Chapter 116
The traffic on the overpa.s.s itself looked much the samemotionless cars, smoke, flames and bodies sprawled everywhere. The only movement was near one green vehicle.
A Humvee.
Even from the high angle, Murray could see two men in fatigues. Wherever they moved, little puffs of smoke from automatic weapons soon followed.
The speakers suddenly played the sound that accompianied the image.
... we dont know who these men are or how many people are hurt. We can see bodies from here. The vehicle is army green, but there is no unit insignia.
An air response was already on the way. A-10 tank killers from Selfridge would be the first to engage, then Apache attack helicopters. Murray had even scrambled Ogdens squadron of four dedicated Strike Eagleshe just prayed he wouldnt have to use any bombs on Detroit.
Murray, Tom said.
Murray tore his eyes away from the screen. Tom had a phone in his hand again.
Dew Phillips on line two, said its mission-critical.
Murray nodded, grabbed the nearest phone and hit line two as he looked back to the surreal carnage on the screen.
Dew, Murray said. You okay?
Yeah, so is Perry, but a squad of Ogdens men tried to kill us. They took out Baum and Milner. Perry identified the gate locationits in Detroit, and apparently it opens up at one-fifteen sharp.
Weve got a lot of gunfire in Detroit, Murray said. Rockets, too. Looks like more of Ogdens men. Hes AWOL, so hes either dead or hiding somewhere and calling the shots.
We know, Dew said. Its all over the news.
Where are you?
With Whiskey Company, Dew said. Two platoons in three Ospreys, headed for Detroit. Well be there in thirty minutes. Well set down, then Perry will find the gate.
Murray popped four more Tums into his mouth and chewed. This couldnt be happening. Theyd had it won.
Another one, Tom called out.
Dew, hold on, Murray said. He looked at the screen. The bottom left corner of this one showed Fox-2 News. The center bottom of the screen read 8-MILE OVERPa.s.s AT M-10 JOHN C. LODGE FREEWAY. The scene looked like a mirror image of the other, hundreds of cars piled up on the road, a Humvee on the overpa.s.s with soldiers firing away.
Nothing could get through that tangled mess of cars. Ogden was shutting down the highways into and out of Detroit.
Murray turned his attention back to the call. Dew,
Causing chaos, Dew said. Looks like hes trying to block all traffic in and out. He wants a big perimeter with lots of civilians inside it so you wont drop bombs if we find the gate.
Motherf.u.c.ker, Murray said.
Are the other two DOMREC companies still at Fort Bragg?
Theyre already on their way to Detroit, Murray said. They should land at DTW in about thirty minutes. Ill also activate the Eighty-second Airborne. It will take them eight hours, but...
His voice trailed off. He didnt need to finish. If the gate opened and something came through, the Eighty-second would be the first organized unit to tackle it.
I hear you, Dew said. One more thing. Sergeant Major Nealson said he saw at least two platoons of X-Ray Company at the airport this morning. They arent there now, and theres only two squads accounted forthat means a platoon and a half has to be on the way to Detroit. Roughly forty-five men. Get some birds in the air to take them out.
Take them out? Murray said. We dont know those men are infected. We can set up a roadblock, test them. If theyre negative, we use them to go after whatever Ogden has in Detroit.
A roadblock? Dew said. Are you insane? Do you really want heavily armed, combat-tested soldiers going up against some state troopers in a roadblock?
Dew was right. Ill take care of it, Murray said.
Get on the offensive, Murray. Pin them down, whatever it takes. We have to get Perry on the ground in Detroit so we can find the gate.
Wait for Yankee and Zulu companies to arrive from Fort Bragg, Murray said. Ogdens units have ten Stinger missiles, and you can bet he took them all to Detroit. We need to account for those before you go in. We cant afford to lose Dawsey.
L. T., if Perrys right about the time, that thing opens up in seventy-five minutes. Whatever you do, dont drag your feet.
Just hold outside the city, Murray said. Well get to work softening up his positions, tasking satellite coverage to see if we can spot the gate and find you someplace to land.
12:15 P.M.: Dew Warns Margo
Margaret stood in the isolation chamber, looking down at Officer Carmen Sanchez. Clarence stood outside the chamberpatient, quiet, clearly ready to act if Sanchez sprang to life.
But that just wasnt going to happen. Sanchez was having difficulty breathing, and it was only getting worse. She might have to intubate him soon. That, or take him off the latrunculin altogether, because he wouldnt live through another hour of the treatment.
His tongue still looked normal.
His tissue samples no longer showed crawlers. Either the latrunculin had worked or the last ones had moved into his brain. But if they had reached his brain, was the chemical stopping them from forming that mesh? Could the mesh form despite the chemical?
No. She refused to believe that. It had worked. This was so much bigger than just Sanchez. Latrunculin worked. It killed them. Not all of them, but a lot, and that meant she had a weapon. The weapon needed development, true, but at least she had a starting point.
And if it didnt work, then she had nothing. No cure. Sanchez had been exposed to a small amount of the vector. If she couldnt defeat that much, what could she do against higher amounts of exposure? Some of the John Does pustules had grown to the size of baseb.a.l.l.sa hundred times the size of what had popped on Sanchez. Someone hit with that much contagion and shed have no chance at all.