Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  The camp perimeter was the responsibility of Colonel Dodd and men like LL and his team. They knew the base and they were well prepared to defend it. The main element of their strategy was to be flexible. They didn't have enough personnel to defend the full perimeter, so they put together vehicles which could carry them along the perimeter road to any place necessary. They outfitted the vehicles with some extra fire power which should be able to surprise or at least slow down the attackers.

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  LL was the last to jump in his designated truck. The others in Echo team had already loaded and they were finishing their gear check. They checked each other and made sure their ammo pouches were loaded, the comm gear was functional, the night vision scopes were operating and the camo face paint was effective. As soon as the sergeant climbed in, he yelled "Go," into his whisper-mike and they were gone. The truck sped through the trees then along the perimeter road. His team assignment was along the eastern perimeter between towers 3 and 4. Without a word from the team, the driver yelled, "Get ready." They all stood and grabbed the side rails as the driver yelled. Then as he slammed on the brakes slowing to a fast run, the team dropped out of the back of the truck already in an offensive position. They moved to their left and took cover in the trees.

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  "What are our guys doing now?" The president asked.

  "Sir we have prepared foxholes for them. They are spreading out and taking up their defensive position. The area beneath the trees is kept clear of brush so their site lines are clear. Along the entire perimeter, we have mall depressions with little mounds of dirt in front. They provide excellent firing positions for defenders but appear to be just small depressions in the dirt."

  The DID kept updating the current infrared image of the defenders on the screen while the briefer pointed out the strategic placement of the forces.

  "Sir, here is the current infrared display for the camp periphery." As soon as the dots appeared, everyone in the room knew they were in trouble. Three groups of dots appeared one on the eastern boundary, one on the western boundary, and one on the southwestern boundary just south of the entrance. "Sir, we're in luck they are doing what we expected."

  Each group had five smaller groups in a cluster. The room remained silent as they watched the groups converge on the camp boundary. Their paths appeared sensitive to the guard tower locations. The five smaller groups were directing their movement towards three of the guard towers. It appeared that was their objective.

  "Sir, those moving towards the towers is good news. The towers are used for observation, and we've pulled the guards out of the towers because they were too vulnerable. They don't know that so it will spread them out and make them less effective."

  Out of the corner of the president's eye, he saw Admiral Hagerly swoop past the door heading for the comm center. He glanced briefly then looked back at the display. Once the groups were moving, vehicles from within the compound began moving and taking up positions along the inner fence line. As the vehicles moved, it was obvious that fighters were dropping out of the vehicles and setting up firing lines. Once the fighters were in position, each vehicle took positions behind them.

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  The personnel were withdrawn from the towers because they were for observation but were vulnerable during a firefight. Ruth knew the towers were empty and dark. She decided to take a position in the southeast tower, which provided an unobstructed view of the attackers when they entered the sterile zones on the eastern and southern flank.

  After the alarm had gone off, she was out of her room before anyone else was prepared. Stealth was her element and she excelled at it. She had picked the tower and path to it, so she was able to move at top speed through the woods. She knew that the camp procedures called for the alarm to go off when the motion was detected in the woods. That gave her 5-8 minutes to get in position. Her light suppression clothing made her almost invisible at night so her only concern was noise. The moment she reached the base of the tower, she started climbing. At the ten-foot level, the ladder was enclosed and that gave her full protection through the rest of the climb. The towers were enclosed and the windows were colored so a guard wouldn't be seen from the outside. Regardless she crept towards the windows and used a night vision periscope to find the attackers.

  Her only fear was the attackers taking out the towers as a precaution, but the advantage the position gave her outweighed the risk.

  Her hope was they would approach the towers and if they got no resistance, they would disregard them and leave her alone. Her long-range silenced rifle had almost zero muzzle flash so no one would know where she was.

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  What are those men doing now?" the president asked as he pointed at the DID.

  Louis was sitting at the table and he explained, "We're setting up machine guns and heavy weapons firing points. They'll provide crossfire to support each of the positions. The vehicles have additional ammunition and three of them have 50 calibers mounted on them. Depending on what weapons they have, we might be ok.

  Once all of the dots seemed to stop for a moment, Louis said, "We're going to make one last announcement trying to figure out what their intentions are.

  "Sir, I have the mobile unit's comm wired into our system so you'll hear the announcement, 'Attention, attention. You are approaching a military facility and entrance will not be allowed. All force necessary will be used to deny your entry. If you have peaceful intentions, please stand and identify yourselves within 1 minute. If you don't, it will be assumed you are hostile and the appropriate defenses will be used.'"

  Everyone in the room looked at their watches or the chronographs on the wall out of instinct. In their minds, the time was ticking down. As the time approached the deadline, Louis announced to his teams, "Stand-by, wait for my signal."

  The mikes on the support vehicles were open, so the room filled with explosive gunfire when the attackers opened up. "All units engage, I repeat all units engage," shouted Louis into his command comm unit.

