“Come on Leroy, times a wasting, we wanted to be to the airport by 3:30.”
“We’re fine, it’s only a two hour flight to California. We’ll be there by 6:00 a.m. and to the house by seven and still probably find everyone still asleep.”
“I don’t know how our kids sleep so late. Half the days done by the time they wake up.”
“You do know that everyone else doesn’t like to get up in the middle of the night like you do.”
“Including you, Breakfast is ready, let’s eat and get going.”
Chapter 38
Cody and Sarah crawled to the edge of the hill and looked down at the planes. The terrorists were topping off the tanks, and then the pilots climbed into the planes and started to taxi.
“Cody, it looks like they are going to take off right over us. Do you think they can see us?”
“It’s still too dark. As long as we don’t move they’ll never spot us. I better call John.”
Cody called John on the radio. “John, one of them is taking off now and the rest are lining up.”
“Hold on Cody.” “Mr. Harris, one is taking off and the others are getting ready to.”
“I was afraid they would take off before we were ready. John, we need to get the direction they go as each one takes off.”
“OK, let me talk to Cody.”
“Cody, they need the direction the planes take off. They need to chase them when the Air Force planes get here.”
“We can call that in, but we might have another problem.”
“What else is wrong?”
“We think the terrorists gave each other the antidote shots, they are rubbing their arms. I’m worried the gas is leaking or they are going to spray this area or both.”
“You have antidote with you. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, we took some with us, but I have never given anyone a shot. Sarah says she has seen her diabetic friend do shots, but she has never done it herself.”
“Let me check with Homeland Security.”
“Mr. Harris, Cody is monitoring the planes and will tell you what direction they take off. The terrorists gave each other shots. He is worried that the nerve agent is leaking or they are planning on spraying this area. I think we are going to have to all do the shots to each other also. We need instructions? None of us have ever done this.”
“John, I’ve been talking to our medical people that have been analyzing the video you sent. The terrorists are talking about the antidote, but we know very little about it. What we do know is that it has to be given just before or after exposure. They have prepared the syringes in advance with the correct amount. You need to take the sheath off the needle, use an antiseptic swab to clean the skin, put the needle straight up and tap it to make any air bubbles rise to the top and push the plunger slightly to remove any air bubbles. Then quickly jab it into a muscle through the skin, and then pull back slightly on the plunger to see if there is any blood. If you see blood you are probably in a blood vein. You need to pull it out and start over. Do not inject it into a blood vein. It needs to go in the muscle. Then slowly push down the plunger and then remove the needle. It’s easier to do it to someone else. But be aware. We have no way of knowing anything about this antidote.”
“Do we have a choice? The terrorists are taking it. What would you do?”
“John, if it was me I would take it, but we really don’t know and you don’t have any time to waste.”
John got back on the radio with Cody.
“OK, Cody. If you’re exposed, you need to give each other a shot. I’ll walk you through it. Tell me when you have directions on the planes.”
“John, the first plane took off and headed southwest as far as we could see. The second plane has just taken off and headed west. I’m not sure if we’re exposed yet. We’re going to wait a couple minutes.”
“Cody, I got the phone and radio beside each other together. Mr. Harris did you hear what Cody said?”
“I heard it. Cody, can you hear me? We also need to know if the planes have their lights on.”
“Yeah, I can hear you, the third plane just took off and is headed southwest too. It looks like the fourth plane is almost ready to go and all of them have their lights on.”
Controller one called SWA flight 34.
“SWA flight 34, the first plane took off about 3 minutes ago and headed southwest, followed by plane 2 heading west, and plane 3 just took off also heading southwest. Do you see the staging area and dirt strip?”
“This is SWA flight 34. We are at 5,000 feet flying VFR. We have the strip and are looking for the first plane. We just spotted the second plane and we are looking for plane one. Hold on, we just spotted the first plane. We are following it at 5,000 feet.”
Controller two called Jet Blue flight 523.
“Jet Blue flight 523. SWA flight 34 is following the first plane at 5,000 altitude. Plane 2 took off a couple minutes ago heading west. It has its lights on. Do you have it in sight?”
“Jet Blue flight 523, we have SWA flight 34 and plane 2 in sight. We are following plane 2 at 5,000 feet VFR.”
“SWA flight 65. Do you have any planes in sight?”
“SWA flight 65, we have SWA 34 and JetBlue 523 in sight and we are looking for plane 3 or 4.”
Cody called John on the radio. “John the fourth plane just took off and is heading south.”
“Do you have that Mr. Harris?”
“I got it John.”
“Flight Control. Are you getting all this?”
“We are hearing everything. Stand by.”
Controller three to SWA 65. “We have two planes. One heading south and one heading southwest.”
“SWA 65, we have a plane in sight. We aren’t sure if it is the third or fourth plane. It is running south-southwest with its lights on. We are following at 5,000 feet.”
