Wanda

by carl smothers

  It is all over, Lieu thought. It is going to break loose.

  The demon fought hard, but grudgingly relented, and Lieu, fighting thorough his own mental confusion and terror, finally calmed the monster. He had never been so frightened in his life. He understood the destructive power of this beast, and he knew too well, how close they had come to dying.

  “System stability and control restored. Power systems need cool down to prevent failure.”

  “General, we have to shut the system down and let the power system recover. We almost lost control,” Lieu warned.

  “Continue the attack,” the general ordered. “We must hit Beijing!”

  Is he nuts? Lieu thought. They might not be able to keep the demon on a leash if it continued to feed. The power systems were close to failure. They had been to the brink and the beast almost won. Despite his better judgment, Lieu grudgingly complied and initiated the final attack. He was not sure they could maintain control, particularly as the black hole became even more powerful. If the monster had another nuclear feed, it would become self-sustaining, break loose, and seal the fate of planet Earth.

  Senior Leadership

  Command and Control Center

  Beijing

  China

  In less than two hours, the attack had reduced China’s military capability to that of a third world country. At 7:30 p.m. in Beijing, the streets were crowded with workday traffic. People scurried to get home after a busy day. The president of China was in his underground command center with his senior staff reviewing the damage, trying to decide what to do before this dragon devoured their country. They had no military options left, nowhere to turn.

  “What in the world is that horrible noise?” The president inquired.

  At that moment the demon from hell tore the five-foot thick concrete and steel ceiling structure from the war room like it was paper.

  The president looked into the monster’s ravenous mouth … the last thing he ever saw. He tried to scream, but no sound emerged. The demon sucked the marrow from his bones and the atoms from his body.

  The death and destruction of Beijing was rapid and complete. The black-eyed demon swooped down like a giant dragon from hell tearing everything apart molecule-by-molecule, atom-by-atom — buildings, vehicles, millions of people and all signs of civilization. Thousands of years of history destroyed in a few heartbeats. China, as a world power, no longer existed.

  After the monster complied with its masters will, they forced it back to its lair to await another feeding frenzy.

  Chapter 70

  White House

  Washington, D.C.

  National Security Advisor, Igor Romanoff, ran into Grant’s office at the same moment Holmes called in.

  “Mr. President,” Romanoff gasped. “Our satellites indicate Beijing and China’s entire nuclear and major defense installations have been destroyed. It’s horrible. As far as we can tell, the country’s in total disarray. We think they took out the entire senior cabinet of President Chow. We’re certain the MOA’s behind this.”

  His mind running a mile a minute, President Grant fell back into his chair knocking his coffee on the floor. He knew it was only a matter of days before they hit the states.

  “Igor, I want you and Holmes to set up a national security meeting ASAP. We’re next on their hit list.”

  After Igor left, the President broke protocol and called Harry Stevenson direct.

  Harry was pondering the reports Carmen and Pepper had just left in his office. When he switched on the monitor and saw it was the president, he immediately sat up straight, corrected his tie and swallowed hard.

  “Mr. President, how can I help you, sir?”

  “Harry, the MOA has just destroyed China. There’s not much left.”

  Harry’s mouth dropped in disbelief. “I can’t believe it, Mister President. Were a lot of people killed?”

  “We think the entire population of Beijing was massacred. Thirty million people.”

  “Mister President, I assume you’re calling to see where we are?”

  “They haven’t threatened us yet. However, I’m certain it’s only a matter of a days or a couple of weeks at the most before they attack. So yes, I need to know the status of the counter weapon technology. It’s getting to be our only hope. I do not want to launch a strategic strike against Pakistan unless I have no other choice. They’re one of our best allies, and it could kill too many innocent people.”

  “Mister President, we‘re almost done, but we’ve hit a small snag. Dr. Stevens and Dr. Martin were just in my office. They think Dr. Tarnak Zontal, the Kandarian, can help finish this thing quickly. We’re so close. It‘s only a matter of a few small, but significant and very complicated details. Unfortunately Tarnak’s on the way back to Kandar. I was getting ready to ask Bill Hart to try and call him back.”

  “Never mind asking Bill. I’ll have Tarnak at your facility tomorrow evening. Good enough?”

  “Yes, sir.” Wow, he doesn’t screw around.

  “Harry, we’re counting on you. Do not let us down. We’re quickly running out of options. I think we have about 48 hours before they attack us.”

  Chapter 71

  United Nations

  Brussels, Belgium

  UN General Secretary Moon, called an emergency meeting to address the current world situation and latest demands by the MOA. Almost all of the world leaders attended, including President Grant. The assembly was noisy and tensions were high.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen please come to order,” the General Secretary requested. “I received a communication from the leader of the MOA this morning claiming responsibility for the attack on China. They’re making the same demands as before. Namely, that every nation agrees to an unconditional surrender and lay down all arms. They’ve given us one week to respond and threaten to launch the next attack against the United Sates and the UN headquarters. They’ve also said that any further attempts to attack them will result in the immediate destruction of several major cities in the world including Paris, Moscow and London. We need to decide on a response, and quickly. We’ve seen the devastation of their attacks. The one on China will have an enormous impact on the world economy. What do the Security Council members have to say?”

