Chapter 19
Things were settling down. Greg and Steve once again had their house to themselves with the exception of Mrs. Graso, Jessica, and Rachael and Tracy. The bunk house and cabin were sufficient for the amount of men that were on the property as guards.
Steve was sitting on the porch, taking in the evening air when Mrs. Graso came out and informed him that his brother wanted him in the study. Steve got up and went in to see what his brother wanted.
"So you see, now that we have completed the body removal from Ft. Hood, we are sending a decontamination team in. Something killed those men. It had to be a biological agent of some sort. Tests are being done on some of the bodies, but we won't have any results for a while yet.
"Ah, Steve. Glad to see you." General Avery said as Steve came into range of the video pickup.
"We have a situation developing. We need you back here at Cheyenne Mountain for briefing and deployment. I was just telling your brother some other interesting news. He can fill you in. A chopper will be sent for you tomorrow. Avery out."
"What was that all about?" Steve asked his brother.
"Well, things have been happening. You remember me telling you that the people we sent down to Texas to fight off the French were diverted to Ft. Hood? Well, it seems that some quick acting deadly... something was released down there at about the time the meteors hit.
"Whatever it was, it was deadly, as near as Cheyenne could tell from satellite photos. Colonel Ellis and his men have been doing body removal for the past several weeks. It's been a slow business. Whatever killed them is active in the bodies. Plus the bodies are decomposing now and that makes the job even worse. Steve, everyone on that base is dead. People who came into contact with people from that base are dead.
"The higher ups think we were hit with a bio agent of some sort, and whoever did it got away with it. This was nothing short of mass murder." Greg ended heavily.
"Man. I can't believe it. With disaster raining down, literally, someone had to do something like this too?" Steve shook his head.
"The president has decided that when Ft. Hood is decontaminated, and it's safe, he is going to move his government there. Ft. Hood has state of the art everything, and what it doesn't have, will be installed for him very quickly. It has weathered the storm fairly well. It has of course received damage, and repairs will have to be made, but all in all it has come through fairly well." Greg ended.
Gary was stymied. He had tried to approach the lodge and was almost caught, not once but twice. Security was tight there. So he tried again at the ranch. Again security stopped him. He was pondering how to get to Greg Baron, murderer of his brother. He wanted this man to know why he was dying. He also wanted him to hurt, like he was hurting.
For the past two weeks, he thought of and rejected plans. Finally he decided on killing those around the general. He knew he probably would not live through what he was planning, but that was beside the point. He wanted this man to HURT.
So he let things settle down. He played the good citizen, pitched in where he could and generally made himself scarce but useful when he interacted with the 'officials'.
He also carefully located all guard positions and movement routes.
He lived a quiet life while still planning his revenge. He hunted, skinned his game, and took the extra to the ranch for distribution to the people. He had no beef with people in general. He realized that not everyone had the mentality needed to hunt for their own food, and made himself a welcome sight at the ranch when he showed up with his game. He traded all his extra game for staples he couldn't get for himself any other way.
Steve sat stunned as he watched the reconnaissance video. Six ships, one of which was a helicopter carrier was steaming from China in the direction of Hawaii.
Not only were the six ships all military, but they were accompanied by three freighters which were riding high. Riding high meant they were empty.
"As you can see, the Chinese are on their way to what's left of our Pacific command. They have sent a communications in advance. They require a supply of the following materials to be supplied by us."
The screen now showed a list of supplies that the China communiqué had listed.
"This group of ships were known to have raided what is left of Japan. Apparently the Chinese are taking what they want. They have stated that any interference in their request will be considered an act of war, and that they are prepared to launch nuclear missiles in response to any act of aggression on their convoy. They also want us to load all materials for them."
Here the briefer paused again. Steve and the others listening to this briefing were totally stunned.
"What is going to happen is this. The Guided Missile Frigate Sharlene has already sailed with a destroyer escort. This represents a little less than one fourth of the military sea might of the US.
"When the Sharlene is in position, it will launch in continuing fire, half its load of cruise missiles. A specially equipped helicopter is already on board the Sharlene and will provide jamming so the Chinese cannot yell for help or inform their superiors what is going on. We are going to blow that little group of ships, freighters included into so much scrap metal.
"Steve, your job is simple. You will launch and attain an orbit which will be beneficial to the US if the Chinese launch any missiles. You will be in position to intercept them and destroy the missiles before they can reach apogee or deploy any war heads. "
For the next four hours, Steve received a very intensive briefing. People came and went from the briefing room with Steve paying very little attention. He was totally focused on the upcoming mission and blocked out all surrounding comings and goings. It wasn't until he felt someone tapping his shoulder that he realized so much time had gone by.
