Still bad, but nothing like 2003.”
I said, “Just say they could do it. That they could overcome your smart grid. What are we looking at?”
“Well, they can’t, so it’s like asking what would happen if dinosaurs were to attack your house.”
I was about to lose my temper and my tone betrayed that. “The president of the United States is asking. What would happen?”
He snapped back at my sharpness, along with everyone else in the room. He paused for a moment, then said truculently, “Well, if by some black magic they could cause a blackout, it would be catastrophic. If they attacked the Eastern exchange and brought the EHVTs off-line, and managed to shunt the power linearly, it would shut down the entire eastern seaboard for months. Extrapolating from the three-day blackout, you’d be looking at losses in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and a huge loss of life, from simple traffic accidents to hospital deaths. But I’m telling you, that
I looked at Kurt. “The terrorists would know that. They wouldn’t put this much time and effort into an attack without ensuring success. They spent years recruiting American prisoners, then placing them inside power companies. The theft of EFPs was very well thought out, and geared toward this attack. We’re missing something. You need to turn my team loose. We’re the only ones who know what we’re up against. The only ones who believe.”
The egghead on the screen heard me and became shrill. “Mister Whoever You Are, I’m sure you believe there’s a threat, but from where I’m at, I can tap into the power flow of the entire country. I can reach any interchange with the touch of a keyboard. We’ve put an enormous amount of effort into fixing the system. It’s ad hoc, but still better than anywhere else in the world. Doomsday just isn’t going to happen, not unless the terrorists have found a way to go back in time ten years.”
Kurt began to say something, and the lights went out.
69
Rafik paid his five dollars and pulled around into a small parking lot adjacent to a pond, seeing a trail wind into the forest across a wooden walkway. It had taken him close to two hours to reach the Calvert Cliffs State Park from downtown Baltimore, and during that time his pay-as-you-go TracFone had vibrated four times. Four text messages stating success. Four in two hours. Much faster than he had anticipated. If they kept up this pace, the grid would reach critical mass within six hours. He had planned on ten, assuming he would lose one team eventually. In truth, in the back of his mind, he had planned on failure.
He was surprised at the number of people in the park, and wondered why they weren’t at work or school. Couples leaving to hike the trails with day packs, families with picnic baskets, and lone fossil hunters with trowels, buckets, and brushes headed to the shore of the Chesapeake Bay two miles away.
He had done the research on the park on the Internet, convinced the place would be deserted, and now wondered about his ability to stay for the duration of the attack. Looking at it logically, he decided there wasn’t a threat. Lots of cars were parked around him, and probably would be until the park closed at sunset. The only implication was that he wouldn’t be able to sit inside his vehicle without drawing attention to himself.
He slung a day pack over his shoulder, the water bottles inside making it sag awkwardly, and walked to a map tacked inside a display case. He saw that the trail he was parked in front of led straight east, to the shore and the fossil cliffs. That wouldn’t do. He needed one that went north, to his target. He located three other trails, all longer, that went north, then wound back to the east, starting at another lot farther into the park. He debated walking but then decided that he didn’t want to traverse the entire parking area loaded down with explosives if he was forced to execute this plan.
He returned to the car and wound through the park, passing shelters and picnic tables, all overloaded with people. He found the area he wanted, right next to a gravel access road labeled for emergency vehicles only. There were no parking spots available, but he noticed that others had taken to parking wherever there was space, with an apparent disregard for marked spots, which would work better for him. He pulled right into a grassy area at the trailhead, parking in the shade of a stand of hardwoods, and killed the engine. He debated for a few seconds about taking his sidearm, then decided against it, sliding it under the driver’s seat. If he was stopped, the pistol would only confirm suspicions. The minute he fired a shot, the mission would be over. Better for him to talk his way out of trouble.
As he entered the trailhead, he compared himself to the other visitors and was pleased to see he blended in fine. Some were carrying larger rucksacks, which he would have to do to carry the EFP toward his target should his primary plan fail, a contingency that was looking more and more remote.
He walked up the access road, alongside three couples headed the same way. Feeling self-conscious, he tried to act interested in the flora and fauna, using a cheap digital camera as a prop. Eventually, the couples split off onto the shorter trails, with him sticking to the longest because it continued north toward his target. When it began to traverse to the east, he split off, marking the point on his GPS. He continued straight through the forest, hiking on the bearing he had set in his GPS earlier.
He felt his phone vibrate inside the pack, and rapidly pulled it out, anxious to see which of the four had managed to conduct a second attack so soon.
He pushed the button for text messaging, and stared at the phone in disbelief. It was the imam’s team in Pennsylvania, and they weren’t texting success.
70
Inside the conference room, the cacophony of voices shouting in the dim light of the emergency illumination was giving President Warren a headache. He rubbed his forehead, then ordered everyone to be quiet until the generator could kick in.
Three minutes later, it did, with the fluorescent bulbs flickering back to life. The cacophony grew again, as one by one the members of the council began to raise their voices to be heard.
“Quiet!” he said again.
When everyone was still, he said, “Okay, one at a time. Quit shouting over each other.”
While the council members waited to be called on, Pike took the opportunity to start.
“Sir, they’re at it now. You need to let me go. Turn my team loose. There’s no way the police are going to be able to react in time. They don’t have the assets of the Taskforce, and we don’t have the time to waste.”
Secretary Brookings said, “You aren’t even a member of this council. I demand you remain silent unless asked to speak.”
President Warren spoke to the director of the CIA. “Get that egghead back online. We need to assess what’s happening.”
Brookings continued, “Sir, you can’t consider using Project Prometheus domestically. That was the one sacrosanct thing on which we all agreed. No matter what the consequences. That cure is worse than the disease.”
“I’m not considering anything at this point. I need more information.”
The Tandberg came to life, with the mad scientist now looking like he was going to throw up.
President Warren said, “Well, what’s going on with the grid?”
“Uhh… it’s being hit all over the Northeast. We’ve got multiple substations down, with others falling fairly rapidly due to the shifting of the load.”
“What the fuck happened to your smart grid?”
“I don’t know. They’re checking now. Early assessments are a Trojan horse virus. It definitely knocked out our early warning, and looks like it’s affected a majority of our real-time automated shunting.”
