Executive orders - Tom Clancy [506]
What can I do for you? Lorenz asked, taking his seat.
Sir, I need you to brief me in. The Bureau is working with a few other agencies to see how this all started. We're interviewing every victim to try and determine where they got sick, and we figure you're the expert to ask about the overall situation. Where did all this start?
THE MILITARY DIDN'T know where it had started, but it was rapidly becoming apparent where it had gotten to. Fort Stewart, Georgia, had only been the first. Nearly every Army base was near some big city or other. Fort Stewart was within easy driving distance of Savannah and Atlanta. Fort Hood was close to Dallas-Fort Worth. Fort Campbell an hour from Nashville, where Vanderbilt had already reported cases. The personnel lived mainly in barracks, where they shared common showers and toilet facilities, and at these bases the senior medical officers were quite literally terrified. Naval personnel lived the most closely of all. Their ships were enclosed environments. Those ships at sea were instantly ordered to remain there while the shoreside situation was evaluated. It was soon determined that every major base was at risk, and though some units-mainly infantry and military police-deployed to augment the National Guard, medics kept an eye on every soldier and Marine. Soon they started finding men and women with flu symptoms. These were instantly isolated, put in protective MOPP gear and flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital that was receiving suspected Ebola cases. By midnight it would be clear that, until further notice, the U.S. military was a contaminated instrument. Urgent calls into the National Military Command Center reported which units had found cases, and on that information whole battalions were separated from others and kept that way, the personnel eating combat rations because their mess halls were closed, and thinking about an enemy they couldn't see.
JESUS, JOHN, CHAVEZ said in the latter's office.
Clark nodded silently. His wife, Sandy, was an instructor in nursing in a teaching hospital, and her life, he knew, might be at risk. She worked a medical floor. If an infected patient arrived, he would come to her unit, and Sandy would take the lead to show her students how to treat such patients safely.
Safely? he asked himself. Sure. The thought brought back dark memories and the sort of fear he hadn't known in many years. This attack on his country-Clark hadn't been told yet, but he never had learned to believe in coincidences-didn't put him at risk, but it put his wife at risk.
Who do you suppose did it? It was a dumb question, and it generated a dumber reply.
Somebody who doesn't like us a whole hell of a lot, John answered crossly.
Sorry. Chavez looked out the window and thought for a few seconds. It's one hell of a gamble, John.
If we find out it is and operational security on something like this is a motherfucker.
Roge-o, Mr. C. The people we've been looking at?
That's a possibility. Others, too, I suppose. He checked his watch. Director Foley should be back from Washington by now, and they should head up to his office. It took only a couple of minutes.
Hi, John, the DCI said, looking up from his desk. Mary Pat was there, too.
Not an accident, is it? Clark asked.
No, it's not. We're setting up a joint task force. The FBI is talking to people inside the country. If we get leads, it'll be our job to work outside the borders. You two will stand by to handle that. I'm trying to figure a way now to get people overseas.
The SNIE? Ding asked.
Everything else is on the back burner now. Jack even gave me authority to order NSA and DIA around. Though the DCI by law had the power to do just that, in fact the other large agencies had always been their own independent empires. Until now.
How are the kids, guys? Clark asked.
Home, Mary Pat replied. Queen spook or not, she was still a mother with a mother's concerns. They say they feel fine.
Weapons of mass destruction, Chavez said next. He didn't have to say anything more.