Critical Error

by Murray Mcdonald

  The plane surged forward under a hail of Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! And dropped from the end of the rail towards the ocean.

  Akram’s heart sank with the plane but the power of the engine kicked and the nose pulled up and leveled before powering the plane up and away. A tear left Akram’s eye as he thought of the glory that would be with them all soon. Before the old plane was out of sight, the deck structure was broken down and discarded overboard. Sergey Vazlav turned and tried to get as much distance between itself and the floating containers as possible.

  Chapter 89

  “I have Senator Charles Baker for you, Mr President,” offered Nancy.

  Fortunately, Johnson and Preston who were currently with the President were facing away from her and she did not see the look of horror on their faces.

  “OK, put him through.” The President wasn’t quick enough to think of anything else.

  “Charles?” said the President.

  “Fuck you, Russell…” that was unfortunately the best Charles Baker could come up with on hearing the President’s voice. Sam waved at him wildly to calm down.

  “…I’ve got the name and location of the freighter you need,” he added quickly, before the President hung up.

  The President had the phone half down when he heard the name and location. He hit the speaker button so all could hear.

  “Sergey Vazlav, Gulf of Lawrence.”

  “Thank you, Charles,” replied the President with genuine gratitude. He of course was genuine. Charles Baker had just secured Russell’s re-election.

  “Before you get too excited, we think they have probably launched. They’re in range of New York.”

  “Christ!” said Russell, realizing that two million deaths was synonymous with New York.

  Preston was already onto the Joint Chiefs as the President ended the call with Baker. Two minutes later, they called back. The carrier George H.W. Bush was nearest in the vicinity and had sent a squadron of F/A18 Super Hornets to the area. They would be in position in less than twenty minutes.

  They were also scrambling every piece of kit that could spot or shoot down the Hurricane towards the Northern states.

  Twenty minutes later the President’s office was patched into the chatter between the pilots and the carrier.

  “Avenger, this is squadron leader, we have visual on Sergey Vazlav. I repeat we have visual.”

  “Team Leader, this is Avenger, can you confirm status of launch?”

  “Avenger, no aircraft visible but freighter is steaming North. I repeat steaming North.”

  “Fuuuuuuck!” screamed the President, fearing the worst.

  “Avenger, crew are on deck, gesticulating at us. Going for closer look.”

  “Avenger, crew laughing at us. Fear aircraft launched, reports of containers floating south of here.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!!” screamed the President slamming his desk. The phone buzzed. Preston answered.

  “It’s the Joint Chiefs, Mr President. What do you want them to do? Our nearest asset is two hours away. The Canadians can take them into custody. They can be there in twenty minutes. Our fighters can keep watch on them until then.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?! The Canadians will never hand them over. Those pricks will be on planes back to wherever they crawled from in a month!”

  “Blow them the fuck away and I mean away!”

  “Yes, Mr President.”

  Akram had seen the jets shooting towards them over the horizon and knew they had been found. The Americans were too late, the plane was already on its way. He called his men on deck who jumped and whooped as the American fighters flew past with inches to spare.

  Akram knew it was over when four pulled off and swooped up in the sky. He had seen enough movies to know that they were positioning themselves for an attack. He called his men together and they prayed to Allah as the four missiles evaporated them.

  “Avenger, this is Team Leader. I hope you don’t mind but we used four Harpoons, those fuckers are well and truly gone!”

  The President slammed the desk as the news came though. “Every one of those boys gets a medal from me. I want them in Corpus tomorrow, Henry.”

  “Yes, Mr President.”

  “Now find that plane!”

  It seemed Deif had one more trick up his sleeve. The pilot of the Hurricane flew less than a hundred feet above the ground. His route carefully calculated to minimize likely sightings which, in the sparsely populated North Eastern states of America, was not difficult. His small GPS device ensured he was within meters of where his route should be and gave him a significant advantage over his predecessors. The route took him inland, before commencing his run to the South, running past New York and turning to the heart of the birth of the American nation, just 77 miles away, to Philadelphia. Although smaller than New York, the city was contained within a smaller area. A 2000 feet airburst over Philadelphia was, according to the calculations, up near the million mark.

  Deif had anticipated the evacuation of both New York and Washington and as such, had ruled them out. He wanted to maximize the death toll and Philadelphia, un-evacuated, gave him the largest potential death toll he could achieve.

  Chapter 90

  Ahmed Hameed had talked until he was blue in the face but nobody was listening. His network had come through and he had tracked down the three other controllers. He had spent the last three hours trying to make them understand the opportunity that lay before them. Firing the devices would end nothing. Not firing them could end everything. As the time neared midnight, the men prepared to leave. They had orders to follow. Deif had been explicit. Unless he told them otherwise, the weapons should be fired.

  Ahmed explained again that were Deif there, he would want them not to fire. The opportunity for a true Palestinian nation was at their fingertips. The scoffs of derision at the words of Ben Meir being believed insulted Ahmed. It was one thing to scoff at Ben Meir but these men were now scoffing at him.