“Sam, do you have them on radar?”
“We have all three airliners and the four crop dusters on radar. Their transponders are on and we are having no trouble tracking them.”
“Sam, we are going to keep the SWA and Jet Blue flights above the planes at 5,000 feet just in case. Hopefully the interceptors will get there before anything changes.”
Victor got Deputy Director Collins’ attention. “We have more information coming in from the analysts.”
“Put it on speaker.”
“We have been analyzing the video. Did the kids say anything about a laptop?”
“Is everyone still tied in together? Did you hear that, John?”
“Yeah, we didn’t tell you about the laptop. When we were watching the terrorists, we saw one of them typing into a laptop. He put it in a case and went to pray. My brother Cody snuck down and took the laptop and put a flat piece of metal in the case. Then he took some of their antidote.”
“Do you have the laptop?”
“Yeah, it’s right here.”
“John, you have a laptop that you took from the terrorists, and you didn’t tell us!!”
“Look. It’s been a little busy here too. Yes, I have the laptop.”
“John, we need to find out what’s on that laptop. Are you good with computers?”
“I’m not, but I think Sarah is.”
Cody interrupted. “John, the last plane just flew over us. I think he sprayed us when he flew over.”
“Cody, take the antidote now, and then get back here.”
Cody and Sarah looked at each other wide eyed. Sarah grabbed a needle and swab.
“I’ve seen my friend do this so I’ll give you your shot first. Take the radio and have John tell me what to do.”
“John, walk us through this.” Cody said desperately.
John repeated the instructions given by Homeland Security to Cody and Sarah.
Cody thought, I can’t believe we’re doing this. Sarah jabbed in the needle, pulled back on the plunger to check for blood and pushed the p
lunger.
“That wasn’t so bad.”
“It’s a small needle, Cody. Now do me.”
Cody injected Sarah. “We better get back. John and Ellen need this too. I think he sprayed our ranch too and we have this spray on us.”
Cody called John on the radio, “We gave each other shots and the planes are out of sight. We’re heading back.”
John said to Mr. Harris, “Cody and Sarah are on the way back. Sarah is good with computers.”
“John, put Sarah on as soon as she is back, and you and Ellen take the antidote. I'm going to put someone on that is an expert with computers.”
Cody and Sarah rode the ATV back to the ranch. Sarah opened the laptop while Cody got the shots ready.
Cody said to John, “Sarah and I got sprayed on the hill. Our clothes are contaminated. You and Ellen need to take this antidote immediately.”
“Do you know what you’re doing, Cody?”
“There’s not much to know. Turn around, drop your pants and bend over.”
“What! Here!”
“John this is serious. Just do it. I could have the nerve gas on my clothes.”
Cody gave John a shot, he stood up and turned around.
“That wasn’t bad. I thought it would hurt more.”
Sarah watched what happened while she worked on the computer.
“Why did you give it to him in the butt? I gave you yours in the arm?”
John confronted Cody. “You and Sarah got it in your arm? Why did you give it to me in my butt in front of Sarah?”
“That was for the shower incident,” retorted Cody.
Sarah smiled at what Cody did. “Give me a needle. I have to give Ellen her shot.”
Ellen backed away into a bedroom. “Don’t even think of it. Stay away from me.”
“Ellen, you need this to stay alive. Our clothes are contaminated. Let me give you the shot.”
“Sarah, you don’t know how to give shots.”
“It’s not that hard and I just did Cody. Buck up and let me do this or John will have to do it. I have to get back to that laptop.”
“I can’t believe this is happening to me.” Ellen whined.
Sarah gave Ellen the shot in the bedroom and came back to the laptop and started talking to a technician.
“Sarah, this is Ben. I’m going to walk you through this. Is there any chance you have a flashdrive with you? I would like to do a backup before we do anything.”
“I actually have two 12 gigs in my backpack.”
“That’s great. I’m going to have you copy all the data files with your flash drive before you open any programs. It will only take a couple minutes and I will walk you through it.”
Ben walked Sarah through the backup twice.
“Okay, Ben, I did a flash drive backup twice. Do you want me to open the program yet?”
“Let me check first. My boss just came back in. Are we ready to open, Larry?”
“Larry asked Ben, “Did she back up?”
“All set. I’m not sure what else to do without the laptop being here, we don’t have any time to waste, and now the laptop’s also contaminated with the nerve agent. We need to know what’s on it.”
Larry's supervisor, Jason came into the room.
“Jason, I think we are ready to try to open the program.”
“Go ahead, Larry.”
Larry said to Ben and Sarah, “Okay, Sarah, we are going to carefully open up the program. Tell me what you see.”
“He never closed the program. Everything is open.”
“He left it open! That’s great. We don’t have to worry about any passwords. What do you see, Sarah?”
“There are financial records, a lot of names and phone numbers and some maps. There is another section with some chemical formulas.”
