“Sir, we really have no time to talk, we have to move, and move NOW,” replied Lester.
He had known and worked with Lester for seventeen years, the man was using a tone of voice he had never heard until just that moment. It was one of almost sheer disbelief, or was it panic? On top of that, his body language screamed he was on the verge of panic. The President had never known the man to even experience stress, at least any stress he displayed outwardly. Lester was just wired in a way that left him unaffected by things that would cause most people to end up in the fetal position in the corner drooling on themselves.
He looked around and realized just how many people were in the room. Most of them were Secret Service Agents, all of which looked like they were expecting an active shooter, “Ok, let’s go.” His attitude was changed from one of annoyance to one of response as he jogged from the room into the hall without tucking in, or fully buttoning his shirt. Ultimately, they would get to the helicopter that could be heard coming in for a landing just outside the White House.
He had been in Washington D.C. professionally for a fair number of years, but he was still not used to the chaos of the White House on a normal day. The environment he found upon exiting his bedroom in the Presidential residence, where his family had still not moved in to join him, was even crazier than he had ever seen. There were more security personnel appearing from every direction than he was aware were in the building at any one point in time.
“Someone, tell me what is going on please,” he asked as the group picked up the pace. He became even more concerned as the normally stoic elite Marine Guard were now encircling him along with the Secret Service. Both groups had their weapons at the ready.
“Sir, there has been a nuclear explosion in, or near Fort Worth, Texas. It is in a region where there is no nuclear power plant, and none of our nuclear weapons stockpile is anywhere close. The preliminary conclusion can only be that we have been attacked,” Lester said between breaths while running.
The President would have thought this was a joke, perhaps a gag gone awry, and in very poor taste, except for the appearance that Lester was about to lose it completely.
The President stopped in his tracks, “My God, my family, get them to Air Force One right now!”
“Sir, you have got to keep moving. Your family is already enroute from your home in Georgetown and is going to meet us at the airplane. We will not take off without them,” replied one of the Secret Service agents.
He was unsure which one of the agents it was, but was certain that he would be grateful for the rest of his life that the man had spoken up.
He couldn’t help but think of these men who were protecting him and his family. None of them, at this point, would have any idea how they would see to their own family’s safety, or even if there was a need to do so. Worse yet, they had no idea if any of their family members had been killed if they were from that part of the country. He was ashamed to admit to himself that he didn’t know any of the agents well enough to know if they would have family that could have been harmed. These men and women were protecting the life of him and his family and he had yet to learn any of their names. He vowed to learn them, but he had to focus on the attacks first.
As a group the President, his Chief of Staff, two Secret Service agents, and a man in military uniform he hadn’t gotten a good enough look at to identify, hurried into the helicopter. They were airborne before the door was fully closed.
The President had finally gathered his thoughts enough to start asking questions, which he addressed to no one in particular.
“How could this have happened? No missile or bomber could have made it that far inland without us seeing it on radar, or any of the other early warning sensor systems we have. Are we certain that this was nuclear? Was it a surface detonation? Not at some optimimum altitude?”
Lester was the first to respond, “Sir, everything we have is minutes old, and we don’t know much at the moment. Despite that, we are one hundred percent sure this was a nuclear weapon. Many countries, including us, have been working for years to make these devices smaller and smaller than ever before. Recall from your days on the Energy Sub-Committee in the House that our warheads are often moved around by truck. Even a normal pickup truck is large enough if a reasonably sophisticated warhead is removed from the missile.
“It could have very easily been loaded in the back of a civilian off-road vehicle and driven across the border from Mexico or Canada. Hell, it could have even been packed in a crate and shipped Federal Express for that matter. They are that small. If someone was willing to die for a cause, we may be witnessing the world’s largest suicide bombing.”
He suddenly realized that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was the man in uniform that had climbed in with them, “General, I apologize; I didn’t recognize you in the evacuation. What can you tell me? We need as much information on the table as we can get.”
“Mr. President, all I can add to what you have already heard is that the epicenter of the attack was very near the Lockheed Martin facility where they build and assemble our military aircraft,” calmly stated the General.
“If that facility has been destroyed, or even heavily damaged, we will be unable to build new military aircraft, or even obtain a large number of needed replacement parts beyond those we currently have in the inventory for a long time. No other plant in the country can do this work without major retrofitting. There has been no word yet concerning the level of damage to that facility, or the surrounding area. This attack took place approximately twenty minutes ago, and getting accurate damage assessments will take some time. It will be hours before we know much for certain.”
Pausing to take a breath, the General collected his thoughts and continued, “Additionally that area is heavily populated by civilian engineers and their families. Many of those engineers represent the brain trust that is required to design and upgrade a variety of military airborne electronic systems.
“Mr. President, I stress these points because something this large will likely be a prelude to some other attack. We may not even be able to respond without going nuclear if we are being drawn into a war, especially if there are more of these attacks coming.
“The engineers I spoke of are those we depended on to keep us moving when things break down and if we need something new capability for an air asset in the field quickly. That would have been where went go to get it.
“Outside of the Lockheed facility, that area is heavily populated. It isn’t nearly as dense as many of the East Coast cities, but the geography is fairly flat which causes the damage radius of the same yield device to be much larger here than it would be elsewhere. You need to mentally prepare yourself for the civilian injury and fatality reports to be shockingly high. Also, and this will require us to mount a large emergency response, many more people will survive this attack than you think. The injury numbers will be unlike anything ever seen by the United States in our homeland, or perhaps anywhere in the world,” Chairman Jackson reported.
The President had to give the man credit. He delivered the information about the destruction professionally and with no sign of fear, panic, or even stress in his voice. He just laid everything he knew out on the table as simply and concisely as he could.
There was an extended moment of silence as Air Force One came into view while everyone digested the General’s statements.
The helicopter pilot came on the intercom, “Mr. President, I am happy to report your family is on site and about to board Air Force One. Additionally, I regret that I will be the first to inform you, a second device as been detonated. Detroit has been hit. We have no further information yet.”