"verify emergency action Message," Major Parker tersely ordered as she reached over her shoulders and pulled the straps for her seat down and buckled them in, pulling the slack out. A red light was flashing and a nerve-jarring tone was sounding throughout the LCC. She locked down the rollers on the bottom of the seat. Then she hit the keys on her computer.
"I have verification of an incoming Emergency Action Message," she announced.
Lewis was reading his terminal. "I have verification of an Emergency Action Message."
The screen cleared and new words formed. "Emergency action message received," Parker said. She pulled a sealed red envelope out of the safe underneath her console and ripped it open. She checked it against what was on the screen. "EAM code is current and valid."
"Code current and valid," Lewis repeated, checking his own envelope.
Parker's fingers flew over the keys. The blinking message on her screen cleared and new words flashed:
EAM: Launch Omega Missile
"EAM execution is to launch Omega Missile," Parker announced.
"What about our warhead missiles?" Lewis asked.
"REACT says we have orders for just Omega Missile. Give me the launch status of Omega Missile."
"Omega Missile silo on line. Missile systems show green."
New words formed on the computer screen. "I have confirmation from Barksdale emergency operations center that this is not a drill," Parker announced.
Lewis frowned. "Shit, they could be pushing us. Seeing if we'll fail to launch."
That had been Parker's first thought. "Everything says it's real. If it's a drill, we'll find out before we launch. Let's do our end. Open silo."
*****
Four hundred meters from the surface entrance to the Omega Missile LCC was another fenced compound. Inside the razor-wire topped fence, two massive concrete doors slowly rose until they reached the vertical position. Inside, a specially modified LGM-118A Peacekeeper ICBM missile rested, gas venting.
*****
"I've got green on Omega Missile silo doors," Captain Lewis announced, verifying what one of the video screens showed.
"Green on silo," Parker confirmed.
*****
Kilten saw the confirmation of silo doors open on his laptop. He looked up at McKenzie. "Fortunately for us this cable goes both ways—to the Omega Missile LCC and also to the Emergency Operations Center for the 341st Missile Wing in the tower at Barksdale Air Force Base."
McKenzie didn't say anything. His right arm was across his chest, his hand wrapped around the joint where flesh met metal on his left arm. His fingers were slowly rapping out a cadence, the first two giving a shallow thud on metal, then quieter as the last two hit flesh.
Kilten typed a new command into the computer, then pressed the enter key. "Step two."
*****
The tower at Barksdale Air Force Base served two functions. In the top, air traffic controllers ran the day-to-day operation of the airfield itself. On the floor below the top, the duty staff for the 341st Missile Wing ran the day-to-day operation of the LCCs and missiles under their control. The duty staff also controlled the security reaction force responsible for safeguarding those LCCs and missiles.
At the precise moment Kilten hit the enter key, alarms began going off and red lights flashed. The duty officer immediately gave the orders he had been trained to.
"We have an incoming nuclear strike warning! Sound strike alarm. All personnel to the EOC bunker!"
Everyone in the room immediately sprinted for the stairs except the duty officer and one enlisted man. The duty officer sat down at a computer terminal and quickly accessed his command link. Outside, Klaxons were going off and the few personnel on duty along the flight line this Sunday morning ran for bunker entrances.
"We have no orders to launch," the duty officer announced. "Switching REACT computer to automatic." He turned a key and looked at the enlisted man. "Let's get out of here." The two fled the room and the tower was empty.
*****
Thorpe felt a pounding in his left temple. He reached into his pocket and pulled out several aspirin. His hand was shaking and one of the three pills fell onto the cargo bay floor and rolled back under a large cardboard box.
"Damn," Thorpe muttered. He reached down and froze as he saw the tip of a new sneaker sticking out from under the cardboard. Thorpe pulled up the box and Tommy was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"You're not mad at me, are you, Dad?"
*****
At Barksdale, Lisa ignored the Klaxons as she ran out of the empty hangar, screaming for Tommy. A Security Policeman spotted her and paused in his own flight.
"Ma'am, we have to get to a shelter," he yelled at her.
"My son is in here somewhere!" Lisa yelled.
"Ma'am, that's a strike warning. We have to take cover."
"Not without my son."
*****
On board the Blackhawk, Thorpe had Tommy in the seat next to him and was talking through his headset to the pilots. "We have to go back to Barksdale," he said.
"That's your son?" Kelly asked, twisting about in her seat. "He sure didn't inherit your ugly mug, Captain." She turned to the front and had the chopper banking and heading back the way they had come before Thorpe could think of a reply.
"You're not mad at me, are you, Dad?" Tommy repeated.
Thorpe put an arm around his shoulders. "No, son, I'm not mad."
