Bear groaned and stuck two fingers toward his open mouth. “Gag me.”
“Shut up. I like her music,” replied Cam.
“She’s a damn Marxist,” Bear argued.
“No, she’s not. She’s just opinionated.”
Gunner rolled his eyes. The three of them rarely talked politics. It wasn’t that they didn’t have their own views, but they all agreed the topic wasn’t worth arguing over. They didn’t believe they had control over the outcomes of elections anyway. At least in the U.S., anyway.
The game had gone to a commercial break with the Seahawks and 49ers tied 3-3, in a fairly boring, unexciting first half. Gunner popped the tops on three Sammy’s Suds and distributed them to his friends.
The commercial break ended, and Cam made her way to the couch to watch. Because it was the NFL opener, halftime was treated with a Super Bowl–worthy show complete with pyrotechnics, laser lights, and high-octane dancers. It was the dancers that initially caught Bear’s attention, who subtly abandoned his weapons check and joined Cam in front of the television.
Gunner went into the kitchen and stood at the island while he fixed Howard a snack of Science Diet kibbles and Nummy Tum Tum pumpkin. He hated leaving Howard so often, especially since Pop wasn’t around to keep him company. The lady who lived down the street was extremely nice and loved Howard. More importantly, she was reliable.
“Hey, something’s wrong!” exclaimed Cam, who lifted herself off the sofa and walked toward Gunner’s large television monitor.
“She’s still singin’,” said Bear.
“No. Look. She’s blinded by the lights in her eyes. Look at the fans they let onto the field. They’re dropping to their knees.”
This got Gunner’s attention. He slammed his beer on the counter and searched his pockets for his cell phone. He found Ghost’s number in his contact list and dialed it.
Cam yelled, “Holy shit! It’s freakin’ chaos!”
Howard began to howl as the high energy in Gunner’s house threatened to cause a power outage.
“They’re trampling each other trying to get to the exits,” said Bear.
Gunner’s call to Ghost was connected. “Turn on ESPN. I think there’s an attack on the 49ers game.”
Cam held both hands on top of her head. She began pacing back and forth in front of the television. She swung around to see if Gunner was watching as her face reflected her feeling of despair. She was not one to cry, but she used all her strength to fight the tears back now.
Bear was more vocal. “We should’ve known they’d pull something like this. High-profile game. Captive audience. Jesus, they’re killing each other trying to get to the exits.”
Suddenly, a bright flash filled the camera lens as the stadium personnel turned on all of the lights that had been doused for the halftime show. The cameras were now able to broadcast the carnage to the world.
Gunner listened to Ghost and then responded, “This is gonna be bad. You warned them. It’s not on us.”
He paused to listen to his boss. “Okay. Okay, see you soon.”
Bear reached out to Cam, who took his offer of a comforting hug. The two operators were rock solid in the field, but they were still very much human and understood the dire impact terrorism had on a nation as well as the people directly affected by the cowardly acts.
What was unfolding before them was the U.S. Embassy attack on steroids. Not only were people openly dying throughout the stadium from ingesting the nerve agent, but they were crushing one another in an effort to escape the deadly gas that enveloped them. It was a horrific scene none of the viewers, especially Gunner, Cam, and Bear, would ever forget.
It also strengthened their resolve to stop the next attack and personally kill everyone who played a role in this one.
Chapter Forty-Three
The Den
Fort Belvoir, Virginia
It was five minutes to midnight, and the mood in the Den was one of despair. Several of the analysts openly wept as all of the twelve monitors were filled with different feeds of video footage obtained from ESPN. Despite the horrific events unfolding at Levi’s Stadium, the eighteen cameras manned by nearly two hundred employees continued to broadcast the attack to the world. The high-game cameras placed at the fifty-yard line and at each of the opponents’ twenty-two-yard lines provided a bird’s-eye view of the pandemonium that ensued as the sarin gas was released throughout the stadium.
Gunner and his team were the last to arrive. When they did, Ghost turned to Jackal and instructed her to turn off all the monitors.
“Listen up, everyone. I think we’re all here now.”
Ghost paused to allow everyone to gather themselves and suppress their emotions. He needed their undivided attention.
“I know you’re exhausted already and now distraught at what we’ve just witnessed. However, your country needs you now more than ever. Each of us has an important role to play. For some, it will be more difficult because I am going to call on you to watch and rewatch the footage provided to us by the network.
“In addition, I’ve also contacted the FBI to get copies of all available security footage around the Levi’s Stadium complex. There will also be more coming into us from surrounding businesses and private video retrieved from smartphones during the cleanup. This is going to be a massive undertaking to pore through this footage. We can’t do it alone, and we’ll have to rely upon the FBI to provide us the results of their analysis.
“That said, I want you to focus your efforts on all activity prior to the moment the gas was released. The sarin nerve agent is among the deadliest known to man. It can be deployed in a variety of ways and doesn’t necessarily require a suicide-bomber-type scenario. While we can’t rule that out, I don’t want it to be the focus of our efforts. Let’s study what was happening in and around that stadium before halftime. Look for things
