Chapter 67

 

 

-Washington D. C.-

 

 

It’s a little after six in the morning and the President has just sat down to breakfast when he gets a call from Brigadier General Paul Freeman, the commanding officer at Minot AFB, North Dakota. The President mumbles to himself, “I just know this is not going to be good news.”

 

The general confirms his premonition. “Sir, we have a DEFCON 2 situation here. Somehow someone has taken control of our nuclear missile systems and one of them is about to be launched. We can’t get into the systems to override the commands. We can’t even determine what the intended target is. We’re locked out of everything sir?”

 

“Holy shit! Isn’t there anyway to prevent the launch?”

“There may be, sir, but we don’t have any time to find it. It has just left the silo!”

 

“Track it and let me know where you think it’s headed, so I can issue warnings to those in danger. It won’t be much of a warning though. Those suckers travel at a speed of just under four miles a second. That’s 240 miles a minute. This has got to be the work of The Last Resort. Damn them!”

 

The President slammed the phone down only to pick it up again to call Hank Aldridge. “Nuts! It’s only 5:15 in the morning there. Nobody’s going to be in their offices yet.” He called anyway to leave a message for Hank to call him as soon as he got this message, emphasizing it was an extreme emergency.

 

The President doesn’t know the general very well as he seldom sleeps more than two, three hours at a time when he’s in war mode and he’s been primed for battle for months now. Hank picked up on the second ring. The President almost dropped the phone when Hank growled hello, thinking it had to be a wrong number at this hour.

 

“Hank?” When Hank growls, it doesn’t sound like him.

 

Hank recognized the President’s voice right away and said, “I’m sorry sir. You’re the last person I expected to be calling me at this hour. What’s up?”

“What your gut’s been telling you for a while now has just happened.” He told Hank about General Freeman’s call and who he thought was behind the launch. “Under the circumstances, this question may sound ridiculous, but I’ll ask it anyway. Do you have any ideas about what our next move should be that you haven’t shared with me, no matter how cockeyed they may be? I’m a desperate man, Hank.”

 

“These people’s chimneys are definitely clogged, Ira. I suspected something bad was going to be coming down the pike very soon, but not anything like this. This is nuts! When other countries find out some of our missiles are in the hands of these crackpots, there will be global pandemic panic that could lead to nuclear war. How can guys as intelligent as this pack of screwballs obviously is do something as stupid as this? It boggles my mind! The only thing we can do right now is wait to see what happens. I’m sure after pulling a stunt like this they’ll be making contact with you directly or through the news media to show you what they blew up and to scare you into meeting their demands. That’s the only reason this could possibly make any sense at all to these fatheads. I’m fresh out of ideas, sir. All we can do is react to any opening The Last Resort might give us and hope we can use it to take them down.”

 

“Damn! I’m sick and tired of fighting these people with one hand tied behind my back. The only bright spot in all of this is what Vince Torizzio might find out at that Italian ski resort. We need a break soon, Hank, or this country is going to be in serious trouble. I’ve got to go to a meeting now. Please call me as soon as you hear from Vince.”

 

When the President hangs up, Hank takes out his frustration on his wastepaper basket by kicking it clear across the office and pounding his desk with his fist. “These guys belong in padded cells with nothing to do but vegetate and complete their trip to never-never land. Hell, it would be a short trip. They’re already flying first class and are close to landing. Nuclear missiles, geez! What’s next? Neutron bombs? ”