Chapter 19 – The Lair
Paraguay
George jets to Paraguay, landing on a dirt strip. People checking The Node map would only see a huge dirt expanse. Morris is there to greet him. George is quickly ushered into his office/throne.
“Operation 'Kill Switch' has begun.” Morris proclaims.
A screen appears, showing different views of the world, and George starts selecting the screens to view them.
At one hospital the insulin pump starts to inject more than prescribed for the patients. The networked defibrillator that allows physician to monitor their patients’ conditions and deliver life saving electric pulses when needed suddenly starts going off, delivering electric shocks to the heart of the patients.
Around the world, systems at control towers of the airports are going down. Computers on the planes start rebooting causing a lot of the planes to descend rapidly as the pilots struggle to regain control.
Bank machines also start spewing cash out causing people to rush and grab it. Bank security is overwhelmed.
System that manages inventory, and delivery for stores, crashes. With the supply chain and inventory now managed very tightly to save cost, the supermarkets and grocery stores shelves will be empty in a day or two.
Boats in the sea and cars guided by GPS start to go off course leaving sailors and drivers lost.
Power starts to go down starting from Manitoba Hydro. Their networked system has been compromised and their turbine starts to spin out of control causing an explosion in the hydro power plant. There are leaks reported in some hydro plants and evacuation on various towns are initiated.
There are reports of protests breaking out in Spain following revelations about their political leader's connection to the conglomerate. Morris decides to fly to Spain on their private plane into the conglomerate's private airport to personally take care of the growing protest.
Hackers around the world
The hackers who have been working without sleep for days come up with a fix and identify the offending apps. Everyone is advised to stop using The Node, and tablets manufactured by them, and to turn them off. People are asked to download the fix to counter the malicious patches sent out by The Node recently. All hackers struggle to spread the fix on time as power and system start to go down across the world. They then start hacking into all accessible computers to push the fix in. It seems like a futile effort but they push through. Power plants start disconnecting their networks. Some have become so reliant on network control that they end up shutting down.
The hackers efforts do not seem to be making any dent against the looming disaster but they persevere. Hours later when all hope seems to be out of reach, they started to get reports that things are stabilizing and no new cases of breach have been reported. The fix is designed like a virus but instead of breaking a system it fixes them. It starts to spread quickly like a swarm of lady bugs chasing away the swarm of aphids eradicating them. It stops the attack on its track.
Pentagon
Officers listed in George's log are all removed from power. An emergency command has been established. The new commander-in-chief is Nick Sherwood of Veteran Affairs, 17th in line of succession from the president. He is the only one not named in George's log. The rest of the 16 in line from Eva Garcia down are named.
Gracy contacts President Nick Sherwood and tells him about a way to trace George's whereabouts. Gracy is invited to the Pentagon where a meeting is being held.
“I hit George in several spots injecting nano GPS into his body. I tracked where he went and the last I have is he landed in a dirt road at Paraguay.” Gracy points to a world map on a large table. The map immediately zooms in showing nothing but a dirt strip of land.
“I suspect they have their bases built underground. I have something we can use to map out their underground base. I need your plane.” Gracy explains.
The Conglomerate's Headquarter, Paraguay
George is screaming mad as he leaves and shuts the door in their cyberwarfare control centre. Their operation has been halted with most system having been fixed and making them unable to push any new patches through.
Above ground and in the sky over the conglomerate's base several planes fly by dropping a missile that injects itself to several spots in the ground like several pins stuck into a cloth. Then several big cargo planes arrive dropping what looks like a bomb with flat surfaces. Above them is a plane loaded with computers and connected to the radio in the missiles embedded into the ground. As the huge flat bomb hits the ground, it shakes the ground creating a seismic wave. The seismic wave travels underground and is captured by the missiles that are now acting like a probe. It is then transmitted to the plane loaded with computers. Processing of the underground image begins. A 3D image of the underground base is created.
Everyone in the underground base feels the vibration. It is like an earthquake has hit them.
Then another plane arrives. This one is a drone flying low with thermal imaging cameras recording the warm areas which are potential power sources for the underground base. The results are also transmitted to the plane high above the sky. The images from seismic wave and thermal imaging are then transmitted to the satellite and back to Pentagon.
Within minutes, commands are issued to hit the base. Planes arrive carrying precision bunk buster bombs dropping them on several selected spots of the base. It creates several holes. Immediately following them are Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic bombs. The power goes out in the underground base and battery powered emergency flash lights came on. But the electronic equipment is fried.
In the underground base, George is shaken as a big hole was created down the hall from his table followed by a loud bang as another bomb came down causing all the power to go out. In the cyberwarfare room, Helmut and Luitger are stunned while all the crews run out in panic. A hole has also been made here and an EM bomb landed directly on their wall screen. Suddenly a capsule lands and Helmut and Luitger dock, not knowing if it will be an explosive bomb this time. But the capsule lands with a thud and a man in a formal marine uniform with a disfigured face comes out. Talon Gladwell has read George's log on the internet and knows that Bolivia's attack was premeditated by men at this base. He is here to thank them for giving him the permanent disfigurement in his face. Helmut quickly draws his gun but by the time his gun is levelled a spinning blade hits his hand and he drops the gun. Luitger attempts the same thing and suffers the same fate. Helmut jumps over one of the panels grabbing a steel bar off one of the railing. He charges toward the marine. The marine raises his arm which has a metal shield and blocks off the metal bar. Talon quickly swings his arm outward causing Helmut to lose his balance. Luitger pulls off another metal bar and flies toward Talon but the marine quickly jumps to the side causing Luitger to fall to the ground. Helmut charges back again with another swing at the marine who promptly jumps over Helmut. Luitger then tries to strike Talon's body but hits his arm with the steel brace. Both Helmut and Luitger immediately hit back at Talon who promptly blocks both the bars on each side. He pushes both of them away causing them to stagger back few steps. Talon then quickly climbs the wall.