  He stood up and commanded silence. He gave each of them an ultimatum that, should he be wrong, they should fire their weapons immediately.

  All looked at each other and nodded. If Ahmed Hameed wanted to commit suicide, that was his problem. At least two of the men fancied their chances at taking command. And if Ahmed was to be believed, Deif would not be coming back anyway.

  Nods around the table gave Ahmed the go ahead. However, he was warned that he had until midnight or else the weapons would be fired.

  Ahmed checked his watch. Just 15 minutes remained. Hardly time to get to the border, never mind trying to get through, he thought, as he ran towards the cars parked below. A small crowd followed him and then a convoy was soon tracing its way towards the Israeli border. Its walls loomed large, its watchtowers looming even higher. The snipers that waited for any attempt to break her defenses, watched on silently.

  Ben had offered this as rock solid proof. If Ahmed didn’t believe him, he should attempt to cross the border after 11pm. Ben emphasized with a smile that he would be well rewarded.

  For the first time in his life, Ahmed Hameed was going to listen to the word of a Jew. He stepped down from his car and walked the final 200 yards towards the gates. He looked back and could see the men who held the fate of a nation in their hands, holding the devices that would send the signals. Their eyes were as much on Ahmed as they were on their watches. They were not going to give him a second to spare. Ahmed picked up the pace and waited for the Israeli to prove his doubts wrong.

  Ahmed reached the gates, no bullets had struck him yet. He pushed on the gates and his life ended.

  Chapter 91

  The President couldn’t sit still. Two million dead. The number was becoming a reality as he paced his office. Before, it had just seemed like a number. He normally dealt in billions, trillions even but that was dollars not human beings. The number was massive. How could he not have ordered the evacuation? He had not only lost any chance of re-election, he had lost his soul.

 
Henry Preston tried to keep him calm. They still had ten minutes until midnight in Israel.

  “Mr President, we still have time.”

  “Even if we get to the bomb now, it’ll be so close it’s irrelevant.”

  “Sir, the bomb will only detonate if it is triggered correctly. If we get to it before then, we may be OK.”

  Henry looked at the screen in the Situation Room. New York was literally swamped with military fighters. New Yorkers must have thought a war had started with the number of jets that were overhead. Air Force F15, F16 and F22s from as far South as South Carolina were joined by F18s from the Carriers Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Harry S Truman.

  There was no way the Hurricane could evade such an overwhelming force. There was just no way. It didn’t make sense and in Henry’s book, things didn’t not make sense. He looked again at the map and grabbed the intercom and instructed the search be widened to include Philadelphia and Washington. They couldn’t find him because he was going somewhere else, figured Henry.

  Captain John Fuentes had just kicked in his afterburner as he lifted his F-22 raptor off from Langley Air Force Base and was touching Mach 2 as the call came in. He was being reassigned to Philadelphia. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The likelihood of anything happening to Philly was low compared to New York or Washington.

  Almost as soon as he had pulled back the throttle, Philadelphia appeared below him. He plugged into the E-3 Sentry that was circling far overhead and looking down on the area below. Nothing. He could see nothing that shouldn’t be there.

  But looking down, Captain Fuentes did see what millions of dollars worth of equipment couldn’t. He caught sight of a small flash of light, off to his left. It was moving slowly and it was close to the ground. Had it been on the road, he would have thought it was a fast car but there was no road there, just fields. It was certainly faster than any tractor, thought Fuentes, and it was close to the city limits.

  His orders were clear. Do not, under any circumstances allow the pilot to see your approach. He powered up and over the object and pulled back, spinning in behind it. Approaching from the rear, he could see why nobody had spotted it. He was merely 50 feet off the deck and painted a green camouflage.

  The pilot could see the cityscape ahead of him, exactly as he had practiced on the flight simulator. He checked his fuel. The needle hovered just above zero. Not really an issue, he just needed enough for the next minute or so. He powered the throttle forward and began his ascent. His target was 2,000 feet and then he’d press the button to detonate the weapon. The run had been timed to perfection. Give or take a few seconds, he had arrived bang on schedule.

  His finger hovered over the firing button. “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.”

  As the clock ticked down to 17.59.50 EST, 23.59.50 in Israel, all just stared at the clock, their breaths held. Ten seconds to detonation if what they had been told was true. The President was almost climbing the wall. The tension in the Situation Room was unbearable.

  Captain Fuentes was caught by surprise as the bogey seemingly reacted to his presence. It accelerated and began to pull up. Fuentes followed and selected his AIM-9 Sidewinders and fired.

  The pilot watched as his level indicator read 1,900 feet. He caught a flash in the rear mirror that the Hurricane would use to spot enemies from the rear and saw the sidewinder as it sped towards him. He smiled. “Allahu Akbar!” as he reached for the trigger.

  As the clock struck 17.19.58, a scream came though the intercom system. The room jumped and the President sank to the floor.

  “WOOHOO, one mother fucking bogie is down and out!” screamed Captain Fuentes into the intercom which the E-3 Sentry had fed through to the Situation Room.

  Fuentes, for good measure, had fired all 480 of his 20mm cannon rounds from the sidewinders. He would never know that if he hadn’t, the pilot would have destroyed a city and killed almost a million people.

  As the President held his head in relief, they waited for news on Israel. The clock, showing the time in Israel, struck midnight.

  Chapter 92

  And his new life started, the gates swung freely. The post was deserted just as Ben said it would be. Ahmed turned to his compatriots who stared at him in disbelief. Surely not, the Jew had not been lying. Ahmed ventured further. There was nothing there. The army base that had kept them prisoners was deserted. Everything was gone. Nothing remained. This was not temporary.

  Ahmed returned to the other three controllers and they debated for some time what should be done. Time dragged on. 12.05, 12.15, 12.30. The time kept ticking by as they decided what to do.

  A call was made to Lebanon and the West Bank. One border-crossing was no sign of any real change. The Palestinian fighters on the Lebanese — Israeli border were reluctant to move forward. The dead-man alley was exactly that. Anyone who stepped into it died immediately. The Israeli snipers did not shoot warning shots. After some discussion, a young fighter said he would go. He, like Ahmed in the South, walked carefully and cautiously forward, fearful of the bullet that would end his life. It never came. He reached the gates that blocked the road and like Ahmed, he pushed them only to find they fell open. The crossing was deserted. Everything was gone.

  The debate still raged. It could all be a trick. The call to the West Bank proved less fruitful. Jerusalem was a hive of activity, nothing appeared to have changed. The reluctant Palestinian who ventured towards the border crossing returned quickly. The border was guarded, he could see men moving around. Ahmed pushed for the man to go further.

  As the man ventured further, the three controllers had reached a decision. The Israelis had tried to trick them for the last time. As they were preparing to fire, the phone rang. It was the West Bank Palestinians. Their man had ventured closer. It was not Israelis that were guarding the crossing.

  Chapter 93

  The Sheikh had altered Zak’s ID to show his photo and easily passed through the security perimeter. The President was due within the next hour. News had filtered out during the morning that it was likely that the President would also announce his new Vice President and if the rumor were true, it was going to be Henry Preston. The Sheikh had arranged everything he needed and was now just awaiting the arrival of his targets.

  The stage was arranged across the road directly in front of the massive gates that were covered either side by huge sheets. These were the covers that would unveil the memorials. Almost two hundred seats were laid in front of a stage which itself held almost fifty seats. The audience, however, was expected to be closer to a million times that number as the world’s press awaited the announcement of the new VP and an explanation as to the goings on the previous evening.

  The Sheikh smiled as the first attendees began to arrive. He made his way towards the young lady that was co-ordinating the event and while talking to her, he managed to check the sheet. Nothing had changed.

  Rebecca woke Sam up. She had just had a call from Ben and they were to meet him in Driscoll, a small town near to where the ceremony was due to take place. He didn’t like it and wanted some assurances. Unfortunately, she did not have any to give.

  Sam spoke at length to his brother and agreed that Clark would remain with his wife while the rest would travel to Driscoll.

  Although they had flown down with the President on Air Force One, Preston, Johnson and Gates were part of the advance party, along with members of the Cabinet. The President liked his grand entrances and everyone would be seated and in place before he arrived.

  Preston had shared a car with the others and the smile on his face suggested he would not be sharing one back. It seemed to Johnson and Gates that the rumors must have been true. However, Johnson was going to wipe the smile off Preston’s face soon enough. There was only going to be one Vice President announced that day and it was going to be Allan Johnson and he had the goods to make sure it happened.

  As the car pulled up to the stage, Johnson broke off from the group and made his call.

 
“Mr President?”

  “Yes, Allan?”

  “I’m hearing some very disturbing rumors.”

  The President knew exactly what the rumors were. “Yes, Allan and I’m afraid they’re true. You’ve got to appreciate that it was Henry who…”

  Allan’s tone changed. “Killed the President for you?!”

  “Allan,” protested the President angrily.

  “No Andrew, I have the evidence that will put us both in the frame. I suggest you change your speech and quickly.” Johnson killed the call and headed back to the others with a spring in his step.

  He joined them as the co-ordinator had singled the three of them out and asked them to head over to a waiting minivan. It appeared that the President wanted to arrive with them at his side. They jumped into the van and were greeted by the Secretary of Defense.

  The President’s motorcade pulled out of Corpus Christi and made its way towards Bishop. It swept along at sixty miles an hour and the President took the twenty minutes to put the final touches to his speech.

  He had just had the call from Johnson when his phone rang again. He instantly answered expecting it to be Johnson again.

  “How dare you?!” he screamed.

  “Mr President?” enquired Ben.

  “Ben, I’ll be with you shortly. I’ll talk to you then,” he needed to get off the phone and get a hold of Johnson.

  “You need to meet with me now. I’m in Driscoll, in the diner on the far side of town.”