Larry looked at his supervisor, Jason. “We need to get that laptop here. What about having her send us some files right now?”
“We can try a few files. Sarah, try sending one. If the connection speed is slow it will take a long time. How soon can we get the laptop here?”
“They told me it would take an hour to get a decontamination team by helicopter to the area. 15 minutes on the ground and 45 minutes back here. About two hours.”
“I think we should wait Larry. If there is a virus or trap in that program we could lose everything. I think it’s too risky.”
“I agree. She sent a couple files and it was slow. We need to get those kids on the move heading east from where they sprayed, and get a decontamination team on the ground in front of them, decontaminate that laptop and the kids, and get that laptop back here fast.”
Larry said to Sarah, “Sarah, we need that laptop. All of you and the laptop are contaminated. Do you have transportation to go across the desert?”
Sarah turned to John.
“I think we should take the dune buggy. It’s a four seater. All four of us will fit and it can go almost anywhere.”
Tom said to John, “John, we are sending a decontamination helicopter to meet you. You need to get as far East as you can from where they sprayed. The wind is blowing east to west. Once you are decontaminated you can keep heading east until we can get a rescue team to you. The decontamination helicopter is small and can’t take the four of you. We can decontaminate your dune buggy because it has hard surfaces and we will bring you new clothes. Our main problem is communication. Your cell phones won’t work very well east of where you are. Just drive with your lights on and we will find you. Look for a helicopter. Can you leave soon?”
“We should be out of here in five minutes.”
“Cody lets grab some clothes and food and take the dune buggy.”
John, Cody and Sarah loaded up the dune buggy. When John went back in the house for more food, Sarah asked Cody.
“Are you taking some guns?”
“I have a bad feeling about all of this. I’m taking the special guns. Don’t tell John. I’m going to put them under the clothes.”
John came back out dragging Ellen.
His lips were tight. “Sarah, you talk to her. She wants to stay here.”
Ellen looked down at Sarah. She was bristling. “I don’t know why you don’t listen to me. I’m the older sister. We need to stay here and wait for Mom and Dad.”
Sarah shook her head, I should just leave you here. “Ellen, I don’t care anymore. Do whatever you want. I’m leaving with John and Cody.”
Sarah climbed in the dune buggy with John and Cody and looked questioningly at Ellen.
Ellen looked at all three for a minute and reluctantly climbed in. John drove away and headed east.
Chapter 39
ACU New Mexico
The staff had been monitoring the communications from Homeland
Security and all the other agencies involved. They watched Tony listening intently. Finally General Moody said to him,
“Is this what you were worried about? It affects all of us, but doesn’t seem to affect our unit here in New Mexico.”
Tony looked up and said, “It will, get ready.” and then stood and walked out of the room as everyone stared at his back.
Chapter 40
Tom Harris asked the staff, “How many people will the decontamination helicopter carry with all the gear.”
“Only a crew of four plus the pilot and copilot. There is a lot of gear even for minimum decontamination.”
“So there is no way to get the kids out at this time?”
“Not without leaving the crew there, and we are stretched way too thin on decontamination crews anyway.”
“I know. I just hate abandoning the kids after all they’ve done. Make sure you bring clothes and food for them. Everything they have will be contaminated.”
“I’ll get right on in, Tom. I need to go to my office and get the protocols on decontamination.”
“Thanks, Jason, get back here fast. Report back with an
y problems.”
Jason went into his office, pulled out his private cell phone and made a call.
Joseph heard his cell phone ring, looked at the number, frowned and answered,
“Jason, is that you? Why are you calling on this line?”
“Just listen. Some kids heard the planes, came to investigate, saw the planes and got it on video. They uploaded the video to Homeland Security. They know some of the plan. Homeland Security is sending satellites over the area and has interceptors and something called an AWACS plane is coming, but it is an hour away. Even worse the kids have a laptop. Tell me they don’t have your laptop.”
Joseph tore open his case and found a piece of metal where his laptop should be. He stared at it with disbelief.
“I don’t believe this. My laptop is gone and there is a piece of metal in the bag. Do you have a location on these kids?”
“They just headed east from a ranch a couple miles east of your compound. They are in a dune buggy with the lights on. Homeland Security is sending a decontamination helicopter to find them and get the laptop. Did the planes get off?”
“The planes are gone. We were just getting ready to setup the extraction for the pilots. We are now going to have to split up to keep the plan going forward and find that laptop. The planes need to fly low and turn off their lights and transponders. If they can come in low over the mountains undetected, they can still spray their tanks dry.”
“What about radar? Can they track them if they are low and dark?”
“The only radar that can track them like that is an AWACS or a jet fighter looking down. You said the AWACS is an hour away. We can still make this work if the planes get low. The planes are on radio silence but we have a code for this. I’ll send the code and then go get those kids.”