Black Flagged Apex (74 page)

"They won't buy off on the 'greater good of the community' speech? Stockpiling drugs for the national pandemic response?" Kate asked.

"Would you?"

"Probably not," she admitted.

"Especially when they know for a fact that they won't see any of it when the shit hits the fan. Health and Human Services will swoop down and grab it all for selected treatment centers," he said.

"Sucks to be you today," Kate taunted.

"Let's hope not," Alex said as he walked over to fix some breakfast.

"Seven o'clock. Turn on the
Today Show
," Kate said to him.

Alex found the remote and turned on the kitchen TV, just in time to see Matt Lauer appear on the screen. "Someone better say something about the fact that the Chinese sat on this for two days."

"
Good morning, on Friday, November 2nd. The news dominating the thoughts of all Americans today comes to us from Southeast Asia, where the evidence of a growing pandemic virus is mounting. Earlier this morning, Chinese government officials verified that an unidentified flu strain has caused several major outbreaks in the southern coastal regions of China. They have also confirmed that the cases are not caused by a strain or variant of the H5N1 avian flu. This announcement sparked uproar in the scientific community, where fear of another pandemic is rising."

"Turn it up, honey, I can't hear over that frigging Military Channel," Kate said.

Alex raised his voice, "Ryan, can you turn that down? We're trying to listen to something important about the world over here."

Kate responded first, "Are you seriously going to get into it with him again? Just turn up the volume, please, we'll miss the whole segment by the time you two figure it out."

Alex shook his head and raised the volume so he could hear Matt Lauer clearly.

"Thomas McGreggor from the Department of Health and Human Services joins us this morning to shed some light on these developments. Mr. McGreggor, welcome."

"Thank you, Matt."

"Now, one of the Department of Health and Human Services' major roles is to implement the national strategy to prevent or slow a pandemic's entry into the United States, and to limit the domestic spread of the disease."

"That sounds like a monumental task, and frankly, some experts just don't think it's possible for a single department to accomplish these goals. They all seem to agree that the national plan is solid, but argue that very few of the recommendations in the plan have been implemented. The statistics are sobering. Some experts cite a compliance rate of less than ten percent with the plan's recommendation at local levels, and it appears that little money is flowing down from Washington. Critics also suggest that most of the money is heading overseas to fund the WHO."

"Certainly these critics like to point fingers at Washington whenever they can, but a pandemic is a complex emergency, requiring an effective and coordinated response on many levels. The bulk of the costs occur once the pandemic strikes, and when this occurs, each state will receive disaster level funding to ensure continuity of pandemic response operations."

Matt shifted in his seat.

"I don't know if I agree. Let me read directly from the DHS manual. 'Ideally, states develop a multilayered strategy that delineates responsibilities at all levels of society to ensure the viability of government functions and services, such as energy, financial, transportation, telecommunications, firefighting and public safety.' This sounds like an expensive proposition. My parents' hometown can barely scrape together enough money to repair winter damage to its roads. Where will towns and cities get the money to implement these preparations?"

"Well, first, I don't agree with the statistics that claim only six percent of the national plan is implemented. We've seen amazing progress throughout the nation, without reliance on more federal money. An appropriate level of funding is available at all levels for implementation of the plan."

"I hope you're right, because the situation in China has health officials concerned that the world might be on the verge of a deadly pandemic."

"Matt, the United States is in good hands. Since 2008, our nation's pandemic response capability has been vastly improved. From vaccination production and research capability, to anti-viral stockpiling. We learned a lot from the avian flu and applied those lessons to the national plan in place today."

"So given the events unfolding in Asia, what is DHS's primary concern at the moment, and what part of the national plan is being implemented?"

"We are working in close coordination with the CDC and WHO to receive real-time information regarding all aspects of the crisis. Our number one priority will be to prevent this disease from entering and spreading in the United States. Currently there is no indication that the disease has spread to the United States, though we have activated passive foreign traveler detection protocols. Customs officials have been alerted to identify and track any foreign travelers that appear ill."

"Is this for real?" Alex said to no one in particular. "It's already here. How could he not know that? Full of shit."

Kate silenced him with a hand signal, so she could hear the rest of the segment.

"Will these travelers be detained?"
Matt asked
.

"Not under passive protocols. Active protocols require a massive personnel increase, as you can imagine, and will be implemented when it is certain that a pandemic grade illness is headed to our borders."

"Has DHS considered the possibility that the disease has already entered the U.S. in considerable numbers? For nearly three days, travelers have left China for the U.S. and hundreds of other locations abroad, and the ISPAC website indicates that it may have already hit the west coast."

"We've definitely considered this, and fortunately, the number of passengers traveling to the U.S from China within a three day period is small. We are tracking all of these passengers and taking steps to ensure that if any of them are sick with this disease, they will be identified immediately. We feel confident that the disease is limited to China right now. Right now, we are taking the appropriate steps given the information available. And thanks to the Chinese government, the information is flowing much more efficiently than in 2008.

And to address the ISPAC website, none of their figures are official CDC or WHO statistics. If the flu arrives in the U.S., we'll know first."

"You've gotta be shitting me," Alex said, clicking the TV off.

Kate stifled a laugh. "That guy didn't sound very convincing," she commented.

"If this guy represents the government's attitude toward the situation, then we're screwed."

"Looks like your day is most assuredly going to suck," Kate said, wearing an overly fake sympathetic face.

"Yeah, I really need to get rolling here."

