Based on reports from the National Guard, the scene on the ground brought new clarity to the meaning of “chaos.” Driven from their homes at the president’s urging and by relentless television images of a blackened Daytona Beach, twenty million city dwellers scurried like rats from a rising tide. Honking cars clogged the streets within hours. Bicycles wobbled in and out of stalled vehicles. Some of the more fit jogged. In the end the runners led the exodus. No mode of transportation moved as fast as they.

And where were they all going?

North. Just north.

David glanced at his watch. Ten hours. Across the aisle, Friberg gazed out another window with Mark Ingersol. David caught Ingersol’s attention and thumbed outside. “There’s no way they’re going to get away in time. You know that.”

The man’s eyebrow lifted. “They’re doing better than I imagined. If they had any brains, they’d just leave the cars and walk.”

“For the record, sir, I want to make it clear that I believe we’re going about this wrong. We should be looking north as well.”

“You’ve said that. We don’t have the time to check Miami and you want us to spread ourselves even thinner? You have a hunch. We have a threat on paper that puts a bomb in Miami. I’m not sure we have any choice.”

He had a point, of course. But David’s hunch was making his skin crawl. The plane dipped a wing and began a quick descent to Miami International. They were the only plane on pattern and within ten minutes they were down.

The air seemed thicker than David remembered and he couldn’t help but wonder if the detonation out to sea had affected the weather. They were ushered into the terminal where a solemn gray-haired Lieutenant John Bird met them with an outstretched hand.

“I hope you have some information for us,” Bird said, taking each hand quickly. “I’ve got a thousand men scattered over southern Florida and we don’t even know what we’re looking for. A picture or a description wouldn’t hurt.” He spoke without smiling. By the rings under his eyes, he hadn’t slept for a while, David thought.

“If we knew what you were looking for, you would know by now, wouldn’t you?” Friberg’s tone earned a hard stare from the National Guard officer.

“Tell me what you’ve got,” Friberg demanded.