  President Grant raised his hand. “The chair recognizes the President of the United Sates.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I can say unequivocally that the United Sates will not accede to demands made by terrorists, regardless of the situation. My answer is NO!”

  A splatter of applause greeted his response, but Grant could tell most of the people in the assembly were extremely fearful. He listened as the major heads of countries argued that another attack by the MOA would decimate the world’s economy, not to mention the millions of lives that could be lost.

  “Mr. Secretary, wouldn’t it be better to surrender than suffer the horrible destruction this new weapon will bring on us and our peoples?” one delegate asked.

  President Grant stood up so all could see him. “The United States is the next target. I say again, we will fight these tyrants to the end! I will never surrender.”

  At the completion of the intense debate, the assembly members voted to negotiate some type of settlement.

  These UN people are naive, Grant thought. The only settlement the MOA will negotiate is complete surrender. We have a target painted on us, and we have to act fast. Stevenson had better wrap this thing up quickly or I’ll have to nuke Pakistan. I’ll go down in history in the same league as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. A bloodthirsty killer.

  Chapter 72

  MOA HQ

  Anwar, Pakistan

  Sheik Oganda reviewed the latest intelligence from his worldwide organization when Yasaid walked in and handled him the communiqué from the Secretary General.

  “Your Highness, they have acted stupidly again, and are asking for a meeting to negotiate some kind of compromise.”

  “These infidel dogs are even more stupid tha
n I thought. Reply and tell them no negotiations. I have written an ultimatum to the U.S. President. Please ensure Grant receives it today. Make sure I have the exact coordinates for the U.S. capitol plus all command and control centers, satellites, major air base locations, key navy and army bases, antimatter, photon and nuclear sites for the first phase of the attack, before you send the message. Make sure General Sone gets this information immediately.”

  Yasaid stared at the sheik wide-eyed. He was playing his trump card. If this worked, all of the dominoes would fall, and the war would be over. They would have accomplished all of their goals. The Oganda Empire would far exceed that of the early Ottoman Empire and make him and the sheik the two most powerful men in the world.

  White House

  Washington, D.C.

  The message that arrived on President Grant’s office that evening was simple.

  ‘Lay down your arms and provide a written unconditional surrender to the MOA. You have one week to provide evidence of compliance, or we will destroy Washington, and all major defense installations in your country. We await your answer. His Royal Highness, Sheik Oganda’

  The President tossed the message down, pulled his glasses off, and rested his head on his hands. I knew the situation would eventually boil down to this. I hope Stevenson and his people can pull this out. I really don’t want to have to kill millions of people. God help me.

  STL

  Wormhole Development Facility

  New Mexico

  Harry was deep in thought about the ultimatum Grant had shared with them.

  It wouldn’t surprise me if the MOA pulled a fast one and shortened the deadline on us. That’s what I’d do, if I wanted to keep someone off balance. My gut says I need to put the team on a seventy-two hour timeline, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

  A knock at his door startled him out of his thoughts. Carmen, Pepper, Ronnie, Scott and Tarnak stood just outside the door.

  “Tarnak, it’s great to see you!” He walked over and extended his hand.

  “I was half-way back to Kandar when we got the call from your ambassador.”

  “We need your help,” Harry said.

  “Your ambassador gave me a run down on your situation early this morning.”

  “Have you been briefed on our counter weapon strategy?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Carmen, it’s your idea,” Pepper said giving her the nod.

  “Neither conventional nor strategic weapons will work against the black hole,” Carmen explained. “Therefore, our only hope is to use a virus analogous to what Lars injected in our system that enabled them to downlink our code when we accessed WNS. We’ve modified the virus substantially, so their scanners will not detect it. They’re smart people, and by now they’ve most likely added the code to detect the Lars virus and variations of it.”

  “What about network mapping?” Harry asked. “The last time we discussed this we couldn’t trace the path beyond the Central Arab League headquarters?”

  “With the Pentagon’s help, Ronnie and Scott incorporated network tracers in the WNS computers. Now we can map their web networking, and detect when they’re trying to download spatial and time coordinates to set up for an attack.”

  “So how does the virus differ from what Lars did?” Harry asked.

  “We’ve employed a new stochastic coding technique. It’s never been used before, and I seriously doubt they can detect it. The code encryption changes probabilistically as a function of time. The tokens will not have a stable, identifiable pattern, so correlation analysis won’t work unless one has a very long integration time. If you don’t have the unlocking keys, it would take far too many iterations to break the codes.”

  “What’s the bottom line?”

