G Hopf - The Long Road

“You sure it’s not Fort Irwin?” asked Samantha.

“Hey, I’m not a Rhodes scholar, but you and I have seen Fort Irwin. This ain’t it. This place is very small. I saw about two dozen different buildings. There’s a runway. It’s like a small forward operating base.”

“How many people are there?”

“A lot.”

“A lot like, how many?”

“I counted more than fifty. But you know what’s odd? Some were working, but each small group had at least one or two people watching over them with guns. Plus, the entire perimeter was being guarded.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this last night?” asked Samantha.

“I came back late because I stayed as long as I could. I was able to get close, but not close enough to identify faces. When I got back to camp, my dad said you were in your trailer. I thought to knock, but I knew there wasn’t anything we could do about it then,” said Nelson. He was now concerned she might get upset.

“It’s okay, you’re right. I was tired last night. I snuggled up with Haley and went to bed early. So what do you recommend?” Samantha sensed he was being defensive, and after yesterday’s argument with Sandy, she didn’t want to upset one of the few close friends she had.

“Hey!” said Seneca loudly as she walked up on them both.

Samantha and Nelson greeted her. They carried on some small talk before Samantha subtly gave hints that they were busy.

“Um, listen. Sam, I appreciate you helping us out the other night. Thanks for smoothly things over. I, ah, also want to apologize again for Mack. You could say he’s a bit rough around the edges,” Seneca said.

“Rough is an understatement,” quipped Nelson.

Seneca shot him a slight flirtatious smile.

Samantha noticed the way they looked at each other. She could see the attraction they still had. She’d never understood why Seneca broke up with him. When Seneca left Nelson, she left all of their lives. It had been years since Samantha had seen her. At one time they were inseparable friends. They had done everything together, and if it hadn’t been for Seneca, Samantha wouldn’t have met Gordon. Then, without warning one day, Seneca broke up with Nelson and disappeared. Samantha once grilled Nelson over what had happened and even accused him of causing her to leave. But she finally just had to let her go. Now, out of nowhere and to everyone’s surprise, Seneca had shown up. On the outside she looked different, and Samantha wondered if that change was as pronounced on the inside. Maybe, after they settled down in Idaho, she’d be able to get to know her friend all over again.

“Sweetie, Nelson and I need to go soon. So can…”

“Sorry, but I’m not here to chitchat. I want to know if Mack and I can help. We have our car, so we can…”

“Yes, of course. Sorry to assume.”

“It’s fine. I can’t imagine what you must be going through. Just let me know what we can do.”

Samantha smiled at her old friend. Having her on board to help made her feel better.

The plan they agreed upon took all four of them to a spot closer to the small base Nelson had spotted. He wanted to try to get himself into a position where he’d be close enough to identify who was there.

“So that seems easy,” said Seneca smugly.

“We will see. Like I mentioned before, the place is heavily guarded. Let’s keep our heads down, be quiet, and whatever we do, don’t let them see you.”

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

Baxter briskly walked through the dimly lit halls, a white piece of paper clinging to his fingertips. As he came upon personnel, they immediately stood at attention and against the wall. When he reached Cruz’s door, he hesitated before knocking; what he was about to say was heart-wrenching. The few seconds he bought himself didn’t change the fact that he had to be the one to break this news.

He knocked loudly. Then he looked down at the paper and read it again to himself. Maybe he had read it wrong the first five times. Did he miss something? As he slowly scanned each word, he made sure that it said what it said.

The door opened, and there stood Cruz. “General? Is everything okay?”

“Sir, may I come in?” insisted Baxter.

“Sure, sure. Come on in,” said Cruz, opening the door more. “Please ignore the mess. We were so used to housekeepers that we forgot how to housekeep ourselves,” he said, acknowledging the state of his quarters.

“Thank you,” said Baxter, stepping inside.

Cruz closed the door behind him and asked, “So what’s this about?”

“Here,” said Baxter, handing him the paper. “I thought it best I hand-deliver this.”

Cruz took the paper and read it. The concerned look on his face melted to sadness as the words sank in.

“When did they find it?”

“Just thirty minutes ago.”

“Call everyone to the command center ASAP. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cruz was the first to reach the command center. He immediately went into the large briefing room and picked up the phone. “Get me the Colorado governor,” he said into the handset, then put it down.

Baxter was the next to arrive, followed by the rest of the team.

Just as everyone was sitting down, the phone rang.

Cruz grabbed the handset before the second ring. “This is Vice President Cruz. Yes, Governor, we have been informed. When can you get your people here? I understand, but you need to evacuate everyone now. I don’t understand what you mean. Slow down. Who?” Cruz asked, then began clicking on the receiver. “Governor, are you there? Hello, Governor?” Cruz clicked the receiver again. Nothing but silence. He turned to Baxter and ordered, “Get the governor back on the line immediately!”

Baxter turned to leave, but the door burst open before he could reach it.

A young tech sergeant came in, his eyes wide and face flushed. “Sir, excuse me for interrupting, but we have a major situation!”

Cruz dropped the handset and followed as everyone rushed out of the room. The main command center had four rows of glowing monitors, which all faced a much larger LED screen on the wall, showing a computer image of the continental United States. On a smaller screen to the right was an aerial view from an orbiting satellite.

“Sergeant, what is it?” Baxter barked.

“Sir, we just registered a detonation,” the tech sergeant said, sitting back down at his computer. “Here, let me put it on the screen.”

All eyes turned to the main screen.

The tech sergeant maneuvered a cursor and zoomed in on the Denver metro area. East of the city was a red dot that pulsated. He took the cursor there and zoomed in again. The pulsating red dot now enveloped the Denver International Airport.

“Sergeant, what are we looking at here?” Cruz asked.

“Sir, that large red dot signified a nuclear detonation,” the tech sergeant answered soberly.

“Shit!” Cruz blurted out.

“What can you tell about the blast from here?” Baxter asked.

“It’s tough, but the blast seems limited or contained. Like it was a subsurface explosion.”

“Subsurface?” Dylan asked, not knowing what that meant.

“Dylan, it means an explosion underground,” Cruz answered.

“It means the DIA bunker facility is gone and so is the governor and all those people,” Baxter then added.

“We have another,” an airman bellowed from behind his monitor.

“What?” Cruz asked, confused.

“Yes, we are getting data that there has been an event at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. It looks like another subsurface detonation.”

“How is this happening? I don’t understand!” Cruz exclaimed.

“Wait, hold on. Sir, we are picking up another one!” the airman yelled .