* * *
With the tunnel blown, Hoplite and the Engineers withdrew from the location and returned to the farm. The Captain confirmed Rayburn’s wishes via the SecDef. He in turn briefed Josh, his remaining Special Forces contingent, and the Engineers. The twenty seven men comprising the survivors of the convoy security team and the Combat Engineering platoon would be staying in McArthur for the foreseeable future. The ROTC convoy drivers that weren’t in the hospital were allowed to return to Colorado and their collegiate life. At dawn the next day, the men would busy themselves with defensive perimeters and fortifications around the collapsed tunnel, as well as OP construction, spider holes, and sniper nests near the park and the gold laden cache.
After getting Suhrab restrained and situated, the three returned to the farm just after midnight. The ‘borrowed’ vehicle was quickly spirited into the barn for safe keeping. Given Rayburn’s directive to remain in place, Josh was going to have to return all of the ‘requisitioned’ gear.
The entire group was exhausted physically and mentally. Juan and his son had returned earlier and relieved every one of their worry. As a result, the Josh’s cabin and the Three Sisters were dark upon their arrival.
Gregg made his way to through the hedgerow toward Emily at the farmhouse while Josh and Brent headed for the darkened cabin. All any of them wanted to do was shower, have a quick bite to eat, crawl into bed, and sleep for days.
As Gregg was about to enter their room, he saw the shadow of a light escaping from underneath the door. He smiled at the thought of Emily falling asleep with a book on her chest. The man decided right then and there that he was going to do everything in his power to become the husband that Em deserved from the outset of the marriage. No more half-truths. No more feigning interest in whatever she was saying or doing. She was now his one and only priority.
He slowly turned the handle and opened the door so as to not awaken his sleeping wife. In a barely perceptible whisper, he heard her say, “Before you come in, you have to promise not to freak out. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Gregg stopped and listened to her words. “Yeah well, I have one too.” She needs to know about Suhrab.
“Let me go first,” she answered continuing her hushed tone.
When Gregg didn’t answer she said, “Okay?”
Gregg lifted his head up toward the ceiling and exhaled. “All right, you go first.”
“Come in and find out, but keep your eyes closed until I say,” she replied.
Gregg quietly entered the room and turned to close the door, not seeing Emily. When he heard it click shut, he shifted to face toward her approximate location.
“What’s your news?” he said.
“You promise you won’t freak out?”
Greg nodded. “I promise.”
“All right, you can open them,” she instructed.
Gregg did so and what he saw shocked his system like nothing had done ever before.
There was his wife, sitting in a rocking chair, feeding a baby.
Gregg dropped to his knees and started weeping. He’d never seen anything so beautiful.
“I’d like you to meet our son, Declan.”
Epilogue
January 25, 2023
Three hours after the White House was incapacitated, President Rayburn and his contingent of Secret Service personnel stepped off of the K12 bus at the entrance to Andrews AFB. Many an odd look was flashed their way on the Metro’s Green line out of DC. The glances were still present on the faces of the men standing guard at the main gate as his protection detail requested a vehicle to drive the POTUS the rest of the way in to Air Force One.
Upon arrival at the bunker located on site, Rayburn started trying to get updated on the latest intel. There were surprisingly few details available. He was less pleased that he was being forced to wait in the bunker until the cover of night.
“Has anyone been in touch with Sarkes? Do we know where he is yet?” Rayburn asked the assembled staff. The members looked around the room bewildered. The President sighed and said, “How about the SecDef?”
“Here, sir,” the man said as he entered the bunker.
“Finally!” the POTUS exclaimed. “What is going on? For a command post, we seem to be devoid of knowledge.”
“Sorry I’m late Mr. President. If you’d follow me, sir, I need to bring you up to speed,” the Secretary of Defense replied.
The pair withdrew to a separate anti room and the SecDef placed a hard metal briefcase on a table. Once the door was shut, he entered the combination and opened it. Inside the hardened case sat a laptop. It’s computer screen contained a dozen thumbnail sized images.
Rayburn sat in the chair while Secretary Fielding stood behind him and narrated as the man pulled up each image.
“Going left to right and top to bottom, the surveillance photos you are about to see are current as of thirty minutes ago. Please select the first image,” the SecDef ordered.
Rayburn tapped his finger on the screen and the icon expanded to cover the entire screen. In front of him was an image of the Atlantic Ocean. Embedded within were tiny red dots.
“Sir, if you look from the southern tip of Greenland and go southeast toward the U.K., you’ll notice that just about every one of our SOSUS sonar arrays has seen a flurry of activity. Similar sensors have been tripped in the Pacific. Please close the photo and select the next.”
“I thought those were decommissioned in the 90’s?” Rayburn asked.
Fielding didn’t answer. He just cocked a knowing eyebrow at the man. The President understood and turned back toward the monitor.
As the next image appeared full screen, again the Atlantic was displayed.
“See those islands about a thousand miles west of Portugal? Tap on them to zoom in, sir,” Fielding instructed.
Jim Rayburn did and what he saw made him shiver. “How many ships have the analysts counted?”
“At present there are over two hundred. Unfortunately, more are on the way.”
“From where?”
“Northern and Western Africa and the Mediterranean. What you’re looking at represents the bulk of the British Isles and the Soviet Northern Fleet. The Dutch, French, and Spanish are en route so we should have some idea what their plan is as soon as they can get word out. There’s another mass assembling in the Sea of Okhotsk just north of Japan. Once the Indian Fleet arrives, we’ll know more there as well.”
“How many ships do we have?”
“The U.S. Navy currently have approximately three hundred ships at its disposal. Add in our allies’ vessels and we are nearly seven. Almost a one-to-one ratio,” the SecDef responded.
The pair worked their way through image after image until only one remained. It depicted the Gulf of St. Lawrence down to Quebec.
“What the hell are those!” Rayburn demanded.
“Sir, that’s an amphibious assault ship and transport dock. The HMS Ocean and the HMS Albion. The Ocean is carrying a full complement of eight hundred Royal Marines, forty vehicles, and eighteen helos.”
“Where are they going?”
The Secretary of Defense sighed and took a seat across the table from the President. He slowly closed the lid of the briefcase as he contemplated his response. Fielding removed his glasses and cleaned them with his tie.
As he put them back on he answered. “Sir, they are headed to Cleveland.”
“What about the Canadians? Can’t we call the Canadian Prime Minister? Tell them to stop opening the locks and letting those ships through!”
“The PM reports to the crown, sir. They’re in it whether they like it or not. Ohio just became a battleground state… in every sense of the word.”
Useful Resources
Finance:
Bretton Woods International Monetary System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system
Federal Reserve
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_reserve
http://www.federalr
eserve.gov/
Gold Standard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imf
http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
United States Department of Treasury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_treasury
http://www.treasury.gov/Pages/default.aspx
United States Mint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_mint
http://www.usmint.gov/
EMP and Solar Flares:
Carrington Event (Solar Storm of 1859)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_event
Maloof, Michael F. A Nation Forsaken, EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe. Washington D.C.: WND Books, 2013
Portable Generator Plans (research purposes only)
http://www.amazing1.com/products/emp-herf-shock-pulse-generators-downloadable-plans.html
The Critical National Infrastructures Report – Executive Report
http://www.empcommission.org/docs/empc_exec_rpt.pdf
The Critical National Infrastructures Report
http://www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf
Equipment and Tools:
Nocturnal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal_(instrument)
Pelorus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelorus_(instrument)
Sextant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant
Sundial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dial
Ring Dial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dial (see section 8.1)
Hannibal is at the Gates Page 26
