Final Strike: An Adventure Series by Stephen Mertz

Author:Stephen Mertz [Mertz, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781685490737
Publisher: Rough Edges Press
Published: 2022-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“Excuse me, Mr. President.” The chief of staff leaned over and whispered in the president’s ear. “We have a Code Tango in the Situation Room, sir.”

President Harwood glanced up, nodded and then turned his attention to the group gathered on the couches and seats before of the Oval Office hearth. “Please forgive me, Mr. Prime Minister,” he said to the Japanese PM. “I have a situation I must attend to briefly. I’ll let the secretary of state take over on my behalf until I return.”

The Japanese prime minister nodded and offered a smile of understanding as the president rose and made his way through the chief of staff’s office and out into the hall. Enclosed within a bubble of Secret Service agents, he descended the back stairs to the reinforced basement suite that housed the national situation command and control center. From here, POTUS had a full spectrum view of US military and intelligence resources worldwide and access to the latest information regarding threats, domestic or international. Enclosed behind two automated oak doors, the Situation Room itself included an array of computer and audio-visual equipment as well as a large square conference table at which sat representatives of the joint chiefs, general staff and intelligence community. As one, they came to their feet when Harwood entered the room.

“Gentlemen, please take your seats.” Harwood settled into a tall-backed chair at the head of the table. “I understand we have a Code Tango?” Under the national security threat-level nomenclature used at the command level, a Code Tango signified a credible terrorist threat against the homeland and/or key allies.

“Yes, sir.” The chairman of the joint chiefs stood and approached the large flatscreen monitor mounted on the far wall. As he did, the screensaver dissolved to a black-and-white still photograph of a chaotic street scene: police, ambulance, a crowd gathered around a smashed car. Shrunk down at the edge of the screen were two miniaturized graphics, in position to be enlarged and centered in their turn.

The chief stopped and pointed to the black-and-white image. “This was taken earlier today in Rome. A man jumped from the fourth floor of a hotel – an apparent suicide. Police initiated a standard investigation which revealed that the man was in the country illegally. No passport, no entry visa, no ID to speak of. Police forensics swept his room. I’ll let our rep from Fort Detrick take it from here.”

The chief nodded to a colonel sitting nearby. He rose, a bald, wiry man wearing round glasses.

“I’m Colonel Glassman, Mr. President. I’m head of the biowarfare research unit at Detrick. Officially, of course, the United States military is a sponsor and signatory of the global ban on biological and chemical weapons.” He paused. “Despite this, research continues into development of and counter-measures against such weapons. We were contacted by our colleagues in intelligence when the Italian police discovered CRUMs in the dead man’s hotel room.”

“Excuse me. Did you say ‘crumbs’?” Harwood blinked, puzzled.

“Yes, sir.” Glassman approached the flatscreen and enlarged one of the side bar photos.

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