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  LL's team was spaced about five meters apart and Beta team was another marine team about 25 meters to his right and Charlie team 25 meters to his left. Echo team was in the middle and expected to repel the brunt of the attack. The supporting teams on either side were to prevent Echo from being flanked and to focus their fire into the kill zone in front of Echo. All of the teams were behind good cover and that gave them an advantage over the attackers who had to move from cover to advance. The firing was intense from all groups and the night sky lit with the muzzles flashing.

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  The area was covered heavily with sensors so the running gun battle was playing out in real time in front of the president and other's in the status room. It was obvious that, even though, the attackers had some military experience they had no idea of the sensor distribution or the amount of information available to the defenders.

  The group on the east was focusing on the long side of the camp and the one on the west was doing the same from that direction. The group in the South was attempting to break through the outer fence and gain entry through the main entrance.

  The Vice President pointed out the obvious, "If that group controls the main gate and we have no other exit." It wasn't a question and no one had an answer.

  The muzzle flashes appeared as sudden red flashes on the screen and in some areas, it was so heavy the screen details were lost in the red glow. It was obvious the attackers were gaining ground and the one near the eastern perimeter had just about made it to the outer fence. Suddenly there was a bright flash on the screen and some of them passed through the fence. Louis said to the room, "The outer fence has been penetrated. The attackers are now in the sterile zone between the fences." The red dots were spreading out laterally as more of them came through the hole in the fence. The display showed some of the defenders laying prone on the ground either wounded or dead. />
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  LL knew their position was coming under increasing pressure and, even though, his team was taking most of the pressure none of them had been hurt. But the radio traffic indicated that Bravo team to the south was at 50% and Charlie to the north was at 75%. If he lost either of their supporting positions, then his position would crumble.

  He heard the thump of a bullet hitting a human body to his right and saw that most of O's right shoulder had been blown off. He was unconscious and that created a hole in LL's line. Speaking over their headsets, he ordered his team to consolidate closer to O so they could still present a solid line. Shirley was on O's right side and he moved to O's position. He positioned O so he wouldn't take any more hits.

  Radio chatter let LL know Beta team on his right was losing effectiveness and he gave the order for the reaming Beta Team, and Charlie to his left to move closer to his position. Consolidating and filling in the gaps allowed them present a solid wall. Both teams dragged their wounded towards the middle of their position and resumed fire.

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  Louis spoke into his command comm unit and said, "Team C & D go to the eastern fence between towers 3 and 4." Within a minute, two additional vehicles were moving down the perimeter road at a high speed approaching the break in their defenses. The fighting continued as the two trucks positioned themselves to have a clear sight line to the area and use the trucks as a barrier.

  Just as the bloody stalemate was establishing itself, Admiral Hagerly exploded into the room and said in a loud voice, "I've got help coming. I've located two MH-8C attack helicopters from Patuxent River. They're on their way; they are only about 50 air miles away, so they should be here in about 16 minutes.

  I hope our men can hold out that long, the president thought to himself.

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  The attackers had moved into the sterile area between the outer and inner fences, and Ruth had a clear site line. Ruth took her time and at least six of the attackers fell, never knowing who shot them. Ruth had a feed of the infrared linked into her helmet comm system. She could see the attackers in the trees behind the front line, most of the time, the trees blocked the attackers. When they ventured out into the sterile zone, they were fair game. Ruth's sniper training showed that many battles changed dramatically when one or two of the key people were lost. Ruth's time would come and finally she noticed three of the bogies hidden from the defender's fire and they seemed to be conferring about something. Seemed like a good target so she focused on the middle one and popped off a shot. Just as the attacker's head exploded, there was an infrared and visible light flash. A sudden concussion in the trees next to Ruth almost blew her out the tower as a missile exploded in the trees. Shit they have shoulder-mounted missiles, she thought.

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  Right after the Admiral made his announcement, there was a large flash on the screen. In the next refresh, there was a red line, which went from the attackers past the two trucks and a red blur, about 50 yards behind them.

  "Oh shit," Louis exclaimed, "They've got shoulder launchers. They fired one at the trucks and missed. I hope they miss on the next one."

  For the next couple of minutes, the battle raged on and the group of attackers by the main gate had just broken through the fence and taken the gate building. They were using the gatehouse as a firing position against the defenders, which had moved back towards the gate in the inner fence.

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  When the man firing the shoulder-launched missile was killed, the men next to him thought he was hit by the men they were attacking. They hastily moved to another position trying to find cover from the defenders. They didn't know the fatal shot had come from a tower 100 meters away, so their new position turned out better for Ruth. Now she knew what the target was doing, and she could interpret the movements of the red forms in her display. Just as he was raising the shoulder launcher for another shot, she was able to remove one more head.

