Ultimate Fear

Chapter 1 - Excerpt

Heartwrenching sounds came from all directions in both major cities and rural areas alike. Speeding vehicles emanated the deafening warning signals for everyone to take notice. The noise, the frightening noise echoed in the atmosphere like ominous rolling thunder. What caused so many to be racing down the roads? Some people gawked; others looked away while covering their ears, but most felt the same cold feeling that struck their core. That was the case at least until the blares faded in the distance. Ambulances, EMS trucks and passenger cars sped to hospital emergency rooms across the western half of the United States. Within several hours, health care facilities of all sizes were filled beyond capacity.

Hundreds, if not thousands of other suffering children, women and men lay trapped in crashed vehicles en route to some facility that may have helped them. They needed treatment, something for the pain. How could they be helped when their drivers too were plagued with the same symptoms? What was happening? One emotion was felt by all. A sense of helplessness took the place of hope.

One day earlier, five highly compensated and treasonous American female scientists received orders to poison the U.S. water supply. Explosives were detonated releasing deadly toxins into the five largest reservoirs in the United States. Up to nineteen trillion gallons of potable water became affected, paralyzing all the states west of the Mississippi River. The command came from the late ruler of the terrorist organization, the Sons of Allah.

The noxious agent they used was trimethylsilyl cyanide—the most dangerous of all cyanide strains. When exposed to water in high concentrations, there wasn’t any other toxin known to man that was more lethal. Once the poisons were released into the billions of gallons of flowing water, it would take up to twenty-four hours to reach its target—American faucets.

These orchestrated attacks were first expected to cause death to thousands … then panic … followed by more sickness and death. Terrorizing fear had once again blanketed America.

Word immediately hit Capitol Hill of the outbreak. But not before the president, the vice president and certain senior U.S. officials had gathered in the Oval Office to pay tribute to an elite CIA operative team known as the TEU-terrorist elimination unit. Three superhero honorees, which made up the TEU, were responsible for eliminating the two diabolical rulers of the Sons of Allah over the last several weeks.

The celebration never officially began for several reasons. As the attendees’ personal communication devices vibrated with alerts, the vice president shouted, “Mr. President, we have a problem …”

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Brownouts during excessive heat waves were common. Blackouts were rare. Simultaneous total power failures caused by massive explosions in three major cities across the United States could only mean one thing—terrorist attacks.

New York City, comprised of five boroughs, was home to over eight million people. One of the most recognized places worldwide had seen its share of power outages over the decades which brought with it: looting, rioting, rapes and murders. But the blast happening on the wake of three recent terrorist attacks within the city was enough to crush the will of even the most strong minded.

Without power, even in broad daylight, time stood still for a moment or two as the awareness of a blackout was felt. Panic ensued within minutes. Collisions occurred at major intersections; jam-packed elevators became stuck between floors; crammed subway trains came to standstills in dark tunnels; plate glass windows shattered causing alarms to be set off. Innocent cries turned into screams, throughout the metropolis. Pedestrians, who just moments earlier refused to make eye contact with their fellow New Yorkers, were caught in the chaos. Evildoers seemed to emerge out of the city’s crevasses. How could they have surfaced so quickly? How could they?

In the minds of inner city thugs, a free pass was bestowed upon them during a citywide power failure. They didn’t care who or what caused the shutdown as looting was their number one priority. The consequences never seemed to matter. To some, they felt it was their entitlement. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just New York City that was suffering.

The same pandemonium occurred in Chicago and Los Angeles. They too had lived through the wrath of the Sons of Allah in recent days. Suicide bombers blew themselves up on various means of public transportation in both cities. Los Angeles’ LAX Airport also suffered massive carnage from a similar dirty bomb explosion as to the one detonated at New York’s train depot. If that wasn’t enough, California’s Ports of Los Angeles and Oakland sustained similar destruction as to the devastation which occurred at the New York / New Jersey Port.

Approximately three years earlier, the founder of the Sons of Allah handpicked homegrown terrorist engineers. He paid them handsomely to start the process for one day to inflict added pain and anguish on the American people. The plan was to cause crippling blackouts in three of America’s most populated cities. Their diabolical scheme to destroy the cities most prominent power plants was flawlessly carried out.

The vice president continued to read the alarming messages on his BlackBerry. “Mr. President, we have more than one problem …”

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Images of fractured pixels appeared on every oversized wall mounted high definition screen and computer monitor throughout the Homeland Security Satellite Surveillance Computer Room (SSCR). The distortions instantly spread to NASA’s Imaging Lab and the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Chamber. All three of these divisions’ highly classified systems were considered the heart of U.S. security as every corner of the globe was monitored twenty-four seven.

Even the slightest threat of a security breach anywhere on Capitol Hill caused all systems to run on alert mode. Under such status, programs could not be altered and technicians had ten minutes to not only ascertain what caused the problem but correct it. If they failed to cure the threat, the systems automatically defaulted to red alert mode, meaning only personnel with the proper security clearance could run the operations.

Never before did more than one highly secure D.C. division experience simultaneous computer malfunctions. In the aftermath of the numerous terrorist attacks which occurred on U.S. soil over the last couple of months, three sectors losing contact with the outside world meant one thing. The Sons of Allah was tightening its grip around America’s throat.

The word, “Cyberterrorism,” resonated above the rest of the commotion. As the techs scrambled for a solution, the idea that something or someone was controlling these breakdowns could not be ruled out. It was felt as if they were being toyed with. The distorted images and garbled audio would come and go.

Was it simply a mechanical glitch or a human error? Was it the Sons of Allah? Were they acting alone?

The ashen-faced president couldn’t believe what he heard from his second in command. He started to talk, but the Homeland secretary interrupted. “There’s one more problem, Mr. President, and I’ve got to leave now …”