Five Roads To Texas: A Phalanx Press Collaboration Read online

  “If it’s truly a military operation, then no, I wouldn’t be surprised,” his guest replied. “We can cut off satellite feeds pretty easily, but a complete communications blackout takes a major cyber effort, from jamming cell phone signals and Internet feeds, to blocking radio frequencies. It’s a lot of work—not impossible, but it seems like much more trouble than it’d be worth if there wasn’t something very important happening.”

  “Like the reports of this new disease?”

  “I’m sorry,” the colonel said. “I’m not privy to any information about a new type of disease or the US Government’s response to any such claims.”

  “You’re right, Colonel. We’ll get back to the disease in a few moments with my next guest,” Chet replied. “You’ve mentioned that we have the capability to completely isolate a city like Sacramento.”

  “Yes, but there would be a capacity issue. We can do that sort of thing, but we’re talking about Sacramento here, a city of roughly five hundred thousand people. To suppress something that big would take a major effort. In conjunction with the several other places where the same thing is happening, I’m not convinced that it isn’t something else causing the interference.”

  Chet ignored the colonel’s attempt to shift blame. “Would it be something that our government would be willing to do in order to suppress information that could cause a nationwide—or global—panic?”

  The colonel adjusted himself in his chair slightly. Chet noticed it and filed it away for later in the conversation.

  “If there were information—and this is a big if,” the colonel said. “If there were information that could initiate a widespread, legitimate panic in the general population, then yes, our government would absolutely suppress that information for the short term until they can come up with a response and a plan of action.” He paused and continued, “No politician wants to go on air and say, ‘Here’s the problem and we don’t know what to do.’ Instead, they want to go out, present the facts and let the country know that they have a solution and a plan for implementing that solution. A well-organized response will help alleviate potential panic.”

  “Good point, Colonel,” Chet conceded. “We’ve already established that neither of us are video experts, but do you believe this young man’s story about being chased?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “No?”

  “No,” his guest affirmed. “The reason I say that is because this guy says he was finally able to evade the massive search net by using the cover of darkness. The US military has the best night vision equipment in the world. We own the night. The darkness is no more of an impediment to us than a speedbump is to a monster truck.”

  “So you don’t think the video is real?”

  “Again, I’m not a video expert, Chet. I’m just pointing out that the young man’s claims to have ‘lost them in the dark’ are bologna. We don’t lose people in the dark. If he went into a building or into a cave—like in North Korea or Afghanistan—then sure, our optics could lose sight of him. But we can see someone moving by dirt bike through heavy foliage. If this really happened, he’s either leaving out part of his escape route or they let him go. More likely, the latter. The resources that he described, and those we were able to see in the video, are not designed to go after one person. Do you know how many thousands of dollars that would be?”

  “No.”

  “It’s a lot. Besides, the video allegedly shows the military shooting civilians. If this guy was really a threat, they would have lit him up with the Apache’s 30-millimeter and been done with it.”

  “The Apache is the name of the helicopters in the video?” Chet clarified for his viewers.

  “Yeah. The US Army uses them—and about ten other foreign governments.”

  “Are you suggesting this was an act by a foreign government on our soil?”

  “No, but if the video is real, how do we even know that is Sacramento? It looks a lot like Israel, Egypt, parts of Saudi Arabia—all of those nations have the Apache gunship as well.”

  “Hmm…” Chet hadn’t planned for that particular twist. “Okay, so the area looks like the outskirts of any other semi-arid city. Let’s assume the video is from the United States and that he was able to escape from—”

  “Evade. It’s an evasion of capture. An escape would mean that he was a prisoner and then got away.”

  “Thank you,” Chet replied, annoyed. “Let’s assume that he did actually start out near Sacramento, somehow managed to evade capture, and made it all the way to Redding on his dirt bike. Why would the military be trying to stop him in the first place? He’s just some kid out for a joyride.”

  “Assuming all that,” Colonel Walsh said, “it means that the military is trying to keep any information on their local activities from getting leaked to the news—like it has been—and like we discussed, until we’ve devised a proper response plan. Now that this is out there, it’ll get shared hundreds of thousands of times. Even if it is fake, it’ll be just as good as the truth to millions of Americans who are already looking for any proof that the government is out to get them.”

  The floor manager got Chet’s attention. It was time to move to the next segment. “I’m being told that we’re out of time, sir. You’ve brought some interesting insight into this developing story. Colonel Steven Walsh, as always, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you. Until next time.”

  “Thank you for having me,” the colonel replied.

  Chet saw his full-sized image resume in the monitor. He affected a concerned look and said, “Something is going on in Sacramento, and you can bet that GNN will get to the bottom of it.

  “As I mentioned at the top of the hour, there are reports of a strange new disease that the CDC is warning about. We’ll get to that, and other important stories, after a quick word from our sponsors.”

  The camera’s ON AIR light dimmed once more, and Chet hopped up from his seat, rushing off the stage.

  “Hey, where are you going?” the floor manager, Chris, called out.

