by Mike Kraus
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that Omar has a unique hatred for our country. He’s the one who drew us into the initial invasion.”
Frank frowned. “I thought we went in because of the attacks. Everyone said those were government-sanctioned by the Iranians.”
“That’s what it looked like, didn’t it? I actually got to see some of the so-called evidence that supported that theory. It was bullshit. When I started going after Omar that’s one of the first things that came to light.”
“So this guy pulls us into an invasion that ravages his country for… what?”
“They weren’t the only ones who suffered. And I’m not just talking about the loss of life. You remember how our standing changed and the policy changes that happened after we pulled out of that quagmire.”
“Fair point. If he’s the mastermind then why didn’t the military pursue it, though?”
“After that clusterfuck of an invasion? The last thing anyone wanted to do was get any more involved in that sand trap. I’m sure a few eggheads in the alphabet agencies figured out the truth but it would have been political suicide to try and go in there again, even if it was to get the guy who was behind the attacks.”
“I have to say—and don’t take this the wrong way—this all sounds incredibly…”
“Paranoid?”
“I was going to say insane. But that works, too.”
Linda snorted in amusement. “Yeah, I know. I’ve spent a long time chasing this guy, though.”
“What is it that makes you so convinced he’s the one behind all of this stuff?”
“It’s not any one thing in particular. It just all adds up. Omar’s a wealthy and connected man. He could easily afford to have people loyal to him snuck across our borders who then set up a self-contained group of cells here in the country that don’t need any external resources. With that you eliminate the typical way for the FBI or others to infiltrate terrorist cells. He was also very much into biological weapons as a tool for shaping populations.” Linda shook her head. “It’s no accident that so many cities in specific locations are being hit. It’s all part of something larger.”
Frank scratched his head and stood up, pacing back and forth in the tent. “This is crazy. You sound crazy and I feel crazy for listening to it and even crazier for starting to believe it.”
“Believe it or not, Frank, it doesn’t really matter to me. This has Omar’s fingerprints all over it. It’s his MO and he has the resources, knowledge and motivation to pull it all off. If you believe me or not, I don’t care. I know what I know, and what I know is true.”
“All right. So what do you want us to do?”
“Us?” Linda shook her head. “You’ve done more than enough, Frank, and I haven’t thanked you enough for what you’ve done. You need to take the Corvette to Texas.”
“I’m sorry… what?” Frank could barely believe what he was hearing. “You want me to leave? What about your parents? What about all of what you just told me?”
“You heard Garland. Pigeon Forge is gone.” Linda pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose.
“And you’re just going to leave it at that? You won’t even go there to check for yourself?”
Linda nearly growled at Frank in response. “Do you really think I owe you an explanation for my choices?”
“Fuck yes you do! I’ve been traveling with you since this started and while it may not be that long in terms of the amount of time I think you owe someone whose life you’ve saved and who’s saved your life some kind of explanation for why, suddenly, you decided that your parents aren’t worth trying to save!”
Linda hadn’t been expecting such a forceful response from Frank. Taken aback, she shook her head and gritted her teeth. “You heard Garland.”
“Yes, I did. And maybe he’s right! Why is this guy so important that you’d chase after him instead of trying to get to your parents?”
“My parents are in a nursing home, Frank. I haven’t spoken to them in years. The city already got hit by a storm days ago. Liz told us that. Then another storm blows in, plus a viral outbreak plus fires?” Linda shook her head. “They’re gone, Frank. Under the circumstances, if there was nothing else going on, I’d want to go there and find them and give them a proper burial.”
Frank’s voice softened. “But?”
“But this is just the tip of the iceberg. And I’m in a position to potentially do something about it.”
“So you’re going to run off and traipse around looking for this mystery man?”
Linda scoffed. “Screw you. You have no concept of what I’ve done in my life and the things I’ve seen. He is out there right now and I’m one of the few people who know enough to do something about it. If he can be found and stopped then millions of lives can be spared and this horror can finally stop. You can fuck right off.”
“You have no concept of how pretentious you sound right now. Even if you’re right about all of this you don’t need to play the victim card and act like you’re one person against the world. You can ask for help. You should ask for help.” Frank threw his hands in the air.
“I don’t need your help, Frank.”
“Whatever. You know, we’ve been working together for days and I thought we were finally starting to become friends on some level. But hey, I’ve been wrong before and I guess I’m wrong again. You want me to fuck off so I’ll fuck off. Take the Corvette yourself or throw it in a trash heap where it belongs. I’ll figure out how to get south myself.”
Linda crossed her arms and stared at him. “Fine then. Take care of yourself, Frank.”
“Yeah. You too.”
With that, Frank turned and left the tent, heading off to find Simmons, get his gear and some transportation before he started heading for Texas. Behind him, in the tent, Linda fought with herself, wrestling in her mind with the things Frank had told her along with her realizations about the horrors that were unfolding.
