The Wildfire Pathogen by Michael Angel

Author:Michael Angel [Angel, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Banty Hen Publishing
Published: 2020-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

Austen felt steadier after digging into a bowl of hot beef and vegetable stew, a cup of even hotter tea, and a handful of dried apricots. She followed Navarro out of the mess tent and into a small sea of army-drab tents and dull white trailers. The tents had been staked down against the near-constant northerly wind with foot-long spikes.

Dog Leg Junction sat in the middle of a bowl-shaped valley. Compared to most of the places she’d seen in Alaska so far, this one had far more gray gravel than trees. But this flat, rocky expanse had allowed the CDC to set up a miniature airport that included a short runway.

Austen counted three helicopters, including the Bell 407 she’d hired back in Fairbanks. A small corporate trijet sat at the base of the runway, its innards hooked up to a refueling truck.

The mobile command center turned out to be a dozen repurposed shipping containers. The containers had been bolted together into a dull gray rectangle. The sides were windowless, with only shielded cable and pipe junctions to break up the monotony. A pair of satellite dishes sprouted from the structure’s top.

Inside, the space had been left open, with a periphery of desks, tables, and chairs for people to do their jobs at individual workstations. Six-foot high flattop screens hung on three of the walls. The various technicians and analysts inside mostly wore khaki military fatigues similar to the one she’d seen Chadwick wearing outside of Lataquan.

Emily Piper and October stood in one corner. They watched over Redhawk’s shoulder as the man’s fingers flew over a computer keyboard. The image on the nearby video screen panel was still snarled like a tangle of yarn.

Piper looked up and gave a wave as she saw Austen, beckoning her over.

“I didn’t expect to see you out of D.C. quite yet,” Austen said, as she and Navarro joined them. “Should I be concerned?”

“Depends on your point of view,” Piper replied. “Director Blaine’s sent me out to help you with whatever you need done.”

Director Blaine, Austen thought. Looks like I’ll damn well have to get used to hearing that.

“I could use some information,” she said aloud. “What are the folks in the Atlanta office doing?”

“From what I hear, it’s like someone kicked over a beehive down there. The CDC’s scrambling to prepare the Lower Forty-Eight for catastrophe. The President’s already suspended all civilian aviation out of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.”

Austen let out a breath. “That’s a step in the right direction, anyway.”

“Speaking of right directions,” Navarro added, “what’s the news, John?”

Redhawk let out a curse as he gestured to the screens. “You can see the result. I’m close, but I’ve got to tweak the image more to get it out of this mobius loop configuration it’s in.”

“You’re close, though?”

“Very close. I hooked my laptop into the mainframe they set up here. Gives me a lot more processing power.”

The doors to the command center opened once again. Six people entered this time, making the techs look up from their stations.

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