Purchase
The Jakarta Pandemic
from Amazon

Acknowledgments

In the spirit of tighter writing, I'm going to keep the acknowledgments to a minimum. This is also an effort to keep them on one page (or two), instead of ten, which is where they were headed.

First and foremost to my wife, who spent countless hours reading and taking notes. Once again, she provided several essential course corrections that better served the storyline, and you can thank her for the twist at the very end. She has become my primary sounding board for story ideas and a continuous voice of reason throughout the writing process. Best of all, she can't avoid me.

To the beta reader crew. Bill for his "Caesar-like" thumbs up or thumbs down assessment. I'm always tense waiting to hear from him. Trent and Nancy for reading with enthusiasm and providing an exhaustive list of typos, word suggestions and reality checks. Joe S. for keeping me from writing a novel within a novel. You can thank him for
Black Flagged VEKTOR
, the next book in the series. Bruce, Marcia and Glen for their read through and suggestions, despite their insanely busy schedules. Jon, for his valued insight as a one of my earliest readers and reviewers. I believe he read this book somewhere in the Bering Straits. To everyone in my writing group, which has served as a guiding light for the critical aspects of character development and narrative. Beyond the furious gun battles and technological intrigue, the Black Flagged series is driven by characters, which is all too easy to forget. Finally, I want to welcome Joe Bunich to the crew. He volunteered to "informally" proof all three of my previous books, and caught errors missed by everyone. He is living proof that the "right" extra set of eyes can make a huge difference.

To the formal production crew, starting with Felicia A. Sullivan, my ever faithful editor. She's been really patient with all of my covert ops, technothriller stuff…and my deadlines. Jeroen ten Berge for the overall Black Flagged series cover concept. I can't wait to see all three covers side by side. Stef for professionally formatting all versions of this novel, in addition to my entire backlist. Trust me, we all win with Stef on the job. His product is flawless. Pauline for proofing all of my books. She's proofed over 500K words for me at this point. Just the thought of that makes me want to turn off my computer.

Cast of Characters

(In alphabetical order)

Mohammed Abusir
– Al Qaeda cell leader, Newark, New Jersey

Ramish Banergee "Mish"
– Black Flag Electronic Warfare Team, Europe

Alvaro Batista "Alvin"
– Black Flag Electronic Warfare Team, Europe

Audra Bauer
– CIA, Deputy Director, National Clandestine Service

Kerem Demir
– FBI, Task Force Scorpion, Investigative Lead

Karl Berg
– CIA, Assistant Deputy Director, National Clandestine Service

Tyrell Bishop
– True America, Hacker Valley Compound Leader

Michael Brooks
– True America, Head of Security, Poconos Lab Unit

Tommy Brown
– True America, Militant Arm Commander

Jason Carnes
– True America, Head of Laboratory Operations, Poconos Lab Unit

Dihya Castillo
– Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group

Robert Copley
– CIA Director

Rear Admiral Mark DeSantos
– DIA, Strategic Services Branch Director

Miguel Estrada
– True America, Militant Arm Leadership

Richard Farrington
– Black Flag, European Group Leader

Aleem Fayed
– Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group Leader

Luc Fortier "Luke"
– Black Flag Electronic Warfare Team, Europe

Joel Garrity
– Director of the National Counter Terrorism Center

Lieutenant General Frank Gordon
– Commander Joint Special Operations Command

Timothy Graves
– Black Flag Electronic Warfare Team, U.S.

Jackson Greely
– True America, Co-founder of Militant Arm

Julius Grimes
– True America, Militant Arm Operative

Salvador Guerrero
– Homeland Security liaison to NCTC

Anish Gupta
– Black Flag Electronic Warfare Team, U.S.

Ashraf Haddad
– Black Flag Middle Eastern Group

Colonel Jeff Hanson
– SOCOM liaison to NCTC

Lee Harding
– True America, Co-founder of Militant Arm

Konrad Hubner "Fritz"
– Black Flag, European Group

Darryl Jackson
– Brown River Security Corporation executive

Alexei Kaparov
– Federal Security Service, Russian Federation

Damon Katsoulis
– FBI Task Force Scorpion, Tactical Lead

Major General Bob Kearney
– Defense Intelligence Agency Director

Sarah Kestler
– White House Counterterrorism Director

Reinhard Klinkman "Klink"
– Black Flag European Group

Thomas Manning
– CIA, Director National Security Branch

Enrique Melendez "Rico"
– Black Flag Americas Group

Frank Mendoza
– FBI, Task Force Scorpion Assistant Leader

Owen Mills
– CEO Crystal Source Water, True America Militant Arm

Joseph Morales
– Assistant Attorney General for National Security

Kathryn Moriarty
– FBI, Task Force Scorpion Mobile Commander.

Imam Hamid Abdul Muhammad
– Al Qaeda recruiter, Newark, New Jersey

Jeffrey Munoz
– Black Flag Americas Group

Dana O'Reilly
– FBI, Task Force Scorpion Lead Data Analyst

Tariq Paracha
– Black Flag Middle Eastern Group

Anne Renee Paulson
– True America, Militant Arm, Distribution Phase Leader

Daniel Petrovich
– Black Flag, Americas Group

Jessica Petrovich
– Black Flag, Americas Group

James Quinn
– National Security Advisor

Jacob Remy
– White House Chief of Staff

Anatoly Reznikov
– Former scientist at VECTOR labs in Russia

Brigadier General Terrence Sanderson
- Black Flag Leader

Abraham Sayar
– Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group