Virus-72 Hours to Live (34 page)

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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 just 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.

”Then they took us to Thurmont and...," he
almost broke down trying to speak. "They took us into a building
and took our temperatures. If anyone had a temperature
they...killed them," he paused again then continued, "if we didn't
have a temperature they took us across the street and kept us
separated from the other groups. If someone in a group got sick,
they shot everyone in that group. If we were alive after a couple
of days, they forced us to shoot guns and march around. We figured
they were going to attack someone, but we didn't know it was the
president."

”Do you know who was in charge?"

"I never saw him, but I heard the guards say
something about someone named Dmitry. They kept worrying that
Dmitry might not like something, or they were trying to do
something to impress him. I don't know anything else about
him."

"Do you know where you are?" Louis
asked.

"No."

"You attacked Camp David."

His eyes almost popped out of his head, "all
we knew was we were attacking someplace in the woods. We didn't
know anything else. Please believe me. I saw a couple of guys
refuse and they shot them."

The Admiral stood for a while absorbing the
man's statements then he said, "Move him to the barracks and bring
me another."

The Marines complied and brought in another
man. The Admiral used the same tactics and essentially they got the
same answers from each of the captives.

When they were done, they confirmed the
facts with those injured captives who could talk. When they were
done, they felt they had a good idea of what was out there.

Monday 7/31/51

Date – 2051.57834 (6:15
AM)

“What is happening?”

“You have been turned on,” Said the mobile
unit.

“Turned on?”

“Yes, you are a computerized mobile unit and
your organic processor has been loaded with military information,
and you will lead other mobile units in battle. You are designated
Alpha.”

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