Final Dawn: Book 12: Where Could He Be? by Darrell Maloney

Author:Darrell Maloney [Maloney, Darrell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2017-10-30T06:00:00+00:00

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Looking back, it was a minor miracle the situation at Kelly Air Force Base didn’t turn into a bloodbath.

Perhaps it was because it happened so quickly, and in such a confusing manner, that the crowd couldn’t really tell the good guys from the bad.

The hundreds of spectators who’d camped out for three days to see the bunker breached and the occupants inside taken prisoner stood and watched in stunned silence.

They were kept at bay by the long line of Security Forces patrol cars which separated them from the spectacle taking place outside the bunker.

And the security policemen standing on the other side of those cars, their M-16s aimed in the spectators’ general direction.

They saw, with a measure of satisfaction, as two of the security policemen put their old base commander, a one-star general named Swain, in handcuffs.

They’d been told that Swain had abandoned them to freeze to death, while taking his family and retreating to the relative comfort of the bunker.

Then they were confused, as another man they didn’t recognize approached the situation and appeared to be trying to gain Swain’s freedom.

A couple of the spectators actually raised their weapons when they saw the cuffs being taken off of BG Swain and placed instead on the two colonels who’d led the operation to take over the bunker.

The same colonels who’d announced to the crowd they were the new base commander and his vice commander.

As they raised their weapons, though, the security forces raised their own.

The spectators very wisely realized they were outgunned and lowered their rifles.

It would do nobody any good for bullets to start flying with women and children present.

Besides, the spectators were fascinated by the whole thing and anxious to see how it played out.

If they died, they’d never be able to see the end of the drama.

In a bizarre scene of controlled chaos, colonels Wilcox and Medley were placed into the back of two separate patrol cars, with a guard posted by each car as though they might try to escape.

It was nothing more than overkill and dramatic theater, sure. But it was a measure General Mannix took to let the crowd know he was in charge.

General Mannix lifted the same microphone Colonel Wilcox had used a few minutes before to send his own message over the public address system.

“Some of you may recognize me. My name is Lester Mannix. I am the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. Those of you who are Air Force members work for me. I strongly suggest you behave yourself in a manner which will not bring dishonor to yourself and to our service.

“Behind me, in the line of people who were illegally forced out of our shelter, are other faces you may or may not recognize.

“Included are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Hal Yates. The Secretary of Defense, Mr. Jason Stiles. The new President of the United States, Mr. James Hawley. And the Vice President, Mr. Tom Prince.

“Those of you who have been told we have been hiding in this bunker have been misled.

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