Milwaukee Deep
Chapter 48

Harding held the phone to his ear.

“Cheapers, listen to me carefully - drop what you’re doing and get yourself to Transit Authority headquarters immediately. Don’t stop for anyone.”

“Tom, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t have time to explain, call me back on this number within five minutes of reaching there and I’ll brief you then.”

“Okay, I’m leaving now.”

“Good, get there quick, Cheapers, New York’s depending on it.”

Harding shut the phone.

He turned to President Stoker.

“Agent Cheapston will be there soon, Mr President. Once he’s there we can arrange to shut down all trains across New York.”

“Good,” replied Stoker, “all we have to do now is organise the man power to begin the search.”

“I can arrange that,” said General Conwrey, “that’s what we’re trained to do, Mr President - I can have a thousand men in New York within the hour.”

“That’s not enough, General,” Harding said, “I don’t know how many trains are active in New York, but we’ll have to check every subway car across the entire city and given that we’ll need at the very least a four man search team per subway car, we’ll need more men.”

“Agreed,” said President Stoker, “This is one operation I don’t want to take any risks regarding our resources - I want every available soldier, sailor, air force pilot in New York City within the hour. Call on the National Guard and every military command post across the state. Ensure they comply with my order, do you understand, General?”

“Yes, Sir - I’m on my way, Sir,” and Conwrey scurried out of the oval office.

“Harding, contact the rest of your team in New York to help with the search while I call the Police Commissioner and Mayor and see how many men they can provide.”

“Yes, Sir,” Harding was about to put the phone to his ear when he stopped and looked up at Stoker.

“Mr President, you do know once you make that call this all gets out.”

“I know, Tom, but what choice do I have? I need their help.”

“We’ve got to call Tom Harding,” Perks said as he looked over to Sam, “we need a plan to put a stop to this.”

“If they deliberately released the virus then God help us,” added Sam.

Perks got up off the bench and walked over to the door. He looked across into the adjacent room and saw Dr Durham and Dr Jensen apparently in discussion. He slowly closed the door behind him and turned to his colleague.

“What we’ve heard today, Sam, could just about be the beginning of the end. God knows how powerful these aliens are, how much firepower they possess. If we don’t do this right then we could start something that could end very badly.”

“I still don’t get it – why destroy us? We’re helping them replace the cure.”

“It’s obvious, Sam - they have the cure - and that means one thing - why go back when you have everything they need here. All they have to do is release the virus, let it destroy everything in its path, then release the cure and they’ve got a whole planet to themselves.”

“And Ganton was the first they released”

“That’s right, Sam, they released him and then their second try – Michael. If we don’t act fast, who knows who else they’ll let loose. And chances are we won’t be able to stop them all.”

Sam took a deep breath.

“Like we don’t have enough enemies right now,” he said.

“That’s why we have to do something,” said Perks, “that’s why we have to call Harding.”

“Approximately more than 62 hundred cars in use at the moment, Mr President,” said Dominic Bartolio, chief of operations at the NYC Transit Authority in Brooklyn.

Stoker turned to Harding - he shook his head in disbelief.

Harding leant forward getting closer to the speaker phone.

“How long would it take to shut down the system completely Mr Bartolio?” he asked.

“Shut down the system? Do you know what that will do to this city?”

“I’m aware of the consequences, Mr Bartolio, how long?”

“Not long – we control everything from here.”

“Then shut it down now,” interrupted Stoker, “shut down the system immediately.”

“Yes, Mr President.”

“Cheapers, make sure all subway trains cease operation, do you understand – I don’t want to see one train on the move.”

“I’m on it, Tom.”

“And make sure every passenger is evacuated off the trains immediately. I want to know the exact location of every subway train throughout all of New York. Is that clear, Cheapers?”

“Sure is, Tom. They have a tracking system here that we can tap into to make sure we don’t miss any.”

“Good. I spoke to Cooper not more than five minutes ago. He’s on the way to help you coordinate the search. Remember, Cheapers, it’s now all just a matter of time. With over six thousand cars to search, we’ll need every available man to begin their search within the hour, so you’ve got one hour to get everyone off those trains and keep them grounded.”

“Copy that. I’ll begin the shut down process immediately.”

“Good. And once you’ve done that call your crew to come in and assist with the coordination of the ground search. I’ll call you back within fifteen for an update,” and Harding ended the call.

He looked over at President Stoker.

“Sir, I have to get to New York.”

“What? No, Tom, I need you here.”

“Mr President, I’m needed where it matters most – I need to be in that control room in Brooklyn, overseeing the search. Here I’m useless – there’s not much else I can do within these walls.”

The President took a moment to respond.

“I understand, Tom. I’ll arrange for Marine One to get you there quickly.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Harding pulled out his phone and dialled Cooper’s number. He waited.

“Cooper, it’s me - cancel the visit to Brooklyn. I want you to meet with the rest of the ground crew at Yankee Stadium. That’s right. Yes. Good, I’m heading there now so I’ll talk to you once I hit New York. See you then.”

Harding shut his phone and turned to Stoker.

“Mr President, there’s one more thing I need to ask of you.”

“And that is?”

“That you get to Air Force One immediately, Sir. If we fail, you need to be in the air and as far away from the eastern seaboard as possible.”

Stoker looked at Harding - he didn’t reply.

“Sir, you know you can coordinate this from Air Force One just as well as if you were here,” Harding said.

Stoker took a moment.

“Very well, I’ll arrange it,” he finally said.

At that moment, Agent Hudson opened the door to the oval office and approached.

“Where’s Bell?” asked the President.

“Sir, Harry Bell was found in the west wing bathroom on the second floor.”

“And?”

“And he’s dead, Sir – I guess he realised what had happened to Crane and panicked.”

The President froze.

“He’s dead? But what about my son?”

Hudson took in a deep breath.

“I called the university, Mr President – there’s no sign of him.”

Stoker turned to Harding.

“Its okay, Mr President, we’ll replace him,” Harding said

Stoker began to breathe that little bit harder.

“Tom. He could still be in New York.”