*****
Inside the LCC there was controlled tension as the pair of officers ran down their checklists.
"What's the targeting matrix for Omega Missile?" Lewis asked.
Parker had already checked that information. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia had reached an agreement where all ICBMs would no longer rest in their silos targeted at each other's countries. Instead, the standing targeting information programmed in each warhead was for a site in the middle of an ocean, called a Broad Ocean Area. This was to prevent disaster in case of an accidental launch. In case disaster actually was desired and the missiles really had to be used in a conflict, a target matrix would be fed through REACT into each missile and they would be quickly reprogrammed with the new destinations for the warheads.
"We don't have a target matrix," Parker said. "We're to launch Omega Missile with control accessed to MILSTAR through REACT. Whoever's left alive can program the targeting matrix once the missile is up."
Parker knew that was one of Omega Missile's assets to the nuclear launch infrastructure. Omega Missile, once launched, could be used not only to launch but also to input target matrices to every ICBM and every other nuclear platform, including bombers, submarines, and even Red Flyer teams.
"Let's stop yakking and get our missile up," she ordered. But even as she was saying the words, she looked up at the TV at the end of the row of security scenes. This last one showed CNN still coming in over the cable and there was no sign of any special report or trouble. As she was watching it, the screen went blank and then static refilled the tube. "We've lost cable," she announced. Parker picked up the phone. "Phone's down," she told Lewis. "I can't get landline verification."
She put the phone down and looked at her computer screen. "We still have access to Barksdale on REACT. Still shows EAM verified and Omega Missile launch verified."
Parker sat still for a few seconds. Lewis waited on her for the next command. When she spoke, it was hesitant, the flow of action finally slowing down. "That's enough to launch, but I'm going to check with the 20th Air Force in Cheyenne Mountain through MILSTAR to confirm launch."
"We're supposed to launch with what we have," Lewis said.
"I'm in command here," Parker said.
"You're wasting time," Lewis replied, glancing at the clock.
*****
Kilten looked up at McKenzie. "Now!"
McKenzie was waiting, cellular phone in hand. He spoke into it. "Initiate Sim Nuke!"
*****
Drake and his Humvee had crossed the bridge just two minutes earlier. He was parked a safe distance away from the bridge.
Drake heard McKenzie's order and pushed the button. The green light went out and the red one lit.
Six miles away, the line of dump trucks spaced out along the flight line fence disappeared in a massive explosion. The fence was blown away like a thin piece of paper in a strong wind. The blast wave flattened trees and roared across the flight line, destroying everything in its path.
Over two million pounds of a special diesel fuel/ammonium nitrate composition went up in that split second. It had taken McKenzie and his men over a month to carefully buy that much ammonium nitrate in much smaller segments in nine different states throughout the south. Then Kilten had directed the loading and mixing of the composition in the trucks.
Not only was there enough ammonium nitrate in the trucks to cause a massive explosion, Kilten had layered the tops of each pile with special chemicals to simulate the flash effect of a nuclear explosion. The entire thing was also configured to produce the trademark mushroom cloud of a nuclear bomb.
Kilten had done this before—for the government at White Sands Missile Range. After the ban of nuclear testing, the United States had still needed a way to test equipment in a simulated nuclear blast. Sim Nuke had been the result and Kilten had appropriated it for his own purposes here.
Bognar slapped a soldier wearing a red beret on the shoulder. "All yours, Mitchell."
Mitchell nodded and walked back to the other five men overlooking the bridge as Drake and Bognar drove away to link up with McKenzie.
*****
Seven miles from the epicenter of the Barksdale explosion, Thorpe spun about as he heard a yell. A bright flash had blinded both pilots and Thorpe turned in time to see the blast wave rumbling toward the helicopter, a surge of pure energy, pushing debris along its forward edge. A mushroom cloud was rising behind the blast wave.
"I can't see!" Maysun cried out.
"Keep it steady," Thorpe said as the shock wave hit the helicopter. He wrapped both arms around Tommy and pulled him to his chest. The explosion hit the chopper head on.
"We're going down!" Kelly yelled. "I've got the controls! Brace for impact!"
The helicopter nosed over, hitting trees. The blades splintered branches and cut through the trunks of two large trees. One of the blades broke off and slashed through the pilot's side of the chopper.
Thorpe had only one agenda: holding Tommy with all his might as the sound of metal ripping and tearing reverberated through the cargo bay. He was thrown from side to side but his seat belt held and his arms clung tight to his son.
The chopper finally came to a halt, tangled in the wreckage of the trees it had crashed through.
