Virus-72 Hours to Live (37 page)

"The meeting is over, you have your
orders."

"Yes, your highness."

Dmitry rose and left the confused conference
room.

The twelve guys in the room were speechless.
Boris Alovnov said in a low voice, "How do we do that? We have
about 200 people; most of them hate us and would kill us without a
second thought.

Leonid in the back of the room spoke up and
suggested, "Guys, we clean up around and he'll never know what the
rest of DC looks like. Let's face it, Dmitry is crazy and we have
to keep him happy so we can use him. As long as we have him to
blame we can get away with anything."

Boris agreed and added, "Let's set some
fires around the city and tell him that we're burning bodies. We'll
burn the tents on the mall first and then a couple of others. He
should buy that. If he goes out of our clean area, we'll just tell
him that we haven't got there yet."

The group smiled, knowing they were in
charge. After the meeting had broken up, Boris grabbed Leonid,
"We've got to keep our plans under our hats. If these jokers find
out, then we're sunk."

"You're right. I'm afraid of Artur too. I
think he has something under his sleeve and I don't trust him any
more than Dmitry. Both of them aren't playing with a full
deck."

"Do you think the military with do anything
after that attack on Camp David," Boris asked.

"I'll bet. We haven't found many of them.
There was a couple of units roaming the area but they've
disappeared and I don't know where they are. This virus wiped
everyone out, but I think there is still a small military."

"You're right. We've got keep that in mind.
If we run across them, it will be them or us. I've done many things
that I'm not proud of and I sure don't want to answer to any of
them. I was in Thurmont when we sent that group to Camp David and
only a couple of them came back. They got slaughtered. So we know
there is someone out there."

"Ya, so besides keeping the fruit cake happy
we've got to protect ourselves. If some fatassed general decides to
come back to DC, I'm not getting captured. There are too many great
places out there where I can do anything I want to anyone I
want."

"You got that right."

Friday 8/4/51

Date – 2051.59059 (5:34
PM)

Leonid and Boris didn't like the position they were
in. Everyone was living in fear and if they didn't do what they
were directed there were enough crazies around willing to shoot to
gain favor.

They did what they needed to survive, pile
up some bodies and start some fires. Finding the bodies wasn't the
hard thing, getting someone else to do the dirty work was. They
solved the problem in the same way they solved others. Get a group
together and tell them what to do. If they refused, shoot one or
two.

Leonid and Boris knew they were in a weak
position. As a group, they had only a couple of things in their
favor. Finding the survivors individually helped to keep them
disorganized. Some of them were picked up with weapons, but they
relinquished them thinking they were saved by the military. Once
they found out the truth, they would have loved to find some
weapons, but Dmitry's crew kept them under close supervision. They
forced them to sleep in the same building and eat together.
Allowing only a few of the key people to have weapons, which helped
to keep things in order and allowed the ones on top to stay that
way.

They didn't have any fully trained weather
forecasters, but there were enough intelligent people to predict
the storm would be a big one. It was. The local winds in the
Maryland mountains had gusts well above 100 mph. Trees were falling
all over the camp. Soon after the winds started, the local power
grid collapsed and the camp went to an internal generator.

President Patterson loved strong and violent
storms. Many years ago he grew up on the coast of North Carolina
and when the storms came through he would sit outside and just feel
and enjoy the power of the storm. That storm was no different,
there was a leeward side of his residence where he sat and watched
the wind whip the trees around him. His secret service detail had
expressed vehement objections, but his answer was simple, "This is
what I did growing up and is what I'm going to do now, end of the
debate." He sat where he wanted.

Saturday 8/5/51

Date – 2051.59220 (7:40
AM)

"Colonel Dodd, the storm is settling down. There is
a lot of damage we need to address," Sergeant Major Willow
said.

"Sergeant, let's send a crew out to the park
boundaries and see what mess we have. We may decide to send one of
the attack VTOLs to Andrews to see what damage there is. I don't
want the president to decide to leave and find out Andrews was
wiped out in the storm."

"Yes mam, I'll put together a team and let
you know when we leave."

"Sarge are you finished with the ordinance
inventory?"

"Yes, mam. I'm afraid we're light on just
about everything. If we expect another attack, there is a lot of
light, medium and heavy hardware we need."

"Give me the list and I'll review it with
the Admiral."

"Yes Colonel, I'll have it for you in an
hour."

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

"Eddy, if you have a minute?" Admiral
Hagerly asked.

"Yes, Admiral what is it?"

"We used up a ton of ordinance in that
attack. We're at a dangerous level. I've decided to send a team out
and get what we need."

"Is that safe?

"We don't have a choice, I'll send the two
marine VTOLs out and they have some defensive gear. We'll keep the
attack birds here in case we need them. I'll put a small contingent
of marines in each and send them to Fort Detrick. It's the closest
and it will have everything we need."

"Admiral, it's your call. I'll let the
president know."

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

Admiral Hagerly caught Colonel Dodd in the
hallway near the mess, "Jill, put together two assault teams to
take the Marine VTOLs to Detrick and retrieve what you need."

"Yes, Admiral," Colonel Dodd responded.

Colonel Dodd walked further down the hallway
and into Sergeant Lionel's office. As she entered, LL stood, "Yes,
mam."

"Sergeant, the Admiral authorized a trip to
Detrick to replenish our ordinance. I know you might not be able to
get everything there but do the best you can. I think the guard
unit was gearing up for their two-week exercise so they may have
more live ammo than normal. While you're there, I have a list of
med supplies we need. We need more med suits and re-breather
filters along with these drugs and bandages. The Admiral wants you
to take both marine VTOLs and split your team so you can get in and
out quicker."

"Yes, mam. I'll get the team prepped and
briefed. We can be airborne within the hour."

