But they had gotten the sixteen warheads Martin and Madeline had manufactured in North Dakota onto the base and over the last two nights they had loaded them into a series of ASM-158As, an aircraft launchable stealth cruise missile with a payload weight of about one thousand pounds. Martin’s design had filled the missile’s warhead bays as he had planned, and they were going to set off a heck of a bang when they went off. But the bang wasn’t what Martin was actually going for. It was the aftereffect. Using a cluster of thermobaric explosives, he had designed a deployment weapon that would create a huge torus of superheated oxygen, burning hot enough to create an implosive vacuum. If all went well, this would create a vortex of superheated air that would destroy the pathogens right at their point of deployment. It would only work a few times, as no amount of stealth would be enough to hide the great detonations once their attacks began, but if they could get themselves into position over the right areas at the right moment, then maybe they could stem the flow of pathogens to the least protected areas.

According to Neal’s estimates, they might save as many as five or six million people if all went well. But no pressure, or anything.

Jack suddenly froze, looking at Martin, who instinctively held his breath. Jack felt in his pocket and extracted his cell phone. It was vibrating. Jack answered it, keeping his eyes on Martin as he spoke.

“Colonel?”

There was a pause while he listened to the man on the other end, then.

“Yes, Colonel.”

Another pause.

“Yes, Colonel, I understand. We’re ready at this end. The bird is prepped and awaiting your orders. Sir … Barrett, can I ask, does everyone know now?”

Martin waited a moment longer. The major nodded somberly as he listened to the man on the other end of the phone.

“Yes, Colonel. I understand. We’ll be ready.”

“Good luck to you too, Colonel … it’s been a pleasure.”

He hung up and looked at his colleague, took a long, deep breath, and then said, “Well, my friend. We’d better get into position.” He thought for a second and then went on, “Listen, Colonel Milton told me that as of an hour ago, the president and the Security Council know everything. He told me that they know about the missiles and that they are willing to initiate the GBMD protocol once they see the first satellite destroyed. But as we feared, they didn’t approve our part of the mission.”

Martin stared at him, deflated, and Jack bit his lower lip for a moment while the other man came to terms with it. “They simply weren’t ready to accept sending a heavily armed bomber into hostile airspace when the world is already on tender-hooks after the incident in Pakistan.