Part 8 (1/2)
”Headache, Lamar?” Ben asked.
”Yeah. Ben, is the city going to be put to the torch?”
”Yes. Unfortunately. I wish it could be saved, but that's impossible.”
”And the same with Los Angeles?”
”Yes. Is that what's bothering you?”
”No. It's the highly infectious diseases our people will probably encounter once in the city comcities -- proper.”
Ben sat on a corner of an old desk. ”You have some intelligence you'd like to share with me?”
”Recon brought back some prisoners this morning; they grabbed them last night comy know that.
I've had lab people doing blood work. It ...
worries me, Ben.”
”AIDS?”.
”Well ... closely related. But resistant to anything we've got. And anything we're likely to have for years. Ben, I'm afraid Los Angeles is going to be the same.”
”It's h.e.l.l fighting in gas masks, Lamar. They restrict vision.”
The doctor shook his head. ”I don't think it will come to that. But I would advise surgical masks and gloves taped tight on the wrists. As little exposed flesh as possible.”
”All right. That will present only a small problem. What else?”
”Anyone with an open wound-however minor- to be used as rear-echelon personnel.”
”Done.”
”When we establish a toehold, Ben, I would suggest that we use artillery to bring down the city.
Try to avoid as much physical contact with the creeps as we can.”
”I'll go for that. Fine. I'll have Beth and Corrie send out directives right now.”
”Ben?”
Ben met the doctor's eyes.
”I don't want any prisoners taken. No creepies or anyone in the city with them.”
Ben arched an eyebrow. For Doctor Chaseto suggest something that drastic meant that he was really worried about disease. ”Is it that bad, Lamar?”
”Yes. It's that bad, Ben. I want this city destroyed by fire. I don't want anything left, Ben. Nothing.”
Ben studied the toe of his jump boot for a moment.
He looked up. ”Lamar, if you're telling me that the creeps and their a.s.sociates are infected with some disease that we are powerless to combat, medically speaking, that means that more than likely every creep and a.s.sociate in this state has the same disease.”
”Yes. That is a very good possibility. Carriers, at least.”
”d.a.m.n!” He turned to Corrie. ”You heard it all, Corrie. Get on the horn and advise all unit commanders. They make no moves until we get surgical masks and gloves on every person. Anyone with a wound comno matter how minor-is to pull back to the rear. Get on it, please.”
”Do you want Dan to pull out, sir?” she asked.
”No. Tell him to hold up until he and his people are masked and gloved. Tell him to stand down and wait for my orders.”
He waited until Corrie had sent the orders out, then said, ”I want all our planes, two-engine and above, to start coming in here. Travis AFB is clear. Tell them to land there and come bomb-equipped. Napalm only.”
”Yes, sir.”
To Lamar: ”We don't have that many pilots and we don't have that many planes that are equipped for bombing raids. This is going to be quite a jury-rig operation.”
”Anything will help, Ben. Los Angeles is what's got me worried. It's such a sprawling place.”
”We'll deal with L.a. when we get there, Lamar. Now I'm going to ask a layman's question.
How far are we from a vaccine for this disease?”
”Ben, we weren't even close when the Great War hit us. There were so many variants in the AIDS thing, we'd get one whipped and three more resistant strains would pop up. The powers that be back then just would not put the needed money into research; I don't think they realized what a dreadful plague upon the land it really was.”
”Or they didn't care. Remember that many of our so-called leaders knew that the power play that led to the war was on the way.”
”It's moot now, though, isn't it?”
”Unfortunately. Well ... this new development is going to delay the attack for a day, maybe two.”
”This is also going to let the creepies and the outlaws grow stronger,” Buddy pointed out, speaking for the first time since Chase entered the room.
”I know,” his father said. ”But with this new twist, it can't be helped. Corrie, have our scanners pickedup any word on the whereabouts of Khamsin, Villar, and that bunch?”
”Not a peep, sir. Wherever they are, they're maintaining strict radio silence.”
”That tells me they're so weak in number they don't want us to find them. We'd wipe them out.
We really creamed them in the mountains. We had to have cut their numbers by a good sixty, seventy percent. Maybe more than that. We certainly buried and burned a lot of bodies.”
”And then the remainder just drop off the face of the earth?” Chase said. ”That doesn't make any sense. Unless they all decided to go straight for a change, and that doesn't seem a very likely probability to me.”
”Oh, no, Lamar. They're holed up somewhere, keeping their heads down. You can bet on that. And what is worse is that they'll rebuild quickly. You know as well as I that there are thousands of thugs and punks just waiting for an opportunity to link up with a gang.
Sometimes I honest to G.o.d think there are more crud than decent people left. Sure appears that way at times. No, we'll just deal with one problem at a time. That's all we can do.”