"Great, good luck."

"Thank you mam," and they exchanged a quick
salute as the Colonel left the room.

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

Going to Fort Detrick was the logical choice
because it was the nearest military facility. Besides each of the
personnel assigned to Camp David used the base facilities and they
knew their way around. Sergeant LL planned to be in and out within
an hour. He had assigned Team Bravo to split the team between the
VTOLs, Team Charlie would be in the other chopper and Echo would be
in the first one. Once they were on the ground Charlie would go for
the med gear and Echo would head to the armory for the weapons. The
split Beta men would remain at the landing pad and provide
cover.

The flight plan was to fly to the
destination following different routes. If somebody on the ground
heard the first bird approaching, they might miss it, and then they
could hammer the second. By flying separate routes, it was presumed
any ground pounder could get off only a couple of shots before the
birds had come and gone.

The launch was quick and uneventful. Both
birds accelerated to max airspeed of 175 mph and flew along the
treetops. Bird one, which had the Echo team, was going to fly along
the eastern side of the Frederick Municipal Forrest crossing over
the Fish Creek Reservoir then down past the small community of
Brook Hill. The final leg into Fort Detrick would be from the west.
Bird 2 would pass south out of the camp and then over Catoctin
Furnace then it would turn east and fly south over the farmland
between the 15 Freeway and Route 194. Then its final leg would
bring it into the fort from the north. The air miles of each route
was about the same so they should penetrate the fort boundaries at
the same time from two directions and hopefully plant them quickly
and get what they needed. Total flight time was about 5
minutes.

LL had briefed for a combat offload, which
meant the occupants would exit the VTOL immediately after the
wheels hit. The first ones out the door would be the members of
Beta team to circle the landing site and take up defensive
positions. Echo team would unload and move immediately towards the
National Guard Armory.

The VTOL made a rapid turn and sudden
descent approaching the pad. The pilot used the gear to absorb the
last of the energy. As Echo was moving out of the door, LL gave
direction to his men and he saw out of the corner of his eyes the
other VTOL landing about half a mile away. Echo team ran in pairs,
which enabled them to cover the right and left. The front pair
focused on the entrance and the back pair kept turning their heads
around to clear behind them.

When they reached the door to the new
National Guard Armory it was locked it took 15 seconds to drop a
satchel charge split the team right and left of the doors and wait
for the explosion. The teams had just found cover when the charge
took the doors off the building. Before the dust cleared, the team
was moving inside and one of them remained inside the blasted door
to cover the exit. The team grabbed a couple of handcarts near the
door and they moved into the darkness with their headlamps on.

The National Guard laid armories out in a
logical pattern and it took only a few moments to find the weapon
storage magazine. It took only 5 minutes to cut the locks and begin
sorting through the options. In typical armories, the weapons were
in one area and the explosives and ammo were in a separate outside
bunker. Fortunately, there was a sign over the rear door in the
rear of the weapon's storage area, which said "Explosives Storage."
Once they picked up the weapons they needed, they went through the
back door and approached the explosive's bunker. It was a fenced in
hole in the ground with a heavy metal door and blow out port on the
roof. Gaining access took a little time because using explosives to
blow the door might result in an unexpected explosion. After
another 10 minutes, they gained entry and began to inventory the
munitions. Typical of a military set-up, everything was neatly
stacked and marked so it was like walking through a
supermarket.

Just as they had loaded the two large hand
carts with the ammunition, LL heard, "Possible Hostiles," over his
headset." The call had come from the Sergeant from Bravo team who
was providing cover for their craft. Echo moved the two carts
through the building and as they approached the front door, they
could see a hundred meters to where their craft had landed. They
could see a large military truck coming down their street to the
right and approaching the aircraft at high speed.

There was a small chance anyone they
encountered might have been surviving servicemen, so they didn't
want to shoot first and ask questions later so Bravo held their
ground and didn't open fire.

Once the truck stopped, it was immediately
obvious that it wasn't full of servicemen because they drove too
close to the VTOL and when they got out, they were firing their
weapons immediately. They were dressed in a mix of uniforms and
followed no proper tactics for engagement. They didn't announce
themselves to understand who had landed the craft they immediately
began firing. They also didn't know Echo team was in the armory
behind them and they were acting like a bunch of cowboys or street
fighters.

LL couldn't leave Beta Team under fire, so
Echo moved out of the building, leaving the supplies just inside
the door. After they had moved to cover behind a planter, they
opened fire on the attackers. The fight lasted about 45 seconds
until all of them were dead. LL yelled, "Retrieve the supplies," as
he moved cautiously towards the dead attackers.

"They're civilians," the Bravo team lead
said as he approached one of the dead near him.

LL walked over to one of the bodies and
realized the boy was maybe 15 and he doubted he was even old enough
to shave. The other dead were a mix of the old and young, fat and
thin. It was perfectly clear they were no military unit.

"Sarge, why do you think they attacked first
without asking who we were?" LL asked the Bravo Team lead.

"Perhaps they are from the group in Thurmont
and they were expecting us."

"That means they're on base and likely
raiding supplies also."

"AC, this is LL pass a warning to VTOL two
that they may come under fire."

"I already have and they're telling me they
have a group of armed people around them which just arrived and
haven't opened fire yet. They're waiting them out until Charlie
team comes back."

"Does Charlie know their positions?"

"Stand by...yes they do. They're moving into
position to flank them. They'll be in position in a minute."

"Echo get those supplies loaded and let's
get out of here."

"LL Beta team on bird 2 is under fire. They
just opened up on the VTOL and Charlie is moving on their rear.
Stand by."

"LL the firefight is over; it took only a
few minutes. The hostiles are down, except for two who
surrendered."