Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [107]
The President was so stunned that he sat down. “A … a military force? Our military? The FPS, maybe?”
The Chief of Staff shook his head. “No, sir. I wish that was the case. I don’t know who these people are, but if they’re able to stop that shipment and take control of the cargo themselves—”
The President held up a hand to stop him again. “This is unacceptable. How could anyone have found out about this, after everything we’ve done to keep it quiet?”
“I don’t know, sir. I truly don’t.”
But the Chief of Staff had just had a terrible thought. It had to do with Julia Hernandez, and the fact that the Mexican border was less than fifty miles from Home….
Deal with that later, he told himself. One crisis at a time. And this was a real crisis, no doubt about that.
The President took a deep breath. “All right, Geoff. You know what to do.”
“Sir…”
“Execute the emergency plan” the President said heavily. “When will the trucks reach Home?”
The Chief of Staff checked his watch. “A little less than two hours from now. I’ll get in touch with them immediately and have them turn back to Casa del Diablo.”
“No.”
The Chief of Staff stared at his boss. “No?” he repeated. “Did you say no, sir?”
“That’s right.”
“But … that’s the emergency plan, and we have plenty of time to implement it.”
The President shook his head. “No, I’m talking about Operation Omega.”
The Chief of Staff was shaken to his core. “Sir, we can’t—”
The President seemed oddly calm now, as if he had accepted the inevitability of what had to happen. “We knew we’d be taking this step someday, Geoff. It’s the reason for Casa del Diablo’s very existence. It’s happening sooner than we expected, that’s all”
“But if we stop the trucks—”
“Whoever those men are who have taken over the town, they know what’s coming. They must, otherwise they wouldn’t be there, today of all days. If they know, then it’s possible some of the citizens of Home have found out by now, too.” The President shook his head again. “No, Geoff, I’m afraid this is the only way. I want a team of General Stone’s special operatives in the air ASAP. They’ll intercept the trucks before they reach Home and take charge of the canisters. They’re to bring all but one of them back to FPS headquarters.”
“All but one” the Chief of Staff repeated hollowly.
The President smiled. “I think one canister of the gas will be enough to make sure no one in Home ever reveals what they know, don’t you?”
CHAPTER 43
Ford and Parker waited until what looked like a hundred or more armed men rushed out of the police station and headed down the street toward the site of the explosion.
Finding that gasoline tanker parked at the edge of town had been a stroke of luck. Neither agent knew for sure what it was doing there, but they could make a guess. There were several places in Home that sold gas. The truck had probably been stopped at one of them when the invaders came in and took over. Nobody would want stray bullets flying around anywhere near a tanker full of gasoline, so they had moved it to the outskirts of town to get it out of the way.
For men with their specialized skills, it wasn’t that hard to rig the truck’s fuel tank to blow, and when it did, the gas in the big tank went up, too. That made one heck of a nice distraction. The invaders had to figure that they were under attack, so most of them would rush to the scene to repel that attack. They wouldn’t find anything except a burning tank trunk.
But by that time, Ford and Parker would be in the police station. They wanted to get their hands on some communication equipment, on the off chance that the invaders weren’t jamming everything. If that were the case, at least they could grab some more weapons and maybe find somebody who could tell them exactly what was going on here.
They ran along the alley toward the police station’s back door. The guard who had been standing there before the blast had ducked inside, probably to check for new orders. He reappeared just as Ford and Parker reached the door. Parker’s hand shot out and grabbed the front of the man’s