Gary silently moved into position. He had a good field of fire from this location.
He overheard a conversation between two ranch guards that general Baron would be coming today.
So this was the day of retribution. He had picked this location due to its good line of site and defensibility. He knew that most likely today was his last day on earth alive, but he wanted to take as many of general Baron's people with him as possible.
He saw the first vehicle coming down the mountain. He looked, but could not see if Baron was in that vehicle or not. Soon another and another vehicle were in a line coming down the mountain. He finally picked out the vehicle General Baron was riding in. He took a deep breath and sited his weapon and fired.
Greg had just finished putting his helmet back on when he felt an excruciating pain in his chest. It was as if he had been punched and he gasped for breath. The driver yelled and accelerated moving the vehicle out of line.
The driver was weaving his way down the hill at a rate that was not realistic. Someone was on the radio calling in support, that the general had been shot. By now the other members of the small convoy had spotted where the shot had come from, since the gunman was still firing.
Quickly, General Baron's escort took action. Vehicles pulled up along side of the General's vehicle and blocked the line of site from the gunman. The last vehicle dismounted its load of personnel and they began to advance on the gunman's position.
Soon, an intense firefight was taking place.
Gary had felt a thrill go through him as he saw the General take a round. Unfortunately, he was unable to do more than shoot one more man before the convoy took action to disrupt his shooting.
He switched to the semi automatic weapon and started to fire at the advancing men.
He had been concentrating on the men from the rear vehicle so much that he didn't notice that another man had baled from one of the forward vehicles and silently made his way up the hill.
Gary fired again, and felt satisfaction as he saw a soldier fall. Just as he was sighting in on another of the General's soldiers, he felt a blow to his back. He pitched forward.
Strange, he couldn't seem to get his breath.
Weakly, he tried to grasp his weapon, but his hands refused to function. He struggled for breath. Someone grabbed him and roughly turned him over. He looked up at the man.
"Who are you? Why did you shoot at us?" Asked the uniformed man.
Gary struggled to speak, but his vision was fading. With a great effort he managed to gasp out, "I hope the murdering bastard is dead."
The man who had asked Gary who he was yelled to the advancing soldiers that he had killed the gunman. Shortly the wounded man was being evacuated, and Gary's body and all his possessions were carried to a truck that had been sent down from the lodge and they drove to the ranch.
Greg Baron opened his eyes. He focused and was puzzled. He felt heavy, and his thoughts were muddled. He was very thirsty. He turned his head and was immediately rewarded with a wave of dizziness.
"Doctor, the General is awake now." he heard a voice say.
"Ah, General. I am happy to see you're awake. No, don't try to talk. You're probably feeling thirsty. You may have a sip of water. You were shot, and it was touch and go for a bit.
"You were hit in the chest. You had a collapsed lung, and a small portion of the upper lobe of your right lung had to be removed. Muscle damage is minimal and I foresee a good recovery.
Greg sipped at the water while they held it to his lips and thought. Was anyone else killed?
He cleared his throat and asked, "Is everyone else alright?"
The doctor chuckled. "You don't listen to instruction very well, do you? Yes, your men are fine. Two were wounded, one severely, but both will recover. They got the gunman. I will leave it to your people to fill you in on that. Your main job now is to rest and recover. Now I am going to give you a sedative and let you get some rest."
Richard Ellis was at the airport Ft. Hood maintained. It was up and operational once more. Power was once again restored and water services were soon to be back.
Richard was worried, as he was due to be replaced, and he had actually liked the job he had been doing here.
It had been hard nasty work, but they had finished it. The base was clear of bodies, and clean of any contamination. Already there were over 1000 men and woman working at the base. Mostly in repair and maintenance, but a small group had shown up a couple days ago, and were dedicated to going over the fleet of helicopters that were stationed at the base.
The small plane stopped taxiing and a door opened and a ladder dropped down from inside. Several people deplaned and he walked over to them. He saw a two star Air force general and he saluted sharply.
"Sir, Colonel Ellis reporting. If the general will come this way, I have taken the liberty of assigning Quarters to you. The base commander's quarters are up and in good shape for you. I am sure you want to relax after your flight."
"Hello Colonel. I have been hearing good things about you. I think
we are going to get along just fine. By the way, call me Bob." Answered
the two-star general.