  Chet ignored him and went through the sound stage’s doors to the next studio, where Colonel Walsh stood, assisted by a sound tech taking off his microphone.

  “Ah… Chet. This is a little unusual,” the colonel said.

  “Cut the crap, Steve. What do you know about the shooting of those civilians? I didn’t press you about it on air; I gave you that courtesy. Your body language says you know something, and I want to know the truth. Is the military shooting civilians?”

  “I’m being honest with you, Chet. I don’t know. The video appears to be legitimate, and the response is spot-on if those soldiers were threatened in some way.”

  “Threatened?” Chet scoffed. “How can an unarmed mob threaten an armored soldier?”

  “We don’t know that the people in the video were unarmed, for one. For another, I’ve personally witnessed an unarmed mob tear a woman apart, limb-from-limb, in Iraq because she was accused of adultery. Quantity has a quality all its own.”

  He paused for a moment as the wire was unwrapped from around his midsection. “Did you know that the standard American infantry rifle was designed to kill the enemy, whereas the Russian rifle was designed to injure?”

  “Huh?” Chet asked in confusion.

  “Yeah. The 5.56-milimeter round doesn’t have enough power to make it completely through the human body at two hundred meters. Since it has a smaller caliber than the Russian rifle, the round yaws inside the fleshy parts of a body.”

  “Which means…” Chet rolled his hand. He needed to get back to the studio quickly.

  “Since it doesn’t have a ton of power behind it, the bullet takes all sorts of weird angles inside the body cavity, producing a kill due to massive internal injuries. The Russian—and Chinese—7.62-millimeter bullet will usually punch a hole straight through a person’s body. It was designed that way to take out two soldiers in a firefight, the one who got hit and the medic to take care of them. It reduces their enemy’s
fighting capability.”

  “What does any of that fascinating trivia have to do with the current situation, Colonel?”

  “Watch the video again. The M16, or M4—which is the replacement for the M16—fires a 5.56-millimeter bullet. The weapons in those gun trucks in the video are M240s—7.62 millimeters. Think about it.”

  Chet did think about the old Marine’s words, and a light went off in his head. When the soldiers were firing their smaller rifles, people collapsed from the gunfire, but it was relatively mundane—from a Hollywood special effects sense. There were no massive fountains of blood or dramatic explosions with big gouts of flame. However, when the trucks opened up with their large caliber weapons, there was all sorts of blood and body parts that were clearly visible in the footage. That meant that unless someone was very attention-oriented, they probably wouldn’t have put that sort of detail into the video, which meant—

  “Son of a bitch,” Chet muttered. “That video is real.”

  “Exactly,” Colonel Walsh replied. “I don’t know why those soldiers were shooting American citizens, but something majorly fucked up is going on out in California. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make a few phone calls. My daughter is a sophomore at USC, and she’s scheduled for a midday flight outta that state.”

  “Chet!” Chris yelled from the doorway. “We just had to run an extra set of commercials. We need you back at the desk.”

  He glanced back at the alternate sound stage. The assistant was already beginning to mic-up his next guest, a biomedical engineering professor from Georgia Tech. He wanted to find out if the colonel knew anything else, but the man had his cell phone up to his ear, walking through a set of doors that led to the guest waiting area.

  “Chet!”

  “Welcome to the show, Dr. Sanjay,” Chet said. “I’ll speak with you live in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you,” the scientist of Indian descent replied, without even the hint of an accent.

  Chet walked back to the main sound stage rapidly. Kimmie stopped him at the step leading to his desk and threw a towel around his neck to keep makeup from getting on his suit. She patted his forehead with a soft cloth.

  “You’re sweating,” she mumbled as she reapplied a small amount of base around his hairline, then used a brush to apply a layer of powder on his forehead and cheeks. “This’ll only last for a few minutes. You need to stop sweating or this will run and be visible on camera.”

  “Turn down the air four or five degrees,” Chris called out to the technician monitoring everything from the booth. “We need to make this place an icebox.”

  Chet felt the cool air begin to circulate immediately. He wasn’t sweating because of the temperature in the studio. The colonel’s observations had terrified him.

  If the US military was firing on its own citizens, did that mean the reports of the disease were true also?

  “Welcome back and good morning,” the thin, blond anchor stated. “I’m Chet Davidson, and you’re watching GNN Morning Headlines. Before the break, we talked to GNN Military Analyst Colonel Steven Walsh about a developing story out of Sacramento, California.

  “Now we’re going to transition to the next big story making headlines this morning. There are reports from Michigan, Colorado, and yes, California, of a new disease that is ravaging the population. GNN has obtained exclusive video footage from an Army unit allegedly responding to the epidemic in Colorado.” Chet held up his hands theatrically for the cameras. “Keep in mind, we want to emphasize that the validity of the video footage has not been verified yet, and that there has been no official statement from the Centers for Disease Control or any other agency regarding a new outbreak of any type. Although, interestingly, the President Tweeted a cryptic statement at five this morning, saying:

  ‘The US is the greatest nation on Earth. Like a prizefighter on the ropes, we’ll bounce back and knock this thing out. #MAGA’

  “As you know, the President doesn’t often tell us plainly what his Tweets are referencing. Until about an hour ago, our analysts said they thought his message was about the recent downturn of US investments in the European stock market. You may remember our story from yesterday regarding the losses of virtually every American-owned company in the European markets.