Her singular devotion to chasing Omar had cost her a relationship with her parents, a career and any hope at a normal life. Now it had just cost her a budding friendship with someone whom she could trust—a true rarity in the world. As Linda’s anger gradually subsided and reason began to take back over she put her head in her hands and hissed through her teeth.
“Fuck.”
Chapter 19
The two men in their Manhattan apartment building are exhausted. Monitoring the effects of Phase 2 has taken every ounce of their concentration, but the data they have gathered is exactly what they have been instructed to get. With the data summarized, packaged together and encrypted, they send it to an orbiting satellite which then relays the data to three more satellites before finally sending the information back down to the other side of the planet.
The man in the white robes examines the data carefully, looking for any signs that things have gone wrong. He allows himself a rare self-congratulatory smile as he realizes that his plan is working perfectly. The initial biological attack has had the predicted effect and the “Shelter Cities” are forming in exactly the locations he predicted.
After a final look-over of the data, the man closes his eyes and sits back in his chair. Organizing the coordination of hundreds of intricate precise pieces has taken every waking moment of his life for decades on end but the fruit of his labor is truly glorious to see. Bombs followed by the outbreak of a virus has had the intended effect of panicking the populace, causing them to harm themselves far more than any bomb or biological outbreak could ever hope to achieve.
The final phase of the man’s plan will take weeks more before it can be executed and there are still many more moving pieces in play. He allows himself five minutes of relaxation before resuming his work. Hours later, after yet another document is finished and sent off to a subordinate, a buzzer rings. The man stands and walks to the door of his building, opening it to the small group outside.
“Gentlemen.” The man in the white robes nods to each of the suite
d figures as they step inside. Once the group is assembled the man in the white robes claps his hands and a cluster of servants appear. They take jackets from the suited men, bring out bottles of water and cups of tea and coffee and lay out napkins at a round table in the living room of the home.
“It goes well?” The thick accent of a portly, red-faced man is Slavic, though it’s hard to place the exact region.
“Very well.” The man in the white robes smiles slyly.
“Then why have you called us here?” A dark-skinned man glances at the figure to his right, then at the figure to his left. “Our presence here is a danger to all of us.”
“This is very true.” The man in the white robes nods. “However, there are some… changes that we must discuss.”
The group of men in suits mumble and murmur in dissatisfaction. “What types of changes?”
“The addition of a third phase.”
The murmurs grow louder. “What third phase?” The portly man shouts. “We were told there were two phases! There was never a mention of a third phase!”
“Gentlemen.” The man in the white robes lifts his hands and waits for the grumbling to settle down. “Gentlemen, I assure you. The third phase is one that you will appreciate far more than the first two. And all we need to complete it is a bit of help from each of your countries.”
BOOK THREE
THE FRACTURE
Chapter 1
Linda laid still on her cot for a few more hours, until dawn broke, without getting the faintest hint of sleep. Her mind was racing with a variety of thoughts. Her revelations about Omar, her argument with Frank and the fate of her parents all mixed and jumbled together, making it difficult to focus on any one thing.
It was a hell of a lot simpler before today. It was all about getting to my parents. And now… all of this. Linda shook her head and sighed before standing up. She headed out of the tent and glanced around at the flurry of activity unfolding around her. The rain was still falling, though it had lightened up somewhat from the heavy thunderstorms. It wasn’t affecting the soldiers and Marines who were running back and forth across the factory lot, though. Some of them were carrying supplies, others looked like they were getting ready to go out on patrol and a few were trying to play some basketball in a back corner.
Linda headed for the main building where she and Frank had met with Colonel Garland. On her way there she ran into Corporal Simmons who was standing with his men around a small table while they discussed point on a map of the city. Linda tried to slip past Simmons but he noticed her and called out. “Ms. Rollins! Something I can help you with?”
“Just looking for the Colonel.” Linda threw a thumb in the direction of Garland’s office. “He still in there?”
A look of panic crossed Corporal Simmons’ face. “Uh, I believe so, but he’s in a meeting at the moment.”
Linda smiled and kept walking towards the office as she replied. “No problem. I’ll just wait outside until he’s done.”
“Ma’am, if you need something I can—”
“I appreciate it, Corporal, but I need to speak with him.” Linda didn’t bother looking back at Simmons. Behind her Simmons looked as though he was going to protest again but it was clear she was on a mission and nothing was going to stop her.
Outside the Colonel’s office Linda peeked through the window and saw him sitting alone and going through paperwork. She knocked on the door and he glanced up, saw that it was her and motioned for her to come inside.
“Rollins!” The Colonel stood and shook her hand before motioning for her to sit down. “What can I do for you?”
“I was actually wondering if you had seen Frank. He uh… we had a bit of a disagreement yesterday. I wanted to talk to him to try and patch things up.”
“Huh.” Garland rubbed his nose and watched Linda closely with a quizzical look. “Richards left about an hour ago. He was going to take that piece of shit you both drove in here with but we’ve got more vehicles to spare than we can count so we gave him a Humvee and enough fuel to get most of the way to Texas.”
