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Senator Marcus from Armed Forces. Any others are coming on a need-to-know basis. But they're all just blathering on, fighting the same old turf battles. And no one wins this one if that damn device goes off." Caidin sounded on the verge of exhaustion. |
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"We shouldn't be discussing this on an open link, Mr. President," Kellner warned automatically. |
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"Open link, shit, Vincent. Because Mount Alto is listening? I want those motherfuckers to be absolutely sure that what happens to us, happens to them if that beast goes off in Canada. There's no place for them to hide. The fallout will sail all the way to Russia and douse their people, just as it will ours. Halloran just called. He's thinking again of ordering an evacuation of Ottawa." |
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"That would be worse than useless, Mr. President. Why save only Ottawa? There are some sixty-five million Americans in the northeast, where do we send them? It's too lateit has always been too late. If we'd known the extent of the threat two weeks ago, that would have been another matter. If he orders it now, hundreds of thousands of people will be on the roads with no safe place to go." |
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"Ian confirmed that bastard Karmann is missing. I never trusted him. And NSA says the Russians are evacuating Moscow and St. Petersburg. Get here fast." |
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Kellner looked at his pilot, who pointed at the buildings at Andrews looming up ahead. The pitch of the rotor deepened, and the helicopter began its turn. "We're just now ready to land, sir." |
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"Good. I want you here," the President said insistently. "You must be a witness if I have to open the nuclear codes." Caidin sounded as if he were speaking from a great distance, his voice as bleak and as cold as the half-frozen Potomac or the icy waters of Hudson Bay. |
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"Yes, Mr. President," Kellner said soberly, and returned the headset to its rack. |
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