  “It’s simple, Harry,” Carmen said, in a matter of fact tone. “We’re going to inject the virus into their system when they access WNS to set up for an attack. It will incorporate code that causes the black hole to turn on its originating location. The result … their own weapon will destroy them. There’s just one more problem though. We have to modify the gravitational field equations code for the field generators. That’s why we wanted assistance from Tarnak.”

  “With his assistance we’ll cut our time to completion drastically.” Ronnie winked at Tarnak.

  Harry nodded. “You know, I think this has a chance to work. I hope our encryption codling’s foolproof. Lieu is a genius on this stuff. He won’t be easy to fool.”

  “How much time do we have?” Tarnak asked.

  “One week before they attack, and we only have six days left. I assure you; the military is going to be breathing down our neck and pushing to finish this quick with nukes. I’m certain the MOA will pull a fast one and shorten the deadline. So we need to get this wrapped up within seventy-two hours.” Everyone nodded agreement.

  “Ronnie, Scott and I can modify the field equations in two days, or less,” Tarnak said. “That’s no problem. The real kicker will be the virus. We all know the MOA system will have leading edge capabilities as far as detection technology’s concerned. Everything hinges on Pepper and Carmen and their ability to make the virus not only stealthy, but give it the ability to fight off some of the most sophisticated antivirus code existing. Lieu is one of the world’s leading experts in antivirus technology. If the virus fails, we fail. It’s that simple.”

  “Okay, team. Let’s get to work. We’ve got a lot to do and not much time,” Harry said as he left for his office.

  “I’m getting nervous as hell,” Hart said, calling Harry on the secure video link. “What’s going on out there? Romanoff’s on my case worse than an ambulance-chasing lawyer. I think I’ve had five ass chewing’s today. The entire Pentagon and the President’s National Security Team are bouncing off the ceiling. The only thing between a full out invasion or nuclear attack is the president. He seems to be keeping his composure … so far.”

  “Bill, I’ve put the team on a seventy-two hour timeline. I think that’s the fastest we can finish and have something that works.”

  “Chairman Holmes is pressing the President to attack Pakistan. So far, Grant’s resisting. He and the Pakistani president are working closely, but if your plan fails, we have no recourse. Heaven only knows the ramifications from the international community if we attack Pakistan.”

  “I downloaded the plan to your Qtab.”

  Bill nodded and replied, “I’ve seen it. I’m going to brief Romanoff shortly. He can update the President and the Joint Chiefs first thing this afternoon. Maybe he’ll stop chewing my ass.”

  White House

  Washington. D.C.

  “I hope to hell you have something good to tell me,” Romanoff barked at Hart. His face was worn, tired looking. “I have to brief the boss and the National Security Team (NST) shortly. I don’t mind telling you the Joint Chiefs are about to come unglued over this MOA thing. I’ve had more expletives come my way today than coke has cola cans. They’re ready to end it right now. The President’s the only cool head in town. I don’t know how he’s holding it together.”

  “Stevenson sent me his plan and timeline. I’ve forwarded it to you as a top secret communiqué,” Hart said.

  Romanoff ran his hand across his balding head, and chewed on his lip. “This better be good news. I’m telling you right now, Stevenson and his guys better not drop the ball. Holmes will go berserk and demand a full-scale nuclear attack. I’ll read it then discuss it with our national security team at the White House today. The boss hasn’t had much to be happy about lately. I hope this helps.”

  “It’s an excellent plan. It fits well with the President’s desire to minimize collateral damage.”

  An hour later, Igor presented the plan at the security meeting.

  “Finally some decent news,” Grant said.

  “Mr. President, the plan looks sound. I do have a back up, as you ordered, in case it fails. I’m not keen betting the security of the United States on a bunch of researchers. B
esides, wagering the MOA can’t detect the virus is a crap shoot,” Holmes said.

  “I know their approach has risk. Tell me about your plan.”

  “It’s a combination of antimatter warheads and Rods from God. I think we need two satellite-based missiles loaded with small, antimatter warheads targeted at the Waziristan valley. Satellite 316A has eight, so we can use it to destroy the entire valley. I assume the MOA’s facility is underground and well shock-mounted. We can start with three RFGs from satellite 112B, and then hit them with two antimatter warheads. Nothing or no one could survive that type of attack. The collateral damage outside the valley should be minimal. The entire attack will be over in minutes.”

  There was no alternative if the Stevenson plan failed. If Grant had to choose between Pakistani or American citizens, he would protect his country, as his oath to office required, and worry about the UN later.

  “Very well, General, get the ball rolling. I want everything in place within forty-eight hours. I want you to immediately set up a joint Command and Control Center with STL. We have to be tightly coupled to pull this off.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ve already set up liaison officers and have the links in place”

  Later that afternoon, Grant opened a top secret message. “I don’t believe it!” Grant exclaimed. He activated the video phone. “Igor, come to my office. Immediately!”

  Chapter 73

  White House