*****
Inside the Omega Missile LCC, Parker and Lewis stared in stunned silence at the video image from the security camera on top of the silo closest to Barksdale Air Force Base. A mushroom cloud was rising over the horizon in the direction of the base.
Parker slowly put down the satellite phone. They could feel the ground rumble from the force of the explosion.
"Barksdale's been nuked!" Lewis exclaimed.
Parker tore her gaze from the video. "We launch now!"
*****
In the hole, Kilten disconnected the computer. He took a pair of bolt cutters and severed the remaining cables. Then he climbed out and joined the others. McKenzie and his men were staring at the mushroom cloud.
"It looks just like the real thing," McKenzie said, impressed for the first time today.
"It should look like the real thing," Kilten replied. "It took us four years to develop after the testing ban went into effect."
"In-fucking-sane," McKenzie muttered. Then he shifted his gaze back to the immediate area. "Let's get moving. They'll launch for sure now and we need to be ready."
*****
"To launch control," Parker ordered. Unlocking their seats, they both rolled along their respective tracks to the middle of the launch control room. The launch consoles faced each other but were separated by ten feet and a Plexiglas, bulletproof wall bisecting the room. A speaker in the wall allowed Parker and Lewis to communicate. They both locked their seats down in front of their respective consoles.
Parker put her eyes against the retinal scanner and the REACT computer's voice echoed out of a speaker on the console.
"Launch officer verified. You may insert key."
Parker pulled her red key from under her shirt and inserted it into the appropriate slot.
The REACT computer verified Lewis's retina and instructed him to insert his key, which he did.
*****
Thorpe unbuckled with one hand, the other still holding Tommy.
"Daddy!" he yelled, trying to control his fear.
"It's all right, son, it's all right." As soon as he was free, Thorpe picked Tommy up and climbed out of the buckled door. He carried his son thirty feet away and set him down at the base of a large oak tree. "Wait here, Tommy. I'll be right back."
Tommy was wide-eyed, staring at the remains of the chopper.
"Wait here, you understand?" Thorpe repeated, putting his hands on either side of Tommy's head and staring into his eyes.
Tommy slowly nodded.
Thorpe ran back to the chopper and slithered between the seats. He grimaced as he noticed that one of the blades had splintered through the cockpit and hit Kelly in the chest. He reached out and felt for the artery in her throat. Nothing. He felt Kelly's blood soaking into his fatigue pants as he pushed himself farther into the cockpit and turned his attention to the copilot, who was thrashing about. He unbuckled Maysun's belt, then pulled the copilot out the door and dragged him to Tommy's location.
Maysun was blinking, trying to clear his eyes of the bright image that had blinded him. "Where's Kelly? Do you have her?"
Thorpe looked back at the chopper. "I'll get her in a second. Take it easy."
A small fire had broken out in the engine compartment. Thorpe ran back to the cargo bay and pulled out the fire extinguisher he had held at the airfield. He quickly doused the flame.
*****
"On my three," Parker said, staring through the glass at Lewis. "One. Two. Three."
They both turned their keys at the same time.
Inside the Omega Missile silo, the solid first stage of the LGM-118A ignited. Umbilicals fell away and the rocket slowly began lifting on a tail of flame, clearing the silo.
*****
Thorpe was kneeling over Maysun, doing a primary survey of his injuries when he heard a loud, roaring noise to his right rear. Just over the far tree line, a large rocket appeared, accelerating straight up. Thorpe watched, mesmerized.
"What's that noise?" Maysun demanded.
"Dad, look!" Tommy cried out, pointing. "What is it?"
Thorpe continued to watch the rocket as it raced up toward the white clouds. "That's an ICBM from one of Barksdale's silos," he said quietly.
"Oh, man," Maysun muttered. "It was a nuke that took us down." He grabbed Thorpe's arm. "Do you have Kelly? Is she all right?"
Thorpe lowered his voice so Tommy couldn't hear. "She's dead."
Thorpe felt pain as Maysun's hand squeezed tight. "Oh fuck! No! Check her, man. Maybe she's just hurt. She can't be dead!"
"She's dead. There's no doubt."
*****
McKenzie was leaning out the side of the Humvee watching the long red tail of the ICBM. "It worked."
"Of course it worked," Kilten wasn't even bothering to watch. The convoy of Humvees was racing along a gravel road. "Have your people at the LCC reported anything?"
"All secure there."
Kilten nodded. "The crew will need a couple of minutes. We'll be there before they take any further action."
*****
The first stage of the Peacekeeper had finished its sixty-second burn and separated, the second stage immediately taking over. The missile had been going straight up, simply absorbing the upward thrust of the first stage, but the second stage had some thrust-vector and the rocket turned slightly to the north and west, heading up at over a thousand miles an hour and still accelerating.