Gracy provides him with what she says are new shoes with nanopores that are able to hold onto any surface, allowing the wearer to climb like a wall lizard or spider. He continues climbing to the astonishment of both Helmut and Luitger who just watch him with mouths wide open. Helmut then rushes to pick up the gun. Talon at the roof top quickly releases his foot and tumbles down, landing at the back of Helmut, hitting his hand and catching the gun as it falls. Luitger comes attacking from the back but Talon swerves to the side while Helmut turns around to face Talon but ends up getting Luitger's bar in his face. Talon then jumps and kicks both Helmut and Luitger at the same time. Both fall to the ground and almost losing consciousness. Talon then ties both of them together and says, “You don't mess with the U.S. marines. We are not pawn for your corrupt and hateful wars!”
Above gro
und, all of George's private armies assemble to thwart off any invaders. Several drones fly by and the armies respond by shooting into the air. Some drones are hit but still manage to deliver their load. The bombs dropped by the drones create bolts of electricity all around causing everyone in the vicinity to lose consciousness. Then several helicopters arrive with each having a dangling object that looks like a big projection camera or small cannon. Each has a square metal casing behind it. Each of these land on the ground and the rope is severed. The camera/cannon surrounds the vicinity. The square casing contains a portable nuclear reactor. Although George's bought up the patent, Gracy was able to grab a blue print from the former owner. The casing is sealed and each unit has a GPS. Any attempt at tampering would result in the signal being sent and its GPS location reported. The casing is a specially constructed light weight metal with boron nanotubes that effectively shield the radiation and stores the energy inside. The portable nuclear device is perfect for the new force field technology that her company have developed. Each projector unit requires a lot of power.
All units are in position and powered up. Each contains an advanced supernanocapacitor. The advanced supernanocapacitors are provided by Oleg Oborski and are also used in his Zeus 1 electric car. The projector consists of a rotating unit inside and a high atomic number metal such as lead. It creates a force field by controlling electrically charged atoms. But it is unlike those depicted in science fiction where there is a visible shield. It is almost invisible but can be quickly felt by anyone trying to pass through or throw an object at it. The projectors have been started and the field overlaps between the different units. As the armies regain consciousness they find themselves surrounded by projectors. One army starts firing only to realize the bullets bounced back hitting one of his own man. He stops firing. A loud speaker instructs them to lay down their arms and no one will be harmed. Most of the soldiers are shock at what had just happened and quickly comply by laying down their arms They are told to leave their arms at the back and lined up to be processed and taken out of here. They are asked to remove their uniforms and only have shirts and underwear to make sure they have no hidden weapons. The processing is done very quickly and soon a parade of buses take the whole armies out of the area.
George continues to tap on his tablet and is unable to comprehend how their plans could have failed. All of a sudden something starts coming down from the hole in the ceiling. He sees that it is Ray floating down with some sort of rocket propelled unit with round metal frame around him. There is a small metal ball inside the circular frame above Ray.
George has a look of surprise. “So you really want to die so badly you still come back after escaping the explosion at my house?”
“I am just here to take you in.” Ray says.
George starts laughing. “You? Boy you must have hit your head hard when you were a kid. You want to take me in with your metal ball?”
“Actually, this is a personal size nuclear power even smaller than the portable one.”
“Don't I own the patent for that? I'll make sure that you are jailed and penalized under the patent law.”
“If you don't use it, you lose it.”
George then draws a knife out and throws it at Ray but it just hits an invisible wall causing a few sparks before falling to the ground.
“Gracy sends her regards with this shield. She calls it the Payback Shield.”
George takes out a pipe like instrument bigger than the one he used to shoot at Ray in his office. George presses the button but nothing comes out. Realizing it has been fried by the EM bomb, he grabs his next weapon. A gun.
“No!” Ray yelled.
George smiles, thinking he has found the weakness of the shield. He fires several shots successively. Ray closes his eyes knowing what will follow next. The processor immediately gives instruction to generate a repelling force that will not only block the bullet but also push the bullet back to the origin. The unit's power goes up draining all of the power from the personal size nuclear power unit. Most of the bullets quickly head back towards George so fast that he did not have a chance to react. One of the bullets embeds itself into George's heart. George falls to the ground, killed by his own bullet.
Somewhere in Paraguay
The two Walters brothers are away from the underground base when the attack happened. The two brothers John and Martin are being groomed by George as his successor. Unlike Cole, the two brothers know about the underground base and have visited the site quite often. George thinks Cole is too temperamental to be trusted with such a secret. “And he was right,” John says.
“That traitor who stabbed his own father in the back will have to pay.” Martin says.
The two brothers board a private jet on their way to the Cayman islands. “With all our money hidden in Cayman and Swiss bank, we should be able to advance our father's goal.” John says.
“Since protests are breaking out across the world because of the revelation, we should consider playing the other side of the court.” Martin said.
“How?”
“Create strife somewhere and have our chosen leader come in as the saviour. We might even be able to get the people behind us. We can start our own people power revolution.”
“Nothing is impossible. But let's get out of here for now and plan our next move in our Cayman's hideout.”