The Final Day (After, #3)(115)

“Just who do you think you are?” came the sharp reply. “General, you have been stripped of rank effective immediately. You are to turn yourself over to Mr. Pelligrino and the head of security where you are. Any who continue to obey your orders will face the severest consequences. You will be escorted to a secured area where you wait until our forces arrive.”

Bob actually smiled at that. “Go to hell.”

“What?” Her voice was almost a shriek, and as it rose in volume, John found himself looking at the loudspeaker with surprise. He recognized who she was.

“Madam. You are to recall your forces now. Immediately.”

“Mr. Scales, it’s the other way around.”

“I hold the trump card; you do not.”

“You’re an egotistical fool. You have fewer than eighty with you. We realize that now. You’ve undoubtedly learned by now there are additional security forces within the site. Whatever chance you had is finished. If you surrender yourself, I promise leniency for all those deluded into following you, and that is our only offer.”

Bob cupped his hand over the receiver and looked at John and the two guards.

“Tell her to kiss our asses,” one of the troopers replied. “Every man and woman under your command is with you, sir.”

Bob nodded his thanks and then looked at Phyllis. “I want you to turn those cameras on and set up an uplink.”

“To what?” she asked nervously.

“BBC, for starters. China, the whole damn world.”

“I will not.”

“I can have one of my tech people in here in less than five minutes and do your job for you,” Bob replied coolly.

She did not move.

“Get someone. Sergeant McCloskey can handle it,” Bob snapped to the two guards in the room, and one set off at a run, but the other guard came up close to John.

“McCloskey’s dead,” the guard whispered to John.

He could see Bob hesitating, such a rare sight, but all of it had become all so overwhelming. Every second that passed raised the chance that a counterstrike could hit them, and as if in answer, he could hear what sounded like gunfire from outside the command bunker. Chances were they were about to be overrun.

What had to be done, he knew Bob most likely was contemplating, but the moment dragged out, gunfire growing louder, and for John, it came down to Lee, Grace, Jennifer, all those who died. All those who would continue to die.

“Sir,” John snapped, and he extended his hand out, indicating he wanted the phone.

Bob looked at him in surprise but then handed the phone up.

“This is John Matherson. You might not know who I am, but I know who you are.”

There was a pause from the other end. “The terrorist from Carolina?” It was more a question than a reply.

“A citizen from Carolina who knows that you plan to take down the entire southeast region of the United States with another EMP burst within the next few days.”

“What difference does it make that I’m talking to you instead of a general now formally stripped of command?” she snapped.

“I’ll tell you the difference, ma’am.”

There was no reply, but over the loudspeaker, John could hear whispering from those who were most likely in the same room with the woman on the phone.

“I want all of you to listen closely. General Scales might not be comfortable with ordering this, but I no longer have a problem after everything you bastards have done to us, to our country.”

“How dare you!”

“I dare because I can destroy this place in a matter of minutes.”

Another pause, whispered voices, and finally a reply, as if she were trying to laugh his words off as an idle threat. “It was built to withstand a direct hit on the surface from a nuclear weapon. Unless you have one with you, John Matherson, your words are just that—words.”

“But we are inside. This place has a central ventilation system. I have enough of my people here that we will blow that, for starters. There is fuel storage, gasoline and diesel; we will dump it and light it off. The barracks are made of wood; after sixty-plus years down here, they’ll burn like torches. Your food supply is centrally stored; we already know where that is. A hundred gallons of gasoline tossed in there and lit and the life of luxury in here turns into the way people like my family have been living for over two years while your families are fat, warm, well-fed, and safe.

“Your water cisterns. I’ll blow them, and while everything burns at this level, we’ll flood out any lower levels beneath this one as well. We will blow this place, and in one hour, every single person in here will be standing out in the freezing cold. And let me guess—do you have grandchildren in here?”

“How dare you threaten them, you son of a bitch!” she shrieked.

“So you do have them here. So let’s make this clear. I bet there are a couple of dozen in that room with you, and all of you have families here. And by the way, if your so-called secretary of state is there, tell him his wife knows about Alicia and is waiting to discuss his mistress. I offered to loan her my gun, and I think she’s eager to use it.”

He could hear loud cursing and then the voice of someone being muffled.

“Don’t you dare try to play a blame game with me. We are not terrorists who will kill children. But you most certainly are a terrorist. My daughter died because of people like you. So the choice is yours: call your attack dogs off both inside here and any coming from the outside, and we continue to talk. Otherwise, I’m handing the phone back to General Scales, we start smashing this damn hiding hole, and you figure out what to do with everyone in here when they’re standing outside tonight in two feet of snow and another storm is rolling in.