by Bobby Akart
Chapter 30
Day Thirty-Nine
Quandary Peak
Breckenridge, Colorado
When Mac called Hunter and told him that she planned on working late with the new information given to her by Dr. Latham, his first thought was no time to get prepared like the present. He wasn’t sure what Mac would think of the arsenal he’d requisitioned. After she’d proven herself capable of handling a weapon in Guatemala City, Hunter had discussed her weapons training background with Mac. Although her skills were more than adequate with handguns and the use of the paintball version of an AR-15, there were more options available to them.
Despite Hunter’s security credentials, including those newly issued to him by the bureau, purchasing large quantities of ammunition in Walmart would draw unnecessary scrutiny. Nerves were still raw in the Denver area since the mass shooting at the theater in Aurora years ago. The shooter, James Holmes, had amassed an arsenal in his apartment, including explosives.
Hunter planned to create a par level of a thousand rounds per weapon, at a minimum. As he left the FBI field offices, his newly assigned partner, John Taylor, helped carry the weapons to the truck and load them in the back. He confided in Taylor what his intentions were, and not surprisingly, Taylor admitted he’d done something similar.
The two men shared an uneasy feeling about the potential demise of America, although it was for different reasons. Taylor had his own theories about the collapse of the power grid due to a cyber attack or an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear weapon. Hunter outwardly agreed with Taylor about those two possibilities, but privately, knew this plague bacteria was about to explode.
He had this feeling for weeks, but he didn’t want to share his fears with Mac because he didn’t want to tamp down her enthusiasm for finding the cause of the disease or a potential cure. After their phone conversation earlier, it was clear that the cause was known and it was more lethal than either he or Mac imagined. Now, Hunter had to get ready for the inevitable and allow Mac the peace of mind to do her job—seeking a cure for the incurable, as she put it.
Taylor and Hunter agreed to meet again in the morning to analyze the intel on the Las Vegas terrorist cell that appeared to be planning an attack. The video that appeared on Telegram was typical of their propaganda material disseminated in the past. However, captured phone conversations by the NSA indicated that the cell was preparing for a meeting for today of top lieutenants on the watch list. Enhanced security had been ordered for Times Square and Las Vegas. Tomorrow, Taylor and Hunter would review the phone call transcripts for clues as to what they were planning.
Hunter immediately drove over to Walmart, where he purchased a few dozen boxes of double-ought buckshot for the Remington shotguns. He also purchased two hundred rounds of NATO 7.62 rounds, which could be used in both the Smith & Wesson M&P10 rifles chambered in .308 and the Browning X-Bolt Eclipse hunting rifle. He’d made sure that the long rifles could accommodate a common caliber to provide him the versatility he hoped for after things went south.
Likewise, the handguns he chose for them both were compatible with the Sig Sauer P320s they’d brought with them on the plane. He opted for the P320 Nitron subcompact for concealed-carry situations, which Hunter deemed to be from this point forward.
Mac had no problem carrying the full-size Sig on her belt when traveling from the inn to the lab, but Hunter would insist upon her using the Nitron in the future everywhere they went. Her CIA-issued credentials gave her the necessary concealed-carry permit acceptable to Colorado law enforcement officials.
As he drove to Breckenridge, his mind wandered from checklist item to checklist item. His inability to purchase ammunition in bulk was a real problem. There simply wasn’t sufficient time to shop in random Walmart locations and buy a few hundred rounds of ammo at a time. He also had to purchase other types of provisions, namely food, medical supplies, and other survival gear that he’d made notes of in his cell phone for weeks.
Hunter applied a common-sense approach to what he considered the inevitable—he and Mac hunkering down somewhere as the plague pandemic burned itself out. There were so many things to consider that eventually he started making lists in the Notes app of his iPhone. This list began to grow as he considered everyday activities from the time they woke up until they slept. Simple things like showering, brushing teeth, and preparing meals.
Then he considered the fact that it wouldn’t be safe to go out to grocery stores or the mall or even the sidewalk in front of your house. It quickly became overwhelming, hence the need for lists. Without Mac’s knowledge of his concerns, Hunter became borderline obsessive as he considered everything they’d need to survive on their own.
As he drove alone to Breckenridge, he wondered when he’d broach the subject with her. At some point, the two of them would return to Quandary Peak and a basement full of beans, Band-Aids, and bullets. What am I gonna say?
Chapter 31
Day Thirty-Nine
Edwards House
Fort Collins, Colorado
Mac was stretched out on the bed, propped up on pillows against the headboard. She was surrounded by files, printed documents, and her MacBook. She was anxious to share the details of her day with Hunter, yet she was already preparing for her day tomorrow.
Dr. Gene and his wife took Mac to dinner at The Melting Pot, a restaurant chain known for their fondue meals, which Mac’s parents frequented when they visited her in Atlanta. She enjoyed their conversation and the opportunity to bond with her new associate. They’d be spending a lot of time in the lab as they searched for solutions to Dr. Latham’s revelations.
