Monster Nation(72)

Thin, white, worm-like appendages, extruded lengths of flesh that twisted around one another in complex patterns. It was not enough to say that she wrung her hands in excitement as she laid out her Big Idea on the table before them. She tied her pasty fingers in knots, cracked the knuckles with a sound like mice being trodden underfoot, drummed her fingertips on the table so fast her French manicure blurred while Clark watched it dance.

'The New Citizen Army will sweep through here, and up through Georgetown, cutting off any advance. The city will be secured. And then it's onward to New York.' A new map clattered across the table, blasting cool air into Clark's face.

He shook himself awake. He'd been so mesmerized by the fingers he'd lost almost all the details of the plan. He had the gist of it, though.

Purslane Dunnstreet's foolproof plan would have worked marvelously'against an invasion of Nazi stormtroopers. She wanted entire columns of armored vehicles stationed on the Beltway. She wanted to draw in every element of the military'regulars and reserves'that could make it in time to create a single overwhelming force to protect Washington while the rest of the country was left defenseless. She wanted constant overflights of D.C. with nightly bombing runs. She had provisions against insurgencies by Fifth Columnists and a contingency for providing disinformation to any spies who cropped up. She wanted commando raids on enemy strongholds and a network of resistance fighters to sprout up in the occupied territories.

Not a single part of her plan made any sense when applied to a horde of mindless, unarmed civilians who outnumbered the military units a hundred to one.

The infected didn't send spies into your camp. They didn't hold strongpoints or even beachheads. You could bomb them into paste and others would just flood in to take their place.

Clark glanced over at the Civilian, who was paring his fingernails with a tiny nail clipper attached to a keychain.

The Civilian must have understood the look on Clark's face. He shrugged in reply.

When Dunnstreet finally finished her presentation she went to the printers and handed each of them a hefty document, still warm and redolent of ink. Clark leafed through his, finding hundreds of pages of information on how to deal with looters in a time of martial law.

'Your Operational Parameters Document, gentlemen. Please do not lose it. That would be a grave breach of national security. It outlines the powers you will assume and the tools and equipment you may requisition in the defense of freedom.'

'It's like the Shaper Image catalog,' the Civilian gleamed, 'except with more nerve gas.'

Clark flipped to the back of the document. A hefty chapter covered when he was and was not justified in using lethal force against healthy civilians. Basically whenever he wanted, he gathered. He just needed to know which code to use when he filled out his after-action reports later. Clark placed it neatly on the table, square with the edge.

He cleared his throat. 'Thank you very much for that presentation, Agent Dunnstreet,' he said, rising from his chair. 'I have some information I'd like to show you myself.' He clicked open the latches of his briefcase and took out the papers Vikram had prepared for him.

'I do so love raw data,' Dunnstreet announced, writhing her fingers together at her shoulder until they flew apart with a dry snap.





Monster Nation





Chapter Twelve


To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Re: Mom's Okay, just Scared

So stop calling all the time, k? No word from dad/step-whore but will let you know. Don't come here, coz Ohio is bad, according to the tv. Stay put and safe, bro.

Peace out

ted

[Undeliverable email stored on server [email protected], 4/12/05]

Clark laid a sheet of 11x17 paper on the table. It showed a map of the United States with Vikram's spiderweb superimposed on top in various colors. 'Our epidemiology studies produced this. A woman lost her life for it.' He met Dunnstreet's gaze, then the Civilian's. They had to listen to this very, very closely. It could change everything. 'Originally we were working on an infectious disease hypothesis. That is, that the Epidemic is a pathogen spread by close contact with infected bodily fluids. We believed it began in the prison at Florence, then spread to California by way of a vacationing staff member. The chain of evidence looked good and we believed we understood how this thing works.'

Of course he had looked for a pathogen. It was what he was trained for: biological terrorism. He remembered how he had upbraided Assistant Warden Glynne for letting the prison riot go three days before calling it in. Glynne had assumed he was looking at a new and especially pernicious drug. Drugs were a major problem at the prison, so drugs were what he looked for.