“Oh.” Linda looked down at the floor, not sure what to think about the news. She didn’t realize it until just then but she had been secretly hoping that he hadn’t left yet so that they could have at least one more conversation before splitting up. Shaking off the emotions she was starting to feel, Linda looked back up at the Colonel. “I had another question, Colonel.”
“Spit it out.”
“Do you know if there are any plans to go into Pigeon Forge? Once it’s safe to do so, I mean.”
Garland leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m sure you know I can’t divulge any information on what we may or may not be doing. Why do you want to know?”
Linda leaned forward and plucked a pen and pad of paper from Garland’s desk. She scribbled on the pad before handing it and the pen back to him. “That’s the address of my parents’ nursing home. If you happen to be going into the city I’d consider it a personal favor if you were to make that address a priority. I know the chances of anyone there surviving are extremely low but…”
“Say no more.” The Colonel tore off the top piece of paper, folded it up and slipped it into his pocket. “If we have any convoys passing by the area on a regular basis and if they happen to take a wrong turn into the city I’ll be sure to ask them to swing by this location. Hypothetically, of course.”
“Thank you.” Linda meant the words she spoke and swallowed hard before her next request. “One other thing.”
Garland raised an eyebrow. “More favors?”
“Just a vehicle.”
“Ha. Help yourself. I’ve got more of those than I know what to do with.”
“How’s that?”
Garland shook his head. “It’s going to take forever to check all of them for IEDs. I know they don’t have them and you know they don’t have them but that’s the order right now. Everything has to be stripped down and searched front to back before it can be used in the field. I’ve got men sitting around with their thumbs up their asses and nothing to do because of it.”
“I appreciate it, Colonel.”
“No problem. Talk to Simmons on your way out. He’ll make sure you get some extra ammo, a rifle if you want and some food and water to keep you through to... well, where is it you’re going, anyway?
I need to get to Washington.”
“State?”
“D.C.”
Garland’s other eyebrow went up. “You had to get to Tennessee yesterday. Why the hell would you be going to D.C. all of a sudden?”
“I have a contact in Washington. They may know something about what’s going on right now.”
“You mean about all of this?” The Colonel waved his hand above his head in a dramatic fashion.
“That’s right.” Linda was trying extremely hard to not sound evasive but doing a terrible job at it.
“Mind if I ask what it is you’re meeting this contact about?”
Linda licked her lips, trying to determine how much of her past to divulge to the Colonel. “Some of what we discussed yesterday reminded me of information I gathered in my past, after I was discharged.”
“You did intelligence work?”
Linda made a face. “Eh… sort of. It was personal, though. Had to do with an incident that occurred when I was deployed. There was a man who I found out was responsible for the incident. There’s a decent chance he’s behind what’s going on now.”
“Have you reported this to anyone?”
Linda chuckled. “Colonel I literally just came up with this theory a few hours ago. You’re the first person I’ve talked to about it besides Frank.”
Garland frowned. “Still, if you have any sort of information I’m going to need to ask you to give me all the details so we can run it up the chain of command. Not that I think they’ll do anything about it given how fractured this whole damned situation—”
The door to Garland’s office slammed agains
t the wall as it was thrown open. One of Garland’s subordinates came running in, a panicked look on his face. “Sir! I’m sorry, but we need you out here right now!”
“What is it?” The Colonel rose from his seat, a scowl on his face.
“The floodwaters are rising fast and they’re nearly here. We’re going to need to evacuate and head for higher ground, sir!”
“Hrmph.” Garland growled and shook his head. He looked down at Linda, still in her seat, and nodded to her. “Go find Simmons. Have him get you some supplies and whatever else you need. Give him a report on what you know before you go.” The Colonel left his office without another word, rushing out to give directions on what to do about the flooding situation.
Linda sat in her chair for a long moment, trying to decide what to do next. She doubted that any good would come of telling anyone within the Army about her suspicions about Farhad Omar but decided to give it a shot just because of how helpful Garland had been.
Linda exited Colonel Garland’s office to a sea of chaos. Soldiers and Marines ran back and forth as they loaded supplies into vehicles. Only the most critical and vital supplies such as food, medicine and ammunition were being loaded. The infrastructure that had been setup in the form of shelters, office spaces, communications lines and other similar equipment were being abandoned to the flood waters due to the urgency of the situation.
While much of the rain had passed by the city, overflowing rivers and the fact that the city’s water mains had yet to be shut down meant that water levels of only a few inches twenty-four hours ago were now several feet in depth in some places. Linda jogged to the edge of the compound and looked down the street towards the city, her eyes widening as she realized she could actually see the waters quickly approaching the factory compound.
“Ms. Rollins?” Linda heard her name called and she turned to find Corporal Simmons running up to her. “Ma’am, the Colonel said you needed transport?”
Linda nodded. “Transport, my gear, a bit of food, some ammunition and a rifle is what he promised.”
