CHAPTER
68
AS THEY ARRIVED at the Pentagon it was now early morning and streams of people were heading to work inside the building. Rinehart met Puller and Knox at one of the entrances with members from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency and several men dressed in biohazard uniforms. They had two golf carts with them. Puller took a couple minutes to fill everyone in on what they might be confronting.
“Weaponized Ebola?’ said the head of the Protection Agency, a man named Ted Pritchard. “Aerosolized? So introduced through our HVAC system?”
“Yes,” said Puller.
Pritchard said, “But we have air monitors all over this place. Exterior intakes, internally placed. The system can detect deviations and foreign particulates. Including Ebola.”
“But even if it detects it, people can still be infected by the time the system shuts down,” said Puller.
“Where the hell do you think it is?” barked Rinehart.
When Puller didn’t say anything, Pritchard said, “We have seven floors, including two below ground, six and a half million square feet, twenty-nine acres, and seventeen and a half miles of corridors. And thousands of people working here. It’s not a needle in a haystack. It’s a needle in the middle of a freaking farm.”
Puller said, “The last time I was here I nearly got run over by someone hauling a cart full of oxygen canisters. Where would they go?”
Rinehart looked at Pritchard. “Do you have the answer to that?”
“The E Ring is where the senior officers have their offices. When renovation work was done it was configured to be sealed off and then piped to carry an emergency backup oxygen system.”
“Command and control,” said Puller quietly. He turned to Pritchard. “Where is the oxygen supply for this backup system?”
“Let’s go.”
The Pentagon consisted of five concentric pentagonal rings intersected by ten radial corridors. Its original cost was eighty-three million dollars and the structure had been built in only sixteen months during America’s involvement in the Second World War. Though enormous, it was designed so that one could travel between any two points in the building in seven minutes.
In the golf carts Puller and company made it in four minutes. During the ride Puller said in a low voice to Rinehart, “James Schindler is dead.”
Rinehart showed enormous self-restraint at this news. “How do you know that?” he said in a low voice.
Puller went on to explain what had happened in the apartment building.
“I heard about that on the news,” Rinehart said, shaking his head. “But I had no idea Jim was involved.”
“It’s going to take a while to ID him,” said Puller grimly. “But I was there and I was nearly killed too.”
“Reynolds?”
“She was there as well, but got away.”
“I want to hear all about it, Puller. But not now.”
“Right.”
The site of the oxygen supply was on the basement level near Corridor 3. The door to the room was locked. They unlocked it and poured in.
“Over there,” said Pritchard, pointing. There was a cluster of oxygen tanks in the center of the room.
“What do we look for?” asked Rinehart.
Puller examined the canisters. “These look like they’ve been here a while. And they’re a different color from the ones I saw. Green, not silver. Can you check?”
Pritchard hurried over to a computer screen built into the wall and punched in a password and then hit some other keys. He read off the screen and turned to Puller. “They were last replaced about two months ago.”
“Is there another place where these canisters are kept?”
“No sir.”
“But that’s not possible. I was here recently and I saw a cartload of canisters. I was almost run down by them.”
“Well, they weren’t delivered here.”
Rinehart grabbed Puller by the shoulder. “Do you think you’ve read this incorrectly? It might not be here at all, Puller. We could be wasting valuable time.”
Knox looked at him. “But you said you saw the cart with the canisters when you were here?”
He nodded and pointed at Rinehart. “You were with me, sir. Don’t you remember seeing it? I grabbed you when you stumbled getting out of the way.”
Rinehart thought for a few seconds and then his eyes widened. “I do remember that. There was a motorized cart hauling what looked like oxygen tanks.”
Puller turned to Pritchard. “Where would they be going with those?”
“I’m not sure.”
Knox said, “Well, it’s not here.”
They rushed from the room. Puller started walking full bore down the corridor while the others climbed into the carts and followed him. Knox stayed on foot and caught up to him.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m hoping I see something that will lead to something else.”
“But are you looking for anything in particular?”
“Yeah. Another way to disseminate the virus.”
“But what could that be if it’s not in the air ducts? That’s how you deploy an aerosolized bioweapon.”
But Puller wasn’t listening to her. He had stopped walking and was staring off.
Rinehart leapt off one of the carts and grabbed Puller’s arm.
“Do we need to evacuate, Puller? It’s the damn Pentagon. It’ll take time.”
Puller wasn’t listening to him either. He hustled over to a wall and snatched off a piece of paper that had been taped there. He read down it and then looked over at the group of men.
“You’re having a fire drill today?”
“Yes,” said Pritchard. He looked at his watch. “In about eight minutes. Why?”
“And you didn’t think to mention it!” barked Puller.
Pritchard bristled. “You said the Ebola would be carried through our air ducts. No one mentioned anything about our fire suppression system.”
“We don’t have time for a pissing contest,” snapped Knox.
Puller said, “You have sprinkler systems throughout the building?”
Pritchard pointed to the ceiling. They all looked up and saw a metal sprinkler head. “It was part of the renovation that was taking place before 9/11. Ironically, the part that got hit by the plane had been the first to be renovated. It’s the primary reason the building didn’t immediately collapse when the jet hit it. We had exponentially strengthened the structure. God was looking out for us that day, despite everything.”
“Well, let’s hope he’s on duty today too,” said Puller.
“But, Puller,” exclaimed Knox. “You can’t deploy an aerosolized weapon through a sprinkler system.”
“We just assumed that it was aerosolized because everyone said it was. Johnson said they hadn’t even started to examine the canisters that Aust found. They don’t know what’s in there. But you can carry water as well as air inside canisters. And you don’t have monitors on the sprinkler system, do you?”
Pritchard shook his head. “Water is water. It comes from a dedicated pipe for the fire suppression system.”
“So it’s separate from the drinking water?” said Puller.
“Yes. It only goes to the sprinkler system. It was designed that way so we wouldn’t have to worry about not having enough water pressure in the event of a fire.”
“Well, maybe today water isn’t just water. And water will actually cover everyone better then sending it through the air ducts,” noted Knox. She looked up at the sprinkler head. “The water will go everywhere, contaminate every surface. Get into every opening in someone’s skin or eyes or mouth. It’ll be a nightmare. And but for us being here they’d never know they were getting hit with Ebola instead of just H2O.”
Rinehart said, “But how would they tie it into the pipe? And how will they turn it on?”
“The second answer is easy,” said Puller. “And maybe the first answer too. When the fire drill starts, an alarm will go off, right?”
Pritchard nodded. “Correct. The alarm will sound.”
“And people will have to evacuate?”
“Can we hurry this up?” barked Knox, but Puller held up his hand, waiting for Pritchard’s answer.
“No. It would be too disruptive for a simple drill. Folks are supposed to report to certain areas that they would go to in preparation for evacuation. There they’ll get a rundown on what to do and where to evacuate in the event of an actual emergency.”
“Okay, but the sprinklers won’t come on?”
“No, of course not,” replied Pritchard.
Puller said, “Well, this time I think they will. The alarm goes off and the water turns on. People would just think it was some mechanical error. Or maybe an actual fire that just happened to occur. Or maybe some electrical short with the fire alarm system.”
Knox added, “And lots of them might go home, change clothes.”
“And contaminate thousands of more people, who would in turn contaminate thousands more,” said Puller. “And the Pentagon would be contaminated for years. It would be unusable. No one would want to come back in here. Have to hand it to these bastards, they did think this through.”
Rinehart said, “We have less than seven minutes, Puller!”
Puller grabbed Pritchard by the arm. “Where is the intake pipe?”
“This way! We’ll be there in three minutes.”
They jumped into the carts and sped off. People walking down the halls turned to stare after them, obviously sensing that something was amiss.
As they drove along Rinehart said anxiously, “People are starting to get nervous, Puller.”
“They can be nervous. We just have to stop them from being dead.”
“But should we evac—”
“General, for all I know they have eyes on this place. We start a mass exodus and they could accelerate what they’re planning. Unless you know of a way to sneak thousands of people out of this building.”
Rinehart shut his mouth and stared ahead, his brow sweaty and his eyes full of worry.
When Pritchard unlocked the door to the large water main room, Puller and the others began frantically searching the space. Puller found it, cleverly concealed in some metal framework built around the massive water pipe supplying the sprinkler system. The three silver canisters had been attached to the pipe such that they would feed directly into the water going to the sprinklers.
“How often do they check this area?” asked Puller.
“I’m not sure,” said Pritchard. “Probably not that often. There would be no need to more than perhaps monthly.”
“Even though there’s a fire drill today?” said Knox.
“It’s only a drill. No one expects water or the sprinklers to come on. They just want to test the alarms and make sure people follow the evac plan. The alarm control center is located in another part of the building.”
“Should we just pull the canisters off?” said Rinehart.
Puller shook his head. “It’ll take too long. And they might be booby-trapped. In fact, I’d be stunned if they weren’t.”
“What if we cancel the drill,” suggested Rinehart.
“It won’t matter, sir,” said Puller. “I’m sure what they plan to do will happen regardless.”
“But if the Ebola virus has been placed in water, maybe it’s been diluted,” said Rinehart.
Knox said, “Johnson also said that one drop of liquid laced with Ebola getting into the body is all it takes to kill you.”
“Where’s the water shutoff?” asked Puller.
“Over there,” said Pritchard.
They rushed to the corner. Knox saw it first.
“They sabotaged it,” she said. “They broke off the lever.”
“We can call the water company and see if they can turn it off at their end,” said Pritchard.
“Good luck with customer service,” said Puller. “We’ll all be dead from Ebola and you’ll still be on hold listening to a Bee Gees song.”
“We have to do something,” barked Rinehart. “We’ve only got minutes left.”
Puller kept looking around the space. “The virus can’t infect people so long as the sprinkler system doesn’t come on.”
“But they must have arranged a way for it to come on,” snapped Rinehart. “Otherwise all of this is pointless.”
Puller turned to him. “I understand that, sir. But if we find out how they plan to turn on the system and neutralize it, then we can deal with the canisters safely later.” He looked at Pritchard.
“Can they activate it remotely, via a computer?”
“No. That would be a bad design if someone could do it remotely when a fire hasn’t been detected. It would cause a lot of water damage.”
Rinehart had a sudden thought. “But can you disable the sprinkler system remotely? I mean by using the computer controls?”
Pritchard shook his head. “Negative, sir. Again, that’s a safety feature. We wouldn’t want someone hacking in and disabling the system. Then if a fire did start there would be nothing to combat it with.”
Puller kept looking around. “The best way to engage the sprinkler system is to start a fire. Flames and smoke will set off the alarm and the sprinklers.”
Knox said, “That’s obvious enough. But where? Like Pritchard said, this is a really big place.”
“Well, it would have to be somewhere that people didn’t frequent. Otherwise, someone might discover it and report it.”
Pritchard said, “What if the folks are in the building right now? And they’re going to engage it directly?’
“I doubt they would want to be here if they’re going to unleash Ebola-contaminated water,” said Puller.
“Right. They’d want to be as far away as possible,” said Rinehart.
“Just like I would,” muttered Knox.
Puller looked at Pritchard. “If the sprinklers do come on, will it be all over the Pentagon? Even if the source of the fire is small or contained in a particular area?”
“The sprinkler system is on zones,” replied Pritchard. “For example, because this room houses the water main for the sprinkler system, a fire here will trigger a very large deployment of water, the theory being if the fire knocked out the water supply for the sprinkler system you want to wet down as much of the place as possible before that happens.” He pointed upward. “And right above us is the E Ring. Lots of senior people up there. They’d definitely get hit with the water.”
Puller kept looking around. “They took a risk bringing this shit in here. But getting to one place is easier than getting to a second place. You risk getting stopped and your whole plan unravels. But this room is the key. A fire here triggers a ton of water like Pritchard said.”
“Here?” said Rinehart.
“Yes. If they could go to one room to do everything they needed to do, they would probably opt for that.”
As Puller walked around the room his gaze drifted upward.
“There,” he called out. He was pointing to the ceiling in a darkened corner about forty feet from the water pipe. “Best place to set the igniter is right here where the canisters and water supply intake are.”
“We’ve got two minutes, Puller,” warned Rinehart.
“Looks to be a large burn pack,” said Puller as Knox joined him. “They probably figured that would be all they needed. It won’t reach the water pipe and disrupt the sprinkler system. But it’ll have a hot flash point, lots of smoke and fire. And the fire will eventually burn this room up enough that it’ll take a long time for them to find those extra tanks. By then nearly everybody and everything in this place could be contaminated.”
“Well, rip it down and let’s get it out of here,” barked Rinehart.
“Sir, when it detonates we’re still going to be in this building no matter how fast we push the golf carts. And the blast will still set off the sprinklers wherever we are. We have to disable it here. Now.”
He slid a pocketknife from his pocket and handed it to Knox. “Get on my shoulders.”
“What?”
He spun her around, gripped her hips, bent down, and hoisted her over his head, settling her seated on his shoulders with her legs on either side of his head facing the same way he was.
“Tell me what you see,” said Puller.
“A black box with an LED timer.”
“What’s the timer at?”
“Twenty seconds and counting.”
Pritchard said, “Just pull out the detonator from the pack.”
Puller barked, “They’re not stupid. That’ll just accelerate the detonation.”
“He’s right,” said Rinehart, his voice strained. “Shit, we’re nearly out of time.”
“How many wires?” asked Puller.
“Two. One red, one black.”
“Are they both single-strand?”
“The red is a double.”
“The dummy, probably. You cut that it accelerates the time to zero, and boom.”
“Probably!” snapped Rinehart. “You don’t know for sure? We don’t have time for probably, Puller.”
Puller barked, “Cut the red one, Knox.”
“But you just said that was the dummy.”
“Cut the red one. Now!”
“Are you—“
“Puller,” yelled Rinehart. “We’re out of—”
“Now, Knox,” shouted Puller. “Do it!”
She cut the red one and closed her eyes.
There was a pop, a fizzle, and everyone held their collective breath.
Knox finally opened her eyes and was staring at a burn pack that had failed to burn. She exhaled and gasped, “Thank you, sweet Jesus.”
“Right,” said Puller, after he let out his breath too.
She looked down at him from her high perch. “We did it. Mission accomplished.”
Puller shook his head. “No. Not so long as Susan Reynolds and Anton Bok walk the earth.”
The next moment the fire alarm went off. Thankfully, the sprinklers did not.