The Gemini Effect by Grossart Chuck

Author:Grossart, Chuck [Grossart, Chuck]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2015-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 36

General Ray Smythe sat in the bowels of the Pentagon in the NMCC, frowning at the stream of reports from the NORTHCOM command center flashing up on the screens in front of him.

The five waves of things from the night before—now doubled in size—were back on their original courses.

Omaha was in the process of being eaten alive. The long lines of cars still trying to escape the city were systematically being emptied by the thousands of mutated creatures tearing through eastern Nebraska. He knew Lincoln, roughly an hour’s drive west from Omaha on I-80, would be hit later that night.

The University of Nebraska was there.

So was his daughter.

The cities of Wichita, Springfield, St. Louis, and Des Moines would also be hit that night. Thousands of people had tried to leave during the day, but it was fruitless. The interstates were hopelessly jammed with traffic, and the side roads and state highways just weren’t able to handle the incredible rush of traffic. Most of the evacuees were stuck in place, unable to travel, except by foot. They didn’t have a chance.

The general knew the ground forces arrayed around the threatened cities were going to be lost as well. The lesson from the previous night was all too clear: ground forces didn’t have a chance. They could stand their ground and kill hundreds of the things, but they would only be delaying the inevitable. They would be overrun and slaughtered just like the long lines of fleeing civilians they were trying to protect.

“General, the video-teleconference with the president will start in five minutes.” The aide stood by his general’s side, watching him stare at the map of the advance. Stare at the city of Lincoln. He knew the general had a daughter there. “Sir, is Laura—?”

“Yes. She’s still there.”

“Maybe she left when the sirens sounded, sir. If she was one of the first ones to hit the road, she’ll have a good chance of—”

“I just talked to her fifteen minutes ago. On her cell phone. She’s stuck in traffic, Jerry.”

“We’ll stop them, sir. She’ll be okay.”

Ray Smythe looked up at his aide, a pained look of resignation crossing his face. He knew his daughter probably wouldn’t be alive by the time the sun rose again. “Thanks, Jerry. That’ll be all.”

His direct line to the national security advisor rang, and he picked it up. There was a momentary delay as the line went secure. “This is General Smythe.”

“General, this is Jessie Hruska.”

Ray had grown to like the national security advisor over the last few years. He admired her direct approach to things, her low tolerance for bullshit, and the general manner in which she conducted herself. The last couple of days, however, he’d changed his opinion of her. She wasn’t functioning as well as she should in a time of national crisis. She’d failed to pass important information to the president, and, as a result, made him look like an incompetent ass.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I wanted to talk to you before the conference started. The president is desperate to find a way to stop these things without resorting to .

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