G Hopf - The End

“Mr. Speaker, may I ask where your wife is?” Dylan asked hesitantly.

“She’s still at the hospital with my son. Once we get to Tinker and I can find out what is going on we’ll send someone back to get both of them. The priority now is to see if we can find out what is happening. It seems the entire power grid is down, and I can only assume there’s been some type of attack.”

Davis and Jackson suddenly emerged out of the front of the hotel running with their small carry-on bags. They tossed them in the bed of the truck.

“Jump in the back gentlemen,” Conner yelled.

Davis and Jackson climbed in and Conner sped off. Driving through downtown Oklahoma City was like playing a video game; he was swerving around and narrowly missing stalled, abandoned cars all along West Sheridan and down South Robinson toward Interstate 40.

“Sir, this is really strange. I understand the power being out if someone took down the power grid, but why are all the cars stalled?” Dylan pushed for some information, frustrated by Conner’s prior refusal to answer his questions.

Paying close attention to his driving, Conner quickly answered, “There are only two things that could do this type of damage, a nuclear weapon detonated high in the atmosphere or a massive solar flare.”

“A nuclear weapon?”

“I’m not sure what is going on exactly, Dylan, but this is why we need to go to Tinker; to find out.”

The drive to the Air Force base was slowed down by the constant dodging of stalled cars along the interstate. As they drove, the men did encounter a few more operational vehicles; all appeared to be early vintage cars.

Coming off the exit for Tinker Air Force Base, both Conner and Dylan could see movement all around the base. There were moving vehicles, but people were clearly scrambling. As they slowly approached the front gate, several military police pointed their rifles and ordered for them to halt.

“Put your arms up, Dylan,” Conner instructed as he stopped the truck just before the first barriers to the entrance off of the exit ramp. “Davis, Jackson, put your arms up!” Conner yelled.

Both Davis and Jackson complied and held their arms up. A single military policeman approached the truck.

“What is your business here?” the officer asked, pointing his rifle right at Conner.

Conner could see the other two policemen spread apart from one another and take positions with their rifles trained on the truck.

“Airman, I am Speaker of the House Brad Conner. May I reach in my pocket and get my ID?”

Conner slowly put his right hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet then pulled out his Congressional ID and driver’s license and held it out the window.

The MP took a few steps and grabbed the cards. He inspected them both and looked at the Speaker. He then shifted his gaze to Dylan and both men in the bed of the truck.

“Who are the other men, sir?”

“Dylan McLatchy in the cab with me and in the back are Special Agents Davis and Jackson, they are with the US Capitol Police.”

“Sir, I need all of their IDs as well,” The officer requested.

“Airman, this is the Speaker of the House of Representatives and we need access immediately,” Dylan demanded.

“Hold on, Dylan, let the man do his job and check us out.” Conner knew everyone was on edge and he didn’t want to make matters worse by forcing his way in. “Everyone get your ID’s and hand them to the airman.”

Dylan and the two special agents did just that. The airman gathered all the IDs, looked at them and then looked at each man; he then stepped away from the truck. “Sir, I need to go back and send someone to HQ as our comm is down; we are not allowing anyone onto base due to the national emergency.”

“Wait a minute, airman, what national emergency?” Conner asked.

“The EMP and nuclear attack sir,” the MP answered, then jogged back to the guard shack.

The MP conferred with his counterpart at the guard shack. The MP who had the IDs kept pointing toward the truck. Finally, he jumped into a Jeep and headed into the base.

“Sir, looks like your hunch was right,” Dylan said.

“Yeah,” Conner whispered. He lifted his head and stared outside of the driver’s side window.

Ten minutes later, the Jeep returned. The MP jumped out accompanied by another man. As the second man approached the truck, Conner could see he was a general.

The general stepped up to the truck and saluted, “Welcome Mr. Speaker, General Daniel Griswald at your service.” He turned to the MP and instructed them to open the gate. “Sir, I apologize for the wait but after what has happened, we are locked down.”

“General I can appreciate that and understand. Please take me somewhere secure so we can be briefed.”

Griswald quickly walked back to the Jeep, the MP jumped back in and they turned around, Conner navigated the barriers and jersey walls set up at the entrance and followed the Jeep.

Conner looked around as they drove down the main road. He could see that even the Air Force Base was not immune to the EMP attack.

They reached the headquarters building and quickly exited their respective vehicles. As they walked toward the building, the general made his way over to the Speaker.

“Sir, how is it that you’re here in Oklahoma and not in Washington?

“My son was involved in a car accident so my wife and I came here to be with him.”

“I am sorry to hear the bad personal news sir, I hope he is doing well,” Griswald said.

Deliberately avoiding the subject of his son, Conner asked, “How much damage does the base have from the EMP?”

“Well, sir, most vehicles and electrical systems as well as the generators are down.”

Griswald continued to explain some of the challenges they were having at the base while he guided Speaker Conner to the secure briefing room. Conner took a seat while Griswald talked to a few other personnel.

“Sir, just another minute, we are waiting on Colonel Jameson with 72 ndWing.”

Conner acknowledged with a nod.

A few minutes passed and a burly man walked into the room. Col. Jameson was short and robust, a contrast to Griswald’s tall and lanky figure.

Jameson carried a stack of binders. Other staff came in with a paper map that was attached to an old chalk board. He walked over to Conner and put out his hand, “Mr. Speaker, Colonel Todd Jameson, pleasure to meet you.”

Conner stood and shook his hand, “Same colonel.” He looked to Griswald and asked, “General, I don’t want to wait any longer. What has happened? I need to know now.” His patience was wearing a bit thin.

“Sir, we are ready and I apologize for any delays. Let me debrief you on what we know so far,” Griswald began, standing at the front of the room in front of the map of the United States.

Conner leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table with his hands clasped.

“At approximately 1013 hundred hours local, a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse device was detonated approximately 300-plus miles above Kansas. The resulting effects from that HEMP caused massive and catastrophic damage across the entire national grid. The estimated diameter of the EMP stretched from one coast of the continental United States to the other. From what we can tell now, with the scarce intelligence that we have, is that the EMP burst shutdown the country’s entire power grid from the East Coast to the West Coast. Sir, I know you are aware of the last Congressional Report put out about this type of attack and it appears the scenarios and estimates of damage were either incorrect or the device that hit us was huge. Now we believe—”

“What do you mean our estimates were wrong?” Conner interrupted.