The AGM-158A was an already existing air-launched cruise missile that could be deployed from a B-2 bomber, the bomber type that Jack Toranssen had been a pilot of up until Barrett had recruited him to the team.

The plan was to build an entirely new set of warheads for these stealthy missiles. Ayala would help with the procurement of materials, Martin would work with Madeline to meld these materials in the resonance chamber in North Dakota, and once these new and highly explosive warheads were ready, Martin and Ayala would deliver them down to Whiteman Air Force Base, where the main US B-2 bomber wing was stationed. After that it would be up to Jack, the colonel, and their ally Admiral Hamilton to pull the necessary strings to discreetly get the upgraded warheads onto the base.

Even after that set of fairly considerable hurdles, the final step would be by far the most dangerous. John had shared with the team the plan for how the satellites would drop the virus. They could see that, of all the areas that still remained vulnerable, the largest unprotected populace was also directly within the arc of the satellites’ pod drops.

And so, once the warheads were fitted onto a series of the cruise missiles, and the missiles were loaded into one of the B-2 bombers, Major Jack Toranssen would get behind the wheel again. They were going to attempt to shoot down the virus pods as they entered the atmosphere. Not all of them, that would be impossible. But those pods that were dropped over the area still left untouched by the antigen’s spread. They would strive to save some of the millions of innocent people that lived in those areas: the rural peoples of the Hindu Kush, the Afghan mountains, and the plains of western Iran.

They would focus there because they fell directly within the drop paths of the viral pods. They would use the stealth of the B-2 to carry him deep into enemy airspace. Once there, they would start the biggest fireworks display in the history of humanity, and once they started firing, they had no doubt that those same people they were trying to save would no doubt do all they could to stop them.

Chapter 48: Catalyst

“Thanks for that update, Mike, looks like more rain, huh?” the anchorwoman beamed a paper-white smile, shrugging as she laughed with practiced cheerfulness. “Now for our next story we’re going to head over to Jacksonville General where Robin Jacobson has a report about a medical miracle.”

The view switched to her co-anchor whose face became comically quizzical, “A miracle, Bethany?”