Wings of Fire by Dale Brown

Author:Dale Brown [Brown, Dale]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Espionage
ISBN: 9780399148606
Publisher: Putnam Publishing
Published: 2008-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6.

WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM,

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A FEW HOURS LATER

The detailed briefing had just concluded, and the men and women present sat in stunned silence as the room lights were brought back up. The Air Force intelligence officer that gave the briefing was dismissed, leaving behind the members of President Thomas Nathaniel Thorn’s “National Security Council.” Although the Thorn administration did not have a formal NSC, Thorn met with Vice President Lester Busick, Secretary of Defense Robert Goff, Secretary of State Edward Kercheval, Director of Central Intelligence Douglas Morgan, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Venti to discuss any military developments.

“Damned brutal attack,” Secretary of Defense Robert Goff remarked. In his mid-fifties, with a round face and compact frame, Goff was normally energetic and animated, even jovial-but the briefing he had just received left his features cold, hard, and angry. “What kind of a sick bastard does this?”

“Someone who obviously did not want to leave any traces of evidence behind,” Vice President Lester Busick offered. He turned to General Venti. “What did our reconnaissance folks report, General?”

“Space Command recorded the explosion from geosynchronous satellite infrared sensors,” Venti explained. “Based on radiation and photon levels, the Command is estimating between a point-five- and two-kiloton device—a so-called ‘backpack’ nuke, probably from a nuclear artillery round or torpedo warhead. It appears to have been an enhanced radiation device, what we call a neutron bomb—designed to kill humans but leave buildings and vehicles intact. Probably fired from a small artillery piece or large mortar mounted in a truck. It did its work very, very effectively.”

“Radiation? Fallout?”

“None, sir,” Venti replied. “Enhanced radiation devices leave no fallout, and the radiation is present for only a few seconds at most. But the damage to human cells is massive. Within a mile of ground zero, death occurs within twelve hours; within two miles, death can occur within twenty-four hours. It would take twenty feet of earth or twelve inches of steel to block the radiation enough to survive.”

Thorn was leaning forward in his seat, elbows on the table, his lips hidden behind his interlaced fingers. His advisers were accustomed to talking among themselves, as if the President of the United States were not even in the room, while he processed what he heard and combined it with his unique insights, intelligence, military experience, and philosophies to come up with a plan of action. After several moments of listening, he looked at his Director of Central Intelligence, Douglas R. Morgan. “What’s been the region’s general response, Robert?”

“General alert of active-duty Egyptian military and paramilitary forces along the Libyan-Egyptian border—that’s it,” Morgan responded, flipping through his briefing notes. “No counterattacks or mobilizations. Israel has already been on heightened alert status. I believe everyone simply considers this to be a terrorist attack, not a general attack.”

“Although I’d expect a general attack to take place at any time,” Secretary Goff said, “and we can’t rule out the use of nuclear weapons—full-yield fission weapons—by the Libyans again.”

“All of our forces in the Med are on heightened alert, sir,” Venti added.

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