She and Janie had just finished up a phone call where they traded notes. Baggett had issued a lockdown directive on information concerning the spread of the plague bacteria. The President’s Chief of Staff ordered the CDC to clear all public statements through the White House communications director. Their stated purpose was to prevent a panic by the American people until all of the information was available. They wanted to prevent the media from running their news stories on speculation and unnamed sources.
Janie said the team missed Mac and they felt like a ship without a captain. Mac’s position could not be filled because of the hiring freeze placed upon the CDC and all similar governmental agencies by the President. Baggett was handling Mac’s administrative duties and Janie was in charge of team morale. Nobody knew of their continued conversations and trading of information.
The better part of their phone call dealt with NDM-1. The women agreed that Janie would reveal the hypothesis of Dr. Latham to the CDC and take full credit for commissioning the study. Mac was not interested in accolades, only solutions.
Tomorrow, Mac was going to contact Dr. Ava Leigh, a professor at Georgia Tech. She was the director of the Center for Research in Medicine and Healthcare who had developed a complex biological-behavioral computer model to help public policy makers choose the best intervention strategies to contain infectious disease outbreaks.
Prompted by the 2016 Zika virus outbreak and using the recent outbreaks of SARS, H1N1, and Ebola to create real-world models, Dr. Leigh created ASSURE. Plugging in additional data beyond the epi curve created by Mac, such as response time, geographic location of the outbreak, transportation availability, and local culture, ASSURE not only provided a realistic look at the potential spread of a disease, but it also went into great detail on how to contain it.
Mac was poring over her notes in order to furnish the ASSURE software all the details at her disposal, when Hunter arrived. Mac was landlocked by documents and couldn’t stand to greet him.
“Hi there,” she said with a laugh when he came in. “I’d offer you a seat, but, alas, the sofa-slash-bed-slash-home-office is occupied.”
Hunter grinned and leaned in for a kiss. “That’s all this weary traveler needs for the moment, and a beer, of course. Do you want one?”
“Yes, please. I couldn’t get up. How was your day?”
“Methodica
l, how’s that? With Project Artemis, I wasn’t involved on the analytic side of things. Jablonik would call us into Fort Belvoir, he’d give us our assignments, and we’d go do. These guys wanna look at it, talk about it, and then look at it some more. It’s boring and, well, methodical.”
Hunter popped the top on the Budweisers and handed one to Mac in exchange for another kiss. He kicked off his shoes and pulled the desk chair over to their bed.
“I’m sorry, honey. I know you want to shoot at people and blow things up and stuff.” Mac was mocking him and gave him quite the pout on her lips. This cheered Hunter up and he started laughing.
“You know, there’s a lot on my mind, and honestly, it all revolves around you,” said Hunter.
“As well it should. You’re learning faster than my other boyfriends.”
“What other boyfriends?” he asked.
“None, I’m just kidding. Listen, I wish you could hang out with me all day, but what we do is not that different than a G-man’s daily routine. There’s a whole lotta lookin’ and talkin’ about it.”
Hunter took another gulp of beer.
Mac sensed that he was troubled, so she continued. “I’ll admit this information from Dr. Latham is not good news. We can’t give up, Hunter. Not that long ago, there was no way to combat polio or the deadly smallpox virus. Now we have vaccines for both.”
“But no cure for either, right?”
“Yes, that’s true. Tetanus, rabies, whooping cough, and measles are other examples.”
“Are you going to focus on a vaccine?” asked Hunter.
“Both, actually. There are some brilliant minds here to help me. Dr. Latham will continue to use his resources and Janie is going to be our mole at the CDC. This is what we do—find solutions.”
Hunter smiled at her, but she couldn’t detect what he was thinking until he added, “I’m afraid we’re running out of time.”
Chapter 32
Day Thirty-Nine
Valley Kids Day Care Center
Glendale, California
“I don’t know what else to do, Mrs. Alvarez,” said Joan Davis, the director of the Valley Kids Day Care Center, to the mother of twin four-year-old boys who’d become ill as the day progressed. The mother had dropped them off earlier in the day, and now they were both coughing and sneezing.
After further discussion, the women hung up the phone and Davis turned to her associate director of the facility that cared for three hundred children from age six months through four. “She’s an attorney and will be tied up in immigration court until noon. The earliest she can pick the kids up is 1:00.”
“Well,” started the associate director, “they don’t have a fever that places them within our sick-child policy yet. Anything over one hundred one degrees requires mandatory pickup and the children are just below that. There’s been no vomiting or diarrhea, only the cough.”
“Persistent?” asked Davis, referring to the technical term used in their day care’s sick policy.
“You know, Joan, I could argue that it’s sporadic. The kids are playing with the other children just fine. But as a precaution, I think we should require a doctor’s note for them to return tomorrow. There’s some kind of flu bug going around that I heard about in the news.”
“Yeah, better safe than sorry, right?” added Davis. She glanced down at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. Let’s head over to the cafeteria and get ready. Those four-year-olds will be ready for their chicken nuggets and fries.”
“Finger foods, perfect for throwing at one another.”
In the next thirty minutes, the four-year-old Alvarez twins took their sporadic coughs and sneezes into the cafeteria of the Valley Kids Day Center to enjoy their chicken nuggets and fries, followed by three hundred other children, all of whom would systematically pass the plague bacteria from one to another, and then to their families, and to playmates in their neighborhoods.
Chapter 33
Day Forty
White House Press Briefing
Executive Office Building
Washington, DC
Steven Sandoval, the White House press secretary, stood at the podium for what had been commonly referred to as the White House press beating, rather than briefing.
A reporter pressed Sandoval on the immigration issues. “Steven, the United Nations has issued a directive asking the President to formally commit to accepting ten thousand refugees a year that are relatives of those who’ve already entered the country. In the past, the President has accommodated the United Nations’ requests, but since the election campaign has heated up, he’s appeared to take a harder stance.”
Sandoval provided the scripted response he’d given dozens of times over the last two weeks. “We’ve received the suggestion from the UN. While we sympathize with those who wish to reunite with their family members, the U.S. is unable to become any more generous in this regard than we’ve already been.”
He continued. “America has a rich history of welcoming those who are forced to flee oppression or unstable political climates. It has always been this administration’s policy to do the right thing. The President has personally met countless refugees who’ve suffered unnecessarily as a result of being separated from close family members. He further recognizes that the pain of separation continues to be an obstacle to their successful integration into the American way of life.”
The reporter from Telemundo continued to question Sandoval. “Isn’t it true that the President has expressed concern about the plague disease that has stricken Southern Europe? And that it has impacted his decision?”
“No,” replied Sandoval. “The decision by the President is strictly a matter of immigration policy.”
The reporter forced the issue despite Sandoval’s attempts to call on another member of the press pool. “In the United States, cases of the plague are now being reported throughout New Mexico and El Paso, primarily in the Hispanic and immigrant population. Isn’t the President’s change in policy a signal to the world that America is closing her borders to immigrants out of fear of introducing the plague bacteria?”
Sandoval hesitated, which spoke volumes to the members of the press corps. Steven Sandoval was never at a loss for words and a quick response to a testy question. He cherished opportunities like the exchange with the Telemundo reporter. However, his pause reflected his inability to come up with a politically sanitized lie.
“No, it’s just the administration’s policy. Next question. Dan Eggen, Washington Post.”
“Today, Microsoft founder Bill Gates penned an op-ed in our publication warning about the threat of a man-made pandemic. He recently echoed that sentiment at the Munich Security Conference when he said a genetically engineered virus is capable of killing more people than nuclear weapons. Would you care to comment on Mr. Gates’s remarks?”
Sandoval responded, “The President has every confidence in the CDC and USAMRIID to detect any possible disease threats to our nation. He further trusts the Department of Homeland Security to protect our borders. The plague bacteria has spread in parts of Central America and Europe. Rest assured that we are monitoring those situations and reacting accordingly.”
Eggen continued to stand and asked, “A follow-up, sir?”
“Sure, go ahead,” said Sandoval.
“Sir, senior sources at the CDC and DHS have told us that not only are we ignoring the potential threat the plague bacteria poses, but we are, and I quote, woefully unprepared for a widespread outbreak.”
Sandoval had been in the business of political communications for two decades. He had a nose for determining the direction the mainstream media was taking in their coverage of the news. The press had the ability to stifle and bury a newsworthy story, but they also had the power to create one.
In this moment, Sandoval realized that the word plague would be on the tips of every American’s tongue by the end of the day.
Chapter 34
Day Forty
FBI Field Office
/> Denver
Hunter and his new partner were following the leads provided to them by the NSA. Taylor had worked in DC prior to requesting this assignment in the Denver Field Office. While in Washington, he conducted counterintelligence investigations for the FBI. As the two men sifted through phone records and studied security camera footage, Taylor explained the process that led them to locating these particular unsubs—unknown subjects of interest.
“Hunter, I can attest to the fact that obtaining an FISA warrant involves too many layers of approval to be granted without strong evidence in support of the request,” Taylor had said earlier in the day. “The CIA and Homeland Security must have a pretty good idea that these guys are connected to the ISIS operatives being smuggled into the country.”
The FISA warrant allowed the unmasking of communications between the resident imam of the Denver Islamic Society and his counterpart in Las Vegas. Through coordination with the Las Vegas Police Department, who had the most extensive video surveillance capability of any city in the world when the casino hotels were added to the mix, a vehicle with New Mexico plates had been identified as warranting further scrutiny.
The vehicle was rented in Las Cruces about the time that the operatives would have been entering the country. The rental contract was issued to a man with a valid driver’s license and insurance documents. However, he’d died four years ago. The tags were run through the state databases of Arizona, California, and Nevada to determine the group’s movements.
The car was seen at the Masjid Ibrahim mosque in Las Vegas, whose imam had an extensive conversation with someone at a mosque in Denver during that time frame. Last night, a Colorado Highway Patrol officer’s grill-cam recorded this vehicle traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 near Grand Junction. In the last two weeks, the same vehicle was spotted in the vicinity of mosques in Tucson, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