  “However, with the developing story out of Sacramento and new information that GNN received less than an hour ago, we feel the president’s Tweet may have been referencing something else entirely.

  “Joining me this morning is one of the nation’s leading biomedical researchers, Dr. Aarav Sanjay.” Chet’s monitor went to a split-screen view with him on the left and the doctor on the right. “He is a biomedical engineering professor at Georgia Tech University right up the road from the GNN Worldwide Headquarters here in Atlanta. Dr. Sanjay, welcome.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Davidson,” the professor replied crisply.

  “Please, call me Chet. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us this morning on such a short notice.”

  “Of course. I knew right away when your producer contacted me to verify the authenticity of the drone footage and the accompanying email that I needed to come on and discuss this with you and your viewers.”

  Chet nodded, acknowledging the statement without replying. Instead, he dove right into the first of his prepared questions. “Doctor, Georgia Tech does a lot of work for the US Government, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, we do—especially the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, where I work.”

  “Forgive me, Dr. Sanjay. Doesn’t the government have their own biomedical centers?” More clarification for the viewers.

  “Certainly. Chief among them are the CDC laboratories, like those here in Atlanta, Birmingham, Austin, Baltimore, and Seattle. However, they send out specimens all the time for the verification of their work. Sometimes, they’re swamped and need a little extra manpower, so they’ll sub that research out as well. Additionally, my office works closely with the US military and their various research arms across the country in the development of vaccines and researching cures for diseases that their forces may one day come in contact with.”

  Chet smirked at the camera, which he knew the doctor could see in his own studio. “So you’ve seen a thing or two when it comes to creepy diseases?”

  Dr. Sanjay laughed genuinely for a moment before clearing his throat. “Yes, you could say that, Mr.—ah, Chet,” he amended. “The bacterial and viral world is rife with terrors that are held at bay simply by environmental or locational factors.”

  “Locational factors, Doctor?” Chet asked. He could understand how diseases, especially seasonal ones like the flu, could be limited by environmental factors, but it wasn’t as easy of a connection with the second factor. “Is that a different way of saying environmental factors?”

  “It could be viewed that way in a generic sense,” the doctor conceded. “However, what I’m referring to is an actual physical barrier to the movement of a bacterium or virus. Take, for example, the Native American population before the colonists, priests, and conquistadors arrived. They had never been exposed to smallpox, the flu, or measles because those only occurred in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Yet their environmental factors were advantageous for the diseases to spread rapidly. It’s estimated that around ninety percent of the native population of the Americas was killed by disease. So, in that example, their location had served as an effective barrier until the fifteen and sixteen hundreds.”

  “Okay, that makes sense,” Chet stated, hoping his own confusion didn’t come across onscreen. “Sorry to have taken us off topic, Doctor.”

  “Actually, you haven’t taken us off topic. The video and email certainly seem to point to a virus or bacteria of some type that is now suddenly appearing everywhere. If it’s a naturally occurring disease and not something that’s been bioengineered in a laboratory, it would fit one of my discriminating factors of either environmental or locational—maybe both.”

  “So you t
hink—Oh, I’m sorry, Dr. Sanjay.” Chet smiled with embarrassment. “My producer is telling me that we’ve forgotten to show the video that we’re discussing with our viewers. We’ll need to put a pause on our discussion for a moment while we show that video.”

  “Certainly, Chet. I thought the video had already been shown.”

  “That mistake is on us, Doctor, not you. Do we have that—Yes, here’s the video that we will be discussing with Dr. Sanjay.”

  The split screen went away, replaced by a dark-gray one. It rapidly faded from the shadowed gray to tan, and then became the hood of a military Humvee, the simple troop-carrying vehicles that every military unit seemed to have. Next, a soldier came into view. He held a remote control device and watched the camera as it flew skyward.

  “Our researchers say that based on the controller, the drone the soldier is flying is likely a DJI Phantom Five Professional series,” Chet stated as the video continued to progress, showing the Humvee getting smaller. Then the drone shot forward, passing over what appeared to be several rows of hastily-erected barbed wire fences. “The Phantom Five is a quadcopter with an HD camera and range of approximately five miles. It’s a commercial, off-the-shelf option that a lot of military units have procured with their own funds to give them an aerial view of their operating area. Procuring quadcopters on their own has significantly helped units in the field, since the military’s only UAV option for small units are an airplane body style, which is much harder to fly without extensive training.”

  The drone passed over a tree line and the camera zoomed in on several soldiers lying on the ground with their weapons pointed toward an unknown enemy. Small puffs of displaced dirt appeared in front of each soldier as they fired. “This video, and an accompanying email, was delivered to GNN by an anonymous source less than three hours ago,” Chet continued. “The email stated that the video was taken by soldiers from the Second Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colorado.