nothing out of the ordinary on the ship. I think we put the Vietnamese fishing trawler on a watch list and keep searching. We can check on it again a little later."
A voice from NORAD came through the overhead speakers. "We have a thermonuclear detonation. Repeat. We have a nuclear detonation. Approximately 395 miles west of Seattle at the height of 33 miles."
"No!" Bojangles said with a dawning sense of dread. "We don't know the warhead's kiloton yield. But, I bet the nuke generated an electromagnetic pulse that's knocked out power and electronics from Vancouver down to Portland."
In a microsecond, the nuclear blast from space cascaded an overwhelming pulse of electromagnetic energy toward earth. The people in the area didn't feel it. But, every electrical circuit within a 500-mile radius of the detonation point received an overwhelming pulse of energy. The EMP blew out almost every circuit it hit. Smaller circuits had no chance. Tablet devices, cell phones, automobile computers, airplane navigation systems, televisions, radios, laptops, and medical devices were turned to useless junk in the blink of an eye. The computers and electronics that controlled the electrical utilities, natural gas lines, and municipal water supplies in the Northwest were gone in an instant. Those services ceased in the blink of an eye. In a moment Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and the communities surrounding them plunged into the 1850s.
"But, the EMP is preferable to an atomic fireball," Walker said. "We can have food and water to all of those people within the next seventy-two hours. It's a small consolation, but I'm relieved we won't be crawling amongst radioactive rubble throughout the whole Northwest."
Bojangles and Walker ignored the preliminary data coming in from NORAD. They set aside their concern about the electrical blackout tormenting the Northwest. Bojangles and Walker knew there were thousands of ventilated patients in the Northwest suffocating at this very moment, but they set their horror aside. It was time for them to head off the next attack, whatever it may be.
"Let's look at this ship that radioed in a new destination," Walker said as he pointed to an icon on his screen. "This one's an Aramco oil tanker."
"How often to oil tankers change their plans?"
"Not very often. Sometimes the capacity of the tanker and the supply of the derrick are not a match, so the powers that be change the plan."
They looked at the satellite footage. It was unremarkable. Walker radioed to the boat and learned a bean counter in Houston had done a calculation and recommended the rerouting.
Over the next sixty minutes, the men identified twenty other boats and examined them with satellites. Sometimes they contacted the ship or the company that owned the vessel in question.
"By my estimation," Bojangles commented, "we've ruled out any ships posing an immediate threat. What do you think?"
"I had just arrived at the same conclusion. Let's look a little further out. Using our same criteria, I see nine boats we should look at
." Walker refreshed the screen, and nine icons sat there at different places within the Gulf of Mexico.
"What's the story with this Tropical Solace boat just passing by Cancun?" It's coming from Roatan, Honduras, and Belize." Bojangles said. "But, it doesn’t fit the profile of your typical cruise ship. It’s a smaller ship—like a cruise ship from twenty years ago."
"It just feels whacky," Walker confirmed. "Let's do our homework.” After a few keystrokes, he said, “It's owned by a company I've never heard of out of Chicago."
"The mention of Chicago makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up," Bojangles said. "Chicago is the epicenter of this whole biological attack."
"Well, I'm relieved to see the uber-analytical Bojangles may actually have some intuition. Working with you can be a little like working with—"
"Mr. Spock?" Bojangles interrupted him and asked.
"Yes. I guess I'm not the first person to point out the parallel."
"No. But, you might be the first person who's ever helped me recognize my... my... intuition."
"You call the company in Chicago," Walker said. "See what their boat is up to. I'll get a satellite looking at this ship."
"Can you upload images of the ship to my F-22?" Bojangles asked.
"Absolutely," Walker responded. "I can send you a continuous video feed and send you coordinate updates every few seconds." Walker typed away like a madman. Then he picked up a phone and spoke to somebody of a much lower rank, ordering them to get a satellite trained on Tropical Solace. When Walker finished the call, he explained. "If your intuition is kicking in, Bojangles, let's get a pristine live satellite feed of Tropical Solace. You'll see a high-quality feed right on the screen, right there. He pointed at one of the many displays.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Walker. "Look at that. What are they building on Tropical Solace?" When he heard no response from Bojangles, Walker started to turn around and exclaim. "Don't you see what's—" But Bojangles was gone.
CHAPTER 31
Korean Peninsula
North Korea's attack plan had another major objective. Their new war's primary goal was a takeover of South Korea to rule the whole Korean Peninsula. Only in conjunction with Iran's grand plan, would the North Korean military have ever dreamed of striking like this. Iran created a prime set of circumstances with its biowarfare. And, North Korea quickly galvanized to intertwine their opportunistic agenda with that of Iran. North Korea's supreme leader recognized that he may never get a window of opportunity like this ever again. He hoped the EMP attack would cripple the United States. After all, America was already reeling from the Iranian-executed biological attacks. He saw it as an opportunity to check the alleged imperialistic potential of the United States that he feared so much.
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