  After that attacker had gone down, they figured out a better position was needed and set up quickly in a place where Ruth couldn't get a good shot

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  The group in the West had made it to the outer fence and, even though, there was a strong defense, they were able to finally plant an explosive device and make an opening. Three of the attackers died as they planted the explosives. When the dust cleared, they moved into the clear zone between the fences.

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  The DID in the control refreshed the infrared screen in the status room and showed another red line from the group on the east leading right to one of the trucks. They all saw a red cloud where one of the trucks was.

  "Shit they took out one of the trucks," Louis said.

  "No one in the room needed to ask if that was bad or not.

  At that point, attackers were starting to stream in through all three points in the fence and the room knew the end was near.

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  LL could easily see the attackers, some of whom were within 10 meters of his position. "Here they come," he yelled to everyone on his comm channel. Each of the Marines was preparing for hand-to-hand combat. They paused their firing for a moment and slapped on bayonets. Their training would tell them when the rifles were no longer effective and they would drop their rifles and revert to the pistols and knives on their belts.

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  Suddenly two fast moving red shapes appeared in the lower right corner of the display and the Admiral yelled, "Here they come."

  Roberto Gonzales asked, "Only two, will that be enough?"

  Everyone in the room knew that was a damn good question, but no one else chimed in. Then the Admiral in a calm voice said, "These are attack VTOLs. They have six rockets each along with a minigun, which shoots about 10,000 rounds per minute. They'll make a salad out of the forest."

  The visuals on the screen couldn't begin to depict the violence and destruction that was unleashed around the camp. Each refresh showed multiple streaks from the VTOLs and large read clouds where the attackers were. In about three minutes, the battle was over and the defenders reported about 12-15 of the attackers had surrendered.

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  The camp went into clean-up mode immediately, focusing on securing the perimeter and taking care of the wounded.

  "Sir preliminary reports say that we lost 12 defenders and 14 wounded. Seven of the wounded are relatively minor, but the others are in serious condition. They're being moved to the infirmary and the doctors will give you an update later."

  "Mr. President, the VTOL drivers, have asked to remain part of our team. With Admiral Hagerly's permission, I'd like to say yes."

  "Louis that is the best news, I've heard all day. I want to shake their hands."

  "Yes, sir I'll arrange that as soon as they're back. They've gone back to Patuxent to re-arm. Sir, what should be done with the captives? We ended up with 15, 10 of them are unharmed and five of them are injured. Sir, they just attacked the president of the united states."

  "Go ahead and debrief them, I want to know what is going on out there and how did they get organized and why they hell did they attack us?"

  "Yes, sir; we've already started."

  "Feed and house them until we decide what to do."

  "Yes, sir."

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  Admiral Hagerly and Louis Rodriquez met in front of the mess hall and walked in together, the 10 captives were seated together and eating. They were not allowed to talk and they had two seats between them. The Admiral made sure that he made an entrance and he wanted them to know he was in charge. He stopped in front of their table and stared at them. One by one, they put down what they were eating and with uncomfortable looks, they avoided eye contact with the Admiral. He waited until the silence hung over the room like a faint smell of skunk.

  Finally, he slammed a chair into a table and yelled, "What is going on, you ju
st tried to attack the president of the United States. We're under martial law and I could have you shot right now." He waited a moment for effect then said, "You can forget about lawyers, the only legal proceedings we have are what I decide to do. Ok, who's going to talk first?"

  All of their eyes opened wide and they all broke at once. They were talking over each other and two of them just broke down and cried. The Admiral watched, looking for the one which was most coherent and he yelled, "Stop, come with me," pointing to the one which seemed to make the most sense.

  Two of the marines who were guarding the table picked him up and carried him out of the room. The remaining men just sat with blank stares on their faces wondering what would happen next.

  Admiral Hagerly and Louis marched out after the Marines and followed them into an adjacent meeting room. The Marines firmly planted the man in a chair and stood behind him.

  Once again, the Admiral just stood staring at him, making him feel uncomfortable. Finally he spoke," You have one chance to tell me everything."

  The poor man was panic-stricken and with a shaking voice, he asked for a drink of water, even though he had just finished a soda in the mess hall. The Admiral nodded and a marine brought the captive a glass of water.

  The Admiral said in a quiet but threatening voice, "I'm waiting."

  "Sir, my name is Pete Warren. I'm a cab driver from Alexandria. My entire family died and I thought I was the last person on Earth I didn't know what to do or where to go. I did my best burying my wife and two sons then I just sat there waiting to die. But I didn't. After a while, I heard an announcement broadcast from an Army truck. I thought someone was coming to help. They said they were there to help us. The announcement said for us to come out and they would take anyone to a base for treatment."

  "I thought someone was going to help, so I went out and waved my hands. They stopped the truck, pointed a gun at me and made me get in the back. When I did, there were two other guys and a woman. They were tricked the same way, and then we knew they weren't military. They kept driving up and down all of the streets saying the same thing and they picked up about 8 other